The first time I had a crush on a boy, I was 5 years old. It was my best friend from pre-school…

Hey, hi, hello! I’m writing to you from Wisconsin, where I’m staying for 10 days to visit family, and celebrate my nephew’s baptism and my other nephew’s birthday.

Setting myself a measurable goal of writing one blog a month has been helpful for keeping me accountable. (Thanks, SMART goals!) The problem is I’m not sure if I’ll ever stop being a procrastinator.

My body knew the grief before my brain knew. Monday morning as I was spreading peach preserves on toast, I started tearing up. The jam reminded me of the orange marmalade my grandpa used to put on his toast and grandma’s homemade brown bread at their kitchen table in Niles, Illinois.

This post was originally sent as an email to subscribers on January 23, 2025.

Hello, friends! How is everyone doing? The state of the country… er, world?… has been bleak lately. What have you been doing to find peace?

I’ve never really liked New Year’s Eve. Maybe it’s the unrealistic expectations that Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical imparted on me when I was 13, or maybe it’s the way they’re STILL trying to make those glasses work for the year 2025 when we all know the last one should have been in 2009 (when will they give it up?!). But I just don’t like the idea of spending too much money and staying up too late and drinking too much champagne in the name of an arbitrary, made up concept of time.

Sometimes my emotions just feel so… big. I feel everything with my entire heart and body. I love too much. But the older I get, the more I wonder if there’s such a thing as loving too much. I don’t think so. Isn’t love the whole purpose of everything?

James and I were lucky enough to visit Japan last month. It was my first time in Japan—first time in Asia, actually—and James’s second. We went to Tokyo and spent most of our time there, taking a day trip to Enoshima and spending a day and a half/one night in Kyoto. It was the trip of a lifetime and I feel so lucky to have experienced it. Tokyo is such an amazing city and Japan such a beautiful country.

After time spent in White National Forest, James and I made our way to Maine. I think Maine has to be officially one of my favorite states, with the caveat that I have only ever visited in the summertime. But it was so beautiful there!

We spent a good chunk of time at White Mountain National Forest, the first time we both spent a full week in any one location. Which isn’t even fully true because we camped in the forest for part of the time and stayed at an Airbnb for the other part. But that’s just semantics.

To be honest, I wanted to stay in Montréal forever. The only thing that was keeping us from extending our stay there was a photo and video shoot for my client, Hidden Valley Ranch. I flew to San Francisco and made my way to the Oakland office at the end of June. But first, we drove over the border into Burlington, Vermont.

We’ve made a decision on where we want to live! Is it Montéal? Stay tuned to find out. We drove from Brrrrrrrampton to Ottawa and spent the day splitting time between working, driving and sightseeing.

After seeing Niagara Falls, James and I made our way to Toronto. During our year of travel, we tried several different ways of planning our route, booking stays, packing the car, etc. Being nomadic was a learning process and we adapted as we went.