3 Things Thursday

Life is a mess of clutter and chaos around these parts right now! 

A post shared by Melanie { +Babe + Flo The RV } (@lifessweetjourney) on Sep 26, 2017 at 9:53am PDT

There are literally 3 closets open in our house right now, with all of their contents strewn throughout the hallways and bedrooms. Why 3 you ask?! Because I have the worst ADD and can not, for whatever reason, finish one task before moving onto the next. My brain just seems to work better in that way! But right now it has hit a wall... So, I came here to glean inspiration from others who have downsized and just find a way to refocus for a minute. Writing and scrolling seems to help me steady my mind, so I figured I take a minute to hop on here and share a "3 things for Thursday" post! Because, like we learned above, my brain seems to do better in threes. 

3 Links I am Reading Right Now

* Posts on downsizing, from Our Streamlined Life, including this one about not missing their "stuff": Seriously, I am having the hardest time going through the house and trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Packing 7 years in a 4 bedroom house into a home-on-wheels means that we are going to be getting rid of a TON of things; and some might say I have a slight hoarding tendency. Thankfully Babe has the exact opposite tendencies, so it's been a good balance, but there still seems to be so much I don't want to let go of. I think I am finally in the place though where I really just want to scream "just throw it ALL away!" I feel like I am drowning in stuff! 

Source

* All the glorious outdoor posts, from 33 and Free, like these beautiful Arizona hiking finds! The more I read posts like these, and see amazing adventure pictures, the less I even remember I actually have "stuff".  Just give me all the adventures!!
* Basically EVERYTHING from Michelle, but this post about living full-time in an RV is at the top of the list; we already know we are going to do it, but it's a little bit scary to think about right now and reading from people who are making it happen gives me hope! Her posts about how she earns a living on the road inspire me.

3 Throwback Posts

* Meet Babe- This post is waaayyyyy throwback; like only my 5th post ever throwback. So much has changed since then (with the blog, with our lives, with where we are headed), but the fundamentals remain the same. I feel like Babe is often such a "ghost" on this space- a word whispered every now and then, the other component in the word 'we'- but that will be changing soon, once we really get this show on the road, so maybe a "reintroduction" is in order!

* Cruise Fun- In October, we are heading out on the high seas for one last cruise before we become pretty well land-locked once we make the shift to a home-on-wheels! Here is a look at our last adventure on a boat!
* FloRida's First Ride- Though the thought of full-time road life is exciting, there is one big downside... we will be saying goodbye to our sweet Flo! She has been a good little trailer for the last two years, but we need something a bit bigger for full-time living. Throwing it back to that first weekend we got her (and my first awful attempts at video editing; p.s. it hasn't gotten that much better)!

