Editor’s Note:  EAD Living will have several guest columnists.  Here’s our introduction to our first columnist, Feisty Tourist!

I am very excited to be a part of EAD Living.  I went to undergrad with E, and we’ve been bffs for several years now.  We share a passion for travel, and we try to travel together as much as possible.  E’s first Europe trip was with me back in 2004 to Rome and Paris.  Since then, we’ve been to London, a mess of islands in the Caribbean, Venice, Greece, and Croatia.  We’re hoping to take a big trip together next year too.

Pictures from Feisty’s personal collection – me in Mykonos, E and me with our husbands in Athens.

I am very very big into planning trips, so much so that I’ve even researched and offered advice to friends about trips I haven’t even taken.  If being a travel agent paid a lot better, I think I’d like that – except I’d want to do a lot more than just book flights and hotel rooms.  The fun for me is getting to know a place, learning some history and understanding how that place fits in the world.  I also love figuring out the minutiae.  For example, I was very frustrated that it was so difficult to figure out where to catch the bus from the Piazzale Roma to the Port of Venice based on the information online.  I also like sharing this kind of information with others who have similar obsessions, so I started a travel blog, the Feisty Tourist, in September 2007.

I’m especially excited to be joining EAD Living not only to share my travel experiences with new readers but also to share some of my decorating ideas as well.  My husband and I bought our first house a little over 4 years ago in the Triangle, North Carolina.  I’d say my style is new traditional.  I love Martha Stewart colors and clean lines, but my choices are less rustic/country than hers sometimes are.  I subscribe to traditional decorating “rules,” such as having a consistent color scheme throughout a house and not getting too theme-y.  My two primary decorating colors are aqua and spring green, and my accent color is something red-like (rose, red, or sometimes reddish orange).  Expect to see those colors a lot from me, because I’m still loving them.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with you!