Without further ado, Katie "Action" Gavin

Here's to our exuberant, adventurous and light-filled, travel companion, Katie Gavin!

I found this amazing picture on her facebook page.  She has been on so many adventures it was hard to choose what I felt was a good representation of all her super powers.

Katie and I have been friends since 1999.  We were roommates for a few years, along with a posse of other amazing women.  There is no doubt in my mind that "like attracts like".  I felt extremely grateful back then and I continue to feel thankful for our friendships to this day.  Here's a few glimpses into the past:  

Left:  Katie and I in 2002  Right: Me and Katie present day.

A few of us girls having a magical night at Lake Waccamaw, 2003

One of the many late night dance parties in our kitchen.  Katie proceeded to jump from the counter onto a cantaloupe shortly after this picture.

Our friendships were/are genuine, hilarious, powerful and full of love.  We were a lucky bunch to have found each other.  The experiences we had are now stories we tell with tears in our eyes and laughter in our bellies, from spontaneous trips(New York, New Orleans, or any locale or festivity that captured our interest), all of our Wilmington debauchery and the heartfelt, deep moments that carried us through some of life's most intense ups and downs(my Mom passing away, Katie getting into graduate school and so many other important events of our life).  

And so the adventure continues!  Katie and I live our dream life, traveling the US, exploring new lands around our country and new lands within ourselves.  She plans to be with Greg and I, for most of our tour this year.  We both share many dreams and aspirations that are miraculously in sync...it's just so EXCITING!   But back to Katie, she has enriched an already enriching experience in many ways.  Before I begin my doting on her, I want to point out some magic available to us all - manifesting abundance of what you want and need into your life.  Katie, is a prime example of manifesting miracles into my world.  There are many things that I wanted to have more of in my life...more healthy eating, more balance and more focus in achieving goals.  Well, having Katie with us has brought, with abundance all of these things, I wanted more in my life.  

Greg and I have been for a few years, making better decisions on eating healthy(eating more raw foods, green smoothies, smaller food portions, drinking more water, etc).  Well, we wanted to take this healthy eating up a notch, like incorporating more high quality foods, eating less processed foods, etc.  Voila!  Katie turns out to be quite the illustrious, healthy food chef who has introduced me to another world of eating deliciously healthy. 

This isn't one of "Katie's Beet Salads" but it's a glimpse of the amazingness we put into our bodies on a daily basis.  What is really uncanny is in my "fun, manifesting dreams and desires" I specifically wanted to eat fresh beets.  We now eat her beet salad on a weekly basis.  That's just crazy!

Her qualities, gifts and beauty extend to many things, not just healthy eating, but I would say that the theme to her super powers does revolve around being healthy-mind, body and spirit.  She is on her own mission to make choices and live a life that is healthy mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  It is a natural byproduct that her attributes influence those around her.  Greg and I lucked out in upgrading our life!  Not only is she a positive influence in bountiful ways, but her and I have many of the same intentions in our life.  We make the perfect team to achieve our goals(this is also an example of how Katie coming with us is something I manifested...in other words, a dream come true).  We started this 12-Week course together called "The Artist's Way".  This course has opened Katie and I to unbelievable opportunities in our lives already.   

What Katie and I have gleaned from this deserves it's own blog post

On a daily basis, we practice yoga, meditate, process life on many levels, explore the areas we find ourselves in, step outside of our comfort zones, run and many other uplifting activities.  She is a major reason behind all of these soul-and-body-nourishing endeavors.  She's a catalyst!  I like to call her Katie "Action" Gavin.  She is always up for worthy crusades whether they be rock climbing, kayaking, intuitive development, dancing with abandon to Old Crow Medicine Show, Full Moon celebrations, etc!  No stranger to exotic locations, she brings a unique understanding to being a traveler.  She's been to many places in Europe and lived in Hawaii for two years, which means she has many tricks of the trade to bestow on our North American safari.  It has only been a month and a half and we've already experienced so much!  Somehow she manages to have all these ventures while being a massage therapist/physical therapist to Greg's work family.  I'm so happy to have one of my best friends beside me in this wild nomadic adventure.  

I started playing around with this picture in photoshop to take myself out of it and make it cool and before I knew it, it turned into a tomboy glamour shot.  

We've been on many spectacular excursions together in our 15 year friendship and are now in the midst of quite an extraordinary pilgrimage.  From the moment we set out on this expedition to the present, I've experienced such expansion, evolution and joy...and I thank Katie for being a integral part in this growth as a human being.  

I just wish we all could have a Katie "Action" Gavin in our lives to encourage, boost and catapult us to our higher selves.

Q is for Quartermaster

How are we able to travel throughout the year?  What exactly does Greg do?

