Welcome, welcome to this new monthly wrap-up series I’ve decided to start in 2023! I’m notorious for starting series and then stopping, but I’m pretty excited about these! Our world and lives have drastically changed in the last few years (as has pretty much everyone’s in some degree) and it has made me reassess a lot of things, including this site and what I want it to be!
When I started For the Love of Wanderlust as a college student in late 2010, it was basically a travel diary for my family and a few friends to keep up with where I’d been. Then, I started doing some fun posts, creating a community and, eventually, seeing my blog grow. At that same time, I really became inspired to travel full time and try to monetize my site and in doing that, I feel like I lost part of what I loved about blogging – inspiring people to have their own adventures, having deeper conversations about the life-changing aspects of travel & finding a community of people who are truly out their following their passions & living life as fully as they can.
In 2023, my biggest blogging goal is to write fearlessly. I want to write on a more personal level, connect with readers, again, and share more about the things I’m passionate about. I want this to be a space that I can grow, learn and evolve. So, these monthly posts will be a bit more personal in nature. I’m sure these too will evolve as I settle into them throughout the year, but here’s my first stab at this.
Travel & Planning this Month
Traveling this month was pretty much a no-go. Between having an almost-2-year-old and a 2-month-old and pretty cold temps, especially on the weekends, we found the idea of getting away this month just a liiiiittle too daunting. And you know what? That’s totally okay! It did throw a smidge of a wrench in our goal of getting away monthly, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting away monthly the rest of year, for sure starting in March.
Even though we didn’t truly get away this month, we certainly made some plans for 2023, and even a couple plans for 2024! We booked a bunch of stays for both weekend trips and bigger getaways with destinations like Memphis, Mexico City and California all on the list for 2023. We’ll get into this more in future posts, though. For now, just know that we’re pretty excited about some things to come!
We did manage to do a couple of day hikes. Matt and I kicked off the year with a 7-mile-hike on New Years Day while my parents babysat the kids. It was such a rejuvenating experience. This was one of the first time I truly felt like my whole self since late 2020. I love being a mama, but since May of 2020 I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding non-stop (and I’m still breastfeeding) but getting away for a day with no physical limitations of being pregnant was just so fulfilling. It was a simple three hour break, close to home, where Matt and I just got to do out thing, the two of us. We talked non-stop, enjoyed the beauty of the Ozarks and just reveled in the ‘us‘ time that is hard to come by.
My mom and I got out with the kids during some warm days early this month on a couple of different local Greenway Trails. Since then, though, it hasn’t been super-conducive for hiking because we have the little ones, or we’ve had other plans going on the somewhat warm days.
All-in-all I feel really good about the amount I was able to get out this month. I was hoping for 15 hiking miles this month (I set monthly goals in hopes of hitting my annual goal) and I got 16.06 miles in! So here’s to checking that off!
Blog Posts From January
This month was my jump back into blogging, with a goal of weekly posts + a monthly roundup – 5 posts each month! I have seen a huge jump in page views + affiliate sales – thanks, everyone – and am just feeling really optimistic about blogging again! Here are the posts I wrote in January:
2023, Bring on the Adventures! – This post was a little piece of goal-setting, some personal info and just me feeling the inspiration that New Years Day always brings me.
Log Hollow Falls, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina – This is a trail guide from our most recent new-to-us hike in North Carolina.
Little Grand Canyon, Shawnee National Forest, Illinois – This was my favorite hike I did on my father/daughter trip to Southern Illinois with my dad a few years ago. This trail guide was long overdue.
Angels Landing Trail Guide, Zion National Park – Another overdue post. My dad, Matt and I did this hike Oct. 2021. This trail has since adopted a permit system, that I’m so excited about! I was sure to include the info about that as well.
In addition to writing new posts I updated a handful as well: Hanging Lake Trail – Glenwood Springs, Colorado, What I Pack in My Travel First Aid Kit, Best Hikes Near Asheville, North Carolina, Best Hikes in Big Bend National Park and Dawn at Monument Rocks, Kansas.
Most Popular Post On Instagram
This month, I set a goal of posting daily, which I NAILED! (Feeling a little proud of myself on this one!). I also focused a lot more on Reels, which is quite a challenge, but in a really fun way. My most popular Instagram post in January was a reel from Mulafossur in the Faroe Islands – it’s a truly magical destination that I can’t wait to return to again someday!
Life Updates this Month
You may or may not know, but we added a new member to our family in November of last year, our son Liam. So, we’ve been figuring out how to balance out our life over the last couple of months, because it has been a bit of an adjustment, as you might expect.
Our kids definitely dominate our home life. Liam is almost 3 months old now, and he’s sweetly starting to smile and coo a lot more. He has the most heart-warming smile and just the kindest demeanor. Charleigh is growing like a weed and just wicked smart and soon to celebrating her second birthday next month! Her sass is undeniable, but she’s also super tender-hearted and loves her baby brother so much.
We did have a couple mini adventures in town. We have a season pass to Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium. Charleigh loves telling us all the different names of the animals in the museum. Plus, the penguins are always a massive hit! Also, Charleigh got to see a firetruck up close and personal for the first time! They even let her hit in the truck and it took her 0.5 seconds to “try to drive”. I love her spunky personality.
We had a new dishwasher installed in November and early this month, Matt went to the kitchen one night and his socks were soaked. Our brand new dishwasher flooded our kitchen and into our basement mechanical room. Luckily, we caught it early enough we got it dried up without causing permanent damage. Embarrassingly, it wrecked our lives in the most ridiculous way. We were so unmotivated to cook because we’d have to hand wash everything. When we did cook, we were super lazy about cleaning up and we got so behind. Luckily, we did get caught up and we’re feeling more motivated. But we’re still dishwasher-less. It’s also given me a whole new appreciation for this appliance and realizing the privilege of owning one. I feel like I have no time to do all these dishes with the two kids. My hats off to the mamas out there hand-washing all the dishes!
Travel Inspiration This Month
The brewery I work at hosted viewing of a documentary that we’d been dying to see, Undammed: A Buffalo River Adventure (you can rent it on Amazon). It’s about the Buffalo National River which was America’s first National Riverway and it’s in our own backyard – we spend many weekends on the trails around here! So, we jumped at the opportunity to have a date night (thanks, again, to my parents) to see this film and it left us so, so inspired!
UNDAMMED: A Buffalo River Adventure from Bluff Line Media on Vimeo.
What’s Coming in February?
We’re going to try to make a day trip to Arkansas with my brother, sister-in-law and nephews, weather depending. We’ve got some personal and work goals we’re looking forward to accomplishing this month! My hiking goal for this month is 20 miles, here’s hoping for some warmer weather this month – we’re a bit more fair-weather hikers right now having Liam with us. We’re also looking forward to planning more on our trips later in the year!
At home, we have Charleigh’s birthday party coming up in a couple of weeks! I can’t believe she’s going to be TWO! We’re so excited to celebrate her with friends and family! I also go back to work, starting off slowly, though.
Thanks for following along this year! I would love to hear what you got into in January and what you have planned for next month – travel-related and personally!
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2 Comments
Kritika Panse
February 6, 2023 at 4:37 amTravelling with two kids is admirable. I liked your passion for travelling and wish you luck for all the goals that you’ve set for 2023.
Paige Wunder
February 6, 2023 at 1:43 pmThank you! I really appreciate it. We definitely feel a little crazy sometimes with two kiddos! But it’s also so exciting!