Tag Archives: maryland

Merry in Maryland

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The first week of traveling has flown by. I got to spend a week in absolute baby bliss with one of my oldest and dearest high schools friends in the beautiful life she has created. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to start this journey. A large part of the decision to travel was knowing that this would be one of my last opportunities to do it – foreseeing the creation of my own family in the next few years. Being 28, there’s a sense of youth but also of awareness of the speed at which time passes. I want to savor every moment of this time and freedom, taking full advantage of it so that I have no regrets once I am ready to settle down. Spending this time with Kaley was precious in more ways than I can even comprehend at this moment.

Top 5 favorite moments from Maryland:
1. Kaley and I spotting a shooting star on the drive home from the airport when I arrived (a wonderful sign that I was right where I was meant to be!)
2. My two year old niece, Evelyn, hugging me as tight as her little arms could hold me and whispering, “I love you, Auntie Jackie”
3. Running errands with Kaley mid-trip – just us and the random, profound conversation that happens in the most mundane of activities
4. After a stressful work day, going into the bedroom to pick up my six month old niece, Lily, and seeing her beaming a smile up at me from the crib
5. The surprising calm from my nieces in the back seat and the hum of bluegrass from the radio on the super early drive to the airport as we watched the sunrise over Washington DC

AIRPORTS: 3
FLIGHTS: 1
STATES: 2
COUNTRIES: 1
DAYS TRAVELING: 7

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Sometimes, you just have to say “fuck it”

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When you’ve dreamt of something for as long as you can remember and you’re teetering on the edge of big life decisions… sometimes the best solution is to slug back a few glasses of wine and say “fuck it”. That’s what I did last Tuesday evening when I charged airplane tickets to my credit card for 2 months of visiting family and friends along the east coast, 3 weeks in Australia and 3 months in Europe!

As said best in Billy Joel’s ‘Vienna’ (a longtime inspiration of mine) – “You can get what you want, or you can just get old.”  I’ve learned that time is the most precious resource I have – both abundant and limited in the same regard – I’m thrilled to be taking full advantage of mine. And while it’s one of the crazier moves I’ve ever made, it feels right like the right time to take the right risk.

And hey – some of the best decisions I’ve made have been while intoxicated, so let’s hope this one follows suits (I mean, that one way ticket to San Francisco turned out to be the greatest choice ever, right??). Drunken courage surely takes action for the sober heart! 

I’ll spend the next two months packing up a storage unit (sadly giving up a great apartment), figuring out what to do with my car and sorting out the hundreds of little details to leave my life in San Francisco not knowing where I’ll be when I return in June. I’m lucky and grateful to have a remote job so I will be able to continue working during this time and will also be tapping into my abundant bank of vacation hours (cheers to being a workaholic and having that shit saved up).

I’m also beyond grateful that I will be spending long overdue time with family and friends all over the world and very excited for the new connections I will make! I’m already overwhelmed with the love, support and offers that have come in within a week of making this decision – I’ll keep everyone posted throughout this process and of course when the traveling starts. Cheers to adventure and bold decisions!

Flight itinerary:

12/7 San Francisco –> Maryland to visit Kaley and my nieces
12/14 Maryland –> Florida to visit my grandparents and Ashley for Christmas
12/28 Florida –> Detroit to get a New Years kiss from Jon
1/4 Detroit –> Connecticut to visit friend and family for 3 weeks (hoping to make it up to Rhode Island to visit Josh’s restaurant in Newport and reunite with friends in Providence after 4 years of being gone)
1/27 Connecticut –> Australia for 3 weeks of adventure with Nicola!
2/16 Australia –> Germany to begin 3 months of European travels!
5/9 London –> Connecticut for a few weeks before returning to California

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