Wander Womxn

Some of the adventurous, tenacious and tender hearted people I’ve wandered this world with. And while there are many more not captured here, I am grateful for their presence, curiosity and continuous pursuit of the wild.

Lake Solitude, Newbury, New Hampshire, USA

Lake Solitude, Newbury, New Hampshire, USA

Lake Solitude, Newbury, New Hampshire, USA

Lake Solitude, Newbury, New Hampshire, USA

Portland, Maine, USA

Portland, Maine, USA

Horseid Beach, Kirkefjord, Norway

Horseid Beach, Kirkefjord, Norway

Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand

Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand

Seawall Beach, Phippsburg, Maine, USA

Seawall Beach, Phippsburg, Maine, USA

Busan, South Korea

Busan, South Korea

Becket, Massachusetts, USA

Becket, Massachusetts, USA

Bergen, Norway

Bergen, Norway

Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway

My L.L. Bean Dog

*Feel free to skip the writing and go right to the photos, I get it*

Full disclosure, Svein is not an L.L. Bean model but every time we get a new catalog, we'll leaf through it and say, "that could've been you, Svein. Too bad you missed the callback when you were a pup."  While being incredibly good-looking, and told that constantly, Svein is still the every-dog with his struggles and quirks. For instance, if I throw the ball for him in the snow, he is terrible at finding it even if he saw where it fell (top photo here was when he found the ball after a 10-minute search...). He also gets his lip caught on his teeth fairly often and looks like a complete doof. And, during the winter, he regularly immerses his head in piles of snow for unknown reasons (smells? Idk). His hobbies include coming up from behind people and jamming his head in between their legs in hopes of a chin scratch, looking hopeful whenever food is around, and deciding to roll onto his back, right to the middle of the bed every night, without fail (why should I have room for my whole body to fit on my bed? Who am I? The Queen of England??). That being said, Svein is also gentle with children, has been a great source of comfort through some rough times, and is the best running buddy. So L.L. Bean dog official or not, he's more than deserving of my obsession with him and worthy of the Instagram account I will inevitably create for his many fans. 

Winter Storm Svein

Winter Storm Svein

Spring Svein

Spring Svein

Casual Spring Snow Svein

Casual Spring Snow Svein

Lake Svein

Lake Svein

Snowshoe Buddy Svein

Snowshoe Buddy Svein

Beach Svein

Beach Svein

Rocky Maine Coast Svein

Rocky Maine Coast Svein

XC Ski Buddy Svein

XC Ski Buddy Svein

Maine Model Svein

Maine Model Svein

Fall Model Svein

Fall Model Svein

Puppy Svein (he still chooses to sit on my lap this way from time to time). Photo by J.H.

Puppy Svein (he still chooses to sit on my lap this way from time to time). Photo by J.H.

Your Heart Knows When It's Home

We met across the ocean and over copious amounts of cheese and chocolate. When you find kindred spirits, you hold them close, no matter the distance or time between visits. While we spent four months together in Switzerland, traveling around Europe, and living in a sort of "Grand Budapest Hotel" situation in Croatia, our time between seeing one another steadily grew - a few months, a year, and then a couple of years. But we kept in touch. Mutually invested and following the action in each others' lives from a distance. After all, we had been together through bold fashion choices, breakups, hands getting stuck in Nutella jars, new jobs, loss, graduate school, and exciting new adventures. I hadn't seen them in four !FOUR! years and that changed this weekend. I think of home in various ways, though often not as a physical place. Rather, home is a feeling, and it's what I feel when I'm with these two. They are my heart home. Full of empathy, wit, integrity, determination, and intelligence. I feel at ease with these two gems - they make a rough time feel like it will pass and they make celebrating life's small moments feel like major accomplishments.

When friends are your heart home, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, as long as you're with them. And as for this trio, we found each other in Switzerland and haven't let go of each other since. 

Maywood Pancake House, Maywood, New Jersey, USA

Maywood Pancake House, Maywood, New Jersey, USA

Ashbury Park Beach, Ashbury Park, New Jersey, USA (photo by M. Butler). (We've been asked multiple times if we are twins. We don't get it, but we're leaning in.)

