There is only one word that can truly summarize this year: adventure. There has been more change in the last 365 days than any other point in my life and with change comes spectacular opportunities. The year was filled with family, culture, food, photography, travel, celebrations, and huge life changes. It has been a beautiful journey and I have loved sharing it with you. Here are 14 AMAZING things that made 2014 an epic year.

Not too far from my new home is a park where you can visit a variety of different animals. Halwga National Park is most well known for it monkey filled area where you can drive through and meet creatures along the way. We spent an afternoon feeding monkeys out the car window and getting to know the elephants that we were lucky enough to get a chance to ride on. 

I participated in two photography events this year. The first was FotoMarathon Yangon where we were challenged to go out in groups and take photos around town based on specific themes that were sent to us every two hours. You can read all about it here. Shortly after that I helped lead a group of students in creating a Help-Portrait event. This is a worldwide initiative that I also participated in when I was in Maine. The event involves taking photos for families who would not normally be able to afford professional photography, we invited the local staff and trishaw drivers from the school, dressed them up, did their makeup and hair, took their portraits, and printed out photographs for them to go home with that day. It was a beautiful experience that was not about taking photographs but about giving them. (Post coming soon)

As many of the best things do, my trip up to Tanuggi for the famous Fire Balloon Festival came very spontaneously as a weekend getaway with my friend Ashley. Thousands of people flock to the otherwise quiet town of Tanuggi each year to witness and participate in the traditional act of launching fire balloons. It was an experience like no other. Read about the whole festival here (videos included).

The hardest day of homesickness I have had was the day of Amanda and Josh's wedding. Luckily we have amazing technology now that allowed me to watch the entire event. I stayed up all night since there is a 12 hour time difference and was able to skype/facetime in for everything from getting ready, formal pictures, ceremony, reception, cake, toasts, dance party and everything in between. Although I wish I could have been by my little sister's side and joined in with my family I was certainly celebrating from afar. Photo credit to Pipyr Photo.

Myanmar was certainly not love at first taste, it has taken quite a while to find the true gems of the cuisine but now that we have there is no going back! Tofu Noway, Kay-O, Tomato Salad, Steamed Dumplings, Fried Tofu, Mohinga, and so much more. This year has truly been an adventure for my tastebuds alone now if only I could adjust to the spices.

No trip to Africa is complete without a Safari and I completely understand why. There is no experience like that of watching a baby zebra nuzzle it's mother or a herd of elephants protecting their young. Sure I've seen most of these animals in zoos before but being able to watch them in their environment, in their world can't compare. My favorite were the giraffes with their long legs and their even longer necks, seeing them galloping around on their stilt-like legs was quite the site.

Although we were crunched for time after our wedding with only two months before the big move we wanted to take a breather and enjoy married life. With our big adventure right around the corner we decided the perfect honeymoon would be relaxing on the beach with drinks in our hands so we headed to the best place for it, an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico. We spent five beautiful days with our feet in the sand, swimming in the spectacular pools, drinking all sorts of tasty beverages, indulging in choice restaurants, and enjoying our new time together as a married couple. Although it was hard to pull off (scheduling and other wise) this was the absolute best wedding choice we made and I will always look back on this time fondly. See the rest of the photos here.

Unforgettable experiences are around every corner of my new life in Myanmar, but certainly one of the most spectacular has been the trip we took in October to Inle Lake. We were very fortunate to visit at the time of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival which is a celebration that involves ferrying around five giant golden buddha statues to each town in the lake. The lake is so big that it takes almost a month to complete the whole route. Not only did we get to watch the parade but we also got to experience the rest of the stunning Inle Lake including traditional leg-rowing fishermen, long-neck women weaving, traditional silversmiths, hand paper weavers, the floating gardens, and my favorite, the crumbling pagodas of Indein. (PS Blog post coming soon with sooooo many more photos)

Zane Andrew Simmons joined the world on March 8th. I can't believe this little peanut is over 9 months old now! He is such a sweet little boy who has brightened every life around him since he arrived most certainly the lives of his parents, my sister, Andrea, and my brother-in-law, Steve. I have missed him dearly since I have been away, luckily Andrea has been great at sharing about all the milestones - big and small - with pictures, stories, and videos. Can't wait until I get to snuggle this little guy again!

Capturing the moments of one of the most special days in a persons life is an honor and privilege, I know that sounds cheesy but it honestly is. The joy, celebration, and love that fills a wedding is unparalleled. Leaving behind Adorn photography was very difficult for me because I truly loved every minute of photographing wedding and portraits. Within the first few months of the year I was invited by five spectacular couples to photograph their wedding days and each one was so very special. I am certain about few things in my future but one of them is that I know I will return to photographing weddings at some point in my life. For now I will enjoy using my passion to capture the world around me through my travel photography.

