Heather's Harmony

When all you want to do is get home... and then it SNOWS!

Confession: I have several things I really don't like! Examples of the top things I hate are

1) Looking for a Job. The whole process is just frustrating.

2) Breaking up with someone. I'm a lover not a hater and I don't want to hurt anyone.

3) Driving in Snow. Not just driving, but riding in Snow. It's got a direct line to my nerves and in no time flat, you start wondering what happened to the adventurous and strong Heather you once knew.

The snow storm we ran into on our drive home from Four Corners was no different. I drove for less than 30 minutes and felt like I'd been skydiving, cliff jumping and attending school for the first time with all the adrenaline that was pumping through me. RIDICULOUS, I SAY!

Luckily, my friend Nate, the always kind, generous and courageous man that he is, was willing to drive. Thank the heavens for friends like him! Mean while I sat in the back set, head phones in and eyes closed. You know I was in bad shape when the thought of taking pictures of the roads didn't even cross my mind.

I was a total wimp and without photographic evidence I probably sound even more like a wimp. But we've all got to have weaknesses and now you know mine! We decided to take a break for lunch & of course my nerves were back and photo ops started appearing again.

When is the last time you wore your BK Crown??

None of the pictures do my baby like response justice, and in my defence it was really bad at one point because we were on less busy roadways that had yet to be plowed.

Cloudy and Overcast we had escaped the worst of it 30 miles back.

Beautiful random rock that survived the winds and storms of the desert.

At least I managed to get two pictures with some kind of snow! This amount of winter wonderland wouldn't cause me to freak out. 

The below picture is after the storm, fresh snow and in true Utahan weather tradition it storms, shines, rains and shines again. Mother nature here get bi-polar!

Have you ever been stuck in bad weather or had a bad experience on a road trip?

To see more from our trip to the four corners go here. Today an even bigger group of friends & I are heading to good old Sin City! Stay tuned for posts from our adventures there!

When all you want to do is get home... and then it SNOWS!

Confession: I have several things I really don't like! Examples of the top things I hate are

1) Looking for a Job. The whole process is just frustrating.

2) Breaking up with someone. I'm a lover not a hater and I don't want to hurt anyone.

3) Driving in Snow. Not just driving, but riding in Snow. It's got a direct line to my nerves and in no time flat, you start wondering what happened to the adventurous and strong Heather you once knew.

The snow storm we ran into on our drive home from Four Corners was no different. I drove for less than 30 minutes and felt like I'd been skydiving, cliff jumping and attending school for the first time with all the adrenaline that was pumping through me. RIDICULOUS, I SAY!

Luckily, my friend Nate, the always kind, generous and courageous man that he is, was willing to drive. Thank the heavens for friends like him! Mean while I sat in the back set, head phones in and eyes closed. You know I was in bad shape when the thought of taking pictures of the roads didn't even cross my mind.

I was a total wimp and without photographic evidence I probably sound even more like a wimp. But we've all got to have weaknesses and now you know mine! We decided to take a break for lunch & of course my nerves were back and photo ops started appearing again.

When is the last time you wore your BK Crown??

None of the pictures do my baby like response justice, and in my defence it was really bad at one point because we were on less busy roadways that had yet to be plowed.

Cloudy and Overcast we had escaped the worst of it 30 miles back.

Beautiful random rock that survived the winds and storms of the desert.

At least I managed to get two pictures with some kind of snow! This amount of winter wonderland wouldn't cause me to freak out. 

The below picture is after the storm, fresh snow and in true Utahan weather tradition it storms, shines, rains and shines again. Mother nature here get bi-polar!

Have you ever been stuck in bad weather or had a bad experience on a road trip?

To see more from our trip to the four corners go here. Today an even bigger group of friends & I are heading to good old Sin City! Stay tuned for posts from our adventures there!

The first BIG step of 3 needed to start my new life as a Permanent Traveler

Well the time has come; my condo sale is going through this week, it will definitely be one of the most difficult, emotional, exciting and tumultuous weeks of my life.

My condo has been my only constant for 5 ½ years, its been my comfort and safety through love, independence, absolute joy, heartbreak, divorce, new friends, old friends and lost friends, through hardships that took my breath away, wild laughter, illness, uncontrollable tears,  and its given me strength and courage to pursue my dreams.

