2025: Highlights, Homecomings & the Lessons That Stayed

Hey

When I chose Elevate as my word for 2025, I thought it might mean growth, momentum, maybe even visibility. What I didn’t expect was how profoundly that elevation would happen from the inside out.

Elevation showed up as deeper connection instead of faster pace. As rootedness instead of striving. As raising the quality of my days, my work, and my presence — not by doing more, but by doing what mattered with greater intention. 

From becoming a citizen, to traveling with more meaning, to witnessing the real impact of our work on a small business and a new mother’s life, this year elevated my sense of belonging, purpose, and trust.

I stopped SMART Goal setting years ago and my life has never felt more purposeful, fulfilled, and aligned. It’s quite miraculous how one tiny word chosen at the start of the year to reflect how you want to see your life shift can actually shape that reality.

Now I close out the year waiting for my soul to whisper my word for 2026. It’s undecided on a couple, but I trust by midnight on NYE it will have it figured out!

Here’s my yearly wrap….

Travel & Life Highlights: Miles, Meaning & Why We Keep Going

Travel still shaped our year — not just by how far we went, but by how deeply we connected.

One of our biggest family highlights was our trip to Belize. It’s another country checked off all of our lists, but more importantly, a shared adventure that reminded us why we started traveling as a family in the first place. It was layered with discovery, laughter, learning, and those moments you don’t fully appreciate until you’re home unpacking your bags..

Craig and I also carved out time for ourselves with a week-long road trip through Nova Scotia with slow mornings, coastal drives, small towns, and nourishing our bodies and minds through the art of Nordic spaaing! (a new obsession.)

Closer to home, 2025 reminded us that meaningful travel doesn’t always require distance.

We had our very first stay at the five-star The Umstead Hotel & Spa — just ten minutes up the road from us — and somehow it felt as expansive as an international trip. Proof that wonder can exist right in your own backyard. (and is my new favorite hotel AND Pearl Jam were staying there at the same time. But we only saw the drummer, not Eddie Vedder. sooooo close!)

We also leaned into weekend getaways that celebrated charm, culture, and ease:

• Pinehurst

• Chapel Hill

• Daytona Beach

Trips that didn’t exhaust us — they restored us and reminded me why I just can’t live without travel!

Some of this year’s highlights were the kind you don’t plan for — the ones that arrive and gently rearrange you.

• Sending Kalyra off to college — and choosing elevation over fear. This year asked me to release a version of motherhood I’d held tightly, and I won’t pretend it came easily. There was fear. And sadness. And the quiet ache of letting go. But somewhere along the way, I chose to elevate that emotion into joy and excitement for the life she is stepping into and learning to shape on her own terms. Watching her transformation has been extraordinary: her confidence, her certainty, her sense of self. I always believed the benefits of our travel-filled life would truly reveal themselves once the girls became adults — and now, I can see it clearly. Travel didn’t just give her experiences; it gave her trust in herself. And witnessing that is one of the greatest privileges of my life.

• Being named a finalist for the TBEX Content Creator Award for Best Local Lens for This Is Raleigh. It was a quiet, affirming moment that said: this work matters. Telling local stories with heart is just as powerful as telling global ones. We were interviewed about it on our local TV station

• Officially becoming a U.S. citizen — a milestone that felt emotional, grounding, and deeply symbolic. After years of traveling, migrating, adapting, and building a life here… this felt like coming home in a new way.

• A year that overflowed with family and friendship:
– My sister visiting for three full weeks
– Craig’s parents staying with us for three weeks
– Old Aussie mates popping in simply to say G’day

• Deep collaboration and sisterhood through the Empowered Women’s Collective. Working alongside Christina this year has been one of the greatest joys — co-creating, mentoring, and witnessing real, tangible transformations in the women we support and each other. Watching confidence grow, money stories soften, and purpose come back online has been profoundly affirming. It’s lit us up in ways we didn’t fully expect, and we’re stepping into 2026 deeply excited for what’s coming next: expanded programs, intimate masterminds, and the rebirth of my old Money Cleanse into a more embodied Abundance Reset.

• The quiet birth of The Golden Thread. This year, a more intimate layer of my storytelling emerged — one rooted less in destinations and more in meaning. The Golden Thread became a space to weave together travel, life, intuition, and joy; to speak honestly about the in-between moments, the questions without tidy answers, and the inner journeys that shape us just as much as the outer ones. It reminded me that stories don’t have to be loud to be powerful — they just have to be true. And in many ways, The Golden Thread felt like the most elevated expression of my voice yet. Join below 👇

The Moment That Changed Everything

One of the most powerful moments of the year didn’t happen on a plane or a road trip.

A local business owner pulled us aside and told us that because of the influx of people we brought into her small restaurant — locals and visitors — she was finally able to take time off with her newborn baby.

Not just that.

They could now move forward with long-held expansion plans that once felt out of reach.

She cried.
I cried.

I reminded her how great her product was - that this was all her heart and soul. And she reminded me how important what we do is for helping her product be known and experienced - that’s our heart and soul.

And in that moment, I recommitted — deeply — to this work.

This is the reason.

Not algorithms.
Not numbers.
Not hustle.

But real lives being changed in quiet, meaningful ways. It’s the Golden Thread that unites us all.

What 2025 Ultimately Taught Me

Travel — whether across oceans or into local neighborhoods — is about connection.

Connection to place.
Connection to people.
Connection to purpose.

That’s the work.
That’s the calling.
And that’s what I’m carrying forward.

Carrying This Energy Into 2026

I’m not rushing to set bold declarations or rigid plans. Instead, I’m carrying forward what felt true this year:

• Storytelling with heart
• Travel that connects rather than consumes
• Work that aligns instead of drains
• Community — both near and far
• And a deeper trust in the quieter voice within

If 2025 taught me anything, it’s this:

Thank you for being part of this journey and reading, reflecting, traveling, and growing alongside us.

Here’s to carrying the best of 2025 forward and stepping into 2026 with intention, ease, and open hearts.

Please reply with your lessons and highlights from 2025 and what you hope to carry into 2026 - perhaps your word for the year!

I’ll share with you what I decide once we arrive into the New Year. I am ready for it, as this year was challenging, even with all the joy and elevation! I know it was challenging for so many.

If this year elevated anything, it was my trust — in the work, the path, and the quiet knowing that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be, even when it feels dark and scary - that’s where we can generate the most amount of light to elevate to the next level!

With gratitude,
Caroline