it’s a manic Monday with rain coming down in the lower Hudson Valley of New York all week long.
There are days your tryng to get anchored in a routine to bring you clarity. Wishing I was on this dock from my weekend excursion further upstate near Albany, NY.
So today we should show some love to the small businesses. I’ve grabbed a few that I simply love and want to support. During this crazy time these small business are struggling, admittedly I have mostly bought from the big box stores, but realize how much I love that small neighborhood shop or finely curated online one and not to forget etsy craftsmans. Take the time to peruse these shops and show your support.
House of Brinson let’s just say they have style and taste. Will is photographer and an incredible bartender, just watch his weekly Cocktail Hour. Susan is an amazing designer and has such good taste. They have a shop with everything from matches, to barware to iron skillets.
Urbanic this is a local favorite from my SoCal days in Venice, CA. I miss shopping at that store. Audrey curates beautiful stationary, cards and anything you can think of. This was always my go to place for cards.
Hand + Fire I dream about Sage’s beautifically crafted pottery. Sage is based in Helena, Oregon. She is so generous in sharing her process and how to make a simple mug by hand. Recently she and Josh made some amazing wood cutting boards. I’ve watched her work part-time at a restaurant and craft on the side to becoming a full time potter. Please visit her shop online and follow her on Instagram for her notices of when new work is being released.
The Pioneer Town General Store in Pioneertown, CA. Sarah is amazing, she is incredibly smart with her MBA and obviously hipper than the coolest person you can think of. Her store is a vintage gold mine, I personally have been eyeing the beautiful switch blade knives.
Foundry42 is located in Port Jervis, NY. I found this place online and last winter while driving out in the snow doing volunteer work I wanted a warm cup of coffee. This place was only 15 minutes away from where we were. Not only was the coffee amazing, but a shop full of beautiful books, decor, lotions, candles, anything you think you don’t need but fall in love with while browsing. Also they make a chocolate chip potato chip cookie, trust me, it’s delicious. Sweet and savory.
ArtisanTreeHouse is based in Los Angeles. Karena sells artistic, boho chic wares. I’m personally in love with her Chunky Chenile blankets. Long time friend who oozes talent. I’m always excited about what she’s doing next. Check back on her Etsy shop she’s choked full of talent. Visit her site for black Friday sales.
LaurieAnn Art paints to my heart. While I’m a Cali girl, living in NY, I’m New Mexico at heart. She paints beautiful desert landscapes and when she was able to travel you see her inspirations come alive in her European paintings. This weekend she’s offering 15% from her shop.
Emily Jefford I met about 7 years ago during the Alt Summit. She was passing out bookmarks with her beautiful paintings. Fast forward that many years and I have watched her evolve into this amazing artist who has collectors that buy out her art as soon as it’s gone live. She lives this truly artistic life with her husband and 3 kids. Based in South Caroline. I’m itching to buy a print of her recent work, I just can’t make my mind up on which one.
Field Trip is found in Newburgh, NY. While this is a brick and mortar store, which so far has not shuttered it’s doors. They have beautiful curated goods. A must visit in person or shop online.
No Longer Wander is found in Albuquerque, NM. I stumbled upon this store when it was right next to Little Bear Coffee. While we waited for our coffees to brew I wondered into this light filled plant room. So beautiful and hip beyond words. I can’t wait to visit my Mom again and buy up all the beautiful plants and drive them back with me to New York.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of small businesses I love. Its a few I’ve been following over the years and sprinkled in with new ones. Please support these folks who work so hard to curate beautiful things and sharing their talent with us. A little piece of which we can bring home with you.
Is bread a seasonal eat? Because that’s what I did for the month of November. I ate lots and lots of bread. Traditonally Rob and I like to call in NoBreadmer. Which means no bread for 30 days. Yeah we did the opposite. Oh Boy.
Originally I creating these seasonal eat explorations because we had moved to an agricultural area in Central California. On any given day during the summer you would see trucks full of tomatoes and garlic barely down the 99. Driving the country roads were the migrant workers hauling in the sweet potato crops, or the infamous dust bowl created by the shaking of the almond trees. Everytime we’d drive down one of these roads and I see a new tree and stop the car to get a closer look. I saw a pistachio tree for the first time on rural country road. Walnut trees in huge groves. It was inspiring to see the variety. Oddly enough there were no great farmer stands out there. All the good stuff was shipped to the cities and restaurants through out California and beyond.
