on a hike – 14,000 feet up in the air.

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd..

This is Matt jumping. There is a 14,300 foot drop about 5 inches behind him.

After one of our climbs!

Sunset in the clouds.

From one of the many food events this month! Vegans LOVE potlucks, dare I say we love them a billion times more than any baptist

Rocks balancing in the river.

One of our many workouts (this is about 3/4 of the way up) – Matt ran these, I walked, crawled, dragged myself up them. Our personal trainer, JP came out from LA to work with us and this was his idea of fun.

It is definitely one of the most beautiful places we’ve been. Every day we were active and every weekend we went on long, beautiful hikes. We really fell in love with hiking and the outdoors.

The photo above is from our hike to Mount Evans near Boulder. It was 14,000 feet up in the air! We were above the clouds on most of the hike!

We’re so happy that we got to be in Colorado. Matt has wanted to get back here since he left in third grade. He had so many vivid memories of different places he lived and cherished all of them – it was right before he left to live overseas and so he had very clear memories of his last years in the states that he held onto when his family moved overseas again when he was in 4th grade.

We’re off to Oklahoma City for a week to have a mini reunion with Matt’s family and then it’s back to Austin!

Today is my best friends birthday! I miss her so much! L and I met in college – Trinkle Hall! We were music majors together. She’s been with me through it all and has stayed by my side no matter what. Leaving DC was a pretty easy decision for us – except that we had to leave L, that was not easy at all. I wish I could be there with her today, celebrating at the beach..
L – I am so thankful that you are in my life and that you stuck by me no matter what. You are a true friend and I love you so much! I hope this year is beautiful and filled with lots of happiness. You deserve the very best – and nothing less
I love you! -N

We left Park City yesterday for Boulder, CO. We’re sitting in our new home right near Pearl Street and enjoying the cool morning. I have never been to Boulder, however Matt spent a little time here when he was much younger. Yesterday, we were driving around with nowhere to go when Matt spotted a street and wanted to find parking right away, he told me we had to stop and walk down this particular street. We got out of the car, and started walking, when we came up to a bunch of small boulders that kids were playing on. He stood there for a second and then told me that he used to play on these boulders when he was THREE. THREE! And he even figured out that one was missing.

The first few days that we’re in a new place always seems strange. And we always miss the place we just left.

We are going to miss Park City. What a beautiful town! We could see ski slopes all around our condo and in five minutes could be hiking at almost 10,000 feet up in the air. We will also miss the people we met while living there. Salt Lake City and Park City have some awesome people.

Here are some photos of Park City (and beyond)

(ski lift we took to the top of a mountain to do some hiking)

When we set out on our grand adventure, we originally had California in mind. Living on the East Coast all of our lives we definitely  heard our fair share of stereotyping of the West Coast and especially about Californians.

In our travels we have found that no matter where you are, there are amazing people who are diverse in thought, in culture, in background and more. When we set out for California so many people told us that people in California were ‘crazy liberals’ or pot heads, or all about vanity, or any other number of labels.

Matt and I are dead set against labels. We find them completely useless and harmful. Once you apply a label to a person or an area, you miss out on so much.

One of our very first days in California we ended up in a small town outside of San Francisco. We were at a small event to watch the inauguration of President Obama. There were people of all races, of all religions, of all occupations. We met doctors and farmers all in this little tiny town with a main street that you would miss if you blinked.

We were in Seattle, a place where people told us that everyone is depressed, yet some of the happiest people we’ve ever met were in Seattle, and it turned out they mostly LOVED the cloudy days.

We were in Arizona during the immigration debate and didn’t notice at all, people of all races and backgrounds were enjoying being neighbors and friends. People went on with their daily life, sure there were a few protests here and there, but they weren’t what the news showed or what newscasters wanted the rest of the country to believe about Arizonans.

We were in Oklahoma City, a place in which I thought would be far from what we would ever really enjoy. We’re a bit hippie and I always though Oklahoma City was – well far from that. But then, our Uncles drove us around and showed us all of the fun things to do in OKC. The diversity of the city that we had no clue about. We went to vegan restaurants and I got to go to the most famous raw vegan restaurant in the country – right in Oklahoma City. And the people there? Just like anyone else, they have families, friends and live the best life they know how. Just like the people in Venice Beach or Jerome, AZ.

We have been living in Utah for the past couple of months. We didn’t know what to expect, we were told by so many that Utah was this very odd state, with weird liquor laws and a lot of religion. But when we got here, we found the same thing as we’ve found in every other place we have visited – people are people. We’ve met Mormons, Buddhists and Atheists while living here. I haven’t noticed that there are any weird laws (more weird than any other state) and we have come to really love the state.

