knuckbeforeyoubucketlist

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

idk rambles

I’ve seen things that are on the front of brochures; at 5 am, with a cup of lukewarm-gas-station coffee in my hand. I’ve spent holidays with strangers and summers trying to speak in tongues. I’ve walked miles on empty beaches and pissed in many fields. I’ve fallen in love with a dozen of my best friends and ended an engagement. 

Such sensations aren’t attainable, even with the latest seasonal latte, no matter how hard Starbucks tries. The feeling of closing my eyes, after driving alone for 14 hours is something I’d like to bottle. Or the feeling of hiking so many miles that routine worries have no space to exist in such an exhausted body. 

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

move out of Arkansas 
hello, Seattle It isn’t my first time to move and it absolutely isn’t my last. I just made sure to get out of Arkansas, once I turned 25. Seattle rain has been nourishing my soul and I’ve never been more grounded. 
I’ve lost weight. I don’t do the scale thing, so the only way that I’m sure of this is my clothes sagging. I’m healthy and happy. Life is MAGIC ✨

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

full blown minimalism

I can’t even begin to describe the feeling that this brings with every item that I chose to let go of. 
Everything that I own can fit into a car. A sedan, not an SUV. I own very few articles of clothing and only a couple of pairs of shoes. 
It has helped my life feel less cluttered. It has saved me money on rent, because I can reasonably live in a studio now. Things are always tidy and I wake up to a few pictures of my mom and grandmother. The things that mean the most to me are visible and I’m not distracted by junk. 
I’m no longer wasting food, as I meal prep. The homeless population here has made me realize just how grateful I should be and how pitiful food waste is. 
This all makes my PCT hike much more manageable! I have much less stuff to be watched after, when I hit the trail.

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

rekindle a lost friendship

Jayde Blair text me on my 25th birthday. I cried for hours, over the feeling of relief. Confrontation is hard for me, but knowing that someone genuinely doesn’t want to be around me is an even heavier burden. Especially when it is someone that knows the ins and outs of your heart and mind (and whom you got your nips pierced with). 
She is visiting Seattle at the end of July and I’m hoping I can squeeze her neck and continue to flash around our friendship rings. 
Patience paid off and forgiveness isn’t foolish.

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

me

It’s best if you understand my background a little bit, before you dive into the nomadic ramblings of this blog. I was born in Fayetteville, AR. I grew up in the Northwest region of Arkansas, moving around quite a bit. I’ve realized that moving so much as made it easier for me to get up and go, without worrying, now that I’m an adult. My first time to see the ocean was when I was 8 years old. It was during that trip that I also got to experience New Orleans, prior to Hurricane Catrina. When you grow up in a small area, the new experiences of a city really engulf you. The first lengthy road trip that I went on took me through the Smoky Mountains and up the Southeast side of the country. It was in Gatlinburg, TN that I discovered my love for fog, mountains and trees that felt 100 times larger than me. It was atop Grandfather Mountain, that I learned to trust my footing and that the only height that I wasn’t afraid of, was the summit. Fast forward to my junior and senior year of High School (sorry mom). It all started with crushing hard on a guy that lived 5-6 hours away. I’d take the weekend to drive to Monticello, AR. This was my first time driving on the interstate. It was in the moments of blaring Circa Survive and mewithoutYou, that I realized how much I loved the open road. Which was a great thing, because I’d yet to conquer my fear of flying. After Monticello, I made Joplin, MO my place of interest. I made many friends there and enjoyed the music scene frequently. From there, I made friends that lived in Kansas City. I was 18 by this point, so it sounds better when I say I spent every weekend possible there. I could never get enough of the feeling of doing something out of a typical routine. Racking up miles on my car helped to prep me for the trip that I took the summer that I was 19. I jumped into a car with 4 other girls and we headed to California. My love for the West has been growing, since. My search for a new place landed me in Lincoln, NE. Lincoln brought me two of my favorite female friends-Bri and Cynthia. That place pushed me to try everything new. I started working out and had the pleasure of essentially being a housewife. I had to meet new people and discover which restaurants to avoid (you’re laughing, if you know me well enough)! After a messy breakup, I ended up back in Arkansas. It was upsetting, to have to return to a place that I thought I was trying to get away from. Little did I know, I just needed to sit in my shit for a while.

I grew up and found out just who I want to be, right here in Arkansas. As many of you know, I ended an engagement in 2015. In the past two years I have visited San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Orlando/Disney World and lived/worked in Yellowstone National Park (which lead to Bozeman, MT and Jackson Hole, WY adventures). It was an unplanned return to Arkansas, that opened my eyes the most. I live in an apartment well under my budget, to accommodate my love for traveling. It has always boggled my mind, that so many close friends and family members have told me how envious they are of my ability to just GO. There’s only one trick I have for that and it’s a combination of losing many loved ones, which leads to the realization that life is not only short - but it zooms by, and the willingness to drop fears of not fitting into a box that someone else hands you. There’s no way to prepare for the ups and downs of being in your twenties, when you’re a wandering gypsy. It’s brought me many adventures and countless people that could never be replaced. Instead of a New Year’s resolution - I present to you a bucket list. I’ve always been one to just do what I want, without much notice. I’m about to turn 25 and don’t laugh, but it’s a weird age for me. I suddenly want a little more structure with my adventures. I want a plan and a bucket list is about as close to that, as I can imagine. Let’s do this.

