The past year has been an unexpected adventure filled with more twists and turns than I could have ever anticipated. I lived out of my suitcase quite a bit and stepped beyond my comfort zone to travel halfway across the world for the first time. I finally got an airline credit card (thank goodness!) as I felt like at least twice a month I was flying somewhere for a wedding, engagement session, or conference!
My Motto for my 24th Year:  Collect Adventures, not Possessions. Live out my suitcase for a few weeks. Eat foods I’ve never even heard of. Explore places I’ve only seen on the front of post cards. Seize every opportunity to travel, learn, and love this gorgeous planet.
The Result: Huey and I went on our honeymoon to England + Italy and had the time of our lives! Then, I traveled all the way across the country to California to trek up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco before island hopping in Hawaii and driving all over my favorite place on earth… New Zealand. This was, by far, the best experience of my life. I photographed over thirty weddings, launched a passion project (The Rising Tide Society) with my best friend, and learned to live on good coffee + puppy kisses! We saved our money (even cancelled our cable!) to invest in traveling and it was the best decision ever. Seriously. I can’t imagine living my life any other way.
Places Traveled:Â New York City //Â London, England //Â Rome + Sorrento, Italy //Â Charleston, SC //Â Atlanta, Georgia //Â Montego Bay, Jamaica //Â Los Angeles, CA //Â Monterey, CA //Â San Francisco, CA //Â Honolulu, HI //Â Island of Maui //Â Auckland + North Island New Zealand //Â Queenstown + South Island New Zealand //Â St. Thomas + St. John //Â Las Vegas, Nevada // Captiva Island // Nantucket + The Cape
One of my fun new projects for this year is to begin video blogging every few weeks with a look behind the scenes at what my life is genuinely like! I’ve been craving a platform where I can share more of the unpolished moments with all of you and truly let you in on the journey… And Youtube seems like a perfect fit. Most of the footage will be shot on iPhones and GoPros, edited briefly by me (with plenty of imperfections), and will let you in on the moments that never seem to make it to Instagram!
It will be a bit more raw and unpolished than the rest of this brand and for that reason – I won’t be sharing all of the video diary entires here on the blog! I want to keep these two portions of my brand separate and I hope you Subscribe to My Youtube Channel if you’d like to stay up to date as each new video is released!
Subscribe to my Channel for Future Vlogs!
My Motto for my 25th Year:  Stop to smell the roses. Step outside of my comfort zone and spend more time with the ones I love. Take risks big enough to scare me, dare to make mistakes, and learn from every single opportunity. Most importantly, never stop trying to make life better for others and always lead with love.
Hoping to Travel To:
Auckland, New Zealand
Charleston, South Carolina
Brisbane + Sydney, Australia
Reykjavik, Iceland
Scottsdale, Arizona
Portland, Oregon
I’m so excited to spend tonight celebrating with my sweet family over sushi at my favorite Annapolis spot! If you’re following along on Instagram, be sure to hop over there for a little J.Crew Shopping Spree Giveaway that I’m doing today! Yes! Yes! Yes!
© 2023 Natalie Franke
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Happy birthday, Natalie! Love your vlog! 🙂
Happy birthday! I hope 25 is as amazing as 24. Portland is certainly on my list of places that I must travel, and I can say our lives our so much better since ditching cable. Here is to another amazing year!
Happy Birthday Natalie! I’m not sure how you can top all the adventures you had in year 24 but I have a feeling you will! “Spend more time with the ones you love” is perfect because 25-30 goes by even quicker than the first half of your 20’s so take it all in! Cheers to another great one 🙂
You are so adorable!!! I love the clip of you trying to figure out how to work the go-pro!! It’s hysterical!! Love you and so grateful that you were born!!!
[…] Natalie is also sharing the most adorable video on her personal blog today » […]
Happy 25th Birthday Natalie! Keep shining, keep inspiring and keep dreaming.. Cheers to another amazing 25 plus years. 🙂
I love your motto! Brilliant idea to have a new one for each year! Happy 25th!
Natalie this is so ADORABLE! What an amazing year for you! I hope that you continue counting your blessings for 26! Happy Birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! And you’re vlog– the cutest thing ever. I mean, I obsessed with those baby turtles you found and Maddie swinging in your office chair– haha! Love you to pieces. xo
The Happiest of Birthdays to you, Natalie! You are a rock star with an intentional and generous heart. Sending a big big hug your way! xo
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! You’re my favorite person!!!
AMAZING! I love how much love you have for life! Happy 25…it ONLY GETS BETTER!!!!
Glad to see Oregon made your wanting to travel to list! #nwisbest
Happy Birthday to quite an inspirational 25 year old! And great job with the vlog!
Happy birthday, gorgeous! Sounds like an amazing 24th year and I hop you have an even better 25th!
Happy Birthday! I will be 25 in February and to say that I am freaking out is an understatement, but to see how successful you have been leading up to your first 25 years is incredible and so inspiring! I can’t wait for more behind the scenes vlogs. p.s. I can not figure out how to work my GoPro for anything! I don’t understand why it is so difficult.
Happy Birthday! You bring so much joy to the world. Love this post! 🙂
Oh my goodness Natalie, your vlog just made me giggle so much 🙂 Love it! Happy birthday sweet girl!
YAY!!! I love this video!! I love YOU! Also.. can I just say Lauren managed to leave a pair of scissors in my side door from our little roadtrip lol. She’s EVERYWHERE!
Love this so much!!!! You are so stinkin’ beautiful, inside and out :-D.
Aww!! Happy Birthday beautiful!!!
Here’s to making all your dreams come true! <3
I missed your birthday, but that is why someone created the word belated- for me! Happy belated birthday Nat!