One year ago today, I posted my first blog post. I chose to write about my trip to Vancouver, Canada without realizing at the time that July 1st is Canada Day. And now, one year later, I’m actually in Canada on Canada Day! I will definitely be writing more about my current adventures in this country, but for now I’m going to take a moment to celebrate my one-year “blogiversary”! 🙂

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Over this past year, whether my posts have been frequent or not-so-frequent, I’ve come to realize again and again just how much I love to write! I especially love to write about things I’m passionate about and one of those things is most definitely travel.

I just want to see as much of this planet as I possibly can! I love to explore and discover and I love adventure – and travel encompasses all of those!

I thought it would be fun to go back and see which posts have been the most popular based on page views. So without further ado, below are your top five posts over the past year!

  • Viva Vancouver (Part I) – My first ever blog post! I chose to write about Vancouver as my first post because I absolutely fell in love with this city while I was there and have so yearned to visit again! I have felt similarly with other places I’ve been to but none have captured my heart quite like Vancouver.
Granville Island sunset life and art
  • Hawaii Beach Time! – So Vancouver might be at the top of my list of places I’d love to live, but Hawaii is only a hair behind it. And when I’m actually in Hawaii, it just might edge Vancouver out of its top spot for a bit. 🙂 Hawaii is one of my favorite places in the world and I’ve been fortunate to visit there three times. Can’t wait for the next visit!
hawaii beach time
  • My Summer in Europe: The Beginning – Where it all started! Well, most of it. 🙂 The dreaming and planning of my 10-week adventure traveling through Europe with my best friend.
summer in europe
  • Paris: An Arch, A Ferris Wheel, & A Masterpiece – Ah, Paris! How I do adore you! I spent seven days in Paris which translated into seven blog posts. One of the only time that’s happened which just goes to show how amazing this city is! And all seven of my posts on Paris are some of my favorites!
eiffel tower

And now, it’s only fair that I share some of my favorite posts! 🙂 Some of the posts above are also my favorites (you all have good taste! 😉 ), but I’ve chosen to highlight five different ones. And let me tell you, it was hard to narrow it down to just five! Is that bad to say about my own blog? Oh well. 🙂

  • Mountaintop Wanderings on Mt. Rainier – Wow! What an awesome place! This was such a wonderful day spent hiking Mt. Rainier in Washington, which is why it’s one of my favorite posts. That and the fact that the scenery was so beautiful which translated into beautiful photos.
mount rainier IMG_20121031_190533
  • To Make a Difference in the World – This was a very different kind of post for me. It came about after I had viewed Time’s 2013: The Year in Pictures and felt so helpless and somewhat guilty that I live an essentially worry-free life compared to most of the world. The first few paragraphs actually came from an email I sent a friend after I had viewed the pictures, and he replied back that I needed to turn my thoughts into a blog post. So I took his advice. 🙂 The post ended up being a bit more rambling than I had expected but it’s the journey that my thoughts took and I just wrote them down.
difference
  • Making My Bed with the Cows in Switzerland – I’m seeing a trend here. Three out of five of my favorites have to do with being in various mountains. Hmm… Anyway, my time in the Swiss Alps was amazing and sleeping in a barn for two nights while there was a once in a lifetime experience I won’t soon forget!
swiss alps
  •  Surfing, Hiking & Canoeing in Paradise – One of my posts on Hawaii already made the readers’ top five list so I wasn’t going to include another one on my list, but I just love this post and couldn’t leave it out. 🙂
canoing in hawaii

Other than my passion for travel, another passion is healthy living and all that that entails. Although I had initially planned on this blog to cover both passions, I now realize that ideally I should have two separate blogs, one devoted to each. So my goal for my second year in the world of blogging is to hopefully create another site and move my “healthy” posts to that one. Now I just need to find the time to do all of that. 😛

This past year has been so much fun and definitely a learning experience for me! I’m looking forward to many more years of sharing my travel adventures! Thank you so much for reading, for sharing and for encouraging! I’m very excited for what the future holds!

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