i am so excited to welcome carrie of 1canoe2 to our adventure series! carrie is such an amazing illustrator, adventurer & friend. i consider it such an honor to have carrie in this space & hope you find her story inspiring! welcome, sweet carrie…
When Natalie asked me to share my thoughts on adventure and what it means to me, I jokingly told her that adventure is my middle name. I might not actually go that far, but it is a word that I use frequently, and something I think about a lot. I try to live a life that is adventurous, in my own way.
For me adventure is about breaking out of routine, seeking new experiences, and not being afraid of jumping into unknown territory. As an artist I have found that it is important. It is necessary. It is the thing that fuels me and my creative process. If there is anything that can kill creativity it is routine and doing the same thing over and over. I need a little adventure to keep me going, and it is something that I am constantly looking for.
I find adventure in something as simple as trying out a new kind of paint or incorporating a different color palette.
I find it in challenging myself to experiment with different media or subject matter. I find it in transitioning from small paintings in my sketchbook to forty foot wide paintings on the side of our barn.
The creative process itself is an adventure. It’s all about starting with an idea and seeing where the process takes you. It’s about dreaming up big ideas and going for it. The outcome is uncertain, which means sometimes it’s a failure. But sometimes it even better than you imagined.
I also find adventure in getting outside and surrounding myself in nature. I gather a lot of inspiration for my work from the world around me, and I love to travel and experience places that are wild and beautiful. I recently spent two weeks camping on a glacier in Alaska where I learned all kinds of mountaineering skills, summited a few peaks, and basically had an ice axe attached to my hand at all times, for safety reasons.
It was a huge Adventure, with a capital A! It was amazing, and I LOVED it. I could go on and on about how valuable of an experience it was, but it is also true that I get just as much from exploring the natural world close to home. Hiking at local state parks, taking a walk down a country road, or fishing in the lake on my family’s farm.
Adventure is essential for me. It’s what drives my creative work, and it leaves me with a sense of wonder about the world that we live in. It’s mostly about breaking from routine, looking for beauty, and going a little bit out of the way to see the world from a different viewpoint than I normally would.
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thanks so much, carrie!
don’t forget to check out carrie’s instagram!
love,
natalie
friends, i am so excited to share with you ashley’s story of adventure! ashley is an inspiring blogger, amazing photographer, incredible teacher & a dear friend. knowing ashley has made me a better person & today it is such a gift to have her in this space! welcome, ashley…
I was 19 and hanging from a tree root over a rushing river in Alaska. Mountains were every direction I looked and I kept telling myself, “Don’t slip. Watch your footing.” It was a wild summer adventure I had only dreamed of experiencing. When I close my eyes and picture that moment, I can still feel the rush of adrenaline mixed with fear. A few years later, I went skydiving. Then it was a one-time trapeze lesson that turned into a month of classes. For my 30th birthday, I sat in the open cockpit of an old war plane and watched the land creep closer as the pilot took me on flips and nose dives in the air. I love adventure.
There was a time that my definition of adventure included huge trips or big moments. Skydiving. Trips overseas. Helicopter rides over islands. Adventures were big moments, not the little ordinary moments that happened everyday. I had to GO on adventures.
And then somewhere along the way, it all changed.
I realized I am ON an adventure. Everyday. Every moment. I can BE on an adventure right where I am today. It boiled down to perspective for me. I could either long for what I once called adventure or I could embrace and see the adventure each day holds. Today my adventure might include baking a pie with my daughter. Tomorrow it might be discovering new worms in the garden or watching my boys figure out how to catapult eachother off the picnic table.
I still relish every chance I get to GO on adventures, but in the meantime I am choosing to search and find the adventure that each day holds.
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thank you so much, ashley!
also, i invite you to check out ashley’s upcoming snapshop class opening this upcoming monday, june 22nd! it’s an introductory online workshop designed to help you capture the everyday in beautiful ways! she offers a class on both dslr & phone photography… you can find more information here.
love,
natalie
when we were growing up, my mom always had a huge yard sale before a trip. we gathered all of our old toys, misfit clothing, kitchen gadgets & more…this pile would soon become the cash to fuel our annual beach vacation!
i am so thankful for my mom’s example of turning trash into treasure. she constantly serves as an inspiration for my wanderlust spirit & need for adventure.
some may find it frivolous that we would spend several weeks in europe, but we have quickly learned that life is short & we crave adventure. with a whole lot of planning, a bit of creativity & a modest income, we were able to save enough to travel throughout europe (no credit card debt here)!
today i want to share our own creative tips for travel budgeting & saving!
BUDGETING
when budgeting for any adventure, do your research. we opted to fly turkish airlines because it’s prices were much more competitive. we also saved money choosing apartments via airbnb instead of hotels or hostels. also, the benefit of a full kitchen for cooking in quaint part of town was a major plus for our family.
we used an excel sheet to track our spending & savings. we paid for flights, lodging & rail passes throughout the year as we saved money. we also budgeted a specific amount of money for food & extras. because we are using a credit card throughout our trip, we plan to track our spending via mint.com so that we make sure not to overspend. having an idea of how much you can spend each day rather than the entire time you’re vacationing is key to staying on track.
SAVINGS
we did not pull any money from our regular income or alter our monthly budget for our vacation. using a handful of creative revenue streams, we saved the entire sum of our trip expenses. i want to share a handful of ways we saved for our trip throughout the year…
1. creative teamwork: during our trip budgeting meeting, luke & i brainstormed ways to team up & provide a new product that was representative of our family & provide a profit for our adventure fund. we immediately thought up the planting calendar & perpetual planting poster. with a $100 starting point, we produced our calendar. over the year, we sold 250 copies. we used a portion of that profit to then fund our perpetual planting poster, which was also very successful. we are so proud of these two products & will continue working together in this capacity (yay!).
idea- team up with those around you & create something new that you can sell. maybe you’re an excellent photographer who would love to take family portraits for your community or you love baking for others? dream up something big & go for it!
– yard sale: just like my momma, we gathered up all of our goods & had a yard sale. to maximize profits, i asked my girlfriends if they had anything to sell. i sold their items for them & kept 25% of the profits as commission. we walked away with a little over $400 for our trip!
– craft show: we also participated in a handful of craft shows & made a significant profit. this was an excellent way to meet potential customers & spend time with other artists while making a little cash.
– credit card benefits: we are very intentional about how & when we use our credit cards. that being said, for safety purposes, we are using only our credit cards on the trip. an added benefit of using our credit card for such a large sum is the points earned from your spending. we can earn air miles, free books & more. this, in return, saves us money! we plan to track our spending so we can pay our credit card in full when we return.
i’d love to read how you creatively budget & save for travel! please share your tips & ideas!
love,
natalie