JamieBLT

“My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me. ” – Imam Al-Shafi’i.

On this last day of 2015, it’s only natural that I collect my thoughts into a blog post about how extremely grateful I am for all of the blessings I have experienced this year. I am privileged to say that it was one of my best years to date. I guess the stars aligned, and the universe decided to throw a bit of luck my way!

Though I am a huge believer in divine intervention and things bigger than we are, I also believe that you have a significant hand in concocting the life you want by the choices you make and the lessons you embrace and learn from.

This year, the biggest lesson I learned was about letting go. Letting go of situations, and people that do not contribute to your happiness and well-being. For me, it was letting go of a job/career I thought I wanted, and a friendship that was no longer what it used to be. For a good part of the year, I tortured myself by putting in a lot of time and energy trying to figure out how to keep and make these two things continue to fit into my life. Through the guidance of my family and friends, and the insight I gained through my adventures this year, I realized that the career I thought I wanted was not suited for me, nor I for it, and that the effort I put into maintaining this friendship was one sided. So I let go. It took a while to get over the loss of these these two things that meant a lot to me at one point in my life, but by letting go I made room for greater possibilities.

I also let go of the “someday” and the “eventually,” and embraced the NOW. I reignited my childhood passion for travel and made plans to take advantage of every opportunity that I could to discover places I haven’t been and go to places I have always wanted to go.

It took a lot of sacrifice, planning, a few sleepless nights (bargain hunting for those travel deals takes serious research), and LOTS of love from my squad but I am so grateful, humbled, and HAPPY for the places I traveled to in 2015.

Here are my top 10 most memorable experiences of 2015:

10. NYC and the finally seeing the Statue of Liberty!

9. Seeing the Liberty Bell in Philly and hanging with these two!

8. Road trip to Sedona, AZ with my crazy, amazing, fun family. Did I mention they are crazy? 🙂

7. Pampering my mom in Beverly Hills for Mother’s Day.

6. Exploring the Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Roswell, and Taos in New Mexico with these two good looking gents.

5. Finding the Fire Wave in Nevada with more good looking gents.

4. Hiking the Hanakapi’ai Trail and discovering Kauai!

3. Getting away from it all in the desert.

2.  Celebrating Tim’s big 30 and Holiday time in New Orleans!

And hands down the best experience of the year 2015:

1. Eurotrip with my amazing man! Thank you for making my dreams of seeing London, Paris, Edinburgh, Colmar, and especially STONEHENGE come true!!

I am so happy and grateful for all of you that read my blog and share my passion and love for traveling and sharing stories! I wish you all the brightest and happiest 2016. I hope that it’s filled with wonderful moments! Cheers xoxo