Ashbury Park Beach, Ashbury Park, New Jersey, USA (photo by M. Butler). (We've been asked multiple times if we are twins. We don't get it, but we're leaning in.)

Ashbury Park, New Jersey, USA (Photo by K. Marsh)

Ashbury Park, New Jersey, USA (Photo by K. Marsh)

For further explorations into the dynamic world of female friendships (this is just an off-the-top-of-my-head list - there are so many more!) : Broad City (TV), Call Your Girlfriend (podcast), Another Round (podcast), Parks and Recreation (TV), Text Me When You Get Home (book), 2 Dope Queens (podcast), Ghostbusters (film), A League of Their Own (film), Summer Sisters (book), The Joy Luck Club (book), Ghost World (film), Frances Ha (film), The Secret Life of Bees (book), Grace and Frankie (Netflix), Girls Trip (film), Bridesmaids (film), Clueless (film), Waiting to Exhale (book/film), Swing Time (book), Before Everything (book), Mean Girls (film), Mystic Pizza (film), A Thousand Splendid Suns (book), Girls of Riyadh (book), Fried Green Tomatoes (book/film), The Heat (film), Beaches (book/film), Chimney Corners Camp for Girls (...a camp).

Some Call it Vacationland, I Call it Home

One of the greatest parts about friends visiting or moving to your hometown is you begin to see it in an entirely new light. Much like watching kids experience things for the first time, your awareness of what's going on around you is peaked and new joy is found in the seemingly mundane. You're more apt to explore, you appreciate what you've taken for granted for so many years -restaurants, cool local businesses, nature, LIVING ON THE OCEAN-, and you become (even more) fiercely proud of where you grew up. People often ask where I'll settle down, and the answer usually involves a shrug of my shoulders and a "who knows", but as time goes by, the thought of Maine being my forever home creeps in every once in a while.......but then again, 🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows?

PS Thank you to all of my lovely friends from across the USA and around the world who have come to visit or moved to Maine - you've truly made my heart grow fonder for this place!

Bailey Island, Harpswell, Maine, USA

Bailey Island, Harpswell, Maine, USA

Svein, Harpswell, Maine, USA

Svein, Harpswell, Maine, USA

West Newfield, Maine, USA

West Newfield, Maine, USA

Swinging Bridge, Topsham, Maine, USA

Swinging Bridge, Topsham, Maine, USA

Svein, Scarborough, Maine, USA

Svein, Scarborough, Maine, USA

Giant's Stairs, Bailey Island, Maine, USA

Giant's Stairs, Bailey Island, Maine, USA

Pine Point Beach, Scarborough, Maine, USA

Pine Point Beach, Scarborough, Maine, USA

Urban Farm Fermentory, Portland, Maine, USA

Urban Farm Fermentory, Portland, Maine, USA

Watchic Lake, Standish, Maine, USA

Watchic Lake, Standish, Maine, USA

Ready?

Portland Head Light, Portland, Maine, USA(a.k.a. home)

Portland Head Light, Portland, Maine, USA(a.k.a. home)

I have tried and failed multiple times to keep a blog, much less one while I'm traveling. In the year that follows (and maybe for a while after) I will attempt to regularly update this photoblog in order to share what I'm experiencing as I travel. This will be no simple task for me, as I'd much rather be out soaking up whatever town or city I'm in and be so tuckered out by the end of the day that I simply wave off updating this with an "I'll do it tomorrow." But alas, I am traveling because my family opened the world to me and my wonderfully supportive friends have been encouraging me to share my photography and travels with a wider audience - it seems only right that this photoblog serve as a small token of my gratitude. And to anyone who happens upon the blog, I hope it functions as an engaging perspective from a twenty something year old traveler, complete with a sprinkling of compelling stories and a hint of humor (depending on how tired I am will determine how punchy these posts will be).

And while I tend to be a half glass full person anyway, for the next year I am taking a leaf out of one of the most optimistic and wise beyond her years characters, Pippi Longstocking's, book and using her words as my mantra, "Det har jag aldrig provat, så det klarar jag helt säkert!"* Ready? Here we go!

 

*I have never tried this, so I'm sure I can do it!