Even though I have been anticipating and preparing for the time I would have to walk away from my first home… its rocking my world right now.

Every emotion possible is pulsing through me and I’m welcoming each of them in a very bittersweet way.

I know this ending will help facilitate a new beginning that I’ve been dreaming of and anticipating for years and I look forward to the momentous changes that are sure to come my way but for now I am going to let my sadness and grief take its course.

If you are newer to my blog here are a few posts about my condo and my decorating style. Why fell in love with my condo, styling in small spaces, decorating to display your passions, why I prefer to surround myself with personal photos rather than buy others artwork, home is where my heart is, Halloween Party 2011, Christmas Traditions 2011,  My 5 year anniversary of being a home owner.

This transition should be fairly seamless on the blog; I’ve got even more exciting posts about my recent road trip to the Four Corners coming your way and will be posting about the process of closing one chapter and starting anew once I’ve settled into my new home.   

The first BIG step of 3 needed to start my new life as a Permanent Traveler

Well the time has come; my condo sale is going through this week, it will definitely be one of the most difficult, emotional, exciting and tumultuous weeks of my life.

My condo has been my only constant for 5 ½ years, its been my comfort and safety through love, independence, absolute joy, heartbreak, divorce, new friends, old friends and lost friends, through hardships that took my breath away, wild laughter, illness, uncontrollable tears,  and its given me strength and courage to pursue my dreams.

Even though I have been anticipating and preparing for the time I would have to walk away from my first home… its rocking my world right now.

Every emotion possible is pulsing through me and I’m welcoming each of them in a very bittersweet way.

I know this ending will help facilitate a new beginning that I’ve been dreaming of and anticipating for years and I look forward to the momentous changes that are sure to come my way but for now I am going to let my sadness and grief take its course.

If you are newer to my blog here are a few posts about my condo and my decorating style. Why fell in love with my condo, styling in small spaces, decorating to display your passions, why I prefer to surround myself with personal photos rather than buy others artwork, home is where my heart is, Halloween Party 2011, Christmas Traditions 2011,  My 5 year anniversary of being a home owner.

This transition should be fairly seamless on the blog; I’ve got even more exciting posts about my recent road trip to the Four Corners coming your way and will be posting about the process of closing one chapter and starting anew once I’ve settled into my new home.   

My life without Television...

This week on BootsnAll Indie Travel Challenge they are discussing budget. My life drastically changed four years ago and one of these changes was getting rid of public television, it can save someone up to over $100 a month depending on the service you subscribe to but what about your time? How much is that worth to you? Imagine, rather then spending your time on something that will (most likely) not come back to you, what if you spent it with your family? cooking? reading? chores, living healthier, getting to know your neighbors better?

What about all the lost potential that your TV is taking from you without you ever even noticing it?

I have a TV but I don’t get any channels on it and only watch movies. It started somewhat as an experiment to see what my life would be like without spending so much time watching public television and has since turned out to be an interesting & permanent change in my life.

The single largest difference that I have noticed, is in conversation with family, friends and co-workers when they discuss the latest show or story they saw on TV. I simply respond that I don’t have TV and don’t know what they are talking about, I get some shocked reactions and a few that ask what its like or state that they themselves could never live without TV.

Flashback to Heather in 2008. I was even more over weight and wasn’t in the best of spirits. I would go to work like everyone else but at the end of the day I would usually pick up food on my way home, change into pajamas and remain in front of my television the rest of the night then go to bed and repeat day after day. I wouldn’t make plans during my favorite TV shows, I seldom enjoyed anything that wasn't television. I was living vicariously through the characters on the screen. It wasn’t healthy and I wasn’t happy.

Four years later I can say that not having television has impacted my life so much that I don’t even notice it anymore. I would never want TV in my house again, mostly because I know I’ve been addicted to it previously but also because I don’t know where I would find the time to watch it, even if I did have it.

When I watch it now at others houses, waiting rooms ect. it upsets me how media so deeply influences our daily lives, watching commercials while they can be humorous it sickens me to think how bombarded most people are with unnecessary 'things'. No wonder we always want more, we are completely surrounded with brand new products and inventions that there is no way we can keep up, we're already set up for failure. It makes me wish more people would try getting rid of television even just for a certain amount of time, just to open their eyes and see what it does for them.