Ask either of us just a few years ago if we thought we would be spending the holidays together on safari in Africa or on the beaches of Zanzibar and both Renee, my sister, and I would have simply laughed. Such an unlikely story for two small-town New Englanders. Yet, this is exactly where we found ourselves this holiday season, see just two weeks before my winter break from school Kim flew back to Maine to be with her ill father which left the perfect opportunity for me to hop the Indian Ocean to visit Renee. Renee has been living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for almost two years now where she freelances web design when she is not busy working on her passion of free diving and the resulting website www.seaunseen.com. We spent three amazing weeks celebrating the holidays, on safari, hanging out on the beach, diving, and having some much needed sister time.

It was actually December of 2012 that I started my health and fitness journey, dedicating most of 2013 to challenging myself physically and educating myself on proper health and nutrition. In January of this year I made the ultimate commitment to a 30 day juice fast and my life has not been the same since. Juicing allowed me to realign my expectations of food and reset my appetite. It not only gave me results in appearance but in self-confidence and strength of mind. With my juicing I finally felt in control of my body. I took the beginning of this year to fully commit to myself, focusing on goals like working out everyday and setting up a regular meditation schedule. It was an amazing time that I hope to revisit now that my life has settled down. 

Without a doubt, the craziest thing that happened this year was packing up our belongings and moving to -literally- the other side of the world. Following my dream to teach abroad, Kim and I picked up and left everything behind (that couldn't fit in our 6 suitcases) to explore the world. Three days and 8151 miles later we found ourselves in a land like nothing we ever knew before. Myanmar has been everything we never expected, our time filled with awe, frustrations, curiosity, and a whole lot of laughter. 

Without a doubt the most important day of 2014 was May 10th, the day that I married my love, Kimberly. As with any journey, who you travel with can be more important than any destination and nothing could have been half as wonderful this year without this amazing person by my side. Having someone to share in all of the adventures I have had this year and will continue to have into 2015 and beyond it the best thing I could ask for. 

(Read all about our full wedding day here. Photo credit to Justine Johnson Photography.)

The biggest Fire Balloon Festival in Myanmar is located in the mountain town of Taunggyi which is about a 12 hour drive north of Yangon. I took an over-night bus up for an impromptu weekend getaway with my friend Ashley to see the festival. Being the biggest, I knew it was going to be a lot of people at the festival but I have not been anywhere in Myanmar with quite that amount of people all in one place before. If I were to guess I would say that there were probably a couple thousand people all gathered for the festivities. As we walked up to the festival grounds we were greeted by our first sighting of a fire balloon - and this one had fireworks on it! It was quite the site shooting up in the sky. (If you are impatient and just want to get to the action scroll all the way down for the video)

It was probably about a half a mile walk up to the main area of the festival and all the way up was lined with booths with vendors selling all sorts of things like clothing (traditional and modern), trinkets, gadgets, more clothing, accessories (purses and wallets), to name a few. There were a lot of warm clothing for sale especially hats and scarfs, although it was only about 50* or so people were dressed like it was freezing. I guess they are not quite as used to the cold as I am. 

Of course there was food, all sorts of food. Mostly traditional barbecue (below), noodle dishes, lots of greasy fried things, and don't forget the rice! Along with the food were the beer stands. You could get beer just about anywhere and walk around with it. Or you could pop into one of the clubs that the beer/alcohol booths had set up behind. These closed in spaces had private DJs and lots of flashy lights. 

There were lots of game booths also. There were the traditional prizes I was used to like stuffed animals or cheep plastic toys, but then there were the booths where you could win beer or cigarettes (above) or you could go straight for the bottles of liquor (below). Just make 2 baskets and it's yours! 

Temporary tattoo anyone? This man had all sorts of stamps that he lines with thick black ink that supposedly lasts for about 5 days. I almost got one but I couldn't find a design I liked. 

Two other types of booths were the monkey booth and the photo booths. When I peeked into the monkey booth I saw two monkeys sitting on hanging loops with a string attached to their legs. Ashley said that it was set up for people to pay money to see the monkeys to various tricks. The photo booth was kind of like glamor shots, where they dress you up in fancy or funny clothing, do your hair and makeup, then take your photo to be printed out and sent home with you. 

And then there was the ride section. This looked like most carnivals that I knew, with kiddy rides, jumping houses, and a few bigger power rides. What was not so normal was the fact that the ferris wheels (there were three of them) were all human powered. By that I mean that there was no motor, instead amazingly skillful men would climb up the wheel and, when aligned, would all power it by leaning to one side and using their weight to spin it. To stop it they would jump back on to the bench parts of the wheel and use their weight to pull it the other way. It was quite the sight to see these men nimbly making their way all around the beams of the wheel and swinging around like acrobats. Check out the video below for the full effect.  

