rejoice in the now

"Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle to nurture our dissatisfaction. It’s like trying to get flowers to grow by pouring cement on the garden." - Pema Chodron

In an effort to appreciate where I am right now, here's a list of a few things I'm grateful for this morning:

I woke up today. a miracle in and of itself.

I woke up next to the love of my life, Robbie. what a gift he is to me. every single day.

I have a warm bed.

I have hot coffee to enjoy.

I have nothing to do and no where to be.

the sun is shining.

I have money in the bank and a roof over my head.

I feel inspired and abundant.

I'm able to freely enjoy this day physically, mentally and spiritually.

ordinary courage

I was introduced to Brene Brown by my father who suggested I watch her TED talk on The Power of Vulnerability. Her talk moved me. Her poignancy moved me. Her willingness to be authentic and real moved me. She inspired me to think about authenticity and what it means to be vulnerable in a world that expects perfection and breeds fear. Needless to say, I love her blog entitled Ordinary Courage. She uses the blog as a space to talk about her family, her career, her powerful work on shame and vulnerability and her daily life. I find her work completely fascinating and her blog is a good reminder to choose to be my wholehearted, authentic self.

o dear brother, you are a poet

My brother is an artist of all sorts. One part musician, one part filmmaker, one part poet, one part writer, whole parts dreamer and bringer of joy. He inspires me to connect with my creativity. I love how he grapples with death by writing poetic lyrics and singing it loud and proud. Talk about brave. I am so proud of him.

oh darling, let's be adventurers

Greetings friends! Robbie and I arrived safely back in the US of A on March 1st. Since then, we've driven over 3,000 miles, found a place to temporarily stay and are getting lots of work. Things are going well and life is good. We were very sad to leave Australia (especially our friends and the warm weather) but it was great to see old friends, visit our families and (maybe best of all) eat at some of our favorite Chicago restaurants! Mexican food nor Chicago style deep dish has ever tasted so good :)

We thought we'd come back and immediately want to throw down our roots after traveling for more than six months. Interestingly, we both loved the idea of doing some more traveling at home and ended up living out of suitcases again for the first month we were home. We've decided that we both like the idea of being lifelong vagabonds...not sure how that'll transpire in the future but it sounds exciting!

Unfortunately, our car broke down and we're having to shelf out some serious cash to get it fixed. We've decided to rent out a spare room from some friends for the month of April just to get our feet on the ground and figure out the next step. It's a good lesson of reality: you can't control what happens to you, only the way you react. I've chosen to cultivate a grateful spirit and to focus on all the wonderful opportunities that have presented themselves and the strong support system we have in our lives.

Speaking of opportunities, I got a paid internship for the summer through the Chicago Botanic Gardens with a program called Green Youth Farms. I'll be spending my summer teaching youth how to farm in the city! I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity. I think it will propel my career in the right direction and will allow me to use the skills I learned in Australia to empower young people back home. I feel like getting this internship was a big 'ol wink from the Universe and I'm so very grateful.

the people we've met

We've seen some incredible things on our trip: the greenest greens, the bluest blues, black sand beaches, beautiful mountains, deserted beaches, the great barrier reef, quaint little surf towns, inspiring national parks, glow worm caves, incredible wildlife, the oldest rainforest in the world....the list goes on. But the best thing about the trip has been (by far) the people we've met and learned from on our journey. We've met people from all over the world. Many of them I know we'll keep in touch with. I truly believe that people come in and out of your life to teach you something. I am so grateful for the relationships we've made on our journey. We've learned so much from them and now we have places to stay all over the world! What a gift.

Peter (Australia) was our host at Ironbark Grange. He taught us about permaculture, how to garden, salsa dance, brew beer, make cheese, bread, yogurt and how to cook amazing Asian meals from scratch. He taught us to work hard but play harder. This guy knows how to live life to the fullest.

Rob (originally from Holland, but has lived in Australia for over 20 years) was our host at the Rainforest Hideaway B&B. He's an amazing builder and artist. He taught us how to work with concrete and live in the rainforest. His calm demeanor taught us how to be at peace with our surroundings. He taught us not to be afraid of scary rainforest creatures and to just laugh off the small stuff in life.

Marco (France) and Lisa (Japan) were our flatmates in Cairns. They met in Australia while traveling. She doesn't speak French and he doesn't speak Japanese, so they communicate in English. They are incredibly sweet and we spent a lot of time comparing notes with them about where to go and what to see. They taught us to be open to whatever experiences come our way on the trip.

