What's your story. Meet Kimbra...

The best part of our monogram collection is learning the stories behind each of these unique pieces of jewelry.  The celebrations of life lived and lost, of loved ones so very cherished, of goals met and being pursued, it is soo inspiring to be a part of all these women's stories.  

This one in particular is about adventures dreamed in far off lands.

Meet Kimbra, her strong, courageous, and caring spirit is infectious, she has always been a huge supporter of mine and I'm honored to have her share her story here.  And what a gorgeous model for my jewelry right?

{follow her on instagram}

I've always been a dreamer, and I think thats partly what has always drawn me to travel. That and the fact that my mom owned a travel agency throughout my childhood. I used to help her out in her agency on weekends and in the summers filing away. As I would sit there filing the brochures on exotic places around the world, I would find myself dreaming of going to those far & away places: the bright colors of Mexico, the blue waters of the Caribbean, the mountains of South America, the historical buildings throughout Europe, the exotic cuisines of Asia….I could sit there for hours, pouring over each place and dreaming up my "would-be" adventures. So I guess its no surprise that due to studying spanish throughout my adolescent years, that I would want to study abroad. Obviously I chose a spanish speaking country but from this decision, where do I go? I began once again pouring over brochures at the University of Washington's study abroad offices and decided on Spain- someplace far away from where I was raised, someplace that seemed so exotic to me that I couldn't even fathom traveling there. So off I went for a semester abroad in Sevilla, Spain. I think its obvious to say that I had the time of my life in Spain and throughout Western Europe that semester!

Fast forward 8 years and I meet my husband. Instant connection and love at first sight. I just knew "the world would be our oyster" as they say. I always wanted to be a wife & a mom and I knew he would be my perfect partner. A short 7 months after we began dating, we took off for a 2 week whirlwind trip to South America- a big test to see if we could stomach each other "on the road". Again, its obvious we both passed the test. Fast forward a few months and my now husband gets offered his dream job. The catch: he would have to move from our idyllic life in Southern California to the cornfields of Indiana. I fully supported his dream but meanwhile my heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. What would happen to "us"? I sure wasn't moving to the midwest. I had a life in SoCal and no ring on my finger. Sigh. Anyway, after dating long distance and seeing each other every 4-6 weeks for about 6 months, he popped the BIG question back on the beach where we had our first date. I screamed in delight and thus began the process of moving my life to Indiana as well as plan a wedding back on the west coast….to commence a short 7 months later. Yikes! Well with a few hiccups our big day came and went and off we jetted for a huge splurge of a honeymoon: 3 days in Hong Kong en route to a 10 day stay in Bali, Indonesia!! What a dream. I had never been to Asia so it was like my whole world opened up and I just loved every second of our peaceful and romantic honeymoon.

Fast forward again to our 1 year wedding anniversary. Due to both of us traveling like mad for our respective jobs, we had a ton of miles and points stockpiled so again we dreamed up our next adventure. We decided what would be more romantic that a stay at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany (his idea), followed by wine & cheese in Paris, France (my idea)?! Gotta love how the male & female brains work together :). And to make our 1 yr wedding anniversary even more crazy 2 weeks before our trip my hubs got offered a once in a lifetime (well, maybe more if we are lucky) job to live & work in SE Asia….crazy how God's plan works. We were to tack another week onto our European getaway and head to Malaysia & Singapore to check it out and make a decision.

Fast forward to current day. Here we are, 2 years later, living and working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and most importantly, raising our own little global babe. Our little slice of heaven was born this past July here in Kuala Lumpur (what an experience!) and in the past 12 months, Ava has enriched our life together immensely. I honestly can't believe all my dreams have come true. It was a long and winding road getting here, but I am just so thankful and blessed to live the life I lead: I have a wonderful partner, an adorable little lady, and an adventure every time I open my front door. I'm not saying my life is perfect nor is it easy, especially trying to successfully live as an expat in an arguably third world country, but it is worth every second, and for this I'm forever grateful. I simply cannot wait to see what happens next as I know this is just the middle of "Part 1". :)

THIS is my story.

Thanks Kimbra!