My 2017 Travel Wishlist

Hey World,

When I think back to 2016, I am flabbergasted by the amount of places and adventures BG & I were able to squeeze into a single year!

I also forgot to add Zambia on this list in November!

We've already decided that 2017 will be more deliberate with our spending (read: we want to save more money), but that doesn't mean I don't have my sights on a few fun trips I hope to try and sprinkle through the calendar year. We are very lucky in that we are given more vacation than we would receive with most US jobs, which helps make all of this possible!

All of that to say, here's my realistic travel wish list for 2017:

#1. Going gorilla trekking in Rwanda: This is so high on my East African bucket list that if it was any higher, it'd fall off. I'm waiting for a long-time friend to plan her trip and come visit so we can tick this off together, but it's looking like sometime in late fall may be the time!

#2. See the pyramids of Egypt: Egypt Air actually has a direct flight from Dar es Salaam to Cairo. The only issue is the flight to Dar es Salaam from where I live basically doubles the cost! This could be a fun trip to take around our one-year wedding anniversary (and gives us a reason to splurge a bit), and my dad is thinking about joining us for some near-Nile adventures! 

#3. See the Aye-Ayes: If you know me IRL, you probably also know I had a weird childhood obsession with a strange endangered animal called the aye-aye. Well, past self - prepare to have your mind BLOWN. After speaking to some colleagues who have gone recently, Madagascar has a lot of great adventures to offer (and many many lemurs!!!) and it's just a mini-ocean away. I've convinced BG the time to go is now.*

#4: Americana: If you received a Christmas card from us, you probably saw this referenced. While we have literally 0% of it planned and I may have to get 1-4 wisdom teeth removed the week before, I have every intention of this being the best family vacation ever. Think: RV camper, states with no ocean access, national parks, rest stop breaks every 30 minutes, and tumbleweeds. Alright, I don't know if the Grand Canyon has tumbleweeds, but there's only one way to find out! 

 I am really excited to re-frame travel this year as being based on experiences rather than stamps, and trying to include more deliberate trips with a focus on family & friends.  While these plans would slow down the number of new countries to just two for this year, I have faith that perhaps another sneaky trip could be tacked in there (Switzerland, please!!!!).

xoxo,

M

*By "now" I really mean Easter, but close enough to start a countdown clock! 

#BecomingTeamGrimes: Wedding Readings

Hey World,

It's been almost five months since our wedding, and just this weekend, I finally shared 200+ wedding photos on Facebook to family and friends. Talk about procrastination! Anyways, with many of the images out of the bag, it's time to talk details.

Photo by Jen Hudson Photography!

Today I wanted to share the two wedding readings Brady & I selected (okay, mostly I selected) that our officiant read during the ceremony.


The first is the poem, The Art of Marriage. B & I had many discussions about the work that marriage was going to be -- maintaining a marriage would require effort, time, forgiveness, blunt honesty, and most importantly choice. 

The conscious choice day in and day out to say "alright, let's get through one more day together" -- and I think this poem captures so much of that sentiment.

 Image Source: Southern Weddings

Our second reading I found online, and seems to be a little less popular. I did absolutely no research beforehand on who Pierre is, but it turns out he was a Jesuit priest (Parents, you're welcome)! I particularly loved this reading because our love story has been so much of an adventure already, and becoming our best selves, together, is what we wanted both of our readings to reflect.

What were your wedding readings? If you had to do it again, do you have another reading you would have loved to reflect on?

xoxo,
M

Sharing Love on Valentines Day

Hey World,

Similar to my post on Kiva, I want to use this year (and this blog) to think about sharing ways to spread kindness and positivity through giving or acts, as much as possible.

I am also cognizant that I do not want to share anything that I haven't already done myself -- it would be silly to share something that I wouldn't also have dedicated my efforts to!

For Valentines Day, I was looking for a way to mail cards to someone who may like a pick-me-up. I also figured that Valentines Day cards could be extremely easy to make and wouldn't take too much time. 

I found on Do Something a campaign that partnered with Meals on Wheels of America -- which happens to be an organization that my mom and I have a special place in our hearts for!

I signed my name up, emailed the coordinator from a branch less than an hour from my hometown, and spent two evenings preparing 25 Valentines Day cards. Typically, MOW serves clients to address senior hunger and isolation so you can only imagine how much impact a surprise card could make alongside a nice hot meal! 

All in all, I probably spent 2-2.5 hours making cards -- cutting the hearts, gluing them to paper, and hand-writing a unique message in each (following a similar template).

Here's one of the cards I wrote:

"Hello,

I would like to ask you to take a moment and reflect on every single time you have made someone else laugh or smile. Countless, right? Thank you so much for sharing your joy to the world, and Happy Valentines Day.

A friend from Upstate NY"

I loved this exercise, and it cost me just a few stamps to put together a package to mail to the MOW of North Syracuse, who will then make sure they are distributed on Valentines Day to some of their clients or hard-working staff!! It really couldn't have been more easy.

This is an awesome project to do yourself, ask friends to join you in a craft party, or facilitate with children to introduce givingness on a holiday dedicated to love. I would seriously encourage you to check here to find a Meals On Wheels location near you and get some cards in the mail by the end of the week!

More than 50,000 cards have been made and sent to Meals on Wheels already -- will you be making 50,001?

xoxo,

M

Monthly Mantra: Shine Your Light

Hey World,

It's time for the sixth edition of monthly mantra! 

In case this is your first time stopping by, at the beginning of the month I share one quote I've come across to give a positive frame of reference for the coming weeks. They will be shared without explanation, as inspiration comes to each of us differently!

