It Just Keeps Getting Better - 2019 Year In Review

Friends - God is good! We thank the Lord for His mercy and His grace. His word is true!! God has shown that He has a plan for our lives, a wonderful future and a hope. He has opened up the windows of heaven and has poured out blessings that we do not have room enough to hold. 

In 2019, Carl and I definitely lived, loved, and traveled. As far as living, we had ups and one major down. We lost the matriarch of our family after 87 years of her beautiful spirit gracing this planet. We know she is in heaven and we will see her again when we take our final trip to our heavenly home. It was our privilege and honor to be her primary caregivers for a number of years! Rest in peace Mom!!

In other aspects of life, we had great life accomplishments and successes personally and professionally. God is an awesome and faithful God! As far as loving, we grew more in love with each other and grew even closer, although both of our hearts ache for our loved one that we loved so much and lost. We are always thankful that we have each other and God is good all the time! We were blessed to have Mom as long as we did. Throughout 2019, God blessed us so much on my job, in our businesses, as a family, and with great health. We are thankful!

As far as travel, this was our best travel year yet!!! We traveled to Montego Bay Jamaica twice. We went to Egypt, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and India in one amazing 3 week trip. We also went to places we have been a number of times San Francisco, Atlanta (a couple of times), Punta Cana , Myrtle Beach, London, Miami, and the Bahamas. A place we visited that is not a frequently traveled location for us was Oahu (Honolulu, Hawaii).

We saw a couple of the wonders of the world and visited some of the most beautiful places on the planet. We love our mix of beach and city vacations by land and by sea. If variety is the spice of life for you. We are your type of travelers. My husband and I do not enjoy doing the same type of thing or seeing the same type of places over and over.  The world is so big!!! We want to see as much as we can while we can.

Many people say that there is a finite window of time, usually in the middle of your life, where you have the time, health, and finances to travel. Thankfully, Carl and I are in that window right now. Life is good! God is good!

We went to Montego Bay Jamaica once just us and again as a group of almost 20 for a birthday celebration and inaugural group travel event for our travel businesses. We plan high-end group travel/destination events in one of our businesses. We had an amazing time both trips. We had a total blast with our loved ones during the group trip. We also learned alot to be able to save you money when we hopefully plan your next event.  We took a group catamaran and snorkeling ride, had dinners as a group, had a party and bonfire on the beach. We celebrated and celebrated and worked our business. Our Unlimited Vacation Club membership has proven to be a worthy investment. 

My husband said this was his best birthday celebration ever and that makes my heart sing. We promised each other to cherish every day, celebrate every milestone, and never take each other for granted while also leaving space for us to be individuals (type A individuals at that). The icing on the cake for this inaugural group event was a trip up Dunns River Falls on his actual birthday with our daughter (mine through love), what a memory!

Our trip to Egypt, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and India allowed us to see 2 of the wonders of the world. We saw both the pyramids and the Taj Mahal. That trip was more than amazing. There are not words to describe the beauty and the history, the true wonder of those landmarks. We wrote about these places as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with Dubai landing on our "place for me" list. I am so glad the love of my life and I were able to share so many memories on this trip. We have so much fun together. Three weeks was a long trip for us. However, I think it started to feel extra long because we decided to buy our dream house site unseen while traveling. We knew we needed to purchase in a particular area for business reasons and estate homes are hard to come by in that neighborhood so we jumped on our home as soon as it came on the market. We own 4 businesses and a not-for-profit between us and always have to make decisions that make smart business sense. After much prayer and exercising a great deal of faith, God worked it all out and we love the house. It has proven to be a good business move already. God is so faithful!

In regard to the places we have visited a couple of times: San Francisco, Atlanta (a couple of times in 2019), Punta Cana , Myrtle Beach, London, Miami, and the Bahamas. We had an amazing time on these trips. Some new things about these places. We truly enjoyed our visit to Windsor while in London. We highly recommend you plan your visit there on the way to or from the airport or go very early in the day. It is not a short ride from central London and traffic can be very heavy. It is much closer to London Heathrow.  In Atlanta, The Battery has some nice restaurants and offers a relaxing atmosphere. Our daughter bought her first house (what a blessing!) and we are starting to invest in real estate in Atlanta. Atlanta is definitely a growing city with a tremendous amount of investment opportunity.

We spent New Year's Eve in Miami and took a short weekend cruise to the Bahamas. It was an exciting and very affordable way to bring in the new year. We stayed at a Marriott on points, traveled by air on southwest on points, and cruised using our Unlimited Vacation Club Lifestyles Collection certificate. It was the perfect mix of city and beach vacation by land and by sea. One shot out, we had the most spectacular dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Steakhouse in Miami overlooking the bay while watching  the New Year's Eve fireworks.  Also, if you are offered an excursion in Nassau Bahamas to go to Pearl Island, GO! It is absolutely beautiful and very private. There is also great snorkeling just off the coast of the island near the lighthouse. This trip was awesome and a great travel bargain!!

Another "place for me" that we visited together for the first time in 2020 is Honolulu Hawaii. Hawaii is hands down one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We had a lovely time at the beach in beautiful blue water and drove around the island to see more of the land itself. We went to a luau and had a full on blast. We plan to go back soon and stay longer to visit more of the islands of this paradise. We love Hawaii!

I also had business travel to Seattle and Hong Kong, amazing places that I hope to visit on personal travel so I can see more of these places and tell you all about them!

My 2019 life lesson is to "walk by faith and not by sight". 2019 was an amazing year and we are praying for an even more amazing 2020!! 

Live, Love, and Travel...