Travel Treasures: Kim from Fill Your Well

 What can I tell you about Kim?  

Her blog, fill your well, is California cool rolled up in sincerity, and dipped in a plethora of wonderful treasures she finds all over the web.  She talks about gratitude, and things that make her happy like life with her Mister, and fashion, and causes out there worth talking about.  Plus, her eye for style and sharing her finds has lead me on many adventures into places I probably wouldn't have found without her help.  {I won't even get started on the wedding she talked about a couple of weeks ago that I'm still dreaming about.} 

Instead, lets welcome Kim!

hi everyone! this is kim from fill your well.  i was so excited when jenna asked me to do a guest post on a favorite travel treasure because 1.) i love her blog!, and 2.) i am the proud owner of the most amazing souvenir ever - an elephant painting!

okay, okay, so for those of you who read my blog, you know that i always talk about my elephant painting whenever the subject of honeymoons, traveling, or souvenirs come up.  but it's just so incredible, i can't help myself. 

i acquired my treasure last september when my partner and i took our honeymoon in thailand.  being the amazing man that he is, dannon planned part of our honeymoon at a working elephant ranch where we lived among the elephants and mahouts {the thai version of a cowboy}.  this was a serious adventure - scrubbing the elephants clean, riding them to the river several times a day, playing with the newborn baby elephant, and cleaning out the fields.  that's right, i worked in elephant dung on my honeymoon... and loved every second of it!  

there weren't fences or trainers keeping us separate from the elephants.  we would open our door in the wee hours of the morning to a jungle full of these giant animals.  before we got there, i wondered how safe i would feel.  i'm barely 5 feet tall, and these elephants were about a gazillion times my size.  but i quickly discovered that elephants are the most gentle creatures with such beautiful souls.

yes, those elephants, and our time living with them, was magical to say the least!  we knew we had to bring back something from our stay, which obviously needed to be a baby elephant. unfortunately, a carry-on with elephant legs sticking out the sides was way too easily identifiable {"oh no officer, this is just how my luggage was designed..."}.  so dannon and i decided to go with the much easier-to-carry souvenir of an elephant painting, and when i say "elephant painting" i don't mean a painting of an elephant, i mean a painting by an elephant.  yup, a handful of the elephants at the ranch love to paint!  it's a bonding experience that they get to have with their mahouts, whom they love dearly - just like little children love to play with their parents.  adorable? yes!  what's more is that these mahouts are often uneducated villagers who work with the elephants 15 hours a day. both the elephants and the mahouts come from tough backgrounds with difficult stories, so to be able to create art together, which is then purchased by visitors is a beautiful experience for all.

we chose this lovely painting that both dannon and i fell in love with immediately.  we knew this would be the focal piece of any home we have through our lives, so we chose one that would match our style.  i love that we will not only have a cool conversation piece, but we'll also have a beautiful piece of art to forever remind us of our adventure!

Thank you Kim!  That sounds like a honeymoon you'll never forget!  And that painting is seriously cool.