These are the places we visited in Greece, Turkey, and Albania
The Life: Writing Travel Guide Websites
February 15th, 2011 by Lisa
My good friend Erin and I are planning a backpacking trip to Greece this summer. We’ve been learning greek, plotting google maps, researching backpacks, and scouring the interwebs for travel information and insider’s guides and tips. We want more than just a tourist’s vacation: we want to see the real Greece, to experience the country for what it is.
In our planning and daydreaming Erin had mentioned that one of the things she wants to do in her lifetime is to write a travel guide. We came across this awesome greek guy’s website where he basically has spent his life visiting all the greek islands and writing about them. It was pretty amusing and informative, and pretty much exactly what we were looking for.
A thought tickled me, and I realized with a shock what a brilliant idea it was. It was more of a decision than an idea, it was so perfect: to make travel guide websites. It’s the perfect life! To actually be able to do full-time what we are already obsessed with. Traveling, exploring and experiencing new places, utilizing photography and web design.
With a new zest for life, we are taking baby steps toward this dream of a career life. As an initial experiment, we have started a blog/travel guide for our home town and area. Our goal is to visit as many places as we can and compile travel info and things to do for youthful people travling on a college student’s budget. Our niche is outdoor adventure travel for the frugal nomadic type.
We are already familiar with our favorite activities and hang out locations, but how much fun will it be to explore and discover those places we aren’t familiar with! You can read and follow our adventures at nwolympicpeninsula.com
A Finger’s Tale
February 10th, 2011 by Lisa
Once upon a time, there was a finger. It had alway thought that it was way too sensitive, and should be more strong and supportive, and should be able to carry more. Then one day, it realized that it was not an arm.
And it was like :O
And then it was like 8D
Only then was it able to appreciate itself, and it’s role as a finger. It also stopped bugging the fool out of all the other members who had been telling it all along that it was a finger and not an arm.
And before it lived happily ever after, it spent a good amount of time learning how to use it’s fingerly strengths and abilities that had gone neglected while it had been trying to be an arm. It lived a good and fruitful life in the freedom of being the member it was made to be.
The End
Re: Re: A Change in Direction
February 6th, 2011 by Lisa
“Well this has turned into something much more extensive that what I originally planned to write. How do I wrap my ‘self acceptance discovery’ into my conclusion? I haven’t even gotten to my original point yet. This is why I never write anything, it’s really hard to explain anything meaningful without getting into my psychological complexes. Unless I keep it impersonal, concise, and factual, I end up trekking all over the place.”
This is an excerpt from an attempted blog post, which was originally about Living a Traveler’s Lifestyle. My first attempt sounded rather like a college assignment, and the second attempt resulted in a rather dramatic telling of personal life struggles and victories. Ah, what would it be, to have the gift of balance?
Looking over both attempts at my post, I noticed a tragic lack of God’s truth in my questions and reasonings. Reconsidering the whole mess from a better perspective, something else snapped into understanding for me. I’ve been wrestling with a ‘faith block’. Not on a grand scale, but in the little things. How can a person trust God to have given His perfect Son to save their soul, but can’t bring themselves to trust Him in the random little things? How can you have faith for eternity but not for the moment?
To summarize my long-winded attempt at the “traveler’s lifestyle” post; I’ve discovered that I’m currently living the life I’ve believed I should want and be satisfied with, while my heart is withering away inside me despite my attempts to convince it that big dreams and whimsical adventures are too big and indefinite and impractical. My heart’s response to this is “EXACTLY!!” and I’d just keep arguing back. The real discovery here is that I’ve been living as the person I’ve believed I should be, and stifling the desires and strengths of the person I really am. Let me tell you, there is such liberation in accepting yourself as you are.
