“That’s on my bucket list” is a common refrain I’ve used in the past. In reality, I didn’t actually have a list – just a general sense of things I wanted to do if and when I ever got around to it. So, several years ago – long before we began losing weight and getting […]
There is always that one person on most every group travel trip. You know… “the one.” They often exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: An exhausting personality or offensive sense of humor. The embodiment of the crass and entitled (North) American tourist stereotype. Talking your ear off at dinner, all the while complaining about […]
I’m sitting next to my mother as she receives her first round of chemotherapy treatment. I can honestly say that as I was flitting around the world on our grand 6-month adventure, a chemotherapy clinic is just about the last place I imagined I’d end up upon my return home. We were in Thailand just a couple […]
The instant I touched the wizened cheek of a rescued elephant in Thailand my heart grew tenfold and I knew my soul had been irrevocably changed. I’ve always had a thing for elephants. They pull on my heartstrings like no others. We are often awed by how much elephants are like us humans – their […]
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous Today is the big day! Our adventure of traveling the world for 6 months begins. Glenn actually left a couple of days ago to visit the town he grew up in – Bishop, California. Today I’m headed to Napa Valley […]
I had to give myself a little tough love earlier this week. It turns out I’ve been nurturing some pretty negative body image thoughts without really realizing it. Let me start at the beginning. I will only be taking a carry-on sized bag (plus a backpack) on our six-month around the world trip. Since space […]
Glenn quit his job recently. He’s often fantasized about quitting his job in a blaze of glory. But this was a calculated step in a much larger plan we have to push the pause button on our daily grind. By becoming unemployed Glenn has helped create the space in our lives where magic is going happen. You […]
* GUEST POST by Glenn, Michele’s husband A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams – John Barrymore None of us are ageless. Eventually we will all be limited in one-way or another by age or circumstance. Not an especially cheery thought but something that I’m sure has crossed all of our […]
“My heart’s not in it.” That is what a friend said to me the other day as we were discussing our mutual journey of getting healthy and losing weight. Her comments got me to thinking about all of the times in my life when my heart also wasn’t in it. I’ve certainly spent more time […]
Guest post by Glenn, Michele’s husband. If you have a personal goal heed my advice and keep it to yourself – otherwise you may just have to follow through with it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against personal goals. I think finding something to challenge yourself with, especially something you aren’t quite sure is […]
It turns out that sometimes…running sucks. I learned this important life lesson this past weekend when I participated in the Happy Girls Half-Marathon in Sisters, Oregon. Running 13 miles on forested trails in the high dessert of the Cascade Mountains with 500 other amazing women. What could be better than that? What could go wrong? […]
“Surround yourself with people that make you a better version of yourself” was the quote on the back of a guy’s t-shirt as we ran the Portland Half-Marathon last weekend. I had started studying the t-shirts people were wearing for this momentous event in an effort to distract myself from the fact that I was […]
I read the book Wild last summer. In case you’ve been living in a cave – this is the popular book by Cheryl Strayed (a fellow Portlander, no less) about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Admittedly this was a very atypical book for me to read as I rarely, if ever, read non-fiction. I’m really […]
Glenn has a habit of forgetting to tell me about important things. I think he has imaginary conversations with me in his head and then expects me to be aware of them through osmosis. Oddly, this doesn’t tend to work. Case in point…several months ago Glenn said that he needed money to give Robert (a […]
Glenn and I are training to walk all the way around Mt. Hood over this coming Labor Day Weekend. It’s called “Round the Mountain” and over three days we’ll hike nearly 45 miles, with 36 other people. Each day we’ll be doing 14+ miles at altitude with significant elevation gains/losses throughout the day. It promises […]