I'm asked these questions when I meet up with friends and family who still don't quite understand how we do what we do.  Greg is known as the Quartermaster in the music festival world.  What is a quartermaster, exactly?  It just sounds adventurous!  You know the character, Q, in the James Bond universe...responsible for all the spy gadgets used in the 007 missions?  "Q" stood for Quartermaster, a military term for the role of being in charge of supplies, equipment and essentials a military force might need.  Greg does that for the music festival industry.  He makes sure that his Operations crew and the rest of the people who put on a music festival, have the tools they need to create these grand music experiences.  Just like Q in the the James Bond missions, he utilizes his talents in problem solving, organizational skills and overall Greg Hoffman genius.  He's one of the first to arrive to a location that will host an event that entertains tens of thousands of people, and he's one of the last to leave that location.  It goes from this:

to this:

back to this:

Since these music festivals are held all over the continent, Greg had the brilliant idea to procure a travel trailer and hit the road as a family of wanderers.  Last year, was our first year of being wayfarers.  We loved it so much, we decided to keep this caravan going AND to invite a very special guest along the way, the extraordinary,  Katie Gavin.  She's enhanced the journey in many ways and it's only been a month!    

I always call Greg a visionary.  He definitely was in dreaming up this amazing experience.  So there you have it...Greg "the Quartermaster, Visionary and Hunky Husband" Hoffman.  Teehee.  

The next few blog posts will be dedicated to:  giving a synopsis of last year's adventures and a feature on this *Wander Woman*, Katie.  

Getting back into the swing of things

I began a 30 day blog challenge in the beginning of 2010 to catapult myself into writing.  It was a great baby step that lead to many other adventures outside and within.  There were times I continued to write about experiencing life and there definitely have been times I chose not to write, but to just experience it.  Here I am, five years later, deciding I want to commit to writing again.  I'm sticking with the same theme...seeing every day of life as an adventure.  This is such an important thread in my life that I would love to share with anyone that it resonates with.  Here is a short snippet from my first blog post that explains the intention behind the endeavor then and still rings true five years later.  

What is Fergitude  It is the attitude that every day is an adventure. 

A choose-your-own adventure that is better than any book or movie you will encounter because it is your life. This will be my first attempt at a blog. My goal is to journal my journey through everyday life with the "fergitude"(mindset that each and every moment is a grand adventure). I am doing this to empower myself and perhaps anyone out there who can identify with this vision. I am doing this to stay mindful, to stay present in this beautiful life.  My mission is to relish everyday, to experience, to love those around me and to love me. 

I am currently leading a life that I only dreamed about in the past.  I travel North America with my husband, our dog and this year, one of my best friends, Katie.  We are nomads that drive to beautiful destinations in our continent to experience it with what Greg coined as "Fergitude".  Greg is the reason this is all possible.  He is a Quartermaster of music festivals and we get to travel with our home attached to us, to all these amazing events.  While Greg is quarter mastering festivals, Katie and I spend our time making our dreams come true(adventuring, immersing ourselves in creativity and many other fantastical things).  There will be posts dedicated to elaborating more on all of this.  We were just recently in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a month and now we are in Atlanta, Georgia for a month.  There is much to explain and stories to tell.  I look forward to sharing it all with you.  

Disclosure:  I have amazing internet connection currently but that has not always been the case in the past.  I will do what it takes to post at least once a week in areas that do not have strong internet and hopefully more in areas abundantly connected.  

Elastically embarking on exciting endeavors while enjoying the experience enthusiastically.

I'm glad that you decided to read this despite my overly ambitious use of alliteration.  Once I started, it was just hard to stop myself.  :)

 It's thrilling to realize that setting your intention and small steady steps towards a goal can bring wondrous opportunities your way.  The key is staying flexible and open to the possibilities.  There's been times in my past where I've embarked on a mission with the specific path to reach my destination fixed in my mind.  It was great to have the plan and determination but if I lacked the flexibility to be open to other options then I may have missed out on other ways to arrive at my objective...ones that could have been beyond my imagination.

Speaking of imagination, that is exactly why I wanted to write this entry.  My intention was to depart on an adventure that would incorporate creativity, fun, new experiences and exploration into a life purpose.  My small, steady steps were comprised of unleashing my creative energy on anything that came my way - presents for friends and family, events and the like.  As a result of these actions, opportunities have appeared on the horizon that could lead me to making a dream of mine come true!  More to come on that enigmatic preview of my aspirations turning into reality.  :)

January is the perfect month to set intentions (resolutions, goals, aspirations) and brainstorm on small steps to reach your goals.  It's so much fun to do this through visualizations or masterpieces called vision boards.  There are many benefits such as:  clarifying your goals, focusing energy on achieving them, establish new habits, encouraging you to take action, attract opportunities to you, learn about yourself, gives your subconscious mind a voice, encourages positive thinking.  For the vision boards I created above (top is a gratitude journal, bottom is a poster board on my wall), I chose images that were symbolic of intrinsic goals that I have for myself.  Tomorrow, I'm having an event where those who come will be making their own vision-board, gratitude journal, along with other bonus experiences.

