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!

Svein, Harpswell, Maine, USA — *Svein, Harpswell, Maine, USA*

Giant's Stairs, Bailey Island, Maine, USA

Pine Point Beach, Scarborough, Maine, USA

Urban Farm Fermentory, Portland, Maine, USA

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!