Travel Tales, Food Trends and Guest Posts
I’ve been traveling for most of June. When I walked in the door late Thursday night, I all but collapsed on the ground of our mud room right on top of my luggage. Travel inspires a weariness in me I can’t even explain in words. The romance of hotels wears off after 3 days, and after that, they just feel impersonal and sad. I just want to be able to boil my own water for coffee, fry my own egg and have a door that has direct access to the outside.
It’s also been freeing. It was as if I lived in a different world the last few weeks. One that isn’t dictated by playdates or orthodontist appointments or extra trips to the grocery store. I only ate when I was hungry, not when it was “time”, determined by everyone else. If I wanted to leave and go somewhere, I simply walked out the door. I didn’t have to check my watch after 5 pm…there was no one I had to drive anywhere. I could order in and get in my pajamas at 5 pm, watching Bridgerton (do not come for me, but the Penelope/Colin thing was NOT my favorite).
It gave me a fresh perspective on where I want to focus my energies- and where I want to let go.
I wonder if freedom and loneliness go hand in hand, like sadness and joy.
I am grateful to be back in my own home for a few weeks. To be the one who gets to orchestrate the social lives of my kids. To cook them their favorite meals. To watch them swim. To be back in my office with reliable wifi.
And I am grateful for what I learned while away. How to listen to own body. How to know when something is right for me, and how not to judge when the same might not be right for someone else. How to walk with an open heart- and how to protect it. How to love without knowing the full story and what to do with that love once you get it. How to hold boundaries and recognize when rigidity is uncalled for. How to show up for others without abandoning myself.
I spent the first 40 years of my life learning how to love others well.
The second half would be well-invested if I learned how to fully love myself, too.
Have you eaten your words about a long-held belief, ideology, false narrative, or former value and are in the process of climbing out and reframing your perspective? I’d love to hear about it. I’m looking for guest post-ers for the month of August while I do a little housekeeping/redecorating in this space for the fall.
If you have a story of how you’ve eaten your words (even if you’re currently in the process and not on the other side) and you’d love a safe space to share, please email me directly with your pitch. I would love to feature you here!
Now, on to what’s nourishing me….
Kate DiCamillo’s latest book, “Ferris” was a marvel. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. I gravitate toward middle readers, I think, because my own middle school experience was fraught with trauma and uncertainty. Kate has slowly reframed that time in my life to be something “visitable”. I’m forever in her debt.
I’ve been writing in new (old) ways. Excited to rush to my own laptop after work. Encouraged by other, fellow writers to let my OCD behaviors go when it comes to outlines and developmental mapping and all the “right ways” to do things. Stephen King’s “On Writing” and John Truby’s “The Anatomy of a Story” haven’t left my side table in months.
Ffern is a perfumery based in the UK that only produces one scent per season, with all natural ingredients. Autumn 2023 has been my favorite thus far, but Summer 2024 comes in second.
This will seem silly to some, but I am resting when I’m tired- regardless of the time. 1:37 pm and my body is slumping? I lay down. 8:23 pm and I’m tired? Time to go to bed. 10:02 am? 17 minute nap is necessary. I am no longer shaming my body not being able to keep up the ridiculous hours set by men. Women’s bodies need more rest by nature ( because, you know, we generate life and therefore sustain the human population) and I have just accepted it.
Alright, fine, I jumped on the cottage cheese bandwagon. But no- I will not whip it or make it Into ice cream or anything else that sounds dumb and ridiculous. I am a foodie purest in that, I will not eat “cauliflower pizza” because it is not, in fact, pizza. Cottage cheese is not ice cream, call it something else. I love all of those ingredients and meals separate and apart from each other, I just want to call it what it is. However, I have been loving Good Culture for a cooling summer breakfast. I add mixed berries, pumpkin seeds, toasted almonds, ground flax and some cinnamon. Sometimes a drizzle of honey.
I’ve been toying with the idea of a lupine tattoo. I planted lupines in my backyard years ago, with nary a bloom in sight until this very summer. Lupines symbolize imagination and creativity, gratitude and new beginnings, strength and protection. Their star leaves are just as beautiful as the blooms themselves. I’m ruminating on where ( I will only get black and white tattoos) and when to see if the idea sticks.
I’ve become obsessed with the idea of owning a Swim Spa. I’m pretty sure I need one.
Here we are, friends. Now more than ever we need to be purposeful in highlighting how people can change. How old narratives, beliefs, or thought systems can be renovated. How we can still evolve.
How we can eat our words and not die.
In fact- it could become something delicious.
Let’s do It together.
Ooo, let me put on my apron and see what kind of pitch I can whip up for you (sans cauliflower and cottage cheese).