We take these moments for granted. While the triple digit heat in the summer and the dusty cloud of farming settled in the area, it’s what started this whole adventure. Now I’m nearly 3,000 miles in the opposite direction. Struggling to make myself eat anything other than the comfort of bread.
I recently read about an ad campaign in the UK to get kids to eat their vegetables. It’s called Veg Power. It’s unconventional approach to getting kids, and aaaheeem, some adults to eat more veg. Props to Adam + Eve/DDB for creating this brillant idea that also saw a massive increase in vegetable sales in 2020. I mean this is the year of the Sourdough starter. In their words “We created a daring counter-intuitive idea targeted at children and their parents. The idea: vegetables are trying to take over the world and the only way to beat them is to eat them. Casting them as evil, created a fun, distinctive, humorous campaign.”
Brillant. Let’s see if I can trick myself into eating more veg. Call it my 70’s childhood where mom boiled everything to it’s oblivion and i just never developed a love for them. Other than my grandma letting me plant my own radish patch, which i remember so fondly, vegetables were evil and I never thought that eating them would make be a motto “eat to defeat.” Here’s to Veg Power!!!
Remember when you could make an appointment at the doctor online or on the phone and just show up for your appointment. Now we have to pre-register before we show up to our appointment, verify we have no symptoms of current said pandemic scare. Remember when we could walk in the doctors office once we arrived? Now we wait in the parking lot and text HERE to a faceless administrator, and then wait for the code word to enter the building. This is an honor system that banks on the fact that we are honest and have no symptoms, what about the asymptomatic people? How are we protected from them and ourselves? Because now all we do is give our code word “water bottle” and we get access in. No temperature check, just make sure I have my mask on and we’re in. We touch nothing that doesn’t need to be touched, hand sanitizer stations everywhere. This is the new normal. Which is a phrase, in itself, that has us all fatigued of saying.
This applies to hair appointments, mask required, temperature check done and sit and get your hair did. Grocery store, where a mask, stand 6 feet apart, don’t put your stuff on the conveyer belt till the person has paid and left the pay station. Get home take out your limited supply of santiziing wipes and clean all products of any potential germ, microbe, deadly disease. New normal. What is normal about any of this, does normal just mean, this is what we do now. I am sure much of what I have been doing now, that I call normal, was a product of a changed system way before my time.
I remember when you didn’t have to put everything through security system at the airport, I could keep my shoes on and not practically undress before getting through the gate. Remember when your friends could wait with you at the gate, or you could see your grandma come out of the plane. You didn’t have to show your ID multiple times before getting on a plane. This was just one of the many changes after September 11, 2001.
I have yet to fly during these uncertain pandemic times, I’m sure that’s a whole other level of change. When will we feel safe to travel? I have friends taking trains across the country, booking their own cabin, own bathroom, staying inside there box for 3 days, food delivered, wearing full on hazmat gear to protect themselves from said disease. This is normal.
Attempting documenting these changes so when I look back I can remember what it was like. Not that I long for the past, that would be tantamont to the slaves who left Egypt and longing for the good food the left behind, forgetting all the pain and suffering they had experience. This is a look back and reflect and move forward with a changed lifestyle. Great quote I heard this week “maintain my life, not my lifestyle.”
Oh yeah and the colors of the world have changed, its Fall up here in the Hudson Valley. Appreciate the blessings and not the maledictions. I’m full of bible references today.
This piece above is my Art. Have you started any new hobbies or resurrected dormant ones during quarantine? I’m mildly startled that the word quarantine just feels so normal to say now.
Each week I make small doodles or drawings in my bullet journal which has evolved from when I first started. It always give me great pleasure to see what I come up with each week. Recently in talking to two friends on separate occasions I realized we all were creating Art. So I scheduled us a Zoom session this past Saturday and we spent over 2 hours chatting, painting, even a bit of silence, like we were all in the same room. This is our “therapy” session and so delightful to be with likeminded friends.
I so dearly miss my weekly ceramic sessions in the Central Valley of Cali. It pains me not to be able to get on a wheel or create something by hand and see the process of firing the clay and watching what color my glaze will really turn out to be. My future studio has now expanded in my mind once again. It will have all these area’s Photography, Art (think messy easel, paint spattered concrete floors) and Ceramics. This is going to be a big studio filled with light filled windows. Well in my mind it will be.
I just bought a stack of watercolor postcards which I can’t wait to start a new series I have in my mind. We shall see what transpires in the coming months.