I will admit TV has some truly amazing and positive effects, but for me those benefits have not out weighed the negativity it brings into my life.

My life without Television...

This week on BootsnAll Indie Travel Challenge they are discussing budget. My life drastically changed four years ago and one of these changes was getting rid of public television, it can save someone up to over $100 a month depending on the service you subscribe to but what about your time? How much is that worth to you? Imagine, rather then spending your time on something that will (most likely) not come back to you, what if you spent it with your family? cooking? reading? chores, living healthier, getting to know your neighbors better?

What about all the lost potential that your TV is taking from you without you ever even noticing it?

I have a TV but I don’t get any channels on it and only watch movies. It started somewhat as an experiment to see what my life would be like without spending so much time watching public television and has since turned out to be an interesting & permanent change in my life.

The single largest difference that I have noticed, is in conversation with family, friends and co-workers when they discuss the latest show or story they saw on TV. I simply respond that I don’t have TV and don’t know what they are talking about, I get some shocked reactions and a few that ask what its like or state that they themselves could never live without TV.

Flashback to Heather in 2008. I was even more over weight and wasn’t in the best of spirits. I would go to work like everyone else but at the end of the day I would usually pick up food on my way home, change into pajamas and remain in front of my television the rest of the night then go to bed and repeat day after day. I wouldn’t make plans during my favorite TV shows, I seldom enjoyed anything that wasn't television. I was living vicariously through the characters on the screen. It wasn’t healthy and I wasn’t happy.

Four years later I can say that not having television has impacted my life so much that I don’t even notice it anymore. I would never want TV in my house again, mostly because I know I’ve been addicted to it previously but also because I don’t know where I would find the time to watch it, even if I did have it.

When I watch it now at others houses, waiting rooms ect. it upsets me how media so deeply influences our daily lives, watching commercials while they can be humorous it sickens me to think how bombarded most people are with unnecessary 'things'. No wonder we always want more, we are completely surrounded with brand new products and inventions that there is no way we can keep up, we're already set up for failure. It makes me wish more people would try getting rid of television even just for a certain amount of time, just to open their eyes and see what it does for them.

I will admit TV has some truly amazing and positive effects, but for me those benefits have not out weighed the negativity it brings into my life.

Microloaning a Month at a time...

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you most likely already know about my favorite non- profit organization, Kiva. As an individual its difficult to know how you can help elevate poverty, create opportunities, support education and strengthen economies that are weak but Kiva provides a world-wide network of micro-finance institutions that lets individuals donate as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Each month I donate $25 to an individual or group and as re-payments are made I re-lend those payments to new loans, in a sense, recycling opportunity.  I also recently started my own lending team, Heathers Harmony, if you're interested in becoming a Kiva lender I'd consider it an honor to have you on our team! To learn more about Kiva and Heathers Harmony's involvement please check out my previous posts here.

This month I chose the Africa One Group in Tanzania.

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva provides facts about the countries they lend to, Tanzania has an average annual income of $723, and a life expectancy of only 44 years! To learn more about this countries facts go here.

 

Microloaning a Month at a time...

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you most likely already know about my favorite non- profit organization, Kiva. As an individual its difficult to know how you can help elevate poverty, create opportunities, support education and strengthen economies that are weak but Kiva provides a world-wide network of micro-finance institutions that lets individuals donate as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Each month I donate $25 to an individual or group and as re-payments are made I re-lend those payments to new loans, in a sense, recycling opportunity.  I also recently started my own lending team, Heathers Harmony, if you're interested in becoming a Kiva lender I'd consider it an honor to have you on our team! To learn more about Kiva and Heathers Harmony's involvement please check out my previous posts here.

This month I chose the Africa One Group in Tanzania.

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva provides facts about the countries they lend to, Tanzania has an average annual income of $723, and a life expectancy of only 44 years! To learn more about this countries facts go here.

 

I'm a list maker... and need your vote!

For my 25^th birthday I made a list of 25 things to do before I turn 26 and every few months I like to update the list with my progress. In two months I had accomplished 4 goals and now I have even more to cross off!

13. Get a new Tattoo.  I’d been dreaming of getting my compass rose tattoo for at least a year, and am so excited to finally have it finished!

