My adventures in motherhood and entrepreneurship.
Hello! I’m so glad you are here.
I’d love to share a little about the journey that brought us here.
To do that, we have to go back to 2015. At the age of 41, with the help and support of my husband and family, I started my very first business, a wedding venue in rural Georgia.
Timing in life seemed right to take this leap and do something I’ve always dreamed of but was never sure would happen. From the ground up, I built an award-winning venue that I was so proud of.
Our reviews were amazing, my team was irreplaceable, our clients were happy and business was consistent but I was exhausted, burnt-out and miserable. My family was paying the highest price for my stress and it was taking a toll on my physically and mentally and taking a toll on our happiness and connection. Working every weekend with two teens at home was not sustainable for me.
At the end of 2019, I made the very difficult decision to close the venue. With my family’s full support, we said 2020 would be our last year. It was booked full and I had all the intentions of putting the venue up for sale, honoring all our bookings and going out on a high. It was a solid plan.
Until COVID hit.
2020 was memorable but for all the wrong reasons.
Cancelled weddings, nervous clients, confusing rules, so much stress, so many tears, so much money lost. We were closed down from April to August and once we opened back up, only about half our clients opted to stick with their original plans. We gave everyone a choice because I believe they needed to do what was right for them.
Despite worry and an internal debate about whether or not we should go into 2021 to redeem our final chapter, I opted to stay the course and close doors.
I was not at all prepared for the emotional toll closing a business would have on me. This venue was everything to me these last five years; it was my identity, my occupation, my journey. It challenged me, helped me grow, connected me with so many friends and business acquaintances. No other education or job has ever taught me more and I truly felt like a better person because of it.
And I was letting it all go.
My reasons for closing the doors are what kept me on track. In the last year, I was physically and emotionally exhausted, my family was struggling and I was resentful and joyless. If I kept going, it would be for the sake of reputation of my business and for the first time ever, I opted to put my needs first.
I got into the wedding industry because I had a skill-set that fit it well. I am good at organization, event planning, team building and leadership. It was a natural fit but looking back, I realize, like many outside the industry, I really had no idea what goes into a wedding day.
Combine working 60 hours a week, 45+ weekends a year, late nights (getting home at 1am) and a 45 min one way commute was the perfect recipe for burnout.
I’ve learned a lot about the mistakes I made and if I were to do it all again, I would definitely do some things differently.
But here’s the thing, I don’t want to do it again. I want to do something new. Something that excites me, gives me the freedom of time with family and falls in line with my personal passions. I also want something that I can grown with and can change with my lifestyle as it changes in the next few years.
That’s where we are today, why we are here now.
Since 2016, our family (my husband and two teens) have been traveling far beyond the Florida beaches and amusement parks of our earlier years. We’ve been exploring foreign lands, new cultures and international cities.
It’s been such a healing experience, one that’s brought us closer, slowed down time and built memories that we will always treasure.
“Traveling has always been a passion of mine”
My mom is the one that instilled the curiosity in me and encouraged me to explore through college and my young adult life. My husband is obsessed with travel and even traveled the world on Semester at Sea. We’ve made many trips together, including our honeymoon which was exploring the southern half of France.
Traveling is my happy place, one that allows me to tap into my creative side. It gives me life, hope and a sense of optimism and gratitude.
So when I sat for a few months, taking time to heal and rest, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was going to do next and trust me, I got that question daily. I soon realized that the little Instagram page I started to share my travels brought me more joy than I was willing to admit to myself.
I actually quit social media for 5 months because the stress of closing a business and being stuck at home through COVID was taking a toll on me. I had lost my ability to look forward and be creative.
Slowly, I started to dip my toes back on the page and soon found my groove again.
Above all else, throughout this transition, I’ve told everyone who has asked, that I need to be creative again. I need something that excites me but also challenges me.
Welcome to my blog, a place I hope to inspire others to travel, celebrate life and explore the world around us.
When it all started, my focus was family travel and it still is but like all parts of life, there are stages and transitions. Sure we are in our traveling with teenagers stage now but my husband and I have always prioritized couple trips too (as much as schedules will allow). Since traveling is a shared passion, it’s where we connect best and it’s crucial to us that we still like each other once the kids are gone!
Through this journey of creating a travel blog, I started to realize is that I was missing the old me. The adventurous, brave, independent me. The one who moved to five different cities to live before I was married (a life goal that I met), who moved 3000 miles away to college and took many summer trips with girlfriends, hiking through deserts and mountain ranges.
Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling with my husband and family and will jump at every opportunity to do so but I couldn’t help but wonder, could I get the old me back? I got so used to traveling with my husband by my side and I lost a bit of my sense of courage.
As we transition to empty nesters, I have big goals to do some solo traveling as well. My husband travels a lot for golf and I always stay home with the kids but when they are gone, it’s time for me to travel to pursue my interests too!
I figure I’ll start with US Travel first, get my bearings again to be on my own and then maybe one day I’ll take that international trip I’ve always dreamed of but held onto too many excuses not to go. I also hope to travel with friends and book women-only excursions to meet new friends because let’s be honest, making friends as we get older is HARD but that’s a topic for another day.
If you’ve made it this far or if you’ve scrolled to the bottom, the short version of the long story is this: Life moves fast, through many stages and versions.
Through it all, we develop many chapters of our own identity but in the end, it’s so important that we are true to ourselves and taking care of our needs too. As mommas, we have a tendency to skip that part!
If you are like me and are navigating the waters of the teenage years and the next phase of life is looming ahead, and you hope through the process to rediscover a bit of yourself through travel and adventure, then you are in the right place.
My number one goal is to remind you are not alone and together we can make a life worth living, one we can call our own and one where we can show to our daughters and grand-daughters that moms are individuals too, ones with courage, strength, independence and a sense of adventure.
It’s time to celebrate you and explore the world!
Are you like me and struggle with having fun? Based on the comments on a related IG post, we are not alone. Read the blog about why it’s so important for moms to have fun too.
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