OOOOh I miss this random post of the week. Mindless Mondays, just a stream of consciousness. A brain dump of everything going on.
We spent a weekend of people coming in and out of our rental house, since the owners are selling it. Unsettling to have strangers, masked up in your house during these times. And wearing a mask IN YOUR OWN HOUSE. I’m so done with this, but being careful to not let our guard down to keep us safe and healthy.
On the other end, we got out of the house a few times this week. Two haircuts, a distillery visit (outside with masks only) and a nature hike. On the later I discovered that I need hiking boots and am doing a Labor Day boot sale search today. Distillery visit was to Tuttlehilltown Distillery who makes Hudson brand Bourban and a botanical Gin, which we love. We decide after leaving we had our priorities all wacked, buying liquor instead of food.
Living on the East Coast and continuing my slow gardening obsession you notice different plants, and well Hydrangea’s come in so many colors and shapes. In California they are always round and mostly bluish purple, some pink and some white. But the ones here aren’t always round they are more elongated and so pretty. I planted two Hygrangea’s in my garden. One white and round and one white and elongated. Hmmm me and Rob? Don’t answer that. Let’s see what survives the winter. Right now my little garden area outside of my vegetable and herb box is so pretty. I’ll have to see if I can capture what i see. Above is a pink Hydrangea that was just outside the distillery to be enjoyed by all.
Brain dump done. Moving on to Labor Day shopping.
I bought Fall seeds for planting! Who am I? Either i’m going to make this work or I just fell in love with the romance of growing flowers. Floret Flowers has exploded as a flower business. They have been featured in Martha Stewart and are about to be on Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Network. September 1 was the Fall seed sale. I jumped at the chance of being able to grow even one of these beautiful flowers. Above is what I bought, Anemones, Ranunculus, Poppies and Peonies. I am so excited.
If you have followed me on Instagram and my stories you’ll know this Summer I decide to build a raised garden bed. It has been a goal to build for the past 5 years. What are you to do with all this time you have at home and limited food shopping. I needed to get outside. We have a little garden in the back of the place we rent. I labored hard on that garden bed, with help from Rob. There are just things you need two people to do, chicken wire is one of them. He helped me get to the finish line.
Over several days before work, I spent early mornings and evenings when it was the coolest (its HUMID in NY) putting it together. Here’s how it turned out. I couldn’t be prouder.
While building it I conducted a Instagram Story poll on whether I should paint it black or keep in natural. I always thought natural was the way to go, but i wanted it to blend in with my current yard and fence. So while the poll taken said to keep in natural, I went with my inspirations from Pinterest and stained it black. Super happy about that decision. I also spent weeks researching how to build this and keep all the critters out that I’ve watch in the past year from my window.
Here are all the sources I referenced for building this box and the costs to complete it. Please note for the wood I chose Cedar, which is more expensive, but should be able to handle the elements of nature. With the exception of the cover, that was Pine. We’ll see how that holds up over a NY Winter. Costs do not include plants, especially as some were gifted to me.
It was a true labor of love:
Easy DIY Garden Bed Cover Tutorial
Costs
Wood for Box $127.81
Wood for Cover $16.66
Screws $12.98
Chicken Wire $27.02
Valspar Tinted Stain $33.49
Paint Brush $13.48
Plastic drop cloth $3.38
Soil Delivery $155.00
TOTAL $389.92
About a year ago I realized while my work life is very organized, my personal life is even fuller and a bit less organized. I needed to start keeping a journal, but not the ones of my youth, which I've shredded or burned, who really wants to read about all their angst.
I had heard about bullet journals, but had no idea what they were. As I started to look online at different types I was immediately drawn to the pictures or graphics people put on their journals. That had me, any excuse to draw or doodle, I'm all over it, and if it helps me get organized then super bonus.
So almost a year later my doodles have changed, my watercolor skills slowly improving, and this past month I've explored road trip scenes in America. So here is a sneak peak at this weeks journal. I am a bit behind in my reading schedule and I find when there is a week I'm not keeping this journal then nothing gets read and I feel like my week is a bit all over the place.
Do you bullet journal or do any journal type of entries? I would love to hear about them and be inspired by what you do.
Ceramics 101. One thing I always wanted to do is learn how to throw pottery on a wheel. While I have a cousin who has been doing this for years and I've managed to confiscate a few of his pieces I never gave it a spin myself, pun intended.
