Wow – I cannot believe Christmas week is here and 2015 is winding down! It’s been a mad blur to the finish line with projects in full speed both on the boards and in the field.  Add all of the Holiday festivities including our Candelaria Design Holiday luncheon this year at Eddie’s House! Yes Eddie took great care of us and we had a wonderful get together with my amazing team!

Well, working and drawing away today, Sunday, and in the final blitz until Tuesday morning when I will be loading up my two girls here, Isabella age 13 and Sophia age 10, and my wife Isabel and I will whisk them off on their first trip to Italy! My oldest daughter, Tiffany age 28 who lives in Denver, will meet us in Atlanta for our layover and rendezvous and then we will all fly over the pond and land in Rome!

We will spend Christmas in Rome, then drive to Tuscany for a three days exploring Assisi, Cortona, San Gimingnano, and Siena, whereupon we will then drive to Florence for New Years! My oldest, Tiffany, has been with me to Italy several times so she will be lending a hand in indoctrinating Isabella and Sophia on the Candelaria way of travel – full out, full speed! I am so looking forward to this trip and sharing all of my discoveries with my girls, especially those off the beaten path!

Of course there is always the thought of being aware and alert to the fears our there but as I have repeatedly written in past blogs you can’t live your life in fear. You need to get out there and live your life and explore this amazing world.  My first trip to Europe was when I was 10 years old and I remember it well. In fact I had kept a journal of my experience that I still have – yes I have been a blogger my whole life! That trip had a huge impact on my life and the direction it would take – straight on the path towards being an architect. Just the perspective of being on a jet for the first time and seeing cities like Chicago and London from the air was impactful.

I hope this trip will have the same effect on my girls! Isabel and I have traveled many times domestically with the girlsfrom Florida and Disneyworld, New York, LA, Park City, Denver, Telluride, Aspen, and Durango, Coeur d’Alene, and New Mexico – but this time we are going big! One of my favorite things is watching their faces the first time we land in Rome and come face to face with the Colosseum not to mention Rome at Christmas time.

So stay tuned, we will be blogging along our journey! We have the GoPro fired up and we are going to have some fun and take you all along on our journey through Italy with the Candelaria’s during the Holidays!