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Day #1 : Bello = beautiful. Traveled from KCI Saturday am thru Charlotte and overnight to Rome-arrived Sunday am here at 9am, took a train to Florence and @2 hours later arrived at Villa Casa Masi- We rented on HomeAway and it is simply stunning. We took a long and winding taxi ride thru some rough terrain but ended in the most stunning place I’ve ever seen. The hostess, Cinzia shared with us that her parents lived here and her brother and her as children. Her father passed two years ago, doing what he loved… playing tennis at age 83! He actually built a court, complete with a locker room and hot showers just for his love of tennis on the property. She added that he died only after winning the match and celebrating… stating that he deserve to die in this way because he lived his life with enormous generosity. Very cool. Her mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and I know from my friends this is a touch road she’s on. I prayed for her a lot today as we chatted. Thanks to Cinzia’s recommendation we had a local chef, Simone, and his partner Fabriana make pizza tonight for our crew. It was beyond amazing and the property grown olive oil, rosemary, and other local ingredients, cheeses etc were simply brilliant. We also had wine actually made with grapes on this property! Stunning. So there you have it … a wide awake @38hours, give or take a one hour nap or three, and we are ready to rest tonight. God is good. Prayers of blessing over our friends and family and of course Cinny and Waffles tonight. Our love…

[malloryinsights]

Day #1 : Bello = beautiful. Traveled from KCI Saturday am thru Charlotte and overnight to Rome-arrived Sunday am here at 9am, took a train to Florence and @2 hours later arrived at Villa Casa Masi- We rented on HomeAway and it is simply stunning. We took a long and winding taxi ride thru some rough terrain but ended in the most stunning place I’ve ever seen. The hostess, Cinzia shared with us that her parents lived here and her brother and her as children. Her father passed two years ago, doing what he loved... playing tennis at age 83! He actually built a court, complete with a locker room and hot showers just for his love of tennis on the property. She added that he died only after winning the match and celebrating... stating that he deserve to die in this way because he lived his life with enormous generosity. Very cool. Her mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and I know from my friends this is a touch road she’s on. I prayed for her a lot today as we chatted. Thanks to Cinzia’s recommendation we had a local chef, Simone, and his partner Fabriana make pizza tonight for our crew. It was beyond amazing and the property grown olive oil, rosemary, and other local ingredients, cheeses etc were simply brilliant. We also had wine actually made with grapes on this property! Stunning. So there you have it ... a wide awake @38hours, give or take a one hour nap or three, and we are ready to rest tonight. God is good. Prayers of blessing over our friends and family and of course Cinny and Waffles tonight. Our love...

[malloryinsights]

[malloryinsights]

This was so beautiful. 

He was bruised but brought healing. The world can’t understand Him. Leaders cant ignore Him. The New Age cannot replace Him. He will never cancel your appointment in His appointment book. When you are weak, He is Strong. When you fall, He will lift you up. When you fail, He will forgive you. When you are blind, He will guide you.

He loves you. 

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The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as you’ve never seen it: from the 1960s and ’70s.

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3 Traits of a Great Mentor

By Barbara Corcoran, Co-Founder, Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners,

From: amexopenforum

Read more from Barbara Corcoran on OPEN Forum

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Happy #MotivationMonday! 

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AND THAT'S A WRAP.... For now!

We wrapped up our amazing journey today- These last few pics are a few city shots from Monday and our final day- we basically spent the day enjoying a few more sights and even got a work out in! A shout out to my trainer as I was "repping" the Hitch Fit shirt she gave me! The boys enjoyed (kind of) a pint of Guinness (really a photo for their papa Mallory) at a cute little pub in downtown Edinburgh- that was fun! We are all ready to get home and are full of many amazing memories! We will add a few more thoughts later but for now... Cheers!!!!

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SCOTLAND- ST ANDREWS- DAY 10

Today was finally the day we went to the incredible St Andrews- what an adventure that was- full of intense landscape and comedy- comedy because three hackers and a pretty good golfer makes for something like the "bad news bears meets world class golf-" let's just say golfing in your "wellies" (rain boots) may not have been the best plan! So if you are really reading this and want the FULL STORY just let one of us know - you are sure to get a comical version each from a different perspective! Needless to say we won't forget about this day! At the end of it- Sam played some great golf, the rest of us had a super time and felt immensely blessed to be there. The Open Championship which is played here every 5 years will be live in about a month so that made it even cooler- the course was in top notch shape and the bleachers/scoreboards, shops etc were all ready to have worlds spotlight on them! Thankful and looking forward to seeing our friends and family in 2 sleeps! Blessings to everyone!

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EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND- DAY 9

Hey Ya all! I highly recommend everyone head to Scotland- it is simply beautiful and the people are beyond friendly- makes you feel right at home! Highlights today:

Got to sleep in! WOOHOO! Plus spent a couple of hours working on my book- double bonus!

Terrific little walk to start our day and came upon the most precious city market- I would have spent hours there trying the local farmers fare- my boys had to push me along to get to our true destination... (But just saying... Don't you love it when God puts in your paths these little treasures! So much fun!)

Headed to Royal Mile starting with Edinburgh castle- and down a mile of tourist shops of cashmere, wool, kilts galore and you can imagine… Pretty fun though-

Did I mention the 50mph wind and cold? Oh well- it was a real Scottish experience!

Climbed “Arthur’s seat” on the treacherous course- made more so by the wind- however we Mallory’s love a good competition and our good friends the Womacks challenged us… Needless to say in whatever weather it had to be done!

Ended with a lovely date with Tucker while Sam and joe watched the champion league final at our flat-

In love with the charm that is Edinburgh!

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PARIS- DAY 7! Sorry out of order!

Just realized this was missing- the connection is random so this one will be short-

The weather is Paris is notably HOT! A big change from the cooler London! Think Texas in July!

Today we had a highlight tour of the Louvre- incredible history and a truly incredible experience to see it live- hearing the back stories of Davinci and the Mona Lisa were highlights for sure- our guide Randa has been especially wonderful with her terrific storytelling abilities and her keen approach to telling “just enough” not to lose those of us who don’t care a great deal about the detail details if you know what I mean!

Okay so get this- we also got to go to French Open and our very own Serena Williams was in the semi-finals on the court right next to us- Roland Garros was simply beautiful- the overall environment was buzzing like any other major event but being in Paris made these small town Kansas folks feel like we were quite lucky and quite blessed-

Our final night in Paris we enjoyed dinner at Chez Fernand which was recommended by my good friend, artist and author….and Paris “connoisseur Becky Blades- "best steak ever” according to joe and that sums it up- thanks Becky!

Blessing to all of you!