Pierre (France) was another flatmate of ours in Cairns. He had been traveling for a while and was studying to become a PADI certified dive master. We had some very good conversations with Pierre about politics and life. He was definitely a free spirit.

This is Matteo and his girlfriend, Michela (Italy). Matteo worked at Ironbark Grange with us in Brisbane and Michela met up with him later in Melbourne. They are from Northern Italy near Venice and we can't wait to visit. They're hysterical and fight like crazy. Matteo taught us that it's okay to eat bread with every meal and what it means to be a true friend. Yeah buddy! (or as he would say yeah boddy!)

Peter and Amanda (Vancouver, Canada) were our flatmates in Melbourne. They bought our car about a month ago and started their journey to Perth. We really enjoyed getting to know them. We laughed a lot, had some awesome conversations and they're both really good people.

Yusuf (Mauritius) is one of our flatmates in Melbourne. He is a 21 year old college student and he and Robbie are brothers from another mother. He has taught us how to cook all kinds of wonderful things and has been incredibly generous to us. Before we met Yusuf, we'd never even heard of Mauritius (it's a little island off the coast of Madagascar) but now we can't wait to visit some day. We will always know him and be grateful for the time that we got to know him. Through his generosity, he's taught us that the substance of life is sharing what you can (time, energy, spirit, money, a ride, a listening ear, a smile, whatever...) to other people.

This is Yusuf (right) with Fahad (middle) and Ali (left). Fahad and Ali are originally from Pakistan and moved to Australia to work and study. Fahad cooked us an incredible Pakistani curry dish one day. Ali loves movies and his favorite actor is Al Pacino. His family nicknamed him "Ali Pacino." They've become good friends. Ali is moving to Toronto to study accounting so hopefully, we'll see him states side at some point. They've helped reaffirm our belief that people, regardless of culture or upbringing, are fundamentally more the same than different.

Isabelle (Isa) and Alan are our flatmates from France. They are so silly and have taught us to be more light hearted and playful. They are always laughing, playing and making things into a game for fun. They are so fun to be around and their energy is infectious. We've really enjoyed our time with them and have learned so much from them. We hope to visit them in France someday!

There were many other people we met along the way who we met very briefly or who we just never snapped a picture of. We'll always remember them, recount their stories and be thankful for the lessons they taught us. It's been an incredible journey. I wouldn't change a thing.

he liked it. so, he put a ring on it.

Robbie let me know quite a while ago that he was planning something special for Valentine's day. A week before V-day, he started giving me these love letters. The letters started with a word, then a definition of that word and finally, a letter about how that word has been lived out in our relationship. The words included honesty, loyalty, friendship, comfortable, beautiful, passion and everything. For seven days in a row, he'd leave these letters for me to find along with a chocolate rose (i'm not that crazy about flowers but I'm gaga for chocolate).

On Valentine's day, Robbie took me to a nearby town called Williamstown where we got Thai food to-go, then had a romantic picnic on the beach. Here's me totally oblivious and unassuming enjoying my wine:

Robbie said he was going to give me my last love letter and I had to turn around when I was finished. The word was love. When I turned around he had written, 'lulu, will you marry me?' in the sand and was down on one knee.

Of course, I said yes. It was amazing, smart, clever, sweet and so romantic. We laughed, cried and watched the sun go down on the beach. It was lovely and perfect. I'll never forget it.

Already, we're overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and support we've received from friends and family who've watched our relationship grow over the past five years. We're so grateful to have each other and all the amazing people (you!) to share this wonderful, juicy, whirlwind-of-a-life with.

Matt Nelson Visits Melbourne!

Our good friend and keyboardist, Matt Nelson, was just on tour down under with hiphop sensation Lupe Fiasco for the Big Day Out Festival (the Australia & New Zealand equivalent to Lollapalooza). They had a three-day stop in Melbourne so we got to big kick it! It was so amazing to see a familiar face and to share our adventure with someone from back home. Matt was able to hook it up and get us into two shows and so we got to shake our booties a little bit too. It was a blast!

Yay! Matt's in Australia!

Matt killin' it with Lupe

The crowd at Big Day Out Festival

Matt channeling the karate kid on the beach

The crowd at the second show @ the Palace

I want to thank Matt for spending his off time with us and for getting us tickets to the shows. We had so much fun and will never forget the time we spent with you halfway across the globe!