Aloha & Arrivederci

Aloha! To say it’s “been a while” would be an understatement. It’s been a lonnnnng while since I’ve written a post on Artistry By Adele. I started this blog as a way to escape my day-to-day and have a creative outlet I could look forward to. I was working in a job that wasn’t a right fit for me, I was living in the suburbs in a city I grew up in and desperately needed a break from, and this blog gave me a place I could explore my thoughts and future plans.

Fast forward FOUR whole years and life is quite different. My husband and I quit our jobs, sold our house, got rid of most of our belongings, and left our comfortable lives for a new adventure in Hawaii. Since moving we started a business, met new people, tried new things, explored our island, and have traveled to new and exciting places.

Photo Cred: Miriam Sermonne Photographie 

Sometimes life is hard this far away from friends and family. We miss out on major family events and all the little things we’d love to be around for…like our nieces and nephews growing up in the blink of an eye. We miss graduations and sometimes weddings or other functions we would love to attend. But all in all, this was the best decision we ever made. We’ve had more fun and excitement in these years than I could have imagined. We’ve met amazing people who have changed our lives in this short time and I really believe that we’ve changed lives with the women’s fitness/lifestyle program we started on Oahu. We will always wish we could be near the people who mean the most to us, but living a life you aren’t happy in is never the answer if you have the chance to change it. No matter if we stay here forever, or if we move back to the mainland at some point, I believe I’ll look back on these times as some of the happiest of my life. If you told me four years ago that I would be living on an island, doing headstands on a paddle board in the ocean for fun, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. 

Photo Cred: Yoga Kai Paddle Hawaii

Since my last blog post all that time ago, I’ve often thought about coming back to this community. I’ve thought about what I would blog about….fitness (my professional life), nutrition and vegetarian cooking (one of my passions since I cut meat and dairy out of my life when we moved here) or just about life in Hawaii. I guess I was so consumed with enjoying my life here that I never found (or took) the time to sit down and write about it.

But here I am, all this time later, missing my blog, missing the community and really missing photography. I’m still loving life on this beautiful island, but my passion for travel and photography was re-sparked with a few major trips we’ve taken since our move. Last year we visited New York twice, we spent a month traveling around Europe in Italy, Norway, Spain & Iceland and this summer, we’re heading back there again! This time with a week on the Greek Islands and a week in Sardinia, Italy. While researching our trip, and looking back at my old photos, I realized I NEED TO START BLOGGING AGAIN!

So here goes nothing! I’ve created a new blog, Aloha and Arrivederci where I plan to share my travel stories and photos, as well as the best moments of my life here on Oahu. If you’re interested, go check it out and follow for blog posts via email. You can also check out some of my favorite photos on my new travel instagram account, @alohaandarrivederci