Although today is my first post, the blog really began in March of 2014.

I was 24 and preparing to leave the country for one year to travel solo around the world. I had been living in Portland, Oregon for the last two years and after completing a 4 month emotional intelligence training in Los Angeles I was ready to make some big moves with my life. 

I had traveled to Peru when I was 20. It was my first solo trip abroad and I spent a month backpacking through the mountains, zip lining & river rafting in the jungle and walking around the busy streets of Cusco…I also drank entirely too much rum, smoked spliffs on the top of Machu Picchu, got my first tattoo and ate a lot of anticucho de corazon which is beef heart marinated in vinegar, cumin, garlic and grilled, usually served on a stick with half of a cooked potato stuck on the end of the stick (so fucking good).

I met an incredible group of friends from all over the world that really inspired me to the possibility of long term travel.

I was ready for the trip of a lifetime. A time to meet like minded people and create memories. I think ultimately I was looking to find myself and lose myself at the same time. I now refer to this original trip as my “Eat Pray Love Plan” 

So in March, of 2014 I arrived back in Colorado with my Uhaul trailer of belongings and my Jeep Liberty I’d had since high school. I was planning on spending one month visiting with my family, selling my Jeep and leaving my stuff stored at my mom’s ranch in Kiowa, Colorado. But in the first week I was home, my younger sister Faleena called me and said mom was in the hospital. She said it was bad, so I drove down to Parker Adventist Hospital and really, I never left. 

Mom had been hiding cancer and it had spread to every part of her body – ovaries, colon, bone marrow – everywhere. 

So there I was at age 24 with a one way ticket to Lisbon, Portugal leaving in two weeks and I’m watching my mom die in a hospital room as my younger, soon to be orphaned 15 year old sister watches her best friend and sole caretaker leave this earth. 

Some back story: 

I had a really complicated relationship with my mom which included not speaking for several years and moving out of her house to live with my dad when I was 14 due to abuse.

My sister Faleena’s dad (not my dad) murdered a woman and committed suicide when Faleena was about 6, I was 15. Faleena was raised homeschooled on the  ranch by my mother until March 26th, 2014 when my mom died and I became Faleena’s legal guardian. I prefer the term Master Guardian, for the record. 

So anyways, back to the blog.

I had this whole idea around posting my epic trip around the world and sharing recipes, photos and using the blog as a way to keep in touch with all of my loved ones (letting them know I’m not dead). But then I moved back to Kiowa, Colorado to raise my orphaned sister and clean up my mom’s estate so how would that fit onto the blog? 

I started thinking of blog posts like “Applying for food stamps, what you need to know” “How to ground your sister” “How to clean up a dilapidated 40 acre ranch, for dummies” “How many dead goats can fit in one freezer?” “How to kick your mentally ill stepdad out of the house” 

So needless to say, I focused every single drop of energy I had on raising my sister and getting her through high school. I forgot about the blog, I forgot about my trip and i just gritted my teeth and pushed through it.

Fast forward five years to today

I am sitting in a quaint apartment in Lagos, Portugal sipping on white sangria waiting for my boyfriend Corey to come back with some cookies from the local store. We are four days into our three month trip abroad – the new and improved version of the “Eat Pray Love Plan.”

So the original plan to document the trip abroad is coming back to life and I’m just figuring out how to post content on a blog. I’m nervous about sharing all of this. What if people read this? What if no one reads it? 

I really just want to create a space to share, stay tuned for more.