Typically, the month of February can be summed up in three short little words: Not Long Enough.
Seriously…where DID the month go? One minute I’m in Mexico, and the next minute I’m just a few days away from my flight to Greece. Mind = blown.
It was a great month overall, though. The first week of the month was my last week in Oaxaca, and the remainder of the month was spent in Washington, with time split between Seattle and my hometown.
Here’s the stuff worth mentioning.
In February 2017…
I cut a trip short for the first time in HISTORY.
When I originally planned my trip to Oaxaca, the intention was to stay for two full months. I arrived on January 2nd and had rented an apartment through February, but to remain flexible, my flight was one-way and not round-trip.
Hearing this, you might assume that I somehow knew I would wind up coming home early, but in fact, the exact opposite is true–I thought I might end up staying in Oaxaca much longer.
A few weeks after booking my flight, however, my mom and I solidified our Greece plans and settled on March 6th as our departure date, meaning I’d be coming back to Washington around the end of February anyway.
I know what you’re thinking: But Leah, that still doesn’t explain why you left Mexico on freakin’ February 7th, three whole weeks ahead of schedule.
And you’re absolutely right, dear friend. It doesn’t.
The real reason for my early departure is that roughly one month before my trip, I met someone. Someone very special. In the blink of an eye, we were in a relationship; in another blink, I was in a different country.
Distance is hard on any relationship, and particularly so at the very beginning.
If I’m being really honest, it’s a miracle I lasted as long as I did. I wanted to leave from the moment I got there. When you toss in the fact that I’d long been ready for my travel lifestyle to be over, what you get is a recipe for disaster.
But I gave Oaxaca the old college try anyway and quickly realized I wasn’t going to be happy if I stayed the full two months. I didn’t want that time or that experience to be wasted because I was too sad to leave the house.
In all fairness, I still loved the city and made some wonderful friends and memories. It just wasn’t what my heart wanted at the time.
So, there you have it. Cat’s out of the bag–I have a boyfriend, and he’s wonderful (and every bit worth coming home early for).
You’ll probably see his face around here before too long 🙂
I moved home to Washington and I’m here to stay. Sort of.
It probably comes as a shock to some of you that I’ve settled on Washington as the place I want to be right now. Out of all the amazing places I’ve been in the world, why did I choose Washington?
Oh, I don’t know, because it’s HELLA beautiful here? Jk, that’s not the real only reason.
The answer is pretty simple, though, and it’s because my family and many close friends are here. I wanted a chance to finally play a bigger role in people’s lives and this gives me the best chance to do it.
Since coming home, I’ve already been able to meet my childhood best friend’s new baby, help my mom look at a potential house to buy, have lunch with my aunt, uncle, and brother, and of course spend lots and lots of time with my new beau.
This summer, I look forward to attending some of my high school friends’ weddings and spend quality face time with the people who made an effort to keep in touch with me through all my years of travel.
This doesn’t mean that I’ll be in Washington forever, necessarily.
In fact, the boy and I have intentions of taking our lives on the road at some stage and experiencing the van life for awhile (we have some pretty grand plans of fixing up a little school bus in the not-so-distant future).
We also have grand plans of exploring the ever-living shit out of Washington and the rest of the PNW this year, so while I may be “settled” for the time being, the adventures are far from over.
But what’s certain right now is that this will be my home base–the place I come back to over and over again and the place where I cultivate relationships and begin building my community.
Washington really is a beautiful place–things could definitely be worse. And I’m grateful each and every day for all the time I get to spend with the people I care about most.
I officially wrapped up the last of my freelancing contracts.
Yep, it’s officially official! I’m a full-time blogger! To be clear, this doesn’t mean I’m making a full-time income from my blog yet. I don’t want to lead any of you to believe that I have it all figured out.
Because I worked as a freelancer for such a long time (doing Pinterest and social media for other bloggers, and occasionally picking up writing gigs) I think I unconsciously slacked on my own blog.
I knew it didn’t have to support me since I was earning through other means, and as a result, it didn’t grow at the rate I would have liked.
Now that I don’t have that safety net of freelancing income, it’s time to get serious.
My blog consistently earns me a small amount each month–anywhere from $500 to $1000–which is not too shabby, really, but it’s not a livable income either.
The next few months are set aside for figuring it out, though, and I have pretty high hopes (and an amazingly supportive community around me). Wish me luck!
My Most Popular Posts
When Travel No Longer Feels Meaningful
How to Find Remote Jobs: The Best Sites to Search
6 Simple Ways to Get Photos of Yourself When Traveling Solo
My Best Instagrams
Everybody really loved Seattle this month! ?
What I’m Reading
The 5 Love Languages – An absolutely essential read for every couple ever.
The Four Agreements – An absolutely essential read for every human being ever.
A Few Things I’m Loving
The Best Cat Video on the Internet
50 Facts You Didn’t Know About How I Met Your Mother (so good!!!)
That’s all for February…onward and upward!
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