If you have any suggestions for a single sentence mantra, leave it in the comments, and you may see it in an upcoming month! You can check out all of my previous monthly mantras here. 

xoxo,

M

Image Source: Shine Your Light, Marc Johns

February Goals (2017)

Hey World,

I am not quite sure where January went, or how twenty seven days have flown past me with hardly a notice,  but it's already time for my February goals!

1. Get passport with my married name (!!!!!) 

2. Begin/Resume wedding posts on A Path Unpaved 

3. Go to Sauti za Busara for my MA thesis (research, part two!)

4. Keep going to Yoga at least 1x a week

5. Execute 2 kinds of "givingness" this month, that are not money-driven

6. Finish reaching out to my far-away friends for much needed catch-ups

7. Discuss our 2017 donation plan with BG again; especially in light of recent political events

Here's how January shaped up:

1. Set up method for tracking 2017 reading + page counting goals I have an Excel sheet set up, and six books (1,600 pages) already down for 2017! 

2. Kick off 2017 with Brady in Amsterdam  We went, we froze, and we drank lots of hot chocolate near canals! A low-key but beautiful mini-trip to start 2017.  

3. Write 'just because' letters & postcards to friends for January I am back on the bus, posting 5 cards and 3 postcards this month 

4. Change my name on social media accounts Done! What a relief :)

5.  Host an "Open Table" dinner for January I Hosted "Mr. Robato", with spicy beef ramen soup, salad w/ peanut dressing & some sushi for a party of 9. Reports say it was good!   

6. Decide how much BG & I will donate annually, and start a list of which organizations we're interested in  This is more of a process than I thought it would be, but we've had some good preliminary discussions, and made our first donation for 2017! 

xoxo,

M

A Totally Unspectacular Celebration

Hey World,

One Sunday afternoon earlier this month, I baked a confetti angel food cake, made a sweet sugar strawberry topping, and 'invited' Brady into the dining room with a random slice of cake to celebrate. 

There wasn’t an occasion to mark, such as a birthday, work anniversary, or a particularly successful week. It was simply just a celebration of…well, nothing. 

And to be honest, I kind of loved it. Why should there be a reason to have others over for cake? The box of cake mix (Betty Crocker, forever <3) cost me less than $5. And I only had to add water to whip it up – not five minutes from box to bowl to baking!

PS: How pretty is this hand-painted towel my mom gave us for Christmas? 

If you’ve got a box of mix and are waiting for a reason for celebrate (and maybe even a new spoon rest from Christmas you want to debut but couldn't find the event), open the box and just celebrate the calmness of nothing. Use it as an excuse to share a slice with friends or family, or put out a pretty napkin/towel/plate set. Plus you get a sweet treat out of it too ;)

xoxo,
M

Seven Years with Kiva

Hey World,

Today I wanted to share a bit about one of my favorite ways to give - Kiva. Kiva is an online platform where you can upload money to lend to small entrepreneurs or groups, aggregated from reputable micro-finance organizations around the globe. The best part? When you're repaid, you can re-lend the funds, again and again. 



Here's my story.

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I gave my first Kiva loan in November of 2009, after being encouraged to sign up on my campus quad by another GWU student. 

I signed up with just $25, and gave it to a dressmaker in Togo. It took 14 months for Rosalie to pay me back. When she did, I re-lent it to Tenedje, a food market vendor in Mali for a year. When he repaid, my $25 then circulated to Amina, who ran a food stall in Kenya. Amina was the first person to default on her loan. 

In my first three years with Kiva, $25 (the equivalent of a dinner out on campus at the Thai restaurant, or a new dress from Forever 21) pinged across the African continent, and facilitated opportunities for three small entrepreneurs. 

I didn't miss the money.

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In 2013, I tried a new Kiva program, "Zip", which are smaller loans ($5-$10) for American entrepreneurs. They all ended in default -- which is insanely uncommon, but I lost most of my $25. It took a year for my pride to recover, but last spring I read The International Bank of Bob during our DRC trip, and came away realizing that my $25 across four years had a decent run, and it was time to re-invest.

So in March of 2016, I put $75 into my account and picked loans with shorter repayment windows (to help keep my money circulating). That first go-around, I chose a women's group in Nicaragua and two women entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Lucita & Zenaida. 

When they all repaid, the money went back in for a group in Rwanda, Laos, and a farmer in Armenia. My Rwanda loan has finished repaying, and I re-invested in Shabana, a home product saleswoman in Pakistan.

Over the weekend, I reached $25 re-paid credit again, and re-lent it to Agim from Albania, who is seeking a loan to make improvements to his stables. 

All in all, I've given Kiva $99 of my money. In seven years, I've turned that $99 into $300 (tripling the value), which has funded 15 loans in 11 countries...and counting! By July, I'll get enough repayments to re-lend two more times.

It's also fun to browse who to give to next: you can choose by organization, sector, country, or those near/far from their goal. Sometimes, you can even find a 2x opportunity, where a private donor or sponsor organization will match whatever you give for double the impact!

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Kiva is a really easy, non-expensive way to facilitate opportunities for those around the world with big dreams over and over again, and allowing individuals to create their own impact for their families and their communities. If you have a classroom, or a family with young kids, Kiva may be an interesting way to explore the challenges others may be facing, but also the vast amount of opportunity we can share by supporting them to improve their own lives.



If you're interested, you can join here to find out more, and sign up. (Using this link pings me to let me know I've encouraged someone else to give too!) Join a huge community of lenders & borrowers, with almost one billion dollars of money circulating since 2005.

I am so thankful for my journey with Kiva thus far, and am looking forward to the chance to continue supporting entrepreneurs around the world for years to come.

xoxo,
M

NOTES:
* You can click on any of the names or countries mentioned above to read more about the specific people & groups I supported!
* All images shown above are from the Kiva website -- www.kiva.org