B-day in Wine Country

Hi from Sonoma and Napa! Today is my birthday na na na na na! 🙂 We have quite the agenda of tasting room visits for the day, plus some relaxing walks and dinner in Healdsburg, one of my favorite wine country towns. Turning 30 for me is all about looking ahead. . . while reflecting on all of the wonderfulness that has touched my life and also thinking of ways to pay that forward.

Today I am happy because of my family, which includes my awesome husband, my friends, health, my cats and all of the animals I get to volunteer with each week, sunshine, travel, food, wine country, and all of you! What a journey this year has been, and how much blogging has changed my life! A year ago I was not even really reading food blogs, much less writing one, and here I am now, having met soooo many great people, attended the Foodbuzz Festival and the Healthy Living Summit, received many great wines and other products to review. I majored in English in college with no idea what I wanted to do, except for the fact that I knew that writing should be involved. Well I do spend some time writing for a living, but I love how blogging has allowed me to take that love into my own hands and out into the world.

Goals for 30

1) Continue learning and working hard in my current job while hopefully moving closer to a field that I am passionate about, whether it be food, wine, or travel

2) Take more long weekends to spend time with family and friends.

3) More yoga! And relaxing and being present in general. I am a pretty big anxiety case, and I would like to not spend my entire life like that!

4) Kick this bloggy up a notch! I would love to have more guest post and freelance writing opportunities, increase my blog traffic, and generally get more involved in the food, travel, and wine blogging worlds. Attending BlogHer Food in San Francisco (and hopefully FoodBuzz Fest too!) and maybe a few other blogging conferences. . . and DEFINITELY lots of blogger meetups!

5) More US/local travel. I really want to visit the Finger Lakes in New York, Savannah, New Orleans, Charleston again, NYC, as well as someplace in Canada, maybe Newfoundland?

And now, a couple of photos of places I love, just for fun. Have a great day!

Roundstone Pier, Ireland

Valley of the Moon, Sonoma

What are you happy about this weekend? Let me know!

And for paying it forward. . . The ALLY Foundation is super important to me, and time is running out for you to enter my raffle!

http://firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally