Wanderlust Redemption

@wanderlustredemption

They call me Tessa. I'm 21. American. Finishing my undergrad with a degree in Philosophy and an interest in computer science. Travel is my passion, photography is my way of remembering, words are my greatest joy. If I could spend my life traveling, dslr in one hand, notebook in the other, I'd be the happiest girl alive. These are the things dreams are made of, my friends. I'm spending my last college summer exploring parts of Europe with my ipod, a pen, and a camera. This is the beginning of something beautiful. [[I have many and varied interests, and this blog will be their home.]]

240 posts

Posts

I miss this place so much it makes me sick

Hello old friend,

I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I have missed you dearly. I have always been deplorable at keeping in touch, especially when push comes to shove. And push and shove have come, and left me quite far away from our post office, so writing has gone to shit. I should say that I’m sorry, but truth be told I only feel sorry for myself, because I needed you more than you or I…

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Goodbyes are tough

Most things in life seem to come and go in waves. At some point we are meeting lots of new people. At some point we have friends nearby. At some point everyone realizes change is needed and moves a little closer to their goals, but a little farther from one another. At some point you sit down and write a blog post about it instead of letting yourself get gloomy about impending loneliness.

I moved…

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#Atlanta #convent #family #friends #friendships #husbands #leaving #life phases #moving on #nun #sister #Switzerland #teachers

Goodbyes are tough

Most things in life seem to come and go in waves. At some point we are meeting lots of new people. And some point we have friends nearby. At some point everyone realizes change is needed and moves a little closer to their goals, but a little farther from one another. At some point you sit down and write a blog post about it instead of letting yourself get gloomy about impending loneliness.

I…

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#Atlanta #convent #family #friends #friendships #husbands #leaving #life phases #moving on #nun #sister #Switzerland #teachers

A Different Sort of Adventure Begins!

Friday was my last day as a public elementary school teacher. Thursday was my last day with students, and it was a real tear-jerker for the kids. Friday was clean-up-and-get-out day. Because the last week was so hectic and busy, nothing really had time to sink in for me until Friday when I said goodbye to Anna-Claire and my other teacher friends. She cried and I just about lost it.

I’m…

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Oops, I did it again...

Oops, I did it again…

It has been over a month, once again, since I’ve been here. I have been plagued with what seemed at first to be allergies, but became a never ending cold, and eventually culminated in a sinus infection. I finally left work early to take myself to the doctor last Monday and got a ten day round of antibiotics. That’s 3:3 if we’re looking at years teaching here : rounds of antibiotics.

I’ve also…

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Spring Break

As a teacher, spring break is a different beast than it was as a student. I can say I have truly never looked forward to breaks and vacations more ardently than as a teacher. This particular spring break was even more of a god-send than usual.

I don’t ever seem to stop talking about how I’ve had a cold foreeeever, but in this case, it’s been over a month. It began on Super Bowl Sunday, and…

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Bleh

I’m sitting on the couch feeling nauseous as ever. A few hours ago I was nauseous because I needed to eat something. Now I’m nauseous because I did eat something. I had leftover Alfredo pasta with broccoli and chicken from last night. The pasta sat well, the broccoli and chicken no so well.

I took two antacids, but my goodness I had forgotten how nasty those are.

I am sitting on the couch as I…

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#13 weeks pregnant #couch potato #first time mom #first trimester #getting help #maternity #nausea #pregnancy #pregnant #questions #reaching out #second trimester #spring break

The Discovery

In early January I made a discovery that is really going to change my life. Our lives. It’s going to impact our jobs, our income, our debt repayment, our budget, our family dynamic, our health. It’s going to make some parts of life a little difficult for a time as we adjust, but at the end of the day it is a blessing in our lives, and part of the reason we got married.

On January 12th 2019 I took…

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#anticipation #baby #becoming parents #expecting #family #home birth #Jones Clan #life #little one #making plans #midwife #mom and dad #pregnancy #pregnancy announcement

Juggling Water

Some days I swear I’m just sitting here juggling water, if you can imagine that. I imagine that. I imagine all of it just washing over your hands while you wonder why you tried to juggle it in the first place. Stupid.