Oh I've looked into classes when I lived down in LA but for some reason never committed. I think the traffic always deterred me. I was just so happy being in my little apartment box, away from the craziness outside. Well I really don't have that excuse anymore and thru a recommendation I found a class at the local community college which is less than 5 minutes away. I also recruited some of my new friends. I found ladies as excited and willing to jump right in and spin.
I started in October 2016 and took a little break between classes and restarted in January 2017. I am addicted. Admittedly taking the break has made me feel like I have to start all over again on the wheel. But this time around I have things in mind I want to created. At first it was all about making as many things and trying all the glazes. See the image above at all I made in 8 weeks.
This time I am being more purposeful. Taking my time while still trying new techniques. There are so many inspiring people in class, on Pinterest and Instagram that spur me on. I confess i watch the spinning on wheel videos on IG over and over again. I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to all things ceramics, take a look, there is so much talent out there.
What inspires you? Any classes, hobbies your interested in? Love to hear from anyone.
This is starting to become a thing. Every Monday morning I roll out of bed and shuffle to my light filled office (at home east side of house). and take a conference call or catch up on 35 emails. Then I unglue myself from my chair. Why is that so hard when really who wants to work on Mondays? AND then I go to the kitchen and make coffee, do the dishes and then turn around and inevitably something I have baked over the weekend is right there to go with my coffee. So sugar, though not really a good thing for me, is my friend on Monday's morning. If it helps me conquer this day, then why not. Enjoy your Monday.
Map created by Sara Darouian
Map created by Sara Darouian
It's already been a two years since we visited Belize. This was such a great trip. Was the first time in many years we've been out of the country. It was also the first time traveling with a family with three pre-teen, teen girls. Most of all I love the reason we choose Belize.
Many months before this trip my friend Sherry came up to me after one of our Sunday meetings. No context to this conversation AT ALL. She says to me "you want to go to Belize?" In my mind I'm thinking is there a restaurant called Belize, I was hungry what can I say. I asked her "are you talking about the country or are we talking about a restaurant?" She said the country and proceed to tell me why. Belize is predominantly an English speaking country, it's not too far, and she wanted to put some goals in front of her three girls. Give them a chance to see what it would live to move to a foreign country and do our volunteer work. She said the girls wanted us to go with them. I was sold. Rob was sold. We're all about putting goals in front of young ones, let them see the possibilities in life and open their minds to other cultures and peoples.
Also it didn't hurt us that we happened to have good friends from Belize who have property down there. They have asked us many times to visit with them when they are down there. So it was in motion. All we had to do was coordinate the timing when the girls were off school. We calculated our expense, frequent flyer miles, friends to stay with, we could do this on our limited budget, or really NO budget. So about 2 months before we left, literally while I was at a conference in Salt Lake City, she texted me, told me the days the girls were off and she was booking it. I flew home, booked the tickets and well the rest is history.
We spent 2 weeks and I have to say we saw more of Belize then some native Belizian's. We went from the top to the bottom to the interior of the country. Our Belizian friends were nice enough to fly back down just before us and help Rob and I get settled before the family came down. We had 3 days to do this and then regrouped with the family.
We stayed in a little village called Carmelita, just south of Orange Walk town. We had a few days of volunteer work in the surrounding villages surrounded by malty fine powdered dirt roads, sugar cane jungles and humid hot heat. We loved it. When I asked our hosts for directions to their house, all she told me was Bus Stop #2 when you get to Carmelita, I was perplexed, what in the world does that mean. Well this image below is what that means, that's the only marker to know your in Carmelita, turn down this road go to the end and the house is right there, gated with chickens and dogs running in the yard. What an adventure.
We drove to Orange Walk town to attend the meetings and make more friends. Lots of American's have moved down there to be "need greaters" in other words they volunteer their time and completely change their lifestyle to preach about promises of a better future. These are truly self-sacrificing HAPPY people.
Walking down the roads doing our volunteer work.
Our friend Anita introduced us to this taco stand, you get six rolled up Chicken tacos for $1. You order by saying $1 tacos. I got this with Horchata and was happy as a all could be. Food was really good. Lots of stewed chicken and coconut rice and beans. YUM! And they serve it on the best disney plastic plates ever.
We came back to this taco stand many times.
Many more adventures from this trip still to come.
