Se Gere Twegen Þúsend ond Fiften



(photo by me, @badonhill on instagram)

So this is the year two-thousand and fifteen.

Or, se gere twegen þúsend ond fiften, as the Anglo-Saxons might have said it.

I don't personally believe in new years resolutions, per se, but I do think that a calendar year can be a useful tool for setting goals for growth and change. 2014 was a year of many big changes for me: I graduated from college, and I married a wonderful man in August (more about that in a later post). As soon as classes ended in May, my life was consumed with wedding planning, and though that kind of craziness changed into a different kind after the wedding (in a good way), things have settled down just enough that I can spend a little bit of time on blogging again. (Yay!)


So what are my goals for 2015? Good question. I want this to be the year in which I take Badon Hill (my creative business) from the I-sell-on-Etsy.com/part-time/hobby level to the I-own-a-small-business level. This is huge. Reaching my goals will require many, many changes, and has already been very challenging, and I have a long way yet to go. This also means that there are some changes in store for this blog; I haven't completely fleshed those out yet, but I know you can expect more tutorials and more about my handmade ventures, as well as the usual historical-fun.

So here is a peek at some of my goals for 2015:

➵ Develop and stick with a consistent blogging schedule.
➵ Transition Badon Hill primarily to an independent website.
➵ Have an area of my home set up as my dedicated studio space.
➵ Pitch and complete at least 6 wholesale orders.
➵ Always be reading a new book.

There are a few other goals, but those are the big ones. Follow along with me through the year, as I post updates on how I'm doing with these goals (among lots of other new content)! What goals do you have for 2015?

Why do I Travel?

"Contemplate the fact that 'tourism' (the notion of travel for enjoyment) didn't exist until the Victorian Age. Before that time, travel was a chore only endured by armies, refugees, traders, emigrants, and religious pilgrims."

   - Rick Steves' Ireland 2013

These sentences struck me as I read them during my flight from Chicago to Dublin last week, and I've been mulling over them since then. First, I was struck with a slight pang of guilt at the idea of traveling "for pleasure." There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the idea of leaving ones home and gawking at others' for enjoyment - or at least, that's the image that came to my mind. 

But then, I thought about it a bit longer and realized: I don't travel with the goal of "let's see how much fun I can have today." I travel to learn. I travel to experience things that shape cultures and to submerse myself in the amazing diversity and creativity that God put in this world - both human and natural. 

Dunguaire Castle, Kinvarra, Ireland.

I travel to walk among the remnants of times long past, as a student of history and literature, to gain a better understanding of what the context was really like for the events laid out in history books and legends. I travel so that I can write about my experiences and share them with people who cannot. I travel to gain perspectives far outside my own, to grow a better understanding of the world and the conflicts and complications therein.

But, I suppose I do find these things enjoyable; I love learning, I love writing about and sharing my experiences, I love connecting with people whose experiences are so vastly different from my own, I love widening my outlook on the world. I find those things pleasurable.

Okay fine. I guess I do travel for pleasure after all.


Why do you travel?