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29 Sep '11

Athens_04BLOG

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I'm a New York native who left my home to explore the world slowly and thoroughly. I’m just a little obsessed with photography, scuba diving, and reading guidebooks to countries I have no immediate plans to visit.

Final weekend in 🗽 before eight weeks abroad: l

Final weekend in 🗽 before eight weeks abroad: lunch with high school bestie and dinner with college ones; day rave in Bushwick, disco night rave in Williamsburg; cheap manicure in Soho, expensive dinner at Sona; wild birthday burlesque party performances, serene sunset at Little Island; gooey ice creams and goodbyes.

Grateful to love a city that makes it so hard to leave.

Can’t wait to be back (even if mini skirt season is over) 🚖💛

Hometown pride 🙌🏻 As I close out a few mont

Looking back on Liv’s 30th! 🍾 Love these lat

Looking back on Liv’s 30th! 🍾

Love these late these late summer memories celebrating @oliviabaackes entering a new decade with the most lovely weekend ever planned by her fiancé and her bestie! We ALL won the Olivialympics just by being there!🥇

From a home cooked feast to a catamaran ride around our fave island to a fancy dinner out in Edgartown to our dad showing up and dancing with us till midnight to ring in the big moment, there was lots of love in the air ✨

Happy 30s, Livi — you’ve got so much to look forward to this year and beyond! I can’t wait to be a part of it. I love you! 🥂

Dog niece appreciation post 🐶🤍 When my sist

Dog niece appreciation post 🐶🤍

When my sister @oliviabaackes and soon-to-be brother-in-law @john.scanlon.jr got a pandemic puppy, I was so excited to have a new dog in the family — but little did I know how deeply Penelope would steal my heart!

This summer I snapped a photo of her swimming on the beach and instantly flashed back to a photo I took of my sweet Tucker on that same beach years before.

Tucker, and our first family dog Westley, were cocker spaniels, and Penny is a king cavalier spaniel — so now we joke spaniels are a family tradition. I love it!

Thanks Liv and John for sweet lil lucky Penny! Dogs just make life more fun… ✨🐕

TFW the upgrade clears, you catch the last three m

TFW the upgrade clears, you catch the last three minutes of happy hour, the next season of your fave Netflix show drops, or ________ ✨🙌🏻☺️ (fill in the blank….)

Post-retreat retreat 🙌🏻 I’ve finally lear

Post-retreat retreat 🙌🏻

I’ve finally learned one non-negotiable — I need some time to fill my own cup back up after leading @wanderwomenretreats!

After our Key Largo trip, where I was retreat host, yoga teacher, and dive assistant, it felt so good to check into @perrykeywest with my retreat manager @travelingspud and just totally recharge for a few days!

We dipped in the pools, ate at the restaurants, and went to bed early in our cozy bed, but my favorite was waking up and watching the sunrise over the harbor from our balcony!

Key West can be wild and I love everything that’s weird about this place, but this time I proved to myself it can be done different! We got massages at @amrikeywest, a sustainable day spa, went to the movies at @tropic.cinema, had a healthy brunch at @the.raw.machine and I worked out at @fytkeywest.

I left feeling so good. The perfect note to end two AMAZING weeks in Florida on. Thanks for hosting me, @perrykeywest!

And then… I was back to the northeast, but not for long!

Stay tuned! ✨

Your vibe attracts your tribe! ✨ Major apprecia

Your vibe attracts your tribe! ✨

Major appreciation post for the incredible team that worked @wanderwomenretreats key largo!

My girl @travelingspud, who has worked for me at both Alex in Wanderland and at Wander Women Retreats, now runs her own company with very boss babe energy doing marketing for tech companies 🙌🏻

Yet when she heard we were in a pinch, she came out of wander women retirement to help make our key largo trip pure magic as retreat manager! Katie, I love that you face the most stressful of work situations with humor and grace and always keep a smile on my face through the toughest moments on the job. I am so lucky to have had you on my team!

New wander women wunderkid @oceanraysphotography took a leap with us into trying not just underwater but land-based life-behind-the-lens as our retreat photographer! We finally met in Mexico last year after developing an Instagram friendship, and I immediately knew she was someone I wanted to work with. Rayna, your infectious love of the underwater world, your ambassadorship for your home state, your enthusiasm to learn and grow and your willingness to pitch in on whatever needed to get done inspired me and I know this retreat together will be the first of many. (Plus, thnx for all the thot shots 😛)

It sets my soul on fire to be surrounded by talented women living life on their own terms — and nothing makes me prouder than having them on my team!

Cheers to strong women — may we know them, may we be them, may we lift them up🥂

Retreat closing circle… IYKYK 💛✨😇 One o

Retreat closing circle… IYKYK 💛✨😇

One of the best pieces of advice someone gave me when my mom passed away was to start expanding my definition of family right away.

Now I feel a sense of family often — with my incredible girlfriends that lift me up through all of life’s challenges, with my extended family friends that have been there through it all, with each little retreat where we find sisterhood in the blink of an eye.

One of my favorite family traditions growing up, which I now bring into my many variations of the word, is highlights and lowlights.

At the end of every family vacation as a child, we’d share our reflections, which is a tradition of all my @wanderwomenretreats now — and forever one of my most treasured moments of each.

I love hearing everyone’s unique takes on a shared experience. I love laughing and crying together. I love being reminded, every time, how complex and beautiful the human experience is.

Love sharing digital moments like this right here, in this little corner of the internet, with my Instagram family too 😌

Thanks for coming along on this @wanderwomenretreats recap with me ✨

I work well under pressure 🤿

Get it? 😛 It’s my dive joke of the day! But the truth is that while I work my (mermaid) tail off at @wanderwomenretreats, it’s my dream job and I sometimes have to pinch myself that it’s real!

This trip in particular was a three part party — a celebration of @paditv #womensdiveday, an applause for the @wdhof belated twentieth anniversary, and an induction of 16 new divers (all of us!) in the @coralrestorationfoundation’s coral conservation program.

Being on a dive boat in the aquarium-like @thefloridakeys filled with inspiring women committed to making a positive change in our planet — this is what it’s all about 🐠

This trip really made me pause and think about my big picture WHY. Being surrounded by so many women in their power going to bat every day for the things they believe in and being recognized by organizations like the Women Divers Hall of Fame made me think okay, what’s my legacy going to be?

Could that be me, being nominated into this incredible organization, someday? What steps do I need to take to make that happen — how can I level up to be worthy of such a thing someday far in the future?

I think in the past I would have hesitated to write something like that — I was embarrassed of how big my dreams were. I remember so distinctly my mom once telling a hairdresser that I wanted to be a blogger and get paid to travel the world. I felt a rush of shame that my mom had uttered my secret out loud; how dare I wish for something so outlandish as to live the life of my dreams. Thank goodness I had someone willing to speak them to the universe before I was.

So now, I’m turning the pressure up on myself — being accountable to all of you by sharing my big picture, big wild dreams.

Have one you’ve been holding tight? Let it OUT in the comments section, big or small, easily achievable or a long shot, so I can cheer you on too! ✨

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