Last year was the year of the twentieth for us. Not the anniversary of this blog, but the anniversary of 20 years of marriage. For some reason after long days away from this space I always feel the need to explain where I have been. This is a milestone in our marriage and considering the year we had before we just wanted to enjoy and experience it all. It's kept us incredibly busy with many experiences. I may share snippets of that here and not necessarily in chronological order.
First off we've moved, and while I thought I'd never miss LA, which I really don't, I have concluded I am an Angeleno, maybe a westside Angeleno, but one, none the less. So I look at the image above and smile, even if it's really because I'm not stuck in that crazy traffic anymore.
I want to get back to posting just because I like an image or a trip or something I made or somewhere I ate without the pressure of creating this GREAT post. This is my space to be free with my own creativity. I have enjoyed immediacy of Instagram and the lack of having to write something long or meaningful. Just small edited snippets of life. So this space may become that as well. We shall see, this is a start.
This is how my mind feels today, only much slower. What a great weekend celebrating a dear friends anniversary and then a trip down memory lane to the the 80's bands Psychedelic Furs and B52's at the Hollywood Bowl.
Although you hear me complain, often, about the traffic here in Lala land, I should celebrate the great things we have here. This venue, Hollywood Bowl, being one of them. Every artist, accept maybe Patty LaBelle (who has a love hate relationship with the Bowl) loves this venue. They all seem genuinely honored to be here and as they travel all over the world to many venues, they always remark on what a great place this is. So I must say the Hollywood Bowl is special. It's a fun outdoor venue. From your seats, especially if your way up high, you can see two more Lala land icons, the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. You can eat and drink alcohol at your seats and thru the entire performance. If you get box seats you can even have a waiter bring you food from the restaurants that surround the Bowl. Why is it called Hollywood Bowl, well for one it's in Hollywood and two it really is a big bowl carved out in a canyon. One of my favorite 80's movies has a great scene here at the Bowl, watch "Some Kind of Wonderful, " you'll love it.
So as you walk down the heart-attack hill you've climb to your seats at the top of the bowl, or ran to your shuttle bus, or hike up another hill, to your stacked car parking, only to wait for the person who was parked at the front of the line to finally come back so you can join the other thousand people trying to get home an alternate way you came here, try 3 freeways to get home, you are still happy that you've experienced great music, fun conversation and good food with your friends. Here's to hoping the Bowl buzz stays with me for the next 5 days, till the weekend.
It's Hot. I'm done with the heat, are you SoCal peeps? Is it raining in your region of the world? Can you send some of it our way, we so need rain here. The humidity bodes well for a rainy winter, so hopefully that really happens.
This weekend was beyond hot. and hardly anyone has air conditioning on the Westside, they all think we get ocean breezes. Uhmm no, I'm 10 blocks away, with multiple buildings blocking my breeze. Seriously SB and I couldn't wait to get into our car just to put the AC on. Getting ready for a meeting or going out to eat was miserable, dripping sweat and make-up is no bueno.
Something had to be done so I decided to make yogurt popsicles. Did your mom ever make these for you growing up, mine did all the time. I have to tap her brain for what she put into them. However for me the questions was, "what did i have in my refrigerator?" Yogurt, check. Left over sweet condensed milk, from my last popsicle trial, check. Oranges and lemons, check. I decide I wanted an Orange Dreamsicle. This was the easiest recipe EVER.
2 cups yogurt (I used Vanilla, next time maybe i'd try Greek plain yogurt)
1/3 cup sweet condensed milk
Zest of one Orange
Mix and pour into your popsicle molds and freeze overnight. Seriously the mixture was so good I was dreaming about these till the next day when I could eat them and I almost ate them for breakfast, I mean it's the equivalent of orange juice, right? These were easy to make and a welcome little treat. Too bad today I'm starting a 2 week NO SUGAR kick. How will I ever make this happen! Happy Monday.
This may be more of a Wanderlust post then a Mindless Monday. My Monday is filled with "where am I going next?" I'm antsy. I'm comfortable, too comfortable. Time to detach from "stuff" and get ready for changes, whatever they may be. I need to think "simple", SIMPLIFY. It's exciting and scary to think about moving, but I know we're going to do it soon, just not sure when and the big question WHERE. We have no idea, we just need a change. So here's to thinking outside of the comfort box of SoCal and seeing where the "spirit" moves us.
P.S. I'm obsessed with these luggage tags. My former boss bought me the orange one while he was in Tokyo, the others I bought on Amazon.com. So easy to find my homogenous grey luggage, in the sea of black and grey, revolving round the baggage claim. Turquoise square find here. Round lime green and similar orange found here.
