Happy New Year + Trip Video

Hi everyone! 2014 was a crazy fun-filled ride. The last few weeks have been full of family, celebrations, and general gearing up for 2015, so I’ve been MIA here. One of the the projects I was working on the last couple months was a slideshow of our trip. So many people have asked to see our pictures and hear our stories, and I never know how to begin. How do I sum up all the things I’ve experienced? I can tell some of our stories, but I’m always afraid that once I start, I’ll never be able to stop. I can show the pictures and videos. But who wants to sit through thousands of photos and a hundred short videos? So, I spent some time sorting through everything, organizing it, and creating the 25-minute slideshow you’ll see below:

(If the video doesn’t work, you can click here to be taken to the YouTube page.)

My focus in choosing what would be a part of this was threefold:

1. Give a taste of the distinct flavor each country has, both a wide perspective and the nitty-gritty details.
2.Show the commonalities that these disparate countries had with each other. Some things are universal (or at least quite common).
3. Show some of the more unique things we enjoyed in particular. Or things that I found interesting and/or funny. 

Enjoy!

And don’t worry, I’m still going to keep posting about our trip until I run out of things to say.

Happy New Years! I hope your 2015 is full of fun, adventure, new experiences, and lots of love!

“Wild Magic” in the UK

I’ve been frenetically working on a project related to our trip over the last few weeks. I’m hoping to unveil it in a couple weeks. I’ve also been exploring the possibility of writing about our travels in a venue outside of this blog. While I won’t stop posting on this blog for a good long time, I’m excited to have a piece of mine published on the “We Said Go” travel website. It’s about a moment of time I experienced while in Wales. Check it out: Wild Magic in the UK.

We’re Back!

All right. You can’t see me, but I’m hanging my head. I haven’t updated in a long time, even with all your support and encouragement. So long, in fact, that we’ve actually returned all the way home! Don’t despair (if you are), because I’ve settled back into our life here which gives me a little more time to organize my thoughts (and pictures!). I do want to resume posting, more for myself as a way to capture these fleeting memories before time takes its toll. So, I’ll still be making my way slowly through our trip, albeit in a more contemplative rather than immediate sense. Also, I’d like to open up this website as more of a general travel site with a focus on young married couples with an interest in offbeat topics (so, essentially, the type of people we are now). Thanks so much for your patience, my few loyal readers. I hope you’ll keep hanging around while I get everything a bit more organized.

The Truth About Procrastination

I know you’re all waiting breathlessly for my upcoming posts (*insert self-deprecating laugh*).  And I do have 15+ half-written posts in the queue.

But, I’ve realized something the last couple days.  As much as I enjoy writing this blog and sharing our wonderful travels with you, sometimes trying to get out blog posts on time can get to be sort of a chore.  Most blog posts take approximately 2-3 hours to prepare from beginning to end.  It could probably take less time if I were less of a perfectionist, but that’s something I’m working on (self-improvement also takes a rather long time).  I don’t want to lose that joy I have in crafting these blog posts.  I write and photograph because I truly love to do these things and I’d hate for that love to become tarnished by rote.  I’d hate for the blog posts you spend your time reading to be something I didn’t spend quality time on myself. 

Besides our traveling, I do spend a lot of time working on other ongoing personal projects.  It’s the curse of someone with too many interests/hobbies and too little time/energy.  My mom said I should pare my interests down a bit but I haven’t yet succeeded because, well, everything is just so interesting.  However, I’m having a bit of a work/life balance issue (yes, this seems to be a recurring theme in my life) which is rather hilarious because I don’t work.  Well, I work, but for fun and for free (so far…)  So if I’m to have any semblance of rest & vacation on this trip, I need to release my death-grip on my 30-item to-do list, and relax a bit. 

Anyways, this post is a long convoluted apology if blog posts start coming even slower than they already are and I end up even further behind.  I get so irritated when other blogs constantly apologize for long delays, but here I am doing the exact same thing.  I promise I won’t bombard you with apologies.  If you ever get impatient with me, please refer back to this post, because my reasons will probably be the same for the rest of our trip.

Stay tuned though. Those 15+ blog posts will appear eventually.

Takeoff!

I set up this post the day before not knowing whether I’d get the chance to post this on the day of.  But, as of right now, we should be sitting on an airplane ON OUR WAY! 

After so much thought and planning, I can’t believe we’ve actually reached this point.  If you could see me now, I bet I’m screaming (silently, in my head, so as not to be a disruption) with excitement.  Or sleeping.  It’s always a toss-up with me. 

Please pray for our health and safety for this next year.  And that we’ll be transformed for the better. 

See you on the other side!  (Uh, hope I didn’t just jinx myself…)

Counting Down the Craziness

It’s one day before we leave and I’m a mass of contradictions.  I’m excited and scared, ready and not, yearning towards the unknown and bracing myself to miss the familiarity of everyday life. My stomach feels like it’s filled with the hot churning air of anticipation.  That’s what always kills me: the anticipation. 

I haven’t posted in a while because the last couple weeks have been insanity in-between packing, moving-out, vaccinations, and the last-minute things that always pop up in any endeavor this large.  Hopefully, I’ll have time on the long flight to Bangkok in order to get this blog up-to-date with various happenings. 

Also, Rick, my awesome husband, will be posting on his own blog.  I’ll post up the web address once he gets things to his liking.  Stay tuned!  Lots coming in the next year. 

Summer California Series

We have less than two months left in sunny Southern California before we embark on our adventure.  I’m a born and bred Southern California girl, and I know I’ll miss the unique atmosphere permeating the air.  Rick’s the same way.  Though he wasn’t born here, he’s spent most of his life in SoCal.  So, during one of our planning meetings, we decided to make a list of everything we wanted to do & see & experience in California before we get on that plane to Bangkok.  I thought it would be fun to make a series out of it, not only for our own record, but as fun ideas for those who are interested in the same activities as us.  Hope you enjoy it!