Category:  Personal Growth

 What’s not to love about Ireland? Tiny green men promising  pots of gold and lucky charms? The warm hospitality of the locals who will literally bend over backwards to help you? The possibility of running into Gerard Butler as you wander around aimlessly looking for Killarney National Park? All of these reasons and more made Ireland one of the top destinations on my top list of travels. 

When a local woman I met on the ferry insisted that her father drive me to my hostel after we arrived, it reconfirmed the warm Irish hospitality, but I was unprepared for the shockingly cold weather. Granted it was January and I know the weather there is unpredictable,  but a snow-jacket and boots? Where were all these green rolling hills full of four-leaf clovers? (They were there, just covered in a haze of cold, wet, white stuff.) (more…)

Maybe it’s because I’ve been single for a while, but I couldn’t come to Italy without meeting the sexiest man in all of Europe. He’s tall, handsome, and has abs I could wash my growing pile of dirty clothes on. He’s an extremely good listener, and the best part about him is there’s no language barrier. Without saying a word we completely understand each other. But there is one small problem. Because of his highly successful career, I would have to stay in Florence to be with him, which kind of puts a damper on the rest of my traveling plans. Oh David, whatever shall we do?

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“With every adversity comes with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

I’ve decided it’s not fun being fired. Especially since it’s the second time now this summer. Alright, so both times were by the same employer who obviously didn’t know what she wanted, but still it doesn’t make it easier. I like leaving a situation with the upper hand, knowing that my services were appreciated and valued and that I left a positive impression. (There I go again, trying to be the people pleaser and worrying about what everyone thinks about me.) Nevermind the fact that if someone doesn’t communicate exactly what they want, it makes it rather difficult to deliver or meet their expectations. Even though the season is just about finished, it still doesn’t take the sting away. Why now, when we are so close to the finish line? Was it really so bad that it couldn’t wait another two weeks when I was planning on leaving anyway?

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Yesterday I turned 31. Wow, that’s hard to write (even harder to say) and it reminds me just how fast life really passes by. When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to get older, and now that I’m getting older, I am afraid (or maybe just not quite ready) to finally grow up. I hope to always keep that child-like spirit, but there’s this nagging clock ticking in the back of my head telling me that maybe it’s time to start thinking about putting the suitcases away and go back to a “normal” life. For anyone that has traveled as I have (and I’m not talking about a vacation, but actually living out of your suitcase for months on end and making the world your home) maybe you can relate to the feeling of no longer knowing what “normal” is. Traveling is “normal” for me, and maybe it means sacrificing other things now (a permanent home, a family, a dog maybe) but I know in time, life will let me know when I’m ready to take on that next adventure. As I look back on this past year since turning gulp…. ”30″  (more…)

Is it because we’ve set too high or challenging of a goal? Or is it because we’ve failed to take the necessary (and consistent) action to make that goal a reality? (I emphasis consistency here because it’s one thing to get a gym
membership in January, but another thing to be the only one in that empty gym come February or March.)

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Another summer day, has come and gone away in Paris and Rome, (well actually Monaco) but I wanna go home. Ah that magical word which can have so many different meanings. Being away from family and friends for so long and the personal changes I have gone through since traveling have made me realize that I no longer know where “home” is. (more…)

He never knew his grandmother. She died before he was even a twinkle in his own mothers’ eye. Which was why I knew that one of the first places I had to travel on my adventures in Europe was to Krakow Poland, to pay tribute to the woman I had been partially named after, and to give my dad a chance (even if it was just in seeing her name) to try to put the pieces together of what had happened in our family more than 70 years before. (more…)

One of my favorite authors growing up was Dr. Seuss. I loved the rhymes, the silly names and characters, and with a little deeper thinking, the morals and lessons he would weave into his stories. It wasn’t until I was in college that I got my hands on a copy of his final book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” a parting gift from one of my professors on the last day of class. The book ended up in a box with my tassel and gown but I never forgot the lessons the inspiration and motivation it gave me to help me through a broken engagement, starting a business, and the biggest and scariest adventure of all….growing up. In that book he talks about the decisions we make in life as well as the ups and downs that go with it. (more…)

Spending this summer in the French Riviera working for a multi billionaire I’m surrounded by glitz, glamour, and what most people might consider “success.” I watch as hoards of tourists come in from the cruise ships, posing in front of the Aston Martin’s and the Rolls Royce parked outside the yachts, dreaming of trading in their normal life for the lifestyles of the rich and famous. 

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