3 Pins I'm Pinning 

We are planning a last minute, impromptu trip to NYC, to take Babe's mom to see the Statue of Liberty. **Don't throw things at me**- but I am not a huge NYC fan; there is just way too much sensory overload for me and the crowds make me claustrophobic. Thankfully she isn't thrilled with crowds either, but she has always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so here we go... I am pinning all things NYC and areas to avoid the crowds. Someone just put me in a hammock in Central Park and air-lift me in and out!

~~~ Pin 1 ~~~                 ~~~ Pin 2 ~~~                 ~~~ Pin 3 ~~~

3 Things I am Buying 

I should probably just put them on subscribe-and-save, but Vita Coco Coconut Water and Kind Bars constantly seem to be in my Amazon Cart! I will also be grabbing some new popcorn kits to try. We are stovetop poppers pretty much 100% of the time and  have used Orville Redenbacher's PopKits for years! Welp, Orville has failed us and stopped making them. Come on people/! Stove-top-pop already! I promise it will change your life! Anyways, giving these a try and praying they are just as good better! 

3 Things I'm Planning

* A Month of Giveaways- I'm getting super pumped for next month! Every Wednesday in October, I will be partnering with some awesome brands and accounts for a new giveaway each week over on Instagram! 

* The above mentioned NYC trip! Any tips for Fall in the city or off-the-beaten-path spots that might not be so crowded?! 

* A Tackle-It To-Do List! To maybe give me an extra oomph to get this house in order! Which I have now set aside for far too long to fill this space with random bits of chaos, so that I could "refocus"! 

I guess it's back at it!! 

Any 3 things info you would like to share?! 

5 Fun Things to do in Cherokee County, North Carolina

It's felt like way too long since we were enjoying the cooler weather of the North Carolina mountains, so I figured it was high-time I shared some of our favorite spots from our trip this past summer!

Here are our top 5 things to do in Cherokee County, North Carolina...

1.) Vineyard Hop!
It doesn't matter where we go, our wine loving hearts have one priority; find the nearby vineyards or wineries and hit up as many as possible! There are some awesome options in and around Cherokee County. Though it was hard to pick favorites I think I would have to say our favorite visit was to Calaboose Cellars. One, because the wine was great, but two, because it shares a location with Andrew's Brewing Co. He gets beer, I get wine and we are both happy, happy, happy!! It helps too that it shares the same "real" name as Babe! 

#TravelTuesday 20 // A ROARing Safari in Nairobi National Park

Happy Travel Tuesday All!! 

It's time for another #TravelTuesday Link Up! 

Just add your post link, to the button at the bottom to join in on the fun. 

I can't wait to see where you have been exploring this month. 

We just had quite the adventure over here in Florida. We rode out Hurricane Irma, at home in Orlando, and thankfully didn't have too much damage! There was a lot of wind, blown transformers, no power until this morning and a small leak in the roof, but ultimately we were safe and sound. We spent yesterday clearing yards and spent a lot of time getting to know our neighbors better. It's been really nice seeing people come together to help one another! 

Needless to say though, the lose of power left me without time to get much ready for this month's link up. It's also been a whirlwind the of a week since I got back from Africa last Sunday. So, I figured I would take today to share some of the pictures from our team's safari in Nariobi National Park! The last time I was in Kenya, over a year and a half ago, we went on Safari there too and had a blast, but missed getting to see lions. This time one of the first things we spotted was a pride of 12! It just goes to show that every Safari will be a new and exciting experience. It was an amazing morning! 

Here are some of the beautiful animals we saw... 

September Currently and Fall Giveaway Fun!

Happy Friday All! 

Hope life is going well in your neck of the woods! 

We are rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off over here, but why not take a minute to share a little Fun on Friday with a September Currently?! 

I'm typically one for procrastination anyways! 

Here's a peek at 5 things going on in our little slice of life right now...

{Celebrating} A bunch of new changes come our way! We have been working on getting on the road full-time for a while now. If we are being precise- Me for like three years; Babe for about the last 6 months. Don't want to drop any OFFICIAL news yet, because plans can fall through, but stuff is getting real y'all! Real exciting and real nerve-inducing! 

Do you want to be celebrating too?! Head over to Instagram to enter in my Fall 'Adventure Fuel' giveaway! You could win a Sweet Journey Shop mug and a $10 gift card to Starbucks... yay, PSL!! 

{Watching} FRIENDS... again and again and again! We just finished it for about the 15th time and what did I do?! Started over, of course! We are also introducing my niece to the wonders of Harry Potter, so every time she is over we watch the next one. Last night was number 5! Though she might be a little young she keeps asking to watch them and I really don't know how to say no to her (or to watching HP)! 

{Welcoming} Whatever comes our way! 

{Preparing} OH IRMA! We are currently smack-dab in the middle of Irma's path. Being born and raised in Florida we don't typically sweat a hurricane. This one however seems to have everyone on edge. Good thing I had just gotten my Vita Coco shipment from Amazon, because the stores are completely out of water. We will be filling the bathtub tomorrow, stocking the freezer with ice trays and brewing tons of coffee to add to the fridge... because priorities! Don't worry, we already had plenty of vino! 

{Photographing} Really, I am working on uploading photos. I was in Africa for 10 days, for a vision trip. Our team was visiting a wonderful couple, who are missionaries in Kenya. We met with local churches in a community called Ngando, participated in Bible Clubs with sweet kiddos, and fellowshipped with local women who were taking literacy and English classes. It was such a sweet experience! We also got to go on Safari! Needless to say, my memory card is full! 

Cheers to the weekend (even if it does look rainy)!!

What does your September look like currently?! 

A Rainy Day in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

When we were in North Carolina, for a wedding in July, we took a day to drive through Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Seeing each of the NPs in the US is super high on my bucket list and this was actually the first one we have had the chance to visit, so I was all kinds of excited! However, the day we were going was actually looking a bit dreary. Halfway through the day it start to drizzle and then it really picked up! We still had an awesome time!! 

Here are options for enjoying Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the rain...