a series of adventures

9 Travel Resolutions for 2014

I recently discovered a travel blog I absolutely love. Kate McCulley maintains Adventurous Kate: Solo Female Travel. Kate is part of a brave class of travel writers who quit their 9-5 j.o.b. to travel the world continuously. Confession: I'm slooowly gearing myself up for that possibility (oh, the possibility!). Of course, the moment I stated the intention, I was flooded with an awareness of resources and websites and a network of amazing people who've done exactly that. Spend some time surfing around her site, particularly the "How I Saved $13,000 For Travel In Just Seven Months" post. It's so inspiring to me because it's so completely normal. Student loan payments, Netflix automatic debit payments, weekend brunches with friends...she lays out how she massaged a seven month travel budget out of her real life. A life that looks quite a bit like mine. And by "quite a bit" I mean exactly.

In this post, however, I want to share her discussion of 2014 travel resolutions. Even if every resolution doesn't resinate with you, at least one is bound to. Get inspired and get out there! Click here to read her full post, as the annotations below are mine.

1. Spend Christmas 2014 on the beach

I just spent Christmas 2013 on the beach. I've spent many a winter holiday on the beach, but it's a great reminder that this tradition never disappoints. Traveling far away during the holidays also conveniently pulls you out of the shopping, parties, guilt, gift, consumption treadmill that I dislike so much.

Corona del Mar, Orange County, California - December 2013

2. Get into points and miles

I've long since mastered the Delta hub of Salt Lake City and American Express / SkyMiles Platinum and I are longtime friends (cha-ching); however, I love her suggestion to study the three primary alliances (Star Alliance, OneWorld, Skyteam). I think this is savvy knowledge for any traveler and similar to my wonky obsession with plane models and knowing which seats are the most strategic/comfortable on each.

3. Visit that destination you have always, always dreamed of visiting

Denmark. Hands down. There are many others, but all roads lead home. I don't know if 2014 is my year for this or not. I'm still researching my family history and the perfectionist in me is inclined to over-plan this one to death. Hmmm, so maybe realizing that should actually force my hand. Get over it, and go already.

4. Become a better travel photographer

I recently completed a travel photography course that I absolutely loved. I'll be blogging about it soon, but for now check out Traveling Light: The Spirit of Travel Photography. Some of you may remember the other photography course I took from Laura Valenti Jelen, Candela: Finding Inspiration Through Photography. The brilliant thing about both courses is they aren't technical discussions of manually controlling your aperture. Both courses cut to the philosophical and emotional core of making photographs. It's changed my entire approach. Entirely.

Cafe Du Monde, French Quarter, New Orleans - December 2013

5. Try staying in an Airbnb rental

Yes. This. This is big for me. I dream of making my way around the world, traveling continuously for at least one year, staying in Airbnb rentals and/or house sitting. Affordable, local experiences, far more memorable than a Hilton (though I love Hilton Hotels and should Hilton Hotels decide to sponsor my adventures, I will not say no. (Are you listening, Hilton Hotels?)).

6. Get your passport or renew it

I'm on my third passport in as many decades of life, so I'm all over this. Done and done.

7. Get outside your comfort zone

In other words, in no particular order, I need to tackle: stifling heat and humidity and sweat, backpack instead of suitcase, couch surfing, Southeast Asia, camping...I could go on. I also realize I just described some people's ideal travel experience. We all have our comfort zones.

8. Start a travel savings account

Done. Automatic withdraws from checking account each month. The trick is never touching it. The bigger trick is creating travel investment accounts. Why piddle around with 0.9% interest when you can put it in the market at higher yields, take it out once it's grown, and bon voyage! Yes, I rattled that off like I knew what I was talking about. But hey, investing for this purpose is on my list of Stuff To Figure Out In 2014.

9. Travel solo for the first time

Done it. Absolutely love it. Will do it again. A lot.

peek-a-boo...you get used to creative selfies when you're flying solo

What resolutions should we add to this list?

Bon voyage! Love,
me

A New Year. The Desire Map. Feelings That Aren't Feeling-y Enough.

Since my last post I spent a week in New Orleans, a week in Southern California, and have now ushered in the new year at home in Salt Lake City. Photos of these trips will be posted shortly, btw. For now, however, I need to talk to you about The Desire Map.

I've posted about The Desire Map on this site before; primarily declaring that I knew it was out there, skating around it because I'm afraid of it, and acknowledging it would kick my emotional ass once I let it. Well, friends, I'm finally tackling it. I read it on all of my plane rides to and fro. I spent the entire day today (01 January 2014!) making my way through the workbook and trying to settle on my Core Desired Feelings. I also committed to my power word for 2014.

