What’s New?
This is like a blog where I talk about what’s got me thinking.
Picture taken by me on the Baden Powell Trail in Deep Cove, British Columbia
Bonus Blog!
What I’m HIKING!
I’ve been sweating all over the continent to see these gorgeous places and I think you should see them too.
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Rainbow Falls Trail in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee
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Peregrine Peak via Alum Cave Bluff Trail, Great Smoky National Park, Tennessee
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Baden Powell Trail in Deep Cove, British Columbia
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Popago Park, Tempe, Arizona
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Misc. Hike in Taylor's Falls, Minnesota
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Abrams Falls Trail, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee
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Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver, British Columbia
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Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point via Jenny Lake Trail in Grand Teton National Park
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Rainbow Falls Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
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Brooks Lake Trail in the Absaroka Mountain Range of Dubois, Wyoming
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Baden Powell Trail in Deep Cove, British Columbia
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Kennesaw Mountain Overlook via West and East Trails in Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Georgia
Sounds and Sonics
What I’m Listening To
I cannot, and will not, stop listening to podcasts.
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Bear Brook by NHPR
Bear Brook is an incredible podcast series put out by the New Hampshire Public Radio. It walks through a twisting, terrifying tale of “the chameleon killer.” It’s less gore and more science based evidence, and it gives a very appropriate amount of time to the victims, their families, and the pain that’s been caused by their loss. It’s a story told with finesse and a great deal of care. Highly recommend for anyone who is interested in true crime but wants to stay away from the strange glorification of serial killers that’s arisen in the past few years.
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![Now and Then Podcast Logo]()
Now and Then (with Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman)
This podcast is EVERYTHING. It is the moment. These women and their history jokes are better than anything I’ve ever heard.
Heather Cox Richardson (Boston College) and Joanne Freeman (Yale University) are American historians who dive into a new and relevant topic every week. They’re each chock full of knowledge, liveliness, and interesting facts about both the past and present. Their conversations exude an excitement for history that I wish I had myself. They take topics that are in the news today and look at them through a lens of past centuries, helping us to see the cycles we’re reliving or changing. I love this podcast and would recommend it for anyone who has a commute, gets ready in the morning, listens to podcasts at work, at the gym, to calm down. This podcast really pairs well with any and everything.
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![Financial Feminist by Her First $100K Spotify Image]()
Financial Feminist by Her First $100K
I’m so glad to have found Tori Dunlap of Her First $100K and Financial Feminist. She’s so intelligent, witty, and her target audience is women! She covers a wide range of topics and even though her expertise is in numbers, she’s fantastic at empathizing with the emotional side that comes with being a career woman in the world today.
This show will give you the necessary tools to not only handle your finances, but make the most of them at every turn. I can personally say that it’s shows and resources like this that make me excited to sit down and do my finances.
Film and Television
What I’m Watching
There’s so much to watch and simply not enough time.
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Stranger Things Season 4
I have loved Stranger Things since it’s very first season, just like the rest of the world. I have yet to watch an entire season in more than one sitting; I’m very familiar with starting it thinking I’ll just watch an episode or two, then suddenly it’s 3 AM and I haven’t moved for 12 hours. I love the time period, the language, the characters, their arcs, the various stylistic changes between seasons, all of it. And, just like the previous seasons, I absolutely loved Season 4! I love the risks that the show has taken over the last few seasons in terms of changing up it’s visual style and angle on horror. I can’t wait for season 5 and will have to go back and watch all the other seasons again to refresh for the final one!
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Reservation Dogs
I can’t say enough about this series. It’s modern music and style surprises you right off the bat, but in the best way. It’s gritty and funny but made me cry more than once. I have to say, anything Taika Waititi is involved in is pure gold and this one is no different. It’s a joy to watch and immediately pulls you into the world that these kids are living in. It has such a fantastic ensemble of talented actors. I sped through season one in two days and am waiting anxiously for season two, I can’t wait to see where these kids go.
