It was just about three years ago, when I was in Ireland for the first time with our son, an exciting milestone in his young life and a meaningful (and nerve-wracking, hello first flight with a baby) one for us, as he was introduced to a place so near and dear to us, that I realized that my blog, which had been put aside due to said son’s arrival, was gone.
In my sleeplessness (which is ongoing three years later) I had forgotten to check my old blog email inbox, which is where the renewal for my domain traveleatlove.com was sent. I had forgotten to check it for months and months, and my domain was put up for auction and was quickly taken by someone else. That person proceeded to pass my original content as her own, including posts like the one about my husband’s first Father’s Day. The new owner tried to sell it back to me, and her “friend” tried to play innocent that she thought she could keep the content (100% my original content, my words, my photos, my life events) as her own for SEO purposes.
While I hadn’t written a blog post in many months, I still didn’t want to lose everything I had created, so my patient husband worked tirelessly to move my entire blog to this new space.
I fully intended to get back to blogging on a semi-regular basis to document our travels with a small child, but fast forward three years, through a global pandemic and some absolutely crazy busy years at my day job, and I have posted once in the past year. Oops. I am in awe of those who manage to do it all, to keep blogging, to work 50+ hours a week, and to be a parent, but I am definitely not at that place right now.
As I was updating my LinkedIn profile this week, I added an end date to my blogging on this site, and I felt like, after all this blog and I have been through together, I owed it a last post.
It’s not likely I have many readers left at this point, but I wanted to share my genuine thanks for those who supported this space for so many years, the readers, the brands I have worked with, and most importantly the friends I made. This blog meant so much to my life for so long. As I recently posted on LinkedIn, I never ever considered myself an influencer, just someone who loved to travel, eat, and drink and loved to write about those things. In doing so, I found lifelong friends, had some amazing experiences and opportunities, and carved out a career for myself.
I also just had SO MUCH FUN.
I am leaving the blog up for anyone who would like to read or to look back at old posts for travel advice but also for myself, for the amazing memories and for my own travel planning reference. There are so many times I check the blog when I want to remember the name of a restaurant or other spot we visited and loved!
These days, I am most active on Instagram for food, wine, family, and travel and on LinkedIn for all of my professional work. I am always open to new projects and collaborations, so please feel free to connect with me!
The journey isn’t over, it just looks a little different these days. . . To new adventures and safe travels ahead!
