Welcome to my new website! It has been over two years since my last blog post and I’m excited to announce that it’s the end of the hiatus for me, at least in terms of my website! I feel as though life has been on fast forward for so long. While I haven’t quite mastered how to slow things down, I am getting better at filtering things out, and prioritizing and investing my time in areas of life that bring me joy. Life is too short to be wasteful with your time and energy.
Uncertain Times
The past 5-6 months have been draining, scary, heartbreaking and uncertain for people all over the world. No matter where you live or who you are, everyone has been impacted somehow by COVID-19, and it’s not over.
While we are inundated with bad news on nearly every TV channel (main reason I do not have TV!), I do hope that my photography and stories will leave you with morsels of happiness and inspiration, especially during these trying times. I’m looking forward to connecting and engaging with people near and far. To be sure not to miss out on any of my stories, please consider subscribing to my blog. (Sign up on the top right of the screen).
Website Makeover
My old website was designed and launched in 2014 in preparation for my year off in 2015-2016 and besides a handful of blog posts, the website was static (not changing) – not good! For a few years now, I’ve been wanting to get my site updated, however, as is often the case with personal priorities, this project was continuously shelved.
Now, in preparation for my second year off, (yep! I’m taking another!), I’ve taken the plunge and over the past several months I’ve been working with an amazing web developer on my website overhaul (Alex Vita of Foreground Web, he specializes in photography websites and is a magician!). If you have or are looking to have a photography website developed, be sure to check out Alex’s website for a plethora of tips and training resources!
I faced the challenge of wanting my website to target more than one “audience” and to focus on more than one subject matter: photography (of multiple subjects) and stories (about multiple subjects). I wanted a platform to share my world travel experiences while at the same time featuring my own backyard, the Northwest Territories; this way I hope to have interesting content for international and local readers alike. In the end, I am very pleased with what Alex has developed for me.
My website now includes e-commerce! I’m offering a special of 20% off your print order until October 31! (coupon code: launch20). At this point in time, only canvas prints can be ordered directly from my website; for all other print types (paper, framed, acrylic, metal, etc), please contact me or visit the Prints and Licensing page for more information.
I welcome you to explore https://www.tawnabrown.com and let me know what you think below in the comments!
My Stories (Blog) and What’s to Come…
While the majority of my stories will have an emphasis on travel and photography, I also wanted to make room for a “sprinkle of everyday life.” This means that once in awhile, I may share a story about my dog, health, cooking, or everyday thoughts. These are areas of life that mean something to me and my goal is to share, inspire and connect with you, the reader.
I am always traveling or dreaming about traveling. During 2015-2016, I took myself on an epic 10-month long round-the-world journey. This was an overwhelmingly enriching experience and while 4+ years has already passed, I’ve only managed to share a handful of stories here on my blog; I’ve barely scratched the surface! And since then, I’ve been on numerous other travel adventures…. so you can expect to continue reading about my previous travels for some time to come, as the stories are timeless and so worthy of sharing!
While international (and much national) travel is on hold for the time being (for me at least), having an abundance of content to write about and share will serve me well during this time of “travel fasting.” I welcome you to travel vicariously with me, exploring the world, both near and far.
Tawna with Bali Silent Retreat Family
Another Year Off Coming Up
Like many of you, due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions in place, I’ve been itching to travel for a long time, especially since my long-awaited year off from work was supposed to begin in May 2020 (and I had been waiting 4 years for this time to come!). I was able to defer the commencement of my year off, and after an intense amount of deliberations and calculations I decided to commence my year off on October 26, 2020.
As a side note, since some of you may ask, how do I get a year off from work? My employer, the Government of the Northwest Territories, has a deferred leave program whereby you can work at 80% of your salary for 4 years, and have the 5th year off, paid! I had such an incredible time during my first year off in 2015-16, that during the 1st week of my return to work in March 2016, I filled out the paperwork to do another year off! Fast forward 4 years, and here we are now, October 2020! How time flies!
While I managed to travel extensively during my 1st year off, this time around things will be very different, no thanks to COVID-19! With so much uncertainty and things changing daily around the world, I am unable to plan anything. Oh how I wish I had a crystal ball!
