I find myself reflecting on life each year around my birthday. I continue to gain new insights and find myself, as the tired old saying goes, “wishing I knew then what I know now.” The major events of my life, both good and bad, have delicately unfolded to reveal lessons essential for my future and unique path. As I near my birthday this month, I decided to compile a list of those that have had the greatest (and most freeing) impact on me.
Drum roll please…
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Hi, I'm Kristin. I am a feisty and frugal 30-something with a love for travel and adventure. My younger self pursued a career as an attorney, hated the practice of law and found myself unemployed during the Great Recession. Just bloody awesome. So I decided to take control and follow my true passions: traveling, writing (aka I’m not a millionaire), and making the world just a little bit smaller by encouraging other non-millionaires to travel to their heart’s content. My website www.abroadawakening.com/ and books (available on amazon.com under “abroad awakening) are dedicated to this cause.
In my spare time, wait….what spare time? Let me try that again….I spend all my time working my day job, enhancing and growing Abroad Awakening, traveling (obviously), and spending time with my husband and two four legged children: Scout and Mose (don’t ask). We live a simple life, explore the world, and always seek new experiences and challenges. I have been truly blessed.
Most of us have probably been there: you walk into a public place, a barefooted babe perched on your hip, grinning the sweetest toothy smile. Inevitably, the pointed questions begin to fly: “Where are his shoes?” “Why is she barefoot?” “Shouldn’t they have something covering their feet?” Maybe your kids detest shoes; maybe their favorite game is “Free the Piggies”; maybe you were in such a rush to get out the door that you forgot to throw shoes over those feet; or maybe—just maybe—your child isn’t wearing shoes because on a little one who has barely even taken his first...
There was once a skinny girl who lived inside of me. She was full of fat-free hopes and low-cal dreams that she could, one day, proudly take the center stage in a pair of skinny jeans. She did irritating things like making me feel bad about eating a brownie while writing an article about diet tips. She berated me for shortening my time at the gym when I was sick, and she pointed out every ounce of fat on my body when I looked in the mirror even though I was only a size 7 at the time. Oh, and...
I’m on the seventh day of a month-long highly restrictive diet to try to deal with some health issues I’ve been having. I want to get that information out of the way up front, just in case this post comes across a little “hangry.” As I’ve been dealing with cutting things from my diet and adding in new things to try to figure out why I’m having my current health issues, it has occurred to me how much time I’ve had to spend thinking about food that I used to spend being productive. It’s not just the actual food prep...
Essential oils. They’re supposed to make you peaceful and calm. They can supposedly cure anything. And they also cost me a friendship. I had a friend who was convinced all my problems could be solved with a little dab of oil. She was convinced everyone’s problems could be solved this way. If only we listened to her advice and followed her rules for natural living, we were promised health and happiness. These essential oils would cure my recurrent health issue, fix another friends chronic illness, heal infertility, and prevent any sickness from ever happening for our family and friends. These...
Dear Well-Meaning Naturopathic Homeopathic Tree Bark Fruitcake Lady at the Park: I love you. I love your passion and zeal. And I love how concerned you are about my family’s health. I realize we are a walking medical disaster area, so I can see why you would want to try to help. You are such wonderful caring person. Thank you for your concern. But we’re good. Okay, obviously we aren’t “good” in the completely healthy sense of the word good–you did notice my Autistic daughter’s diabetes sensor. And I won’t even go into my husband’s arthritis, or my breast cancer....
You shouldn’t read this if you’ve recently eaten, plan on eating soon, have looked at food recently, will look at food in the future, have smelled food recently, will smell food soon, or are considering smelling food soon. Consider yourself warned. Perhaps like me, you really enjoy a little self-care in the form a nice, relaxing pedicure every now and then. Maybe, it’s even a regular thing. You and your girlfriends, or you and your wife enjoy a glass of wine and a Pedi together- this is your thing, and you try not to notice when they dig around in...
Yep, you read that right. Four months after birthing a tiny (well, that’s debatable) human, and I am still rocking my maternity pants. And you know what? I’m not hiding it! Let me give you a few reasons why I’m still wearing these bad boys. 1. I’m In NO Rush. When my oldest was born, I think I was one of those moms that actually packed my regular jeans in my hospital overnight bag. I know, I know, what was I thinking, right? I was naïve and hopeful. With my middle child, I knew better than to pack anything but stretchy...
Please don’t yell at me. I’m already yelling at myself enough. I don’t need a social media scolding because, trust me, I’m being much harder on myself than you can even imagine. The realization happened yesterday. I was driving in Lincoln on a quick day trip and my children were in the car with me. Yes, my children were in the car. My phone sounded that text message sound; it’s the Mario Bros. power up notification and is super amazingly awesome…but I digress. I picked up my phone and read the message. I chuckled and quickly sent a text back....
Have you ever ridden in the passenger seat with your feet up on the dashboard? I sure have. And for years, Audra Tatum of Chickamuga, GA did as well. Despite knowing it was unsafe, and even hearing constant warnings from her husband, she did it anyway. Until one fated day two years ago when her life changed forever. Audra now knows how risky it is to ride in a car this way, and she wants others to heed her warnings. On August 2, 2015, Audra and her husband were T-boned by another vehicle, a mere four miles from their house....
You know the drill– you just want to upload some photos to have them printed, but first you have to spend fifteen minutes trying to remember which one of your 47 variations of your password you might have used for this site. Was this during the phase when you spelled everything with numbers? That time you made all your passwords your favorite zoo animal followed by the number of kids you have? Your mom’s middle name when the vowels were numbers followed by your basketball jersey number? You eventually surrender and go to reset your password, only to find out...