Unintentional Wanderlust

I have always liked the idea of wanderlust. Having that moment in life where you’re free to choose any path you like–opening up doors to meet new people, learn new things, and find places that feel right. It’s a great thing to be able to wander and it’s even greater to have a lust for it. A lust for life, really.

I’ve always loved traveling and experiencing new cultures and meeting people. I especially like traveling with other people so I can share my experiences with someone and because I like having someone to laugh with. Being insanely lucky in life, I’ve managed to fall into most of my adventures.

My high school choir was pretty successful. I am aware how extremely lame it is that I was part of such an activity, but it brought me to some amazing places. In one school year, we were invited to compete in Italy, sing for the Austrian president in Vienna, and join a handful of other choirs to perform in the Sydney opera house. Needless to say, after those trips, I had the travel bug.

Instead of going to university somewhere close to home, I went to a school in Northern Utah surrounded by mountains and not much else. It was totally different from what I was used to. I met a lot of great people there. It felt refreshing to live somewhere new.

A couple of years later I decided to study abroad in Canterbury, U.K. and instead of staying there for 3 months, I stayed there for 3 years and finished my history degree. Canterbury was my happy place. London became my favorite city. And I managed to hop over to Edinburgh, Paris, and Oslo while I was studying. I also met some of my favorite people in Canterbury, one of them being my husband.

After getting married, I moved to a Canadian town that I knew nothing about. It’s bizarre that I wasn’t even looking to travel during most of these moments, but I found myself in situations that led me down these paths. Most of my experiences were extremely good. There have always been bad and scary scenarios but I feel like those things happen when you step outside of your comfort zone. I always look at the big picture, and as a whole, my life has been pretty great. No complaints.

I like that everyone’s journey in life is different. Some people never leave their home state and others travel outside of our planet’s atmosphere. I have been given much, and therefore I feel like much is expected of me. I expect much of myself.

Our world is pretty small. Wandering and living life to the fullest is the best thing we can do with our short time here. I saw this video the other day and it made me think about our sweet little planet and how much it’s given us.

This post has been inspired by The Duck and The Owl’s Theme Week

My Trip to Bermuda

I think it’s obvious by now that I like to go on trips and see places that I’ve never been to before.  In 2009 my mom and I wanted to go on spring break somewhere besides our go-to spot in Orlando. So we chose Bermuda.

It was easier for both of us to just meet there instead of me flying home ( I was in England at the time). It was nice because the location of Bermuda was right in the middle. Just kidding. I looked at a map just now and its not in the middle at all. It’s much closer to the US. And its along the same line as South Carolina. And on the other side of the pond, it would be level with Morocco.

Flying there, I was super paranoid that something bad would happen as we entered the Bermuda Triangle. This old lady on the plane next to me said that she went there 3 times a year and survived every time so I figured everything would be alright. God wouldn’t let that lady survive all those times and let me die on my first visit, right?

I survived and met my mom at our hotel. The rooms were separated into little villa-type things. Ours was called The Sea Grape. I didn’t even know sea grapes were a real thing, but apparently they are. One memorable aspect of Bermuda was that there were tons of cats. We had a regular cat that would stop by our room every night, eat some of my shrimp cocktail, and then sit on my bed. One night we had at least four cats outside our place.

Ignore my hair and my body and everything else in this picture besides the cat.

The weather was nice and sunny while we were there but it wasn’t as warm as we had been expecting. It was kind of a let down. Leave it to me to complain about a vacation.

We went into the main drag in town and that was fun because we felt like locals. Or at least I did. The capital of Bermuda is Hamilton which is also the name that I gave one of the cats that decided to live with us.

Bermuda is kind of like Canada in that they have their own currency but they’ll accept US bills as well. They’ll just take whatever they can get, really. Which I respect. That’s what I would do.

My very beachy all black apparel.

While we were there we went to the Crystal Caves which were just Carlsbad Cavern-esque caves with stalactites and stalagmites. I’ve seen both many times and I still can’t tell the difference. I remember our tour guide being slightly in love with me though. But really, who isn’t?

Then we went back to our place and decided that Bermuda was kind of lame and didn’t have that much to do so we booked a flight to Orlando. Seriously.

A Post About Nothing

I haven’t been feeling very inspired to write anything recently. Sometimes I feel like I’ve talked about everything there is to talk about. Sometimes I can’t even remember if I’ve written about a certain topic already or if I just dreamed that I did.

These days if you have writer’s block (or any kind of block at all really) you go onto Google and see what there is to write about. I typed “what should I blog about?” into Google, clicked on the first entry, and this is what it said:

1. What is your expertise? Readers want to read about what you know and your special experiences. Really!

Okay, geeze. I believe you. Problem is, I don’t have an expertise. Unless you count being able to name every Pokemon an expertise, I’ve got nothin. Are most people experts in a certain area? Is this some sort of life requirement that I missed out on? Should I look into something? I guess history would be my expertise because I got my degree in it, but we all know that’s a lie and I forgot everything I learned right after the final exam.