Regardless of all that I do know and don’t know, I will do my best to embrace unscripted change, to make the most of my time off and pray for the best! In the meantime, I do have some non-travel related goals in mind, at least for the short-term….
Bali Monkey Praying for the Best
Get ‘er Done Goals
For the first few months of my year off, I have a number of goals that I’d like to accomplish that do not require traveling. I consider many of these as the “neglected priorities” – projects or goals that often get shelved because there is often something more pressing (or distracting) to attend to.
While remaining at home sweet home in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada during some of the coldest months doesn’t sound very thrilling (trust me, it isn’t!), I think this will only help me in accomplishing these get er’ done goals; most of which don’t even require leaving the house!
- Cherish all remaining time with Tika (my 13.5+ year old German Shepherd who has Degenerative Myelopathy)
- Photography and travel-writing work (this will be my main focus, as I have several projects waiting for my attention and I want to expand my business)
- Purging my house, closets, storage, filing cabinets and even my email inboxes (of which I have several!)
- Get started on writing a book
- Continue with my fitness regimen and strength training, 5 times/week at the gym and a deadlifting goal of 175lbs
- Write up a legal will (maybe I should do this before attempting the deadlifting goal!)
- Learn a decent amount of conversational Italian (yes that’s right! I’ve been to Italy 10+ times and I haven’t yet learned the language!)
- Transfer old video camera cassettes into DVD format (and revisit my teenage years!!)
- Explore and learn more ethnic cooking (Thai, Indian and Ethiopian in particular – my favourites!)
- Learn to drive manual transmission
And hopefully early in the new year, I will be able to travel internationally, reconnect with friends and discover new places!
Request for my Visitors
If I could ask anything of my visitors, I ask that you consider subscribing to my blog and leaving a comment at the end of my stories/posts. This will let me know who stopped by and it will motivate me to continue writing and sharing. I love to connect with people all over the world, and I’d love to hear from you!
For now, please be safe, smart and considerate. We’re all in this together and with everyone’s cooperation, the sooner things will improve for all….and hopefully we can reunite with family and friends that we haven’t seen for awhile and international (and national) travel can resume again.
Stay tuned for more!
(Not currently) Travelin’ Tawna
Hi Tawna! I look forward to following your projects and adventures on your second year off! You’re an inspiration – making the most of your time and energy to enjoy the things you’re passionate about!
Thank you Aimee!! You know, leading up to my last year off, I used a 365 day countdown app on my phone. I was so excited about it. And this time around, no app, no countdown. The same level of excitement isnāt quite there, but I am grateful to have this opportunity….to hopefully get things done that never get done (like my website!), and spend precious time with tika, time to just unwind and take stock of life, and on a daily basis for a year, do whatever I feel like doing for the most part! Fingers crossed, I can travel soon…,early in the new year Iām hoping. Thank you for continuing to keep me company! Take care my friend:)
Great post!! Love how you said you will get a will before you deadlift 175 lbs lol Can’t wait to read more š
Hi Tawna,
Your new website is lovely! Iām looking forward to reading your articles, too, but am heading out with women friends to golf this morning – likely our last golf game of this season.
Cheers!
Elda
Thank you Elda! It was probably the largest project Iāve worked on ever! So glad I got to the point where I was ready to launch it and get going:). Thank you so much for your interest. I hope you have/had a wonderful last golf game of the season!! Take care.
Thank you for sharing your love of photography š I look forward seeing what you are going to share.
Hi Rhonda and Pete! Thanks for visiting and I’m so happy that you enjoy following along. I hope you both are doing well!
Very impressive website!! I know that you invested a lot of time and effort into it. Look forward to hearing about your adventures in the year ahead and hopefully COVID around the world cooperates. All the best, safe travels and take care.
JEFF$$
Thank you Jeff! Yes, it was a huge undertaking (but that’s because I’m a perfectionist and was working with a very patient developer who gave me room and time to get to a point where I was happy with the end result!) Now that the website revamp has been accomplished, I’m looking forward to moving on to other priorities and interests, and going new places with my photography! Fingers and toes crossed that international travel is in the not-too-distant future!! Best wishes!
