Author: mcmeeshi

Personal blog: jeddandmichelle.com Travel site: intentionaltravelers.com
* Michelle Thoughts, challenges, Intentional Living

Turning 35: Michelle’s Birthday Bucket List

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I promised myself that I wouldn’t actually be old until age 75. But turning 35 means I’ve left my “early thirties” behind, which makes me feel that I no longer fit in the “young adult” category. I’m doing my best to accept this shift in identity without dragging my feet.

I confess that one of my biggest fears about aging is that life will somehow go downhill. I realize that the physical obstacles will increase – I’ve had chronic pain and headaches since my mid-twenties, so I don’t have much hope of anything getting better in that regard. But my real concern doesn’t involve bodily functions.

I remember as a Continue reading “Turning 35: Michelle’s Birthday Bucket List” →

* Michelle Thoughts, Intentional Living

When You’re Not Saving Money at That Sale

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Sale prices. Who doesn’t like to save money and get big shopping discounts? You walk into your favorite store and see a bright sign above some nice T-shirts: “45% off today only!” You may think to yourself: “That sounds like a good deal; I don’t want to miss out.” But I wouldn’t be so sure.

Unfortunately, sometimes those sale prices aren’t actually saving us money.

Intentional Spending

Being aware of how we spend our money is a big part of intentional living. Continue reading “When You’re Not Saving Money at That Sale” →

* Life Updates, Other Travels

Life Updates from J + M | Intentional Travelers

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As you may or may not have noticed, we’ve been posting a bit less on this blog lately. We’re shifting our focus toward our travel blog (now travel business). We do plan to keep posting “simply intentional” reflections here but most of our travels and adventure updates will come from IntentionalTravelers.com, like our life update below:

 New Transformational Travel Business

As we’ve mentioned briefly over the past month or two, we are in the works of launching a business around transformational travel. We are passionate about seeing our culture grow in understanding and appreciation for the world we live in, and be inspired by its beauty and diversity to become more generous, responsible, passionate global citizens.

The primary aim of our business is Continue reading “Life Updates from J + M | Intentional Travelers” →

* Life Updates

The Latest From J + M

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In case you didn’t see the latest update on our travel blog, we have a few pieces of recent news to share:

  • A Worthy Peace Corps Partnership ProjectPhoto credit: Dreamspace CollectiveOur friend, Jordan, a Peace Corps Volunteer who is now serving in our same host community in Jamaica, is raising funds for a project at the community center where Jedd used to work. They plan to create a community garden and demonstration plot that will serve low-income neighborhoods. Learn more and donate here to support this sustainability project!
  • Where To NextOahu
    We’ll be traveling again soon! Our next adventures include Oahu, Vietnam, and Japan – our first time West of Hawaii – and we’re getting all our flights by travel hacking. The main reason for this extended trip (2-3 months) is to help Jedd’s parents make a big move from Hawaii to Japan! As many of you know, we take our freelance work with us on our laptops wherever we go and we’ve got a number of projects going on, so we expect to have our days pretty full this Spring.
  • A New Business VentureScreen Shot 2015-01-23 at 8.03.46 AM
    We’re in the process of forming a travel coordination/consultant business for meaningful, transformational travel. We’re operating under the umbrella of our generous mentor’s travel agency, Travel Team Brokers. Hopefully we’ll have something more solid to share soon, but in the meantime, we’re testing the waters of helping people book travel and starting a network of other travel professionals who are involved in intentional, transformational trips. If you need help booking a vacation of any kind, let us know. You can also help us get connected to people you know in the travel industry who might align with our mission.

Photo Credit (pictures 1 and 3): Ben and Connie of Dreamspace Collective

* Life Updates, Other Travels, Videos

2014: Year In Review Video

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2014 was another eventful year, and we are so thankful for all the people and places we encountered! As usual, we’ve put together a short video of clips from our adventures. You’ll see footage from Peace Corps Jamaica, some road trips and National Parks, France and Switzerland, and more. We hope you enjoy!

* Michelle Thoughts, Things We Love

The Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

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We wanted to share this recipe in honor of being back from our Peace Corps experience in Jamaica. It’s fun to look back on the pictures of us making big batches of these delicious treats for our Jamaican host sister’s wedding.

According to Facebook, many of you actually tried these out at home last year! For my family (Michelle), cinnamon rolls are a traditional part of our holiday celebrations, and I’m looking forward to sharing these rolls with my family in both Oregon and Hawaii this Christmas. I like to make the miniature-sized rolls for this recipe to counteract the generous helpings of cinnamon-sugar and cream cheese frosting it calls for.

Continue reading “The Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls Recipe” →

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Other Travels

Life After Peace Corps: Returning to Post As RPCVs

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Sunrise from a friend's apartment in Kingston
Sunrise from a friend’s apartment in Kingston

What is it like to go back to Jamaica after Peace Corps? Many have asked us this, and we are still trying to figure it out ourselves.

Let me start by saying that going between Jamaica and the U.S. feels like two separate worlds. Continue reading “Life After Peace Corps: Returning to Post As RPCVs” →

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, Other Travels

Back in Jamaica (and How to Save on Travel)

mcmeeshi

Jamaica

We are back on the rock!

Saturday morning we landed in Jamaica, exactly 7 months after completing our service with Peace Corps. This time around, we’re taking the opportunity to experience Jamaica on our own terms (read: with a car and no longer getting approvals or reporting whereabouts to Peace Corps).  Continue reading “Back in Jamaica (and How to Save on Travel)” →

* Michelle Thoughts, Intentional Living, Other Travels

These Photos Brought to You By Uncertainty | Intentional Travelers

mcmeeshi

We recently took a quick trip up to Jedd’s alma mater where he spoke about Peace Corps on an alumni panel for students interested in volunteer service after graduation. It gave us the opportunity to meet up with a number of people from Jedd’s college days. Over breakfast with one of Jedd’s former mentors at PLU, we had a great discussion about what we’re doing (or not doing) with our lives.

We had found ourselves losing enthusiasm and struggling in the absence of a real focus or direction for our lives. Thankfully, he reminded us why we chose our particular way of life in the first place and that choosing our own path naturally comes with its own set of challenges, including uncertainty. We left very grateful for his insights and re-motivated to carry on.

I reflected on our situation, feeling the need to remind myself what we have to be thankful for, and I shared a series of photos from our recent nomadic life on the travel blog. Here’s a quick excerpt and link to that post: Continue reading “These Photos Brought to You By Uncertainty | Intentional Travelers” →