Fall 2024 Updates
Starting school with a kindergartener! Website updates! New guides and recommendations for you! My dad's new book (that I edited)!
Happy fall, y’all!
We took the week off for Fall Break, so I write to you from a lovely, peaceful spot: our own home! :-p That’s right; we decided to do something we’ve never done before: have a staycation in our house. We have never just spent a week off of work at home, enjoying the amenities and comforts we have built for ourselves. I’m talking lazy mornings, mid-day hot tub floats and board games, and staying up way past our bedtime watching movies. Thanks to the generosity and patience of my parents, we’ve gotten several adult-only nights while the kid is away at Camp Gramps 🤣
Of course, for an antsy extrovert like me, I couldn’t just plan to laze around the house all week long. I needed some adventures too! So we structured our week kind of like a cruise: a few excursion days, a few Days at Sea. The Husband and I enjoyed a quiet adults-only excursion day that included a walk around Lake Radnor (our first time and we’ve lived here more than 15 years lol), games and snacks at HiFi Clyde’s (I really want to buy a ping-pong table, man), and a couple rounds of the coolest putt putt golf at PuttShack.
I plan to write more about our staycation adventures but first I have a question for you: would you be interested in learning how to plan the ultimate staycation to balance relaxation and adventure while playing tourist in your own town?
I’ve made a ton of updates to the site, rearranged some things, and given a facelift to several of my guides. Check out the list below of recently published or updated stories. I'd love to hear what you think :)
Updated Pages:
Updated posts:
New blog posts and guides:
What is slow travel? What we’ve learned about traveling at a relaxed pace
Lower your expectations, lower your stress: how to simplify your family trip planning with ABC lists
A Guide to the Art of Intentional Wandering: A Stress-Free Approach to Travel
A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Maps for Travel Itinerary Planning
Never want to miss a new post? At the bottom of any post on the site, sign up to receive an email whenever I publish a new one!!
In this section, I want to highlight the great work done by the cool people I know.
The Art and Science of Metawar by Winn Schwartau
My dad’s latest book is now available in both Kindle and paperback via Amazon!
This is the first book of Winn Schwartau’s that I've read since his attempt at a novel back in the late 90s (sorry dude you're not a fiction author) and I'm also the editor so I am really excited to see this book enter the world!!!!! The message and ideas are all Winn Schwartau, but I helped shape and craft the message into something we are both very proud of. This is important, and I promise y'all it's not too technical for you -- I am non-technicaL, too, and I edited with the average reader in mind! If you want to know how I feel about it, go to his website to download the sneak peek and read the forward that I wrote.
Here’s what others are saying:
“The book does a great job of breaking down cognitive processes and bandwidth of senses before laying out how we are being affected and lays out the terrifying ways we will be influenced in the future. It's not all doom and gloom. Winn offers solid advice about how to counteract these threats.” - Lucas P.
“Winn was way ahead of the curve in 1994 and remains way ahead of the curve today. The Art &Science of METAWAR is a must read for everyone who uses the internet from policy and security professionals, corporate management, and, every individual user.” - VS
As the weather cools here in Nashville, we are preparing for a busy Spooky and Holiday season. Swim lessons (yes, again!) and Lego club, plus some solo travel for Mom (work) and Dad (fun), as well as out-of-town guests. Plus, school and work are keeping us plenty busy! Our boy is in Kindergarten at a fabulous bilingual Spanish-immersion school called Aventura Community School and we are loving it so far.
As a project-based school, there’s no homework (huzzah!) and they have many events for the parents to get involved. The Hispanic Heritage Month celebration was a prime example: traditional musical and dance performances and informational booths, plus so much authentic, delicious food (I’m still dreaming over the various empanadas I got to sample yummm). It was a fun way to celebrate the diverse Hispanic and Latinx cultures that are part of the school community!
We are so impressed by his language acquisition so far. Every day he comes home spouting off new words or singing new songs. As a family, we are embracing Spanglish, and I'm trying to get another multi-week streak going on DuoLingo. If you have any tips for supplementing and supporting language learning, send ‘em my way!! Por favor y muchas gracias!
Centennial Park
We’ve been trying to soak up the remaining summer weather and as much as sunshine as we can before the winter comes. I’m also trying to take more advantage of FREE things to do in the area. So this means we’ve spent some lovely afternoons in Centennial Park, feeding the ducks and geese, eating snowcones, and watching the tourists.
I wish we lived closer to this park because Centennial Park is beautiful. They’ve done some lovely renovations over the last few years. Now there’s a huge wide open green area where folks play volley ball and soccer, and kids run around like maniacs. The playground is no longer hidden, and there are always snack/drink vendors selling coffee, waters, and other treats. There’s plenty of shade for picnics near the lake and the bandshell. And with the Parthenon drawing tourists galore, there’s a constant flow of people traffic.
Local Eats
Justin and I celebrated ten years of marriage in September! We got married twice (courthouse date and big backyard wedding date), so we usually just celebrate whichever date is most convenient based on our work and travel schedules, but since we are taking a small hiatus from traveling right now, we decided to celebrate BOTH nights and surprise each other with different restaurants.
On the first night, we hit up Lyra before stumbling into a random bar called the Coral Club. A week later, on the second night, we gorged ourselves at our longtime favorite Butcher and Bee and it did not disappoint!!!
Can I ask a small avor?
If you like anything that I’ve ever written, have learned anything from any of my previous posts, or have ever enjoyed my Instagram feed, I kindly request that you share my blog link with one other person. Share my blog with someone who you think could learn something new or be inspired to push themselves out of their comfort zone and seek adventure. Forward a previous newsletter to a friend, a coworker, a family member who might be needing some travel inspo in their life, someone to encourage them and support them as they work through anxieties or fears holding them back. Suggest that they sign up for this newsletter. If you would kindly share any of these things with one person in your life, I would be so appreciative.
I would also love to hear from you!
Tell me what questions are on your mind and what kinds of stories you would be most interested in. I want to write things that you care about. So tell me where you want to go, what concerns are top of mind, what do you want to know about workcationing or traveling with a kid or fighting through anxiety to do the things you want to do. Tell me what kinds of information you would find most interesting or useful.
Until next time, friends and fellow travelers! Safe travels!