Brooke’s Balance Bracelets

 

 

 

 

Since I can remember, I have wanted to own my own business. I am a natural boss–just ask my two older brothers. They’ll tell you just what a “leader” I really am! (Don’t you love euphemisms?)

Honestly though, as far back as preschool I can remember starting businesses–from selling pretty rocks I’d find in the woods in the brook behind my house, to Brooke’s Beauty Spa where I’d sell certificates for fifteen minute massages and charge a few bucks extra for a therapeutic cucumber eye treatment, to a few years later creating and editing a neighborhood pet newspaper, “The Bow Wow News,” where I’d feature a different neighborhood dog each month. The list goes on and on.  Entrepreneurship runs through my veins.

Besides co-owning PedisNPassports, I have branched out to becoming a jewelry maker. My yoga teacher introduced me to mala bracelets as a part of therapy and stress relief and we would enjoy making them together.  She would bring beautiful stones all the way from Bali and we’d create beautiful bracelets together that I’d give to family and friends. Then, of course, the business light bulb illuminated.  I could sell these!

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Christmas Day At Paradise Beach in Cozumel, Mexico

Hi All. It’s Brooke!

Over winter break, we took a Central American Cruise on Carnival Magic. Our first port  happened to be Cozumel on Christmas Day.  Choosing an excursion, we didn’t want to do something super crazy because we wanted to keep the entire family together and make it as stress free as possible, so we decided on spending the day at Paradise Beach.

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A Magical Mayan Day in Belize

One of our excursions during our Christmas Carnival Cruise 2017 was to the Central American country of Belize.  We narrowed down our excursion choices to cave tubing, scuba diving or hiking the Mayan ruins. Last year, we snorkeled in caves in Riviera Maya so cave tubing was voted off the list. While scuba diving at the Great Blue Hole sounded remarkable, being novices, we’ve really been planning on a full scuba instructional vacation, and furthermore, the phrase “heavily inhabited with sharks” left the Mayan ruins as a fine selection. Besides, we already had water based excursions planned for Honduras and Mexico.

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Pros and Cons of a Central American Carnival Christmas Cruise

For Christmas this year, we decided to trade in the cold and snow for the tropics and set sail on a Carnival Cruise. (Itinerary coming in future post)  Since we had a wide range of age groups traveling, we figured a cruise would meet everyone’s needs.  Don’t get me wrong, we had a spectacular time–laughs, wonderful memories , quality time together, etc. However, upon reflecting if we’d cruise again during the holidays, or anytime for that matter, this is still left undecided.

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Breaking Traditions–We Must Sail On

Christmas.

Forty-seven years celebrated exactly the same– same family members;  same neighbors;  same hand made ornaments each telling a nostalgic tale, same trivial meal preparation squabbles; same Christmas Eve Mass…sacred traditions created with love and family bonding for almost half a century.

So what happens when you lose an integral part of that tradition?

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Thankful for Catching The Travel Bug

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are thinking of all the blessings we are so grateful for–family, friends, our faith, freedom, health, education…our gratitude list could wrap around the globe–but what we are extremely thankful for this year, is the “world” itself; we are grateful for being bitten by the travel bug and having the desire to see every corner of this awe-inspiring planet!

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A Mother-Daughter Weekend Adventure in San Francisco

Talk about an epic weekend! Hi everyone. It’s Brooke. I just got back from the most incredible weekend in San Francisco and want to share our adventures with you. I’m not saying we hit everything on our list because we didn’t come close, but we certainly tried to get as much in as possible.

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A Fantastic Fall Weekend in Door County, Wisconsin–The Perfect Family Getaway

This past weekend we headed up to Door County, Wisconsin for our very first time.  For years, I’ve heard colleagues and friends talk about how wonderful Door County is, and I honestly never had it on my radar until recently. Spending a good portion of this past summer in Michigan, it was only respectful to give Wisconsin a fair shake, so I began asking around, researching and crafting a weekend itinerary that turned out to be more than we could have ever hoped for!

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A “Beyond Expectations” Weekend Getaway in Indianapolis

This weekend, Brooke had a competition in Indianapolis.  Parents were given the option of attending, and asking me to go away for a weekend is the no brainer of all no brainers.   I had absolutely no expectations, but was happy to enjoy a weekend with my daughter and experiencing a new city.

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Our Mother-Daughter One Year “Trek Around The World” Bucket List

 

My mom and I have begun planning the unthinkable to many, but for us, this itinerary is as real as it gets.  Between the two of us, we have compiled a “Must See/Do List” for each continent.  We are sure we will travel to many of these places before the “BIG TRIP”, so we will cross those off as we go, leaving the unchartered locations for the 2025 trek around the globe.

 

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