My power word and my experience with The Desire Map are so cosmically intertwined that I cannot talk about one and not the other. My 2013 power word was ABUNDANCE. I focused on (re)training my brain out of a scarcity mindset and believing and trusting and knowing there's enough of everything and all of that jazz. Well, The Universe flooded me with abundance and I now need to get out of my own way. I need to let it all flow through me and stop trying to control it, second guess it, one up it, over analyze it, and generally screw it up. Entre my 2014 power word: OPEN. My 2014 power phrase, more accurately: OPEN TO MAGIC.

I'm an academic through and through. Over half my life has been spent in school, college, a graduate program, professional certification courses, and my entire professional career has been built within the academy as well. The concept of magic, of faith, of things that cannot be explained, of something happening that I myself did not create and control...it's all a bit foreign. At least, it feels more foreign to me now that it ever has before. I think I used to be open. I think I used to be open to magic even. I used to be quite a romantic, really. You'd never know it if you met me for the first time today. Even though, at my core, I'm divinely feminine and unnervingly intuitive, the woman you'd meet on the street today is rational and precise and hyper logical and in control and pulled together and cynical and on top of it and you get the idea. I need to soften it up a bit. I need to be open again, open to letting all the energy and abundance flow in and out and around me, fluid and flexible. I need to let myself lean in to a bit of magic.

Enter my desire mapping process. I read the entire book. I powered through over a hundred workbook pages. I color coded. I dog eared. I post-it tabbed. I rocked it. I'm doing this. I'm making a list of Core Desired Feelings. I'm researching the etymology and combing through the thesaurus. I'm coding my qualitative research and identifying patterns. I'm failing already. I end up with a final list of words that make perfect sense and accurately identify my Core Desired Feelings, but they have no razzle dazzle, no sex, no magic, no...emotion. Hashtag irony. My entire mantra for the year is to be OPEN TO MAGIC and I've created the perfect list of core desired feelings...that don't feel like anything. They are not vulnerable. They are not open. They are not magical. Well, fuck.

I leave it for a while. I watch a few episodes of The Daily Show on hulu while I cook and laugh it off. When I return to the list I tell myself, "You're not being honest. Just say it. 'In Communion' is the perfect phrase for what you want to feel at your core, but to you the words feel patriarchal and Catholicish. So what if it's perfect...if it doesn't feel perfect to you?! Just say it. Be as simple as possible." I re-do the list three more times.

As of now, my Core Desired Feelings, including my 2014 power phrase:

OPEN TO MAGIC

ABUNDANT

CREATIVE

STRONG

FREE

SPIRITUALLY CENTERED

I waffled between "abundance" and "abundant" for a good 45 minutes. I'm still waffling. I had "healthy" in the list, but know that "strong" will get my ass to the gym with greater gusto. I discussed my reaction to the phrase I lovehate: "in communion." I had four iterations of my list that included "secure/free" as one word. That whole "secure/free" thing is a barrel of monkeys I will unpack throughout this whole year, but for now, I'm committed to the core core core, which is free.

In all honesty, I still don't think I'm there yet. I still don't feel these words are the very core of me. I still sense they are masking a bit of...something. I do know, however, that done is better than perfect. I also know that I will work through a month with these words and revisit them. I also also know that as I unravel more and more and more layers of my 2014 power phrase, I will inevitably unravel more and more and more layers of my desired feelings. I'll reach the core. I'm not there yet, but I will be.

I will be.

Love and desire,
me

Craft Lake City Workshop Recap: Fabric Gift Bows

The final Craft Lake City DIY workshop of 2013 was sponsored by and hosted at West Elm City Creek. Shantel Nielson of The Pink Raffy taught participants how to make gift wrapping bows from fabric, ribbon, and felt. Perfect timing for the holiday season!

DIY Workshop Fabric Gift Bows from CraftLakeCity

Click through the slideshow above and learn how to make your own gift wrapping bows. This is a gift on top of a gift, that can be used over and over. Here's a sneak peek of the DIY goodness in the slideshow...

View all of my DIY workshop recaps.

View this post on the Craft Lake City website.

Follow my adventures in real time on Instagram @fourthirtyam.

Love,
me

Completing My Craft Lake City Collaboration (sort of)

As my time working with Craft Lake City comes to a close, I've spent some time sprucing up the collaboration landing page. Originally, I only posted the introductory paragraph of the artist profiles and I included only a few photos from the workshop recaps. I did this to help drive traffic to the Craft Lake website. Now that the big push is over, I want everything to be properly posted and archived on my own site.