Tawna – so pleased that you are at it again and have such a great get’er done list – You are an inspiration and I can’t wait to see what you get up to. Perhaps I’ll have to kick myself in gear and get photo/life organized!
Hi Sean! Thank you very much:) I am so pleased too… I’ve been wanting to get back to my writing and sharing for a long time, and it’s such a relief to get the new website up and running! Maybe we should compare notes about how well we’re doing with our lives organized!!!
Hi Tawna. Excited to hear about your accomplishments and year off. Hoping you will motivate me to get a few āget er doneā jobs off my list! Plus, I always live to hear about home(YK). Following you from Calgary!
Hi Debbi! Great to hear from you:) It’s comments like this that will help keep me accountable! I hope you can get inspired to write up your own Get er’ done list, and work through them! In addition to my international travel stories, I will also be writing more about my “backyard,” so you have that to look forward to! I hope Calgary is treating you well!
Hi Tawna, this is great! I love your spice for life, your amazing & positive energy and travel info, looking forward to your blog. Enjoy your year!!
Thank you Rachel! Iām happy to know you look forward to my stories! I will start asking people at the end of posts to answer a particular question maybe and get them to share something also! It will be a bit of a dialogue! Glad to have you along with me!
Well girl. Good luck! I chuckled, enjoyed memories of you, and was domewhat inspired while I read your blog. You are beautiful inside and out. I look forward to your new blog stories. Take care. Hugs!
Ha ha!! Thank you Jane so much. I sure hope the stars align and my travel itch gets tended to ASAP! Iām shooting for early next year if all goes well. Iām happy to have you with me! Big hugs back to you!!
Wow! I looks GREAT. I am so happy for you. Although you canāt travel where you wanted to, I think you have some great goals that you can accomplish right at home. Super proud of you. ā¤ļøšš»š§āāļøš
Thank you sista!! Which is your favorite picture of the whole site? Iām going to post my website on fb later and ask people to share with me their fave pic. Iām interested in knowing what piques peopleās interests! Maybe you could be an accountability friend and check in on how Iām doing with those get erā done goals!! Or maybe I should do a 1.5-2 month check in here on my blog to give a status report!! Xoxox
You are getting some good air on your title page… should take an after (dead lifts and squats will help you jump higher). Good luck this year. Look forward to the cooking! And a great year off with Tika!
Thanks David:) If I did an after picture, that means Iāll have to be in Tuscany at that same time of year…..which I sure hope is in the cards for me! Iāve already been doing a lot of cooking- just not the new stuff yet…..looking forward to it too!! I bet youāre looking forward to tasting:)
Itās so great to have you back! I remember when you first started your site and took that year off of work four years ago. How exciting that you get another year off. Itās a weird time for sure but it sounds like you have a great plan. Canāt wait to see where this year takes you!!!
Thanks Justine! Oh boy….time sure does fly!! Sooo fast! Iāve got only 4 days of work left between now and oct 23. And then what?!?! I donāt even have a plan for my first week. But I sure do have a get erā done goals! Hoping to escape in the new year:) stay tuned!!! Best wishes to you:)
Great job on your new website! šā¤ļø So colourful and so interesting to travel the world through your amazing photographs and read all about your past adventures again! Now you are about to start another year off!! New adventures await and travelling far from home is not much of an option right now but hopefully that will change and you can take that packed bag out of the closet and travel the world again! Meanwhile, be safe and stay healthy, listen to your heart and enjoy the things around you that make you happy and maybe, slow down enough to find time to cross off some of the things on your āget āet doneā list! Your Mother is very proud of you!
Thank you Mom! Iām sure itching for new adventures. I canāt believe I havenāt been out of the NWT since January or February?! Omg. Crazy. Soon I wonāt know what to do with myself Iām sure!!! But I must find my new routine and hope to be productive, happy and healthy! Thanks for following along. Love you!