I could go on, but the same is true for each city we have visited, there are amazing people no matter where you live. And it doesn’t really matter what you believe, where you come from, and what you do. You just have to have an open mind to learning about people and be willing to find common ground, the rest is easy.

This is why it is hard for us to leave every city in which we visit. We end up coming to love each place and the people in it. It’s one of the greatest joys of traveling full time.

We have so many fun memories of him in those first few years. We would have him for a few days every so often. I’d pick him up at his Dad’s (Matt’s brother) office and then we’d head to the mall. He was the best shopping buddy. We’d hit the playground, and then go to the Mac store and the Disney store to do some shopping. And then we’d head to some kids event or park and play until I was worn out.

One time we were at this kids concert in a coffee shop, and he walked to the front and stood there to watch the strange guy sing. The next thing I knew he had decided to hold the hand of a father (not his father). The guy was covered in tattoos and piercings and had crazy multi-colored hair and had a little girl about Dylan’s age with him. I politely told Dylan we had to get going and he looked up and said “He’s funny”.

And of course there was the time when Matt and I took Dylan out to breakfast and Dylan decided to make the weirdest noise EVER. It was a very loud grunting noise. Matt looked at him and said “What’s that noise??” and Dylan started cracking up. When we got in the car Dylan started to say (over and over) “WHAT’S THAT NOISE????!!!!” and then proceed to make the noise. He did this for a while, until he finally stopped and started to sing, Jimmy Buffets “Margaritaville”. At this point Matt had to pull over because he was laughing so hard.

And if you haven’t seen it, this is Dylan doing a cover of Margaritaville.

When Kiley was born, we had Dylan for a couple of days. Poor guy had an awful cold, I had to call my friend who is a doctor to figure out what the heck to do with him – it was so sad seeing him sick. He was crying and coughing one of the nights and Matt was in his guest room trying to rock him to sleep and kept saying “Why you crying little buddy?” and Dylan, in all of his sobbing looked at Matt and put his hand on his face and said “WHY YOU CRYING? Little buddy?”

When we went back to visit in March, we got to spend a couple of days with Dylan. We went to the Washington Monument where he and Matt ran the good part of a mile up to the top of the hill so we could fly kites. When he was running out of breath he started to slow down and started singing very loudly a song that sounded just like “I’ve been working on the railroad” but had the words “We’re running up the hill” and “We’re going to fly kites”. He is going to be a musical genius one day And on the way home when we told him he had to take a nap, he sang very loudly for a few minutes “I’m not going to take a nap, NO, I’m not gonna do it, don’t do it! I’m not gonna take a nap!”

As an Aunt & Uncle we could just laugh about it – he fell asleep on the way home anyway.

Dylan was my little bit of brightness in a really dark time in our lives. My diabetes was getting worse, and things were not looking good for me. He somehow managed to help me forget all of that when we’d hang out with him, he made me realize that despite all that we were going through there was joy to be found and laughter to be had.

It’s one of the reasons why I love children so much – they just know when it’s ok to laugh and be happy. He taught us a very important lesson – sometimes it’s ok to just be silly, to dance for no reason, to make funny noises (even when people stare at you), to sing songs wherever you are and to see all the small details that we to often forget as adults.

So, happy birthday to our little buddy.

Here are some photos from our month:

This is at Olympic Park – which we can see from our condo! People ski jump into a big pool!

What it looks like on most days:

blooming flowers:

funny and true t-shirt:

dowtown Park City:

sunset:

We’ve been trying to figure out our plans for the rest of the year, and into early next year. It’s a weird position to be in – to be able to live ANYWHERE. There are so many amazing places to live, plus, we want to get back to all the cities we’ve already traveled to.

We have discovered a few things about traveling:

1. Every place can be great if we want it to be.

2. We can get ‘vegan’ food in any city – even if it is one of the smallest cities in the US. (we’re vegans, and low and behold every grocery store has a vegan section – it’s called the produce section!)

3. There are beautiful pictures to take – everywhere.

4. There is a local scene in every city. Music venues, theaters, something where people are hanging out and having fun.

5. There are people to meet – no matter where you live.

6. There is internet – everywhere. Seriously, we haven’t had any trouble working online.

7. We never know what to expect – but always get more than we expected.

8. Every home can feel like home, if we want it to. We have a few trinkets, some pictures of family, some magnets. Matt has his keyboard and I have my violin. We haven’t missed anything at all, and each place we live quickly becomes our home.