  

Now off to the field to see some of the Fire Balloons up close. Fire Balloons are similar to Chinese lanterns in the way that they are lit using the hot air from fire and let off in the sky to burn. Yet this is like Fire Balloons to the extreme because these balloons were GIGANTIC!!! If I were to guess I would say they were somewhere between 10 and 20 feet in diameter. Each balloon is sponsored by a different village, organization, or company and these are represented on the sides of the balloon in writing or symbols. Besides just good fun the general idea is that you send a wish or good thoughts out into the world to get the universe to fulfill. 

But the balloons are not the only things that are lit, they are also adorned with hundreds of small candles. These mini lanterns are colored so when arranged they reveal an image of sorts. They are hooked onto specific spots on the balloon, this has to be done very quickly as the balloon is filling but before it gets too full. Lots of helpers are needed for this part.

Fire is slowly built up below the balloon and fills it with hot air to make it inflate. Many skilled people are needed to help with this part as to not burn the balloon itself. After it gets filled enough one main fire is lit under it and the sticks are removed, these are just placed aside within the crowd. The process of filling the whole balloon up takes only 10-20 minutes.

While this is happening there is also a whole other section of the balloon being worked on. This section is completed by taping wooden frames together then placing more of the colored mini lanterns on it to show another symbol of sorts. The rows of lights here were quite stunning. 

Finally the sections are attached together and lifted off. 

Sometimes instead of the mini lanterns, the balloons are decorated. These specially decorated balloons are always accompanied by a box of fireworks underneath them (instead of the wooden frame with mini lanterns). The fireworks start shooting off almost immediately and stretch right above the heads of the crowd. As you can imagine this is extremely dangerous. I later found out that the night before there was a huge accident where one of the balloons fell back into the crowd. Apparently somewhere between 1 and 3 people died and somewhere between 15 and 30 people got injured. The news is all hearsay here so it is difficult to get the specifics. Luckily all was well and good the night I was there. 

Here is the video of the full process: 

Our much anticipated Farewell Party was hosted by Meg and John on Saturday. We were so looking forward to having a chance to see everyone one last time before we left. It was so fun to see co-workers, friends from all over, and of course family, gathered together for festivities. There was tasty food (of course), lawn games, a fire, Twisted Tea keg, and fireworks. Yay! 

Sunday I set off for a week long AP Art workshop in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. ISM (my school) recommended the workshop for me to help gain some knowledge about Advanced Placement Art classes before I begin teaching it. I will be teaching AP 2D Design. It was very hard for me to leave at this time where there is still so much to do before heading to Myanmar in less than two weeks (eeeekk!!!) but I knew that it was important for me to develop these skills. I was also hoping that the time focused on education would help me transition my teaching mindset to a high school level. And, as I thought, it was exactly what I needed. 

The workshop ran from Sunday to Friday on the campus of St. Johnsbury Academy, a private boarding high school in the vast mountains of Vermont. I stayed in the dorms and ate in their amazingly fantastic cafeteria. The workshop was just one of many AP workshops held at the Summer Institute. The AP Art session was led by a well experienced art teacher who was also a "reader" (evaluator) for the AP art portfolios. She led us through the AP evaluation process, the requirements for portfolios, and shared past portfolio examples. We were also tasked with completing a mini version of the portfolio ourselves. We had to make a concentration of 12 art pieces in the form of Artist Trading Cards. This is the series that I created:

Here is what my week looked like. It was very college-esk. Including working in the studio until all hours of the night and hanging out with fun new people. I'm so glad I got to be involved in the week which included a trip to a mountain buddhist monastery (with an introduction to buddhism class) and a exhibit of our work at the end of the week. 

In the meantime Kim was very busy back at home getting all of our belongings moved into storage. It was a long, difficult task that involved the help of Brian and Drew. Many days were spent moving truckloads from the apartment into the unit. By the end of the week Kim headed up to spend some time with her parents at their house in Avon. 

After our 4th of July weekend in Vermont we packed up the tent again and set off for the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Amanda, Josh, Kim, and I had a blast on our mini road trip which included multiple stops at gorgeous look-outs throughout the White Mountain region. We set up camp at Jigger Johnson campground at the end of the Kangamangas Highway and were joined shortly after by Dad, Pam, Drew, Autumn, Brian, and Kirsten. The next couple days were spent sitting around the campfire or exploring various watering holes/ waterfalls. Family meals were shared, trails were walked, and great times were had all around. 