Love your new look. I will return to read more. Right now I’m over my head with moving boxes. We are moving west about 128 miles from our current home. It’s a small town with a lot of amenities and one-level homes with no steps. I won’t be traveling internationally for a while but do plan some road trips next year. Number 1 to explore the state of Minnesota to discover more of their parks. Minnesota is a beautiful state but I haven’t spent much time exploring the West, South and Northwest areas. My injury in May has been an ordeal but I can drive again now so I’m ready to do some traveling. Winter is coming and will most likely be spent settling into our new home and working on indoor photography… The downsizing is not easy but I have already taken 4 carloads to donate and my best friend took 2 carloads after her visits to help me pack. I remember when it was so easy to pack and move but I’m older and it seems harder. Definitely more emotional.
Can’t wait to spend more time reading your stories and seeing your beautiful photos. Hugs to Tika. My little Poo (aka Rocky) was recently diagnosed with cancer and may only have a year with us. They want to take more tissue for testing but he has tiny little legs and taking more tissue would result in losing mobility in his front leg. We decided to not do that. It would only possibly prolong his life for 2 months but I couldn’t maim him so I could have him longer. It would be so unfair. He’s a happy little guy and doing great right now.
Have a wonderful time on your year off.
Thank you Karen. Good for you to be cleaning things up/purging. Feels great doesnāt it? If your dog would be supported by a wheelchair, be sure to check out handicappedpets.com. They are a life saver and changer!!! I hope you continue to get better and can travel soon too! Fingers crossed. Big hugs to you and your family:)
Well done Tawna in creating your new website. You have been able to combine your writing and photography talents into a single captivating website, while being able to share your remarkable photographs with those wishing to purchase a singularly meaningful photograph, all in one place!
During these times of reduced travel opportunities for us all in this time of COVID, I am certain that others who read your stories and browse your breathtaking photos, will no doubt be inspired to travel to your favourite places after all the travel restrictions are lifted.
I am so proud of you and all your accomplishments and I look forward to following you in your journeys around the world. With much love. Pops!
Thank you Pops. Such thoughtful words:) Iām so grateful to be able to share my photos and stories with those that are interested, and to hear how they inspire and move people. Motivates me to write more. I have sooooo many stories to write! At least by having to stay home or close to home, this will help me stay focused and get some of this writing done- although I never will be able to catch up as I have a lifetime of travel stories to share- and now, Iāll be adding that āsprinkle of everyday lifeā to my blog- so there is a ton of content to work with and keep me going. I just hope I can stay as focused as you do when youāre working on your big writing projects!! Love you!!
Happy that youāre writing and sharing and you will smoke that 175 deadlift goal in no time! I am reading and will subscribe. I can use all the diversion I can get this winter !
Ha ha! Thanks for the motivation and optimism Donna!! I look forwArd to establishing a more regular and regimented regime at the gym, since Iāll have a lot of time on my hands….thanks for subscribing! This motivates me to write more:)
Tawna I am looking forward to hearing about your adventures and accomplishments for the next 12 months!
Hi Tawna, We looking forward to reading your articles and further follow your travels. Congratulations! Linda & Denys Tourigny
My niece you have done it again.You are a woman of passion and can experience beauty in the simplest of things. Looking forward to travelling with you through picture and word.And watching as you tick off having achieved your goals in your year off.
Go girl!
Love,Aunt Darlene
Hi Tawna, I love what you’ve done with your new website. It’s arms and legs better than the old ones. I love the graphics and over all design. I’m glad you’re back to writing and showing your photography skills. Now if I can get half as good as you, I’ll be happy. I hope you get to travel and visit some of your favorite places before your year-off is over. I always enjoy reading your stories. Say hi to Tika
Oh my God. I really really happy. I am in this photo. It was a very valuable experience that I met with Tawna. She is good at all and a great photographer. I like every photo of the trip. These are really amazing photos and stories.
Ha ha! Yes you are in the picture and I am sure youāll be in more! I had soooo much to share on my blog and so many stories that are just patiently waiting for me to share! Miss you so much! I hope to see you and your family and all of our BSR friends soon!!