2. What’s the news? While you don’t have to necessarily be a news breaker, you can give your view on what’s happening in your industry and how it relates to your hobby, life, etc.

Am I supposed to have an industry? I don’t even know what day of the week it is, never mind what my industry should be. I feel like I break the news occasionally, but I usually sway towards celebrity gossip more than newsy news. Can we call it newsy news from now on? The reason I didn’t write about the newest celebrity news is because my heart is broken and talking about it just makes it hurt more.

I’ll give you a hint: It has to do with these two.

3. What is your personality? Do you like to take a stance? Are you funny? Do you like being a contrarian? These insights can help you to write about your topic.

Can’t I just be everything? Why do I have to choose just one of those things? Can’t I be a funny contrarian that likes to take a stance? Maybe I don’t want to be defined by one personality type. I think there are sides of me that are soft and kind and other parts that are funny and playful and other parts that are deep and thoughtful. Notice how I didn’t name any character flaws? It’s because I don’t have any, in case you’re wondering.

4. What are your hopes and fears? Things that you can’t stop thinking about or what keeps you up at night could be good things to share with others.

I would say one of my hopes is trying to live a good solid life. A life I can look back at and feel proud of. A lot of the time I get caught up in trying to make other people proud, but I think I should just be focusing on making myself proud. I try to be the best example to others that I can be.

My fear is that I’ll go to a restaurant and they won’t have my favorite thing on the menu anymore. This scenario has happened to me multiple times and it’s scarred me for life.

5. What are your hobbies? Things that you like to do on your free time are often great topics to discuss.

Um let’s see here. Sleeping is a big hobby of mine. Eating is also another big one. Going online. Driving and listening to music. Walking and listening to music. Just listening to music in general. Traveling to new places. Did I say eating? Um petting soft animals. Laughing at people. Laughing at myself. Not exercising. Shopping. Painting my nails (but only when they’re grown out). Going to movies. Eating popcorn. Eating chocolate. Eating.

I think that’s about it.

Were those prompts supposed to solve my writer’s block? Because I think they made it worse. And they made my self esteem plummet because I don’t have an industry or an expertise.

I guess technically you can’t have writer’s block if you’re not a writer, so I probably have nothing to worry about, right?

If I Won the Lottery…

Winning the lottery seems like everyone’s dream. To get rich quick, without having to do any work. The Mega Millions lottery was up to  $656 million last week. For all you simpletons out there, that’s a lot of moolah. My husband was saying, “Yeah, but the United States takes out taxes from your winnings, so you would only get half of that.” True. But I think I could somehow make $328 million go a long way. Damn you Canada for not taking taxes out of your lotto money.

This would be the break down of where my money would go if I won the lottery. I’m not going to calculate any exact amounts so all you math people can just chillax for a couple of minutes okay?

1. I would give 10% of it to my church and then 10% to my husband’s church. Seems like a large sum, but that’s how you get into heaven guys. If I won the lottery and got into heaven, I really wouldn’t have a lot to complain about, would I? A world without complaints from Lily? Seems like a pretty messed up place.

2. I would give a chunk to a charity–preferably one having to do with animal rescue. Maybe specific animals like big cats, or elephants or puppies. And then I could live my dream of being around all of my animals friends.  I should just go into the jungle, start wearing a diaper, and become Mowgli already.

Me and Baloo, just hanging.

3. I would buy a house for Paul and myself, and one for my parents and a condo for my broski. He doesn’t quite deserve house status yet. I would probably buy them somewhere sunny and warm. Southern style. Or Floridian beach style.

4. I would go on a shopping spree. Nothing too crazy, just some things that would make my wardrobe stand out a little more. Maybe buy a David Yurman ring…I don’t know. Just throwing ideas around.

5. Personal trainer and home chef. Two necessities that aren’t really necessary. It would be great to have people make you healthy meals instead of foraging around the kitchen for something to eat. I would actually hire Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels, or Gunnar Peterson as my personal trainer. I would sit them down and question them to see which one would work best for me.  I would probably pick Bob though just because he’s my lover.

Jillian and Bob fighting over me.

6. Start my own makeup or clothing line. Two very different things, but I take a real interest in both paths. Not that I am good at dressing myself, or applying makeup, but I would be interested in making my millions grow. (I’m going to be so depressed after I finish writing this and realize that I only have a million pennies to my name.)

7. Travel. Everywhere. Life is short. The world isn’t that big. Traveling is something that cultures you. Some of my favorite experiences have taken place abroad.

First stop, Santorini, Greece.

8. Just relax. Not having to work is a privilege. Spending some quality time with the fam, making memories.

What would you spend your money on if you won the Mega Millions lottery?