9. Build my Savings. I’ve finally reached a point where I can start building my savings to sustain my travels. This will be the account my student loans and residual bills will be paid from while I am out of the country. I’ve received a lot of questions about my financial planning, keep an eye out for a post soon and if there is a question you’d like answered please leave it in the comments below.

16. Watch a movie during Sundance. Can you believe I have lived in Utah for over a decade and never once have I been to a Sundance film?? I can now, getting tickets was such a process!

I saw 5 Broken Cameras which is a film about weekly protests in Bil’in, Palestine, against the Israeli occupation. I participated in a protest during my stay in Palestine during 2009.

 

24. Document my Christmas ornaments. An aspect of my traveling dreams is that I can’t possibly travel with everything I own, as minimal as that may be. My Christmas ornaments are from my travels, that’s the souvenir I always buy for myself and they will be staying behind in my mothers care. I’ve now organized and photographed each ornament so in the event something happens to them I’ll have something to remember each of them. Christmas 2012 may have a ‘digital decorating’ of the tree too!

25. Go to a Utah Jazz basketball game. I hadn’t been to a game in several years and really wanted my list to incorporate a lot of ‘Utah’ activities.

15. Grow & Improve my Blog. This is a daily effort, and I’m thrilled with the shape that my blogging endeavor has taken. Among some of the latest developments has been:

        - A twitter account. Follow @heathertravels

        - Guest posts. a few more are in the works too!

                -  Lessons from my First 6 month of Travel Blogging

                -  Tips from my First 6 months of Travel Blogging 

                - 5 ways to beat being homesick

        - Heathers Harmony accepts guest posts and would love your support & participation! For more information and details Download Writing a guest post. 

     - HeathersHarmony was nominated (and won!) Top 100 Exchange & Experience blogs of 2012. To see the final results go here.

HeathersHarmony has also met and surpassed some goals I’d set which proves to be very fulfilling!

This time of year it seems most people have made goals for themselves, how about you? What were your goals and have you been making progress?

I'm a list maker... and need your vote!

For my 25^th birthday I made a list of 25 things to do before I turn 26 and every few months I like to update the list with my progress. In two months I had accomplished 4 goals and now I have even more to cross off!

13. Get a new Tattoo.  I’d been dreaming of getting my compass rose tattoo for at least a year, and am so excited to finally have it finished!

9. Build my Savings. I’ve finally reached a point where I can start building my savings to sustain my travels. This will be the account my student loans and residual bills will be paid from while I am out of the country. I’ve received a lot of questions about my financial planning, keep an eye out for a post soon and if there is a question you’d like answered please leave it in the comments below.

16. Watch a movie during Sundance. Can you believe I have lived in Utah for over a decade and never once have I been to a Sundance film?? I can now, getting tickets was such a process!

I saw 5 Broken Cameras which is a film about weekly protests in Bil’in, Palestine, against the Israeli occupation. I participated in a protest during my stay in Palestine during 2009.

 

24. Document my Christmas ornaments. An aspect of my traveling dreams is that I can’t possibly travel with everything I own, as minimal as that may be. My Christmas ornaments are from my travels, that’s the souvenir I always buy for myself and they will be staying behind in my mothers care. I’ve now organized and photographed each ornament so in the event something happens to them I’ll have something to remember each of them. Christmas 2012 may have a ‘digital decorating’ of the tree too!

25. Go to a Utah Jazz basketball game. I hadn’t been to a game in several years and really wanted my list to incorporate a lot of ‘Utah’ activities.

15. Grow & Improve my Blog. This is a daily effort, and I’m thrilled with the shape that my blogging endeavor has taken. Among some of the latest developments has been:

        - A twitter account. Follow @heathertravels

        - Guest posts. a few more are in the works too!

                -  Lessons from my First 6 month of Travel Blogging

                -  Tips from my First 6 months of Travel Blogging 

                - 5 ways to beat being homesick

        - Heathers Harmony accepts guest posts and would love your support & participation! For more information and details Download Writing a guest post. 

     - HeathersHarmony was nominated (and won!) Top 100 Exchange & Experience blogs of 2012. To see the final results go here.

HeathersHarmony has also met and surpassed some goals I’d set which proves to be very fulfilling!

This time of year it seems most people have made goals for themselves, how about you? What were your goals and have you been making progress?