This is my friend, Jamie, at an event in November (small step towards my intention).  It was called, Signs of Happiness.  Fifteen phenomenal women came to Inspiration Station to paint uplifting, inspirational quotes on signs to either hang in their spaces or to pass the positive vibes on.  Jamie's sign says, "Life is a sequence of moments all called now.  It's a great quote and perfect conclusion to this entry.  What time is it?  It is now.  This is the moment to live, to love and make the most of this brief, exciting adventure called life!

Reflections to Celebrations

Oh, what a year!  As I reflected on 2012, many memories frolicked through my mind reminding me of the happiness I had experienced.  Of course, there were some memories that were not dancing through my mind...oozing, limping, tromping.  What is a yearly reflection without taking in the hard times.  Who of us out there haven't had both?  I wanted to make sure I embraced all of them.  After all the reflections, I realized that the good definitely outweighed the bad AND that all of the experiences were valuable especially the ones I deemed difficult.  And then, I celebrated!!

I celebrated and celebrate all that I have experienced so far and all that I have ahead of me.  Most of all, I celebrate my present.  I'm hopeful, optimistic and EXCITED about 2013!  There is just something magical and wonderful about this year.  I believe it will be filled with many amazing moments for all of us.  Of course we may have a few struggles, difficulties or tough times to overcome but the good will always prevail!!!!  2013, here we come!

Unexpected Discovery While Scavenging and Hunting

I love Wilmington's Cross City Trail, River to the Sea Trail and our Greenways!  So, when I realized Wilmington and New Hanover County Greenway was having a Scavenger Hunt, I jumped on the opportunity with the tenacity that would make a hyena, vulture or any other scavenger animal proud.

There were ten questions, half were online and half of them required exploration!  These questions were excellently crafted to reveal to the adventurer, jewels of information about Wilmington's wonderful greenways and trails.  I learned so much!  Such as:  in the Outer Banks, bicycling has been estimated to have an economic impact of $60 million with 1400 jobs created (source).  Also, the multi-use path at Greenfield Lake was dedicated to J. Rupert Bryan, Jr. (a city councilman who served 1975-1980) because of "his leadership by word and example in promoting biking as an alternate form of transportation for people of all walks of life to enhance physical fitness and enjoy more fully the natural scenic beauty found in the city of Wilmington."  I can really identify with his vision!  One of the main reasons I love to bike is the amazing smells, sights and experiences you are privy to when out touring by bicycle.

The discovery that delighted me the most was the East Coast Greenway!  This greenway runs 3,000 miles between Canada and Key West with 2,000 miles of alternate paths to explore.  Our Cross City Trail is a part of this fantastic route that runs through 25 cities along the East Coast.  I've always been interested in Europe's many walking, biking and hiking continental trails and wondered why United States missed the bus bike.  You can imagine my excitement in discovering the fact that we will have such a trail here on the East Coast!!!!  There are so many treasures, resources and wonders associated with this project that I will not attempt to convey them all in this post.  If this moves you like it did me, check their website out:  http://www.greenway.org.  

Thank you Wilmington Greenway for this opportunity and specifically Ginnie Weir for the brilliant scavenger hunt questions!  Not only did I learn a great deal about our greenways and area but I won a Beach Cruiser from Two Wheeler Dealer!  Of course, my detective work in the greenways of Wilmington would not have been complete without my trusty sidekick, Captain Jack.  I may have been the head in the online investigation but he was the sleuthhound out in the field.  See his detective work below.  Side note:  Wilmington Greenway is having a Photo Contest to raise more awareness and usage of the Cross City Trail.  Check it out!

A Preamble to a Pilgrimage

Adventures have thwarted my good intentions of writing the last two weeks.  I hope to soon master the art of experiencing these amazing jaunts while being able to reveal their magical moments to you in a timely fashion.  This week, I plan to elaborate on the exciting two week whirlwind of crusades...including but not limited to:  a four day music fest on the beach, a Fergitude quest through Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, racing with 600 plus women through the streets of Downtown Wilmington, participation in a Midsummer Night's Dream wedding proposal, a scavenger hunt with Captain and a Memorial Weekend full of salt and freshwater.  I'll be posting throughout the week but here's a glimpse into the stories!