9. There are cool places to rent, in our price range – everywhere. Actually, I’d say that there are places to rent that are REALLY inexpensive, especially in the off season. The place we’re living right now in the high season rents for over 3000 dollars per month! In the summer, which is absolutely PERFECT it rents for under 1000 a month – and yes that include all utilities, hdtv with a blueray player, internet, a very fancy kitchen set-up, top of the line furniture, bedding (and so on). So if we want to live for under 1000 per month living expenses? That’s easy.

10. We miss each place we leave. We are sad no matter where we leave, and can’t wait to get back.

So, with all of that in mind – how on earth do we pick new places, when we could be happy anywhere? It’s a good problem to have, but needless to say, picking from 50 states and 100′s of cities can get to be tricky.

Right now we’re looking at:

Asheville, NC, Hilton Head Island, SC, Charleston, SC, Outer Banks, NC, The Florida Keys, The Gulf Coast of FL, Miami, St.Augustine, FL.

For possible locations between November-April. Of course, we’d be breaking those up – we stay in most places for 2 months.

And then, throw in the Holidays. We love the Holidays. We also love having people visit! So we have to find housing that can fit whoever ends up visiting us. So not only are we looking for housing for ourselves, but looking for housing for friends/family who come and visit.

Oh – and let’s not forget the weather! We try to be in cities on their off seasons or shoulder seasons, but we don’t really want to be in North Dakota in January even if we could get a mansion for 500 dollars a month

I keep reminding myself that Matt and I want to be traveling for a VERY long time – so we have plenty of time to visit as many cities as we want. But it’s still tricky to plan out our life and where we want to live.

So, for now, I keep looking for great places, nice homes and I try to keep in mind that we’ll be happy no matter where we are.

“From the moment I fell down the rabbit hole I’ve been told what I must be. I’ve been shrunk, stretched, and stuffed into a teapot. I have been
accused of being Alice and not being Alice. But this is my dream. I will decide where it goes from here. I make the path”(Alice in Wonderland)

I remember the moment I knew we were moving. We were being driven by a friend of ours out in Los Angeles, he had just took us on a whirl wind tour of the city and I had told him, I just want to live in a place where there is ocean and mountains. He brought us out to Venice Beach, and low and behold, there were mountains AND ocean! It was beautiful. We were driving home from the beach, the sun was setting and he had the radio on, and I knew that whatever was going to happen after that would be an entire new path.

I knew we couldn’t just go back to the way we were living. It wasn’t that life was so horrible, but there was something that we had missed, something that we needed to experience. There were a million things that could have gone wrong with our decision to move, and so many people told us ALL of them. Thankfully, we ignored all of that. We decided that this was our dream, and our path, and whatever was going to happen, we were going to decide.

So that’s what we did, we made our own path. Sometimes the path isn’t laid out in front of us – sometimes we have no clue what we are doing or where we are going. We’ve learned, that life is about making our own path, it’s about stomping down some new ground, and not worrying so much about the outcome.

Lately, we’ve been dreaming up all sorts of paths to take. We ask ourselves “what’s the worst that can happen?” and then we figure out how we could deal with the worst, and go for it.

Our life is one giant adventure, the people we meet, the places we see, the unexpected paths, and we get to make those paths, because this is our dream.

One of the best things about traveling full time is that we get to meet some of the friends we met online, in real life. It’s been one of joys of this entire experience.

A few months ago, while we were in Austin we got to meet Linda, a woman that I met through her blog and quickly became friends with. Linda happens to have three absolutely amazing and beautiful girls. Each of them is beyond talented and stunning. And we were fortunate to do photo shoots for each of them.

Her oldest daughter graduated High School today. I’m sure that there was some crying and knowing Linda, there was definitely laughter. Her girls are lucky to have Linda for a mom. While I know that being a Mom is not easy – I never heard Linda once complain about her daughters or once say anything negative about them. While I am not a Mother, I appreciate when I see Mothers who do not complain endlessly about the pains of motherhood, but rather celebrate the children they are so lucky to have. So many Mothers have lost children or have children who suffer that would love to complain about some things like driving kids around, or even tantrums. I met a Mother once who had lost 2 children in a horrific accident, she told me that she would do anything to just hear their voices again, even if they were screaming for some toy.

Somehow, I know that Linda knows how fortunate she is to have such beautiful, healthy and talented children. And while I know there must be hard days, she does not broadcast it or wallow in it, she’s just a Mom. And today her oldest walks across a stage into the land of no-mom land. She has raised a beautiful young woman, and I know that she will go into this world stronger because of the Mother that raised her.

So for Linda – you have done an amazing job! And to her daughter – the sky is the limit….

Happy Graduation!