Mindless: having no apparent purpose or rational cause. That's what I call my mind today. I can't seem to focus. The humidity last week has pickled my brain. Trying to be present with the task at hand. Here it goes:
During one of my shortcuts through the LA traffic I stumbled upon this mural. Literally down the street from a place I use to work at for over 7 years. I love these little pieces of sunshine that you find in random places. Who said a building had to be boring grey or white or cream. A little splash of color goes a long way.
Below are few of my favorite "red" things that are inspired by this mural. Some affordable some on my wish list and others are a pipe dream (uuhhuu Valentino Camo Sneakers!)
It's the beginning of another busy week for me with not much time for this space. While I work away to get caught up on real life work, I miss this creative outlet and wish I had more time to dedicate here.
Summer has been busy and fulfilling, lots of travel and outings. I've thoroughly enjoyed them all. Today I wish I was outside at the beach instead of in my office typing away. I long for the summer breaks from school when you had nothing to worry about other than getting the perfect suntan and where you were going to eat or what movie you were going to watch. Here's to dreaming on a Monday!
It's March, it's Spring and it's actually warm still in California. We've not been hit by all the snow storms the east has had this year. Though I admittedly wish we had a little more "seasons" here in Cali, I know I should be grateful for the nice warm weather. Spring is my favorite part of the year. Activities get in full swing, day light savings time is here, which only took my over a week to get used to. I finally starting to go to bed at a reasonable hour and waking up my usual 7AM without an alarm clock. It's a good time of year.
I've had lots of time to be away from this space. Time to reflect on what I liked about blogging. After attending a few conferences and listening to LOTS of outside sources on blogging, which is needed, I forgot to remember why I started this blog. It was my own personal project, to make me be more creative, to explore things I enjoy. Hopefully I get back to MY basics and what inspires ME and what I want to share, regardless of what others are doing.
I am not a DIY blogger, I am not a mommie blogger, I am not a fashion blogger. Most of the conferences I attended and the ladies I had the pleasure of meeting are in these categories. I respect these ladies immensely, they are super woman. However, I am NOT in those categories.
I am a SUPER woman in my own right. I love my volunteer work, I love food, travel, architecture, COFFEE, and design. I am curious. I am a "single" couple, that's my definition of those of us couples who are blessed to be in a long married relationship with no children. I am an explorer. I am creative. I am a photographer, an artist, a baker, a friend, a wife, an aunt, a daughter, a mentor. And I am OK with all that. As I have time, in my very hectic life, I will share some of the things that inspire me.
Happy Spring my friends.
Where have you been oh Tanya, well it's been a needed not necessarily welcome break. But as they say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I feel the creativity bursting inside. The Fall season has been one of my favorite times of year, but I've barely just started to enjoy it. Why the absence you may ask, maybe only the two readers that are left are even asking. But here it goes.
When all seemed to be returning to normal for us, during an extremely busy year, is when you suddenly get hit with things that are just unfathomable. This is what happened at the end of August, in the middle of a class that me and SB were attending we ended up in the hospital that evening. SB had complications from a surgery 8 years ago which decided to wreak havoc on us. Two surgeries later and 7 total weeks in the hospital found us "crushed and broken." We've tried to find a new rhythm and adjust accordingly. Learning "modesty" with our selves, being fully aware of our limitations, and succumbing to those is extremely hard and humbling. But the dark road we were on always had patches of sunlight. These spots of light came from us drawing closer together, a timely call, or a text or visit from a friend and family. We even found things to laugh at, just imagine the hallucinations that come to those drugged up on all kinds of things. Can you say "giant marshmallows." Prayer kept us sane and we knew we were being heard. Just when you were at a low point a card would come in the mail with thoughts of warmth and caring from so many dear ones. So I'm slowly getting myself back in gear, so i hope to be in the space more in the coming weeks and share a bit more.
For now I eat cookies and drink coffee for breakfast, well only sometimes. In my attempt to fatten up SB i've been backing a lot. Hopefully Ill have some good recipe's to share with you. For now enjoy a welcome day off here in America.
Quick update here to account for the quietness. We've had a few medical emergencies and that has been my primary focus. I promise to get back to the creative things that excite me. In the meantime, thank you for all the support and love you have shown. We hope to get back to "normal" real soon.
itsweet & savory
Lifestyle blogger who loves coffee, architecture, local cultural interests, good food and travel stories.