Before getting married I was always afraid that I would be bad at it. Bad at keeping house, bad at cooking, bad at sharing space. Just generally bad at everything one would…

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What do you do with your money?

This is actually a serious question. Are you a spender? A saver? A debt-repayer? Are you an investor? An entrepreneur? A philanthropist?

Does money decide what you do with your life, where you travel, what you eat? Or do you decide all the things you want to do and make the money work accordingly?

Until the last couple of years, I never really had any money to speak of. Growing up we didn’t…

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something like progress

I think in order for attempts to be significant, they have to have some kind of value towards progress. I’m not sure that I’m hitting that mark, but on my nice little 30 item “dixie list” as my sister calls it, I’ve been able to check some boxes.

Maybe saying “boxes” in the plural is deceptive.

I have crossed one thing out, and begun on several others.

The one thing I fully accomplished,…

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Tomorrow we're going to the rodeo!

Tomorrow we’re going to the rodeo!

Let me back up a little.

Mary moved in in August, from the faraway, almost mythical land of Idaho. Idaho, which is filled with nature and the wild and livestock and cowboys and indians. Most notably for Mary, were the cowboys and their horses and bulls.

You see, Mary wants to become a bull rider, or at the very, very least, a barrel racer. Her heart is set on it.

Almost daily, as…

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#30 to 30 #barrel racing #bull riding #cowboys #Florida #fort myers rodeo #Friday plans #idaho #mary #partner #pro rodeo #rodeo #sister #yeehaw

30 to 30

I emailed this list to my sisters the other day and asked them how reasonable they think this is. They all seemed to think it was at least a great idea, and several have asked that they can do some of the list items with me, which I’m all for!

You had to see this coming! I did some great things with my 25 to 25 list, although I definitely didn’t accomplish all of it. But don’t worry, I’m not just…

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#25 to 25 #30 to 30 #adventure list #almost 30 years old #ambitious #baking #bucket list #family #getting cool again #growing #living life #planning the future #thirty #to do list

5K II

On Saturday I ran another 5K. The last time I did that was two years ago, and I’d been building up to it for a while. While practicing and training for it, I’d decided that after the race I had no need to ever run again. No need and no desire. That part still holds true, and is part of why we didn’t train at all this time. I’ve really let my health and fitness slip the past 8 or so months. It’s a…

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#1st place #2nd place #5K #early saturday #husband #jefferson #Mary Magdalen #race #run #second race #sister #winning

Off to the Nunnery

The day before yesterday my sister Gabrielle got the news she had been waiting for, quite literally for years.

Gabrielle is moving to Switzerland in August to join a small convent of traditional nuns. Gabrielle… my sister. My friend. My Gabrielle.

We have known this was coming for some time, if I’m being honest. I’ve probably written about it here. She had to finish paying off student…

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#all the emotions #another continent #best friend #catholic nun #catholic vocations #convent #family #family loving #gabrielle #joy and heartbreak #nun #nunnery #oblate sisters #sister

When education is hard to swallow

There are many times when education is hard to swallow. Look at education “reform” in this country. It’s pathetic. But there are a lot more mundane day to day examples too.

The truth is that we encounter these little things every day, sometimes so often that we fail to notice them. Sometimes when we do notice them we consider them failings on our own part, or on the part of “the system” as a…

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February 6th

At some point it was Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then it was the New Year, 2019, and then the longest month of my entire life, January, and now thankfully, it is February.

My students are taking a grammar quiz in which they have to analyze and diagram sentences containing compounds. It’ll probably take them a while, as it’s fairly difficult. The girl who has been absent for over a week…

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#Dave Ramsey #family shenanigans #growing family #holidays #husband #married life #old haunt #out of debt #rambling #sickness #teaching #work problems #writing again

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