Happy Holidays!

Since I was negligent at writing a Christmas letter to send to friends and family this year, I will post a blog of a similar nature, which gives an update on my life and what I have been up to the past year.

This past year has been a year of rediscovery and exploration for me. It began with my continuing to enjoy the spoils of having completed my Master’s degree the previous August and settling into a familiarity with my relatively new position at the EPA. Although I was busy at work – juggling a demanding job as Budget Officer for my office and dealing with some staffing shortages, I was still enjoying new-found free time outside of the office, having grown accustomed to spending every free moment outside of work keeping up with a rigorous graduate program. Having a little more time to myself allowed me to delve into some personal interests as well as just kick back and enjoy life a bit (well, as much as a person like me is able to “kick back!”). I began co-leading my women’s group through my church, National Community Church, and continued volunteering as the nursery coordinator for one of my church’s locations. I also began volunteering as a kitchen assistant at Sur La Table Cooking School, which gave me the opportunity to work in the kitchen alongside experienced chefs and learn more about cooking and baking for free!

Shortly after ringing in the new year, I went back to Oklahoma City for a weekend to attend the wedding of college friends and have a reunion with some dear friends from my days at Oklahoma City University! My sister became engaged around Valentine’s Day and the family hurriedly began planning the wedding (still in progress), which will take place June of 2007.

As many of you know, I am an avid traveler, and the latter part of 2006 has given allowed me to get back into the swing of traveling. In April, several friends and I traveled to Jamaica to visit friends who are stationed there as Peace Corps volunteers. We spent a week and a half traveling around the island, enjoying some time on the beach but also exploring the local culture in more remote, less-traveled areas. In late July, my family met up in Red River, New Mexico, to attend a family reunion. I was back in D.C. for only a few days before my sister and I jetted off to Europe for a week and a half. We spent a few days visiting friends of a friend in Paris and then stayed in Zurich, Switzerland, where my sister attended a conference, for a week.

By the time I left for the August jaunt in Europe, I had already decided to take some time off from work in the fall. When I got back to D.C. mid-August, I had only a few weeks to finish up assignments at work and find a short-term renter for my condo before I began a 4-month leave of absence in September. After saying my temporary farewells to D.C., I spent a few weeks in Oklahoma with my family and finished last-minute preparations for my next big trip: two months backpacking in Europe!

In mid-September I left on my “odyssey,” where I traveled to six countries and approximately twenty cities, visiting some friends along the way but doing much of the trip completely on my own. What an amazing experience! Not only did it give me an opportunity to see and experience some amazing things, it also gave me some much-needed time to think about next steps in my life and reinvigorated in me a desire to travel and explore the world! Pictures from my trip can be seen at http://www.Andreas Odyssey.shutterfly.com.

Since late November, I have been back in Oklahoma with my family. We will spend Christmas and New Year’s in Florida with my sister’s fiancé’s family this year and before I know it, I’ll be headed back to D.C. in early January to partially pick up the life I left there.

Reflections on Andrea's Odyssey

Once again, I must apologize for not blogging in the recent past. My only excuse can be that I have been enjoying being back home and spending time with my family after my two months away. Now that I have had sufficient time for reflection, however, I thought I would "close out" the European trip portion of my blog with a final review:

I've been back in the States for two weeks after my backpacking adventure in Europe. The map above shows my two-month journey: 6 countries, around 20 cities, and an infinite number of memories and experiences. When I tell people of my adventure, I often hear an element of surprise in people's voices when they say something along the lines of "wow, you are so brave" or "oh, I wish I could (or could have) done something like that."

Well, folks, the honest truth is that you can and should do some traveling in whatever form you feel comfortable because it is an experience that can shape your life and provide life-long memories to cherish! To the assertion that I am somehow more courageous than most by doing a trip along like this, I can only say two things: (1) there are actually a lot of other people out there doing the same thing... I met many of them; and (2) sometimes the best thing for you is to do something that takes you out of your comfort zone.

I know I have already harped a bit on the "risk-taking" idea, but I will restate it briefly. It really shows you what you are made of to be put in some somewhat uncomfortable situations and come out just fine. When I would get to a new city -- not knowing exactly where I was supposed to go, not having a map, and not even speaking the language to adequately communicate with people, I could have very well freaked out. I realized I had two options: I could either sit on the side of the road and cry, or I could use some common sense to do my best to figure something out. And even though I experienced some scary or kind of embarrassing moments trying to find out where to go and what to do, I made it through all of them. And better still, I proved to myself that I could do it!

I believe that one of the many positive outcomes of this trip was that I have begun to let go of my death-grip on being in total control of everything all the time. Many of us suffer from the "control freak" mentality - as long as we can plan everything out to a tee and things go exactly as we have planned, life exists in a delicate state of harmony. But, honestly, how often does everything go exactly as we have planned? And, even more, how often are our plans perfect? I've often heard my pastor joke that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, the truth remains that we live most of our lives being at least slightly out of control. We can either sit around and cry about it or make the most of the resources we have and live with it.

Another positive outcome of my trip is that I am on my way to being able to kick back and enjoy life for what it is a little better. We so often race through life, from one stressor to the next, that we don't "stop to smell the roses." We don't take time to enjoy those little things in life that are actually what make it worth living. Well, I discovered about six months ago that I was not happy with my life because I was forever living in a state of "when this happens, everything will be great." Well, the harsh truth is that if you live with that mentality, things never will truly be great because you will always be looking for the next "high." As soon as you accomplish one thing, your eyes will be opened to the next item on your list of things required for happiness. The difficult lesson we all must learn (and believe me, I am still working on it) is to enjoy the journey. Take time to embrace what life is offering you right now because if you are forever searching for the next promise of fulfillment, you could be searching your whole life. Happiness and contentment with life are more about attitude and perspective than what you have or what you accomplish.

As you can see, I love to travel! And while the personal benefits of this trip have been well worth it, I hope that through this blog, I have encouraged some of you to consider doing some traveling of your own. There is no better way to learn more about the world around us than to get out there and see it! Each day you find yourself immersed in a new and interesting culture, geography, history, language, cuisine, etc. As so many avid travelers have discovered, the more you see and experience, the more you realize what a fascinating and exciting world there is out there to explore! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how to plan a trip, where to go, what to see, where to stay, etc.

Phase I of Andrea's Odyssey (the European vacation) is officially complete. Please stay tuned for Phase II, where Andrea will continue blogging about life and her next steps.