Hello from the other side of summer 2023! Wanted to give a little glimpse into our Arkansas summer. These adventures have kept us busy, which hasn’t left much time for writing. Or I wasn’t prioritizing it, potato potato. Anyway, as the winter months settle in I have a feeling I’ll have a lot more writing time on my hands. So buckle up for lists, stories, business plans, travel, good food, and oh so much more!
The summer didn’t exactly start how I expected. At the end of June, I injured my knee playing disc golf. Nothing serious but it woke me up to the fact that my body is just getting older and I need to be strengthening her in every way I can. But this small injury left me hanging out on the couch for the next few weeks. Here’s a good little list of things that I did get to do as my knee healed throughout the summer.
Traveled to Detroit to Visit My Sister : We made yummy food together, played ladder ball in the yard, ate ice cream every day, painted their bathroom, watched home improvement and garden shows on HGTV, snuggled the dogs, and talked about business ideas/plans for our futures.
Disc Golfing With Will : These days I just walk and hold Mia’s leash. Taking it easy on my knee. It has been nice to be able to get out on the different courses together and walk through so many beautiful parks. Will has had a great season, but since we’ve lost about eight discs between the two of us I think we both agree we need a few replacements for next season.
Long Car Rides : Sometimes we just go on three-hour car rides to explore the different towns. With no real destination in mind, most of the time we never even get out of the car. We usually just try and find roads that are dirt and look like back roads so we can see all the farmhouses and winding rivers. I want to see the state for what it is or was before all these apartment buildings and townhouse developments were built. The more we explore the more I have been blown away by the hidden beauty that NWA has to offer.
Cooking Together : Some new things we have made together are pickles, gluten-free focaccia bread, sourdough bread, sauerkraut, kimchi, oat milk, granola, and gluten-free pasta. Not to mention we make Mia’s food from scratch once a week. Nothing but the best for our girl’s sensitive tummy.
Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food : Once the fall semester started Will was back to early morning classes and cooking the most delicious goodies. The baking class has been my favorite, even though I can’t eat any of it, I love hearing how his classmate's baking turned out. It’s like the Great British Baking Show, sorta. Although I believe his teacher’s exact words were “Your scones are sellable” so that had me jazzed!
Business Planning : I don’t want to share too much because it’s in the beginning stages but we have been busy bees over here. Will and I have been sorting out all the details of our future business. Eeek, so many feelings of excitement and gratitude! As we finalize plans I will be sharing updates, maybe even some behind-the-scenes footage.
Long Distance Friendships : One of the most difficult tasks in life is keeping in touch with friends from different stages in life. I accept that some friendships aren’t meant to live past the season of their existence. That being said I refuse to not stay friends with people just because I don’t live in the same city or because we would have to schedule a call and that feels like “too much” for people. I have learned to let go of friendships that aren’t equally nourished. That being said I have tried to learn how to be there for my friends in ways that work best for them. Some prefer Facetiming, while others leave voicememos and some friendships need 2 hour-long conversations every few months. By balancing what works best for each relationship I found that I’ve never been closer to my friends even though I don’t live near a single one of them. It takes work though, and my family can attest that I’m not always the best at calling to catch up. But every day I try to show up for my friends and family in the ways that I can.
Reorganizing Our Home : Every few months I reorganize our home. Even when I was a child I would rearrange my bedroom all the time. In college, my roommate and I were constantly changing up our room. Something is refreshing about changing what we see and how we see it daily. It makes my brain feel more creative and seriously helps to keep my anxiety at bay. Also, in a positive way, reorganizing feeds into my ADHD brain by playing Tetris with my house every couple of weeks. It’s almost like doing a crossword puzzle, kinda. These moments also usually lead to me executing an art project or furniture revamp. Downsizing my life is a hard task to do at one time. So I do it slowly. Every few months I go through a few boxes or empty out a desk drawer and go through everything in it. This has been majorly helping me keep the clutter to a minimum and good practice to let go of things we don’t need any longer.
As I close out the summer I’m looking back and feeling so lucky to experience Arkansas in the summertime. Such an unexpected and beautiful place to live.
Here’s a list of upcoming and random life shit 😊
Holidays : We are gearing up for a lovely holiday season with family. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. No gift anxiety, just lots of yummy food. I enjoy cooking a Thanksgiving meal each year. Will was in charge of the menu and directing his parents and me on our designated dishes. Everything came out delicious and we had a lovely night with family. This Christmas Will and I are spending it together, which sounds very romantic. I’m looking forward to spending the holiday season in Rogers, never did I think I’d get to experience a Christmas in Arkansas. Maybe it will snow. Probably not, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed anyway.
Mia’s Food Recipe : In case anyone cares, here are the deets. Mia has a very sensitive tummy and is allergic to all poultry. We have tried so many brands of food and nothing has worked. There were a few brands Mia liked but they were so expensive it wasn’t sustainable. So here we are, meal-prepping for Mia weekly so her tummy and skin are happy!
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
4 cups of water
2 1lb ground elk (sometimes we substitute venison. Needs to be very lean meat)
1.5 cups of oatmeal
A mixture of 3 - 4 different fruits and vegetables:
1 packet of Farmer's Dog do it yourself nutrient powder mix https://www.thefarmersdog.com/diy
Cheers to eleven months in Arkansas filled with adventure all thanks to my incredible partner, Will!
Love, Liv
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