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

Atmosphere

Cinderella, fit your hand in the glove We’re on a spaceship crash land from above We’re on a lazy river fly fishing for love We’re on a double barrel shotgun hunting for dove Life is just a song; I hope that it’s wrong?? It starts with hello and it goes till I die If I did know it all, I’d at least attempt to clarify Why we’re tryna over emphasize the goodbyes?

So just pretend this is a long hello

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

See Atmosphere Live

There’s a poster hanging in my hallway, even though I haven’t owned a poster since I was in high school. It’s on proud display, because it’s from seeing Atmosphere LIVE! You know the first ‘adult’ artist that you really click with? The one that make you feel less insane and a little more understood? That’s Atmosphere, for me. 

I will never forget something he said that night.. that Atmosphere was the kind of music that you share with people that really love you; that it’s music you share with people that you’ve opened your life up to. That hit me so hard, because I feel like music that really moves you is a little peep into your soul. I can only think of a handful of people that I can geek out with, when it comes to music. I’ve never been more grateful for those people.

So, thanks Atmosphere.. for the amazing time and the eye-opening words that you bless the world with. 

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

Read 24 books in a year

2017: -The Twentysomething Guide to Getting it Together -

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

•Pick up photography - 01.29.17 I bought a Nikon D5200 and here is from the first day of getting out to take pictures. I had fun and it gave me an excuse to get outside! It definitely makes you admire whatever the subject is and I think that's my favorite part.

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

Bucketlist

Snorkel ✔️Move out of Arkansas ✔️See Atmosphere live ✔️See Circa Survive live Go to a music festival that isn’t my typical genre preference Read 24 books in a year Run 100 miles in a month (because I wanna) Complete a half or full marathon Change careers Sail for longer than a day trip Go to: Australia Germany Philippines Canada Greece Thailand Every stereotypical spot on a European vacation Ireland Iceland … this will expand Get a Brazilian Learn to surf (at least try) ✔️Pick up an instrument again Make a quilt Kiss a stranger Get a degree Learn to knit Do a homeless haircuts tour Buy a $100+ bottle of wine ✔️Full blown minimalism Ride an elephant ✔️Pick up photography Buy a house Keep up with a journal everyday for a year Meet Bernie Sanders ✔️Write that person a note (8 months in) Stay off of Facebook for a year (8 months in) Post no meaningless selfies for a year ✔️Rekindle a lost friendship Create a product line for men’s hair Visit the Northeast Take someone that I love to Point Reyes Fall in love again Write a novel Write a second novel to make grandma proud

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

[knuckbeforeyoubucketlist]

me

It’s best if you understand my background a little bit, before you dive into the nomadic ramblings of this blog. I was born in Fayetteville, AR. I grew up in the Northwest region of Arkansas, moving around quite a bit. I’ve realized that moving so much as made it easier for me to get up and go, without worrying, now that I’m an adult. My first time to see the ocean was when I was 8 years old. It was during that trip that I also got to experience New Orleans, prior to Hurricane Catrina. When you grow up in a small area, the new experiences of a city really engulf you. The first lengthy road trip that I went on took me through the Smoky Mountains and up the Southeast side of the country. It was in Gatlinburg, TN that I discovered my love for fog, mountains and trees that felt 100 times larger than me. It was atop Grandfather Mountain, that I learned to trust my footing and that the only height that I wasn’t afraid of, was the summit. Fast forward to my junior and senior year of High School (sorry mom). It all started with crushing hard on a guy that lived 5-6 hours away. I’d take the weekend to drive to Monticello, AR. This was my first time driving on the interstate. It was in the moments of blaring Circa Survive and mewithoutYou, that I realized how much I loved the open road. Which was a great thing, because I’d yet to conquer my fear of flying. After Monticello, I made Joplin, MO my place of interest. I made many friends there and enjoyed the music scene frequently. From there, I made friends that lived in Kansas City. I was 18 by this point, so it sounds better when I say I spent every weekend possible there. I could never get enough of the feeling of doing something out of a typical routine. Racking up miles on my car helped to prep me for the trip that I took the summer that I was 19. I jumped into a car with 4 other girls and we headed to California. My love for the West has been growing, since. My search for a new place landed me in Lincoln, NE. Lincoln brought me two of my favorite female friends-Bri and Cynthia. That place pushed me to try everything new. I started working out and had the pleasure of essentially being a housewife. I had to meet new people and discover which restaurants to avoid (you’re laughing, if you know me well enough)! After a messy breakup, I ended up back in Arkansas. It was upsetting, to have to return to a place that I thought I was trying to get away from. Little did I know, I just needed to sit in my shit for a while.

I grew up and found out just who I want to be, right here in Arkansas. As many of you know, I ended an engagement in 2015. In the past two years I have visited San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Orlando/Disney World and lived/worked in Yellowstone National Park (which lead to Bozeman, MT and Jackson Hole, WY adventures). It was an unplanned return to Arkansas, that opened my eyes the most. I live in an apartment well under my budget, to accommodate my love for traveling. It has always boggled my mind, that so many close friends and family members have told me how envious they are of my ability to just GO. There's only one trick I have for that and it's a combination of losing many loved ones, which leads to the realization that life is not only short - but it zooms by, and the willingness to drop fears of not fitting into a box that someone else hands you. There's no way to prepare for the ups and downs of being in your twenties, when you're a wandering gypsy. It's brought me many adventures and countless people that could never be replaced. Instead of a New Year's resolution - I present to you a bucket list. I've always been one to just do what I want, without much notice. I'm about to turn 25 and don't laugh, but it's a weird age for me. I suddenly want a little more structure with my adventures. I want a plan and a bucket list is about as close to that, as I can imagine. Let's do this.