New and old friends

Social media really does change the landscape of connection. I put up a post that I'm in the area for a bit and requesting connections and sudden I have a social circle up here!

I had lunch at a brewery in Bethesda, MD with the awesome, adorable, totally cool Blamchard family. 

Yoga and sushi with my new friend Julie and my FB friend Kristin. 

Dinner and drinks with my college buddy James and new friend Maureen. 

Dinner and shopping with my Mom's cousins Kelly and Debbie. 

The awesome thing is that there's are amazing people I've connected with online that live in the area that I have yet to meet. So there's more friendships to be made when I'm back in April. 

The world is such a small place. There really is access to community and connection wherever I go. I just have to seek it out. :)

On Thin Ice

I made it to DC safely only to remember how pretty snow is and how much I hate ice....

How cool am I that I get to have made from scratch glutten free waffles with strawberries and everything!

I'm a traveling Fool!

Can you tell I like to travel? Just a little bit?

It's a priority for me.

1. Me
2. Family / Relationships
3. Laughter / Fun
4. Business Growth / World Impact
5. Travel and World Connection

Over the past 8 months I've been growing my own business (Wildflower) and in the past couple of months it has started to really pay off. The cool part? I have been able to structure things and attract clients that allow me to travel all over the world, with cool people, while growing my business and having fun. Can you see why I'm a wee bit excited?

With that said 2015 is going to be a year of travel and as usual I love to let my family and friends travel vicariously through me. You'll have to follow my business page on Facebook to keep up with the work developments but if you want to see what I'm doing to have fun you're in the right place. If you really want to keep up with me, be sure to plug in to the Follow by Email option to the left here.

And here we go....!

Tying up Thailand

I'm home safe - dealing with the fun jet lag that comes from a 12 hour time difference. :)

I made a commitment this trip to be really present and not take as many photos. What I did take are all up on my Flickr here.

This trip was amazing. I'm sure part of it is because it was my first trip to Asia, the first time I've traveled without family in a while, and just because of where I am at in life. I also think it was huge to travel with a group and to have the entire trip planned for me.

Since this trip was part of an Entrepreneur's retreat the entire thing was planned by Insouciance Abroad. Leading up to the trip I was really uncomfortable with this lack of control, I've always planned my own trips and been completely aware of and in control of where I go when so to decide to go. So for me to decide to go on a trip, to a new place, without anyone from my comfort zone, two weeks before we leave AND have no control - man! The thing is, that was what made the trip so cool!

The people in the group were AWESOME. Not having to worry about what was coming next freed me up to be present, and focused and really enjoy each and every experience. I knew when I agreed to go that there was a reason I was going and it was true.... :) I think it will take time for all of the reasons to really sink in and reveal themselves. This was definitely a key part of my personal journey.

Cooking & Temple

Today we had an amazing cooking lesson followed by a temple. Now we're back in Bangkok with early flight back to US.

I'm exhausted. More to come.

Thai Culture or Thai Disney ?

Tonight we enjoyed a traditional dinner seated on the floor while watching a show about culture and history. It was good and a bit weird. I got flack from Damien for using Disney as a standard to compare to, until everyone else commented on how much it did indeed feel like a touristy theme park :)

It was fun though. The food was great. Also it was the first super touristy thing we've done.

My favorites parts, aside from awesome company, was the crazy long nails on the performers and lighting the lanterns at the end. The lanterns were massive and releasing them together was a really cool bonding experience.

Elephants!

I can't even begin to describe this day right now. I need sleep, time to digest and a proper key board.

For now I leave you with a few photos. My elephant was Big Mama. She's one of the oldest and was severely abused including a machete to the head prior to being rescued. We bonded.

More to come later.