Hello friends! Long time no talk! So much has changed since the last time I posted…in 2020. So, instead of boring you to death with every little detail I’ll give you the Cliff Notes of what’s happened since then and then I’ll get to the part about why I’m back!

Where I’ve Been and What I’m Doing Now

Ok, when we last saw each other the Pandemic had just started. I’m was living and working in TX and about 4 months into my no (low) spend year. Since I’m a paramedic there was no time off or work from home for me in 2020. Between my fulltime job and my PRN paramedic job I actually worked more hours in 2020 than ever before. When it comes to my no spend challenge I did do super good the first half of the year, I even took a super frugal road trip to the southeastern US (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida). I car camped and swam and went crystal digging. It was marvelous! And then by the time September came around all the stresses of life (plus the fact businesses weren’t taking cash anymore) caught up to me and I definitely started to spend my emotions. I didn’t go wild and crazy, but “I fell off the wagon” would be an accurate description.

By the time 2021 rolled around burnout was really catching up to me. All of the work hours, mandatory overtime, long work commutes… I just wasn’t enjoying it anymore. So I decided to contact the FD I had worked at in Alaska in 2017 to see if they needed any contract medics for the upcoming Salmon fishing season. I got hired and mid march I moved out of my apartment in Bastrop, put all of my stuff in storage, and flew out to Bristol Bay where I spent the next 8 months saving the lives of fisherman and enjoying everything Alaska had to offer again.

When the contract ended in November my general plan was to return again for the 2022 season and spend the off months with my family in Washington State. Then I found a job posting for a flight medic position with the North Slope Borough in Alaska. It was cool and unique and I couldn’t pass it up. I interviewed and they offered me a temporary position (which is turning permanent next month)! It’s a government job which is almost unheard of in this field and we do both Medevacs and Search and Rescue. Oh and it’s literally in the Arctic! We’re based out of Utqiagvik (Barrow) which is the most northern town in the US and literally sits on the Arctic Ocean. I work a 2 weeks on 2 weeks off schedule, which has it’s challenges, but I love that it gives me the chance to travel without needing vacation time. I still spend my off weeks in WA (usually) and hope to get an apartment soon. Then I fly up to Alaska for every work shift. I’m definitely collecting some airmiles!

Ok, Now the Why I’m Back to Blogging Part

I won’t lie, I’ve considered getting back to my blog for awhile now but I just felt blogging is almost a dying art. Everyone watches Youtube or Tiktoks or gets on Instagram…but none of those places are good for writing out stories and visual words…

Back in February of this year I traveled to Europe with a friend and had the privilege to meet and have conversations with a lot of awesome humans along the way, several of which, when they heard about my life. told me I should start a blog or youtube etc. and they would totally read it. I seriously considered it. I got so far as to make a post in March. It was just a pic, but it was a start! Still the motivation wasn’t there though.

The kick in my pants actually came from a recent challenge I decided to tackle. Several months ago I bought a book on Amazon called the “Rebel Badge Book” which is basically a guide to earning merit badges for doing life shaping activities and adulting. There’s even a pretty thriving community online, which is cool considering the book only came out in 2021. Anyway, I’ll talk more about the book later, but one of the badges, aptly named “Writer,” has “start/write in a blog” (and be consistent for 6 months) as one of it’s components to earn the badge. So here I am!

In the weeks and months to come I plan to share a lot. I plan to share about my progress with the badges, share about my life in the Arctic, and share about my favorite, budget adventuring! I have two trips planned so far this fall (Vegas and Europe) so I should have lots of content! Then I may throw in some creative and budgeting stuff along the way. We’ll see!

Anyways all, I’m happy to be back and can’t wait to share this journey with you!

xoxo, Amanda