On the revamped page you can access an artist's profile or a workshop by selecting their cover photo. The full article and the full slideshow are now included on my site. Take a minute to look around, will you?

It's been a creative four months and I've loved the experience. Long-time readers will remember that I started 2013 with the power word ABUNDANCE. That intention took many forms over these past 12 months, one of which being CREATIVITY. I needed it back in my life and I expressed that need repeatedly. Well kids, my experience of this Universe is that you tend to get what you ask for. Eventually. Be specific and be ready. Intentions, focus, hard work...and saying yes. Keep saying yes.

I'll always look back on my time with Craft Lake as a period of rich creative renewal. I was able to flex my atrophied creative writing muscles, hone my rusty journalism skills, and dust off my camera. I got back in a groove and I needed that. I met amazing artists, many of whom live mere blocks from me, and am now thoroughly convinced that Salt Lake City is one of the craftiest cities ever. I gained the experience of working with a professional publishing team (Craft Lake was started and is still managed by the masterminds behind SLUG Magazine). I also now understand what freelancing feels like on top of my 40-60 hours-a-week j.o.b. (whew). On top of it all, I think I created a strong portfolio of work, if I do say so myself. And I do say so. I totally just said it. Bam.

Check out the new landing page. Read the profiles. Support the artists. Buy locally and buy handcrafted. Enjoy the workshop slideshows and how-to recaps. Get your hands dirty and get crafty with your friends. Read SLUG.

I'll retain the title of Contributing Blogger and they'll continue to contact me about future assignments. Stay tuned. Who knows...there may be another profile or two coming your way.

Love and abundant creativity,
me

Vacaciones en Mexico

Having been back at work for a few weeks now, my time in Mexico feels like a dream. Then again, my time while there felt like a dream, so that's appropriate. I traveled to the same all-inclusive resort I stayed in last August. Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach is built into a terraced cliff on the Pacific side of Baja del Sur, northwest of Cabo San Lucas. Since the ocean is so deep and so rough where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez (no swimming beaches at the resort), the crashing waves just steps from our suite rolled like thunder and lulled us to sleep instantly. I remember this about my last trip as well. Last time we were one terrace up from the Presidential Suite we stayed in on this trip, and we still left our patio door open and fell asleep to those powerful waves.

Facing the Pacific Ocean, the sun rose to our left and set to our right. We began and ended each day in a warm glow of breathtaking beauty. I came home with 57 sun rise/set photos and three videos. Whoopsie.

Lots and lots and lots of this in my camera roll. It didn't suck.

It was everything a resort vacation should be; namely that our biggest decision was by which pool we should set up camp for our daily naps and which restaurant should we eat in next. We packed watercolors, acrylics, and canvas, painting the sunsets caught on our iPhones and creatively relaxing to the max. We ventured into town one day to partake of the requisite flea market haggling, Spanglish practice, and purchase of pottery and linens. We also did something very unique and memorable. We hired a local outfitter to take us to Cabo Pulmo for an all-day snorkeling and kayaking adventure. Cabo Pulmo is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Rental cars are not allowed on the miles of dirt road that wind through the mountains and out to the crystal clear turquoise of Mermaid Beach (only then accessible by ocean kayak). This location is home to the only hard coral reef in North America and since the water is so clear in this protected marine park, we swam far far far from the shore in the hours that we snorkeled. Amazing.

In no particular order, memories...

Venus. Just barely.

Resetting my circadian rhythm and waking up with the sun.

Courtyard at the resort, with a Catholic chapel at the far end.

Not a single cloudy day.

Paint. Ocean breeze. Not a single appointment on my calendar. Bliss.

I could spend all day in this courtyard.

Infinity pool on the tippy top of the mountain, overlooking the Pacific and daily sunsets. It happened.

Pool. Ocean. Done.

Taffy skies.

Silhouettes of paradise.

En route to our adventurous day at sea.

Pristine Cabo Pulmo.

Proof!

I mean, if you're going to eat fish tacos, you may as well wait for the chef's boat to pull up to your table.

Simple. Perfect.

Mermaid Beach in Cabo Pulmo.

Postcard perfect palapas.

The pool closest to our suite.

My version of a selfie.

A rising sun peeks through the curtains. Roll over. Grab iPhone off nightstand. Snap photos. Nap in the sun for a couple more hours. Face the day's big decision: Which pool?