Last year I'd traveled more than in any previous year of my life. It was awesome and exhausting and wonderful. The trips of 2016 included:

International

• Greece - Bryce and I went to (the city of) Athens and the island of Mykonos, eating gyros, fresh seafood, and baklava all the while.
• Italy - with my husband and my parents. We visited Rome, Florence, Sorrento, the Almafi Coast, Sicily, and Venice. 

Domestic

• California - twice to Southern California for visiting family and, of course, Disneyland and Universal Studios.
• Colorado - my very first time! I stayed in Denver, visited the Denver Botanic Gardens,  and caught a concert at Red Rocks Ampitheater. 
• Hawaii - our first trip back to the islands after moving away 3 years prior, we went to Oahu and visited our favorite spots including the Battleship Missouri, Leonard's Bakery for Malasadas, many beaches, restaurants, and hikes.
• Oregon - a long, laid-back weekend in Portland eating, drinking, and hiking.
• Washington - although I live in Seattle I made trips within the state to the George Ampitheater in George, WA for camping and 3 consecutive Dave Matthews Band concerts; to Leavenworth, WA for a long weekend and plenty of Bavarian charm; to Tri-Cities, WA for an annual wine tasting trip.

While last year was KILLER for collecting passport stamps and airline miles it left me with no time to visit my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Last summer my husband and I decided to plant a garden. We cleared our side yard, built the raised garden beds, and shopped for the plants all in one day. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS. Split those duties up amongst two or three days. That being said we were overtired and hungry while selecting plants and we had an odd assortment in our year 1 garden: green beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, kale, peppers, mint, and basil. While we ate a small portion of the offering from our garden, most of it went to waste. This year we vowed to do a better job by first selecting more veggies that can be eaten both raw and cooked and second by actually preserving some of our bounty.

In early June we planted our second summer garden. We bought the plants from our local Swanson's Nursery and painlessly plopped them into the raised garden beds.

Let's talk about figs. Clearly I love the adorable and delicious fruits and have named this very blog after them. My Pap (Grandfather) had a fig tree in his yard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when I was growing up. I would beg and plead with him to please, puh-lease give me some figs! He'd laugh and remind me that they weren't ripe until "it was time to go back to school" in the fall.

Now I have my own yard and fig tree, although on the opposite side of the country in Seattle, Washington. In PA you're supposed to dig up the entire tree and bury it underground for the winter. Lucky for me, we don't have to do that here since temperatures rarely drop below freezing.

That all being said, the important consistency with fig trees on both sides of this country is that they give us figs to eat, right? Makes sense to me...

According to the internet and social media, where everything you see is true, Fiddle Leaf Fig trees are all the rage. Every sparkling clean and all white Instagram living room is dotted only with this green leafy tree. The photo below is a perfect example of this trend from Apartment Therapy.