As I was pondering this new self acceptance, the realization dawned on me, that maybe my ‘faith block’ is because I’ve been trying to draw near to God as the person I thought I had to be, and I wouldn’t let go of it when God would work in me to strip it away, instead shrinking back from Him and not able to get any closer. This was one of those realizations that practically counts as a decision, because its so definitely true. He is so good. He waits for you, for when He knows the time is right, but it doesn’t stop Him from loving you the whole way, even during the times you are rejecting Him. Draw near to Him, beloved, and He will draw near to you.
My resolution to remind myself of this new direction (and my original point from the beginning) is to completely change my lifestyle, adopting the lifestyle of a traveller. What this means to me is living with fewer possessions, less vanity, and less entitlement. And of course, traveling more. Not that I will never settle into a home, but that I will place less value on securing a comfortable ‘nest’ full of possessions and security. Just like the Israelites lived as nomads in tents as a reminder of the promised land, I want to ‘travel light’ through life as a reminder not to settle for comfort, and not to be anything less or different than what I’m meant to be. I have yet to discover exactly what that entails, but I am now on my way!
(Garage sale, anyone?)
My TripAdvisor Travel Map
December 30th, 2010 by Lisa
- View my TripAdvisor profile
- Create your own travel map or travel blog
Having worked with TripAdvisor enough at work, I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to actually sign up with a personal account. I suppose there is no motivation to, since you can view all the reviews and information you like without an account, unless you are a frequent traveler and like to leave reviews. But a smart move on TripAdvisor’s part was to team up with Facebook’s Instant Personalization campaign – now I really want my own TripAdvisor account to create my own Personalized Travel Map and view all my Facebook friend’s Travel Maps. A good and effective marketing move.
New Design
November 22nd, 2010 by Lisa
You know you are a web designer when you never get around to updating your own website :) But at long last, my website is donning my very own design. It’s a much simplified version of two or three design ideas I’ve had floating around in my head, and messing around with in photoshop, but have never ventured to code them out. Partly due to lack of time, partly due to the fact that I keep learning more and more every day, and keep thinking “oh, I’ll have to incorporate this design concept or this functionality that into my website somehow…” there are always new ideas and inspirations. I finally decided to bite down and put into action something that I can build upon later.
That is the beauty of web design and development… there is always more to learn, always something new to discover!
Tribute to Inspiring Photographers
February 2nd, 2010 by Lisa
Here is a list of photographers that have truly inspired me, who’s work I admire and aspire to:
Steve McCurry – stevemccurry.com
Denis Reggie – denisreggie.com
Clark Little – clarklittlephotography.com
Annie Geddes – annegeddes.com
Piotr Kulczycki – worldinlylense.com
Favorite photo of 2009 (well, one of many)
January 31st, 2010 by Lisa
One of my favorite photos I’ve taken, along with the ones of his precious delighted face as seen front and center on my homepage.
Twitter and Niches
January 31st, 2010 by Lisa
I’ve finally opened myself a twitter account. I had avoided it for a long while, since it seemed like no more than glorified facebook status updates. As a hard core facebooker, I really had no need for it. Yet curiosity eventually got the better of me, and what I discovered was a plethora of resources. Where facebook is great for social networking, twitter is excellent for following leading blogs and organizations to receive a constant stream of tips, trends, news and resources for whatever it is you desire to know about. I’ve never used rss feeds, but my preferred use of twitter essentially plays the same roll. Everything from photography, to web coding and design blogs, to daily deals websites, to NYTimes Photography, every day have pages and pages of links and tips and news to read and gain inspiration from. Which is exactly what I’ve needed: inspiration to start giving my attention to photography again, to be inspired, and to develop an appetite again for shooting projects and sessions.
I’ve jumped up off my creative derrière and have quickly thrown together for myself a website, which is now motivating me to go forth and create fresh new content to fill it with! In a roundabout way, I have Twitter to thank for it.
Beyond just being inspired, I think I’ve discovered my niche. Although it’s really too early to say, I do know that I’ve been deeply inspired by the wave photography of Clark Little, and recognized several elements about his very specific niche of photography that I’ve always had a keen interest in: water, light, and places. And the biggest plus: getting to travel!