About Jillian

I was born on March 12, 1984 at 10:45 pm in Montreal, Quebec to my parents, an older brother, and an older sister. I was born with hair. Lots of it. Black hair that made my dad think he had finally gotten an Italian baby after my blond, blue-eyed sister and my blond, grey/green-eyed brother. He did not. I grew up disliking sauce on my pasta and that black hair turned lighter, just like the rest of ’em. (But I can assure you, I adore pasta sauce now.)

Growing up in Montreal was interesting. I excelled at being the nerdy kid to be bullied at my elementary school, before I turned into the classic unstable pre-teen, and the eventual awkward teenager.

When I was 15 and in the thick of my awkwardness, my dad asked us all if we wanted to move to Calgary, AB. It was the land of Rocky Mountains, huge plains and no signs of backwards language laws in sight. Quite frankly, asking a 15 year-old if they want to move away and start over, especially when they don’t fit in, is like asking them if they want a million dollars.

In Calgary, I started rowing. I did that for a lot of years and there are countless stories about it along with mild amounts of PTSD. In high-school, I found a group of people who were normal, real people with a penchant for eclectic personalities. Things went well and I graduated from high school and went on to 6 years of post-secondary. For my trouble and numerous headaches, I received a B.Sc. in archaeology and a diploma in photojournalism. Neither of which had great job prospects, but I honestly wouldn’t trade it.

This blog started off as a simple travel blog, a means to keep my family and friends up-to-date on where I was and what I was doing. As time passed, it’s become my adventure blog, with everything from recipes, to stories, to ideas, and philosophies. I once had a bike with “Adventure Girl” written on the side of it. My family used to tease me about the name, but it turned out to be an omen of things to come. A good omen!

Now, I spend my time traveling around and having adventures. Between those things, I split my time between my photography business, the local archaeology lab, and encouraging handmade & vintage businesses in Calgary.