What a Difference a Year Makes

Ok, so stay with me as  I go a little granola here… But I am a person moved to action by my passions. And I usually trust that I am feeling a particular tug for a reason.

When I lived in New York, I was a stay at home mom to a toddler and an infant. It was not what I’d call an easy transition from career life to home life. But after some time of having my identity erased and replaced with this new one, I felt this pull to start writing again. Not the entertainment fueled topics of my previous life, but about all different things. Whatever was going on in my world at that moment, is what I wrote about.

My husband would take the kids out on what we called’ Daddy Adventure Days’…which meant that he would take them out ALL DAY so that I could have a big chunk of time to myself. During those days, I would luxuriate in the bathtub,  make myself a warm cup of tea and write about whatever was on my mind. The Cool Moms Club, The Dust Made Me Do It, School of Kravitz, Cookie Crumbs, Making an Impact, and Mom Time Is Everything were all written on one of those kinds of days. I didn’t know why I was writing them, and I didn’t feel like I had to know. I just felt the pull. That was good enough for me. I knew it would make sense someday.

The same thing happened when I decided to go to cooking school. After the idea came to me, there really was no question. I was going. While I was there, I even wrote a series of essays about my journey for the schools newsletter.

When my family and I moved from New York back to California in 2013, I was totally thrown off balance. I had just graduated from NGI, and after I got the house and the kids all settled, I still didn’t know what I was going to do with that expensive life investment I’d felt compelled to pursue. I knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom, so how was this schooling going to contribute to our lives?

I had quite a few emotional breakdowns before I decided that I would do what I had decided in school…I would write a cookbook. So I started writing recipes. The life of a ‘SAHM’ was actually quite conducive to creating recipes, as I was, and still am, constantly cooking and serving food.

But who wants to buy a cookbook from some random woman they’ve never heard of? That’s when the idea for my blog began. It was a way for me to express myself through writing as well as share my recipes and all the other stuff that I’m passionate about. And it was a way for people to get to know me.

As soon as I decided to do it, I was on it! Now let me just say…I was kind of computer illiterate. I had only just joined FB the year before, and I didn’t know anything about the virtual community. No Twitter, Instagram or even Pinterest.

I found a tutorial on YouTube on how to create your own website. I consulted with a few friends who know about social media, and made a plan. I sat on the couch, with the Apple TV remote in my hand, pausing after each step, until I had created my own website. Then I set about loading some content. I not only had an entire collection of essays, but a year’s worth of original recipes all ready! I knew the need for those essays would show up somewhere!

When I launched, it was the summertime and my husband was away in Atlanta. He had gotten a job that took him out there for 3 months, coming back for weekends. It was a bit lonely, but I think it could have been much worse, if I hadn’t been so focused on getting my blog up and running. It was a place for me to
focus my energy so that I wasn’t thinking about how my husband wasn’t home.

The gig ended, and he was back home, and all of a sudden I had this really fun vehicle for my creativity. I actually started out writing 2 posts a week, until real life set in, and it was clear that pace wasn’t going to last. But I have managed to write 1 post a week, without missing a week, for one whole year. And it wasn’t too stressful! Its pretty weird. I’m proud of myself for making it happen, and interested in how it will add to the quilt my life.

I assume that I will continue to refine the process of writing, posting, and promoting my blog. And that the website itself will continue to evolve and I’ll find my voice. But basically, I think things are happening just as they are supposed to… for reasons that I’m not entirely sure of, but don’t really need to know. I’m cool with writing about what moves me, sharing my recipes, and championing a more compassionate life. And its kind of fun to see where its all going. I guess thats the adventure of life.