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Watch List: Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan is an obvious choice when it comes to favorite directors for so many people and I’m no different. His films are always on the top of my list for everything from visuals to narrative timeline and his vision is always unavoidably apparent. My reigning favorite of his has to be The Prestige, followed by Dunkirk, but I have high hopes for Oppenheimer.
Along with beautiful writing and use of structure, I am always intrigued by the topics that his films deal with. Though they’re heavy, the films themselves rarely devastating to experience. They’re often more captivating than emotionally provoking and it’s such an interesting way to bring your audience on a journey.
Literature and Articles
What I’m Reading
Books are really where it all started for me.
The Girl Who Speaks Bear
The other day, I got a package in the mail and opened it to see that a good friend of mine had mailed me this book. The post card included said that she saw it in a book shop in Sweden and it reminded her of me. I was so warmed by the thought that I started it right away, and I’m already done!
This sweet and magical winding tale by Sophie Anderson is so captivating. It’s a bright and smooth read, and it feels like you’re traveling through the story right alongside these fantastical characters.
It’s a “once upon a time” style fairytale that begins with a Russian girl named Yanka. When one day she mysteriously wakes up with bear legs, she embarks into the dense forest around her village with her house-weasel, named Mousetrap, to figure out what’s going on. They find themselves on a wild adventure of self discovery in the wilderness where they befriend a lonely Elk named Yuri, meet Yanka’s grandmother, fight a fire dragon, and Yanka realizes all the fairytales she heard growing up were actually true.
Though this is technically a children’s book, there were a number of twists that I didn’t see coming and new characters that I couldn’t have imagined popped up all over, like a house with chicken legs that’s home to a Yaga (an old woman) and her daughter who help guide the souls of the dead to the stars. It’s rich with Russian tradition and warm with self acceptance. And as a bonus, the illustrations that decorate the pages and borders are beautifully done by Katherin Honesta.
I enjoyed the book immensely and will definitely be getting it for all the folks in my life who need an easy but magical read.
The Paris Apartment
This “who done it” style murder mystery by Lucy Foley was an absolute delight to experience and is a NYT #1 Bestseller. I learned about it after reading another one of Lucy Foley’s books called The Guest List, which is also deeply alluring and entertaining.
The Paris Apartment is about Jess, a mess of a 20-something who’s broke and alone and has just left her grimy bar job. She’s thrilled that her half-brother Ben said she can stay with him in Paris, but when she shows up at his luxurious but strangely off-putting apartment complex, he’s nowhere to be found. As she begins to look for him, eerie questions arise about the building and it’s odd Parisian inhabitants. Though the more neighbors she talks to, the less friendly they get. Time continues to pass with no information on Ben and she’s got a sinking feeling that with every passing second, the more danger she is also in.
“Everyone's a neighbor. Everyone's a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.”
If told to pick a favorite character of this book, I don’t think I could. They’re all so thoroughly developed and three dimensional. And the location itself plays a crucial part in the story and has chilling atmosphere all it’s own. There is an unbelievable amount going on in this book and yet it remains perfectly cohesive. And best of all - I never would have guessed who did it in the end.
I can’t wait to read the rest of Lucy Foley’s work - if her other books are anything like The Paris Apartment, and The Guest List, they’re already among some of the best books I’ve ever read. 5 out of 5 stars!
Pen and Paper
What I’m Writing
Among screenplays and a lot of prose, poetry is a mode of expression for me. Writing is how I figure out what I’m thinking. Here are some of my favorites poems.
Two poems that feel like summertime and warm breezes on slow days full of sunshine.
A saltwater taffy on your tongue in the summer is watching a boy sneak a book to read under the table in class.
His shoulders fold in, relaxed; allowing gentle fluidity in the most basic of movements, a pencil always spinning between his fingers.
For this boy, breathing is easy, smiling is natural, loving is simple.
Laughter resounds like a broken soul's contenting call
Piano Man floats to me through small-town bar walls
All around me the stars fall
Harmonica sings boldly
And while familiar embraces push these tired souls free
The lake stretches in front of me
A writer, a blanket, empty docks
A pin-pricked sky, a lonely spot, and a jukebox