Our Summer Away…

This is one of those posts that I am not sure how to write. I did not start nor do I continue to write a blog to sound anything but genuine, heartfelt, sincere and passionate about design and about life. I am fully aware that I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to travel and design and live a life full of adventure. Mark and I forwent our entire college life to build a life we began to envision together at a very young age. Not one single day of it has been easy and together we have probably been through more ups, downs and in-betweens in our marriage, in our health and in our finances than most ever will in their lives. And I do try and share lots of that as inspiration here on the pages of my blog. But as you know, I also just share pretty much everything. Our home and our family and yes, our travels…

Mark says I worry too much but I guess some things will never change. I really just wanted to say that I know this post is crazy and I am in fact very grateful for the opportunities I have in my life. Although this Summer-ing thing we do may not be accessible to everyone, I just always hope to inspire women to go for their dreams. Whatever that may mean for them. We as women are strong and we are capable and we are enough. If we want to do things in life, we can do it. I am living proof. I said many many many years ago that I just want to live all over the world. And I want a career and I want kids. I will make it all work. Somehow. And in some way.

As I first shared about this same time last year, I decided to start “moving away” for part of the Summer every year. A dream to live all over the world that I have dreamed for as long as I can remember. You can READ THAT POST HERE. I had this crazy idea one day that my girls and I could “live” and adventure somewhere new each Summer and then Mark could come and go as he pleased. And was able to get away from our companies. I just wasn’t sure how far fetched this dream would seem once the words left my mouth.

But last Summer for our kick-off year, it worked. And we are hooked. The girls and I had an absolutely incredible Summer living in Portland, Oregon. We put 2,300 miles on our rental car, played in 11′ of snow in June, rode a mile high summit to the top of Mt. Hood, watched sea lions swim in a river, saw a bald eagle fly out of it’s nest, hiked up the second tallest waterfall in the United States, visited lavender farms, went whale watching off the coast of Canada and made more memories that Summer than probably the entire year combined. The girls still reference the trip every chance they get.

For this upcoming Summer, I played around with quite a few ideas. First I was set on doing the Vancouver and Banff areas of Canada. And then I thought maybe the NorthEast Coast of the United States. But then one day I just decided to go for it. I want to live in France for the Summer. A dream I’ve had since minoring in French in college. I want to visit Paris and live on the coast. I want my girls to experience Europe and be immersed in another culture and in another language. For me personally, seeing the world has shown me that there is so much more to this life than Monroe, Georgia. It has given me dreams larger than life and the passion to put those dreams to work. It has shown me that there is so much in this World to see and do and pursue. And that is what I want for my girls. I want them to see it all, do it all and then decide what they want for themselves one day.

So this Summer we are living in Europe for a month and a half. Almost one month in France and the rest we have actually decided to spend in Switzerland as well. There is definitely .0001% of me that is the tiniest bit nervous about it all but adventure is my love language and I am up for the challenge. Mark will be once again “bringing us” and “picking us up” and helping me get accustomed to driving there and all of those fun things. The girls will be taking French language camps in Antibes, France and hopefully making lots of new friends. We are planing to drive all over and experience everything we possibly can. To say we are all excited would be the understatement of the century. Here’s a peek at where all we are spending the Summer…