We returned from our almost two weeks of camping on Tuesday to the reality of our lengthy to-do list. The first major task was to buy our plane tickets. We had put this off for quite a long time due to the questionable pet situation, but we could not wait any longer. We sat down that evening and purchased one way tickets from Portland, Maine to Bangkok, Thailand. Eeeeeeekk!! No time was wasted on Wednesday jumping back into packing. So much was still left to get done.

Taking a break from everything we headed to Water Country on Thursday to celebrate Autumn's Birthday. Although her real birthday is not until September we knew we were not going to be here and wanted to be sure to do something fun! And boy was it! Drew joined the three of us for a day of water slides, wave-pool jumping, and tube floating. Afterwards we grabbed a pizza and went to a drive-in movie. It was a wonderful day and I'm so glad we took time to have it. 

First thing Friday we were back at it starting by going over to Augusta to get our PO Box. We will be forwarding all of our mail there for Andrea to get, she will be taking care of those kind of things while we are away. Stopping into both of our banks we got some financial things taken care of. Then we went over to sign the paperwork for our storage unit. We went with a 10' x 15' space. We wont be keeping much of our furniture but we wanted to have plenty of room.

Before we knew it another week was over, time is just flying by! Crazy to think we will be in Myanmar in less than two weeks!

The weekend started out with celebrating my little brother, Drew's 14th birthday. Every year I let him pick an activity to do on his birthday and this year he decided to go to an amusement park. So off we headed to Six Flags New England for a day of thrills. After the four hour drive we were beyond excited to get on some rides. We got our jitters out on some small rides before we headed for one of the roller-coasters. Little did we know that Drew is afraid of roller-coasters. Yep. But that didn't stop us from having a blast jumping on and off different rides and hitting the water park. It was a great day and we were exhausted after. That didn't stop us from waking up early and heading to the beach to meet up with the family. The day was filled with grilling, ice cream cake, ocean exploring, and laughing. Although we decided to leave our phones and camera in the car at Six Flags we have plenty of photos from the beach. 

On Sunday Kim and I headed to one of our favorite festivals in Maine, the annual Old Port Fest. One Sunday a year they close down all of the streets in the Old Port (downtown Portland) and fill it up to the brim with vendors, stages with live music, Maine craftspeople, and lots of food! We spent the sunny, sunny afternoon seeing the sights and tasting the treats.

I joined an old frisbee teammate to photograph her and her fiancé for their upcoming wedding. We met up on the Eastern Prom then headed to Portland Headlight to splash in the Andrew Wyeth-like waves. 

On Monday Kim had to go to the dentist to get some work done on her teeth. It was not fun but we are very glad to get it taken care of before we go. She was also able to get her very last round of shots done which means we are all vaccinated!!! 

Kim and I were able to join my family in watching Drew graduate from 8th grade. I simply cannot believe that he is going to be in High School next year eeeeeeeeeekk. I don't know what those HS teachers and administrators are going to do with him.

June 10th came on Tuesday and with it our 4 year anniversary of when we met as well as our 1 month anniversary of our wedding. This past month has flown by but we could not be happier. We decided on an easy night of dinner out and visiting one of our most favorite lookout spots where we have had many dates. It was a lovely night to take a break and just enjoy being with each other.

And a photo from just a couple months after we met : )

Before we knew it, it was Wednesday and we were back at it. It was Field Day at school which meant children running around having a blast all day. It is always fun to see kids be kids. Here is our annual Rainbow picture before the start of the day. I'm sitting on the playground. 

Thursday and Friday flew by and before I knew it I was watching my West Paris students walk out of the building for the last time and, arms loaded, I shortly followed. My last week of teaching elementary Art in Maine (at least for the next couple years). Still as I am writing this it doesn't seem real. I'm not sure when it will hit me, the fact that I will most likely never see any of the students that I have worked so closely with again. The students that I have laughed with, been inspired by, shared my passion with, the first children that I have truly called students of my own. I have been getting ready for this for a while now and there were times when it didn't feel like it was ever going to come but alas, it has ended. This is a letter I received from one of my dearest students:

In each of my last classes I shared with the students where we will be headed. I put together this presentation to give them a bit of a feel for Myanmar and then I gave them time to ask whatever questions they had for me. These questions ranged from "When are you leaving?" to "Do they eat bugs?" - from "How are you getting there?" to "Are you afraid?" - from "Who is going with you?" to "How long will you be there?" It was a great time to be personal with the students who have challenged me and inspired me daily for the past two years. This is the presentation I shared with them:

To end what was a very surreal and emotional week, my co-workers took Kim and me out to dinner on Friday night. In an echo of our many after-work drink dates, it was simply the perfect way to cap my time at Rowe. I'm going to miss my Rowe family, the students and fellow teachers who made my time at Rowe so meaningful.