Adventures Abroad.

The countdown is starting to become so much more real.....when Matt graduates we are going to pack our bags and head on out to Europe where we plan to live for as long as it works! It will likely be less than a year, but who knows- we may find a way to stay longer! It's becoming so much more real as we start to look into places, ideas, and how-tos for our upcoming adventure.

This is a plan that he and I have had from the very beginning (literally, a month into our relationship we referenced our married lives). We plan on making it a mix of volunteering and traveling, and we are currently saving up as much as we can. Our musts on the list include Spain, Greece, Switzerland, more of Italy, England and France......the list goes on because there's pretty much nowhere we won't go. We've found some amazing opportunities to throw in that range from building homes, to working with children, to studying endangered elephants!

This is our DREAM for before we settle down and have babies :) I can't believe the time for planning has arrived....Speaking of, I can't believe I have such an amazing life partner to share my dream with!

Has anyone done something like this?

What are your must-see recommendations for Europe?

Musical love.

Have I mentioned I REALLY love Ray Lamontagne? I find these lyrics to his title track to be simply amazing.

Caroline in the mountains

The sun sets up in ribbons high

I'll never wanna get old, never wanna die

We seein' steady rain

'Bout to drive us all insane

Nearly lost a few head up in the pins

At night some of the boys

Get to talking up their girls back home

I tell 'em none's as fine as mine

The old chaplin sayin'

Come morning we'll break the range

We pushin' hard now for the plains

I close my eyes

And I can see you

I close my eyes

And I can feel you here

God willin' and the creek don't rise

I'll be home again before this time next year

Though I fear this fever won't break

All my love

Happy Birthday Bestie!

Happy birthday to my amazingly wonderful, gorgeous, hilarious, talented, supportive, awesome best friend, LAURA. Thank you for being such an important and great part of my life. LOVE YOU!

Inspiration

My darling friend Danielle has an entire blog dedicated to inspiraitons. And my other darling friend Alicia saves pictures that inspire her on her desktop. I found the first item for my inspiration board in the making! How gorgeous is this photo??? I love love love peonies....

Women in Business

I’ve prayed and prayed about some clarity about my career path and what I should be doing with my life. As I’ve posted about long ago, my gripe with my current position is that it requires long hours, which prohibits me from doing pretty much anything else with my evenings….seriously. And the more I progress here, the more hours are expected of me. I’m actually headed in a direction that I like, more of a client services and consulting focused position, so it’s hard for my judgment not to get clouded by visions of success.

The industry I work in is private equity. In short, it’s a very wealthy investment asset class focused on the private markets. And today, one of the publications I receive at work had a very interesting article, titled “Private equity is a man's world... seriously”…

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/08/private-equity-is-a-mans-world-seriously/

Let me remind you that one of the days I look forward to the most is the day I am a mother……and if our lives and health permit, I dream of having four children. It doesn’t bother me that this article is basically arguing that as a woman you basically either choose your career or your family. But that’s a conversation to be had another day (regarding feminism and where I stand on it). As I head in a challenging and upwards direction in my career, I’ve questioned myself for the first time in a long time, regarding if I really should be seeking other opportunities. Then, like a wonderful answer to my prayers occurred a series of three events:

1- I worked until 7:15 last night at which point my boss called me into his office to help him with a spreadsheet before I was free to go.
2- This article was published.
3- A trusted source of information felt the need to tell me today not to get my hopes up too high regarding the organizational changes that have been promised at my firm….not for me specifically, but things that gave me hope for the firm as a whole.

SO, there you have it.

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

I get so overwhelmed sometimes thinking about all of the things that I want to be doing with my life. The list currently includes:

- Take violin and guitar lessons again
- Turn my cardio at the gym into at least 5 miles
- Go back to school for teaching or some kind of medical program
- Do more arts and crafts (make an inspiration board to start)
- Makeover my wardrobe
- Bike a marathon
- Start yoga
- Read the entire Bible

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
-- George Eliot

On a completely unrelated note, this picture from my wedding makes me laugh....