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January goes to be a month of labor, I vowed. I’m not going to waste my motivation this 12 months.
I don’t find out about you, however I really feel SO MUCH MOTIVATION originally of the 12 months. New Year’s resolutions, goal-setting, taking what you are promoting to the following degree.
January is a month once I wish to buckle down, work arduous, and do little else. And I didn’t understand that till final 12 months, when Charlie and I spent January in Puerto Vallarta and realized that we have been spending our large work month in a rustic that’s all about play.
So this 12 months we determined to remain put — and it labored. We stayed in Prague, leaving solely to select up our new classic desk in Olomouc. We cuddled with the cats, tried out axe throwing, went out for some good Georgian meals, went on a stroll in a snowstorm.
And with that month of labor behind us, we’re able to hit the street once more. And the timing is ideal. By the time February hits, you’re able to get out of the chilly!
Destinations Visited
- Prague and Olomouc, Czech Republic
Highlights
I’ve a model new child niece! One of my finest mates welcomed a brand new child this month, and she or he is BEYOND excellent! I’m so glad she arrived safely and may’t wait to get her a flower headband for my marriage ceremony.
Bringing house a extremely cool classic eating desk. Last month I talked in regards to the classic chairs we discovered, and this month we introduced house an superior mid-century fashionable desk, additionally designed for the 1958 Brussels Expo.
Getting the desk was a little bit of an ordeal. It was positioned in Olomouc within the Moravia area of the Czech Republic. So we rented a van, drove three hours to select it up, loaded it up with bungee cords, drove three hours again, introduced it upstairs, disassembled our present desk that weighed 1,000,000 kilos, introduced right down to the van, delivered it in items to a good friend of a good friend, then returned the van.
But the desk is SUCH a cool piece, it was a steal of a worth, and we find it irresistible!! And the cats love laying on prime of it.
We rented an elliptical machine for the winter. Did you’ll be able to hire cardio machines? I had no concept that was a factor till just lately.
From spring by means of fall, I take a LOT of walks in Prague, but it surely’s arduous discovering the motivation to train outside when it’s miserably chilly exterior. This has been an superior means of getting low-impact cardio in 5 occasions every week.
If you’re lacking cardio however don’t wish to go to a health club, it is best to contemplate renting one for your self.
Axe-throwing and Georgian meals. One of our most enjoyable nights this month was going out axe-throwing at a brand new spot in Prague, The House of Axes, plus Georgian dinner beforehand at SUN.DAY terrace.
I introduced my axe-throwing expertise from my lumberjack day in Nova Scotia, however very quickly, my mates have been superb at it. And the Georgian meals was SO GOOD. It was so good to eat actual khinkali once more.
Challenges
Getting trapped within the snow. We had a giant snowstorm in Prague this month — one which I had hoped for! — and that night time, Charlie and I had plans to go to this outside Alice in Wonderland-themed gentle present in Prague with our mates and their children.
Well, the present was positioned between two tram stops. Our mates received off at cease 1. We have been there early, so we determined to get off at cease 2, have a chew to eat at a pub, after which stroll from cease 2 to fulfill them.
Charlie and I walked into the woods, down an extended, steep staircase coated in snow, holding fingers and yelping, attempting to not fall. Finally after we received to the underside and walked one other 10 minutes to the sunshine present’s entrance…THERE WAS A FENCE AND A LOCK ON IT.
Turns out the “entrance” wasn’t an entrance — and also you couldn’t get there from cease 2.
So the present was a bust. The excellent news was that we discovered one other means again with out having to climb the steps, and the youngsters had a blast and didn’t miss us. LOL.
Blog Posts of the Month
This month I targeted on updating tons and tons of posts slightly than creating new ones. Not probably the most thrilling stuff, however a lot better for the positioning long-term!
But listed here are just a few new ones:
This Month on Patreon
On the Adventurous Kate Patreon, I publish unique content material and never-told tales which you could entry for $6 monthly. We even have a non-public Facebook group and members get free entry to the Book Club every month.
This month, I shared with my patrons the plan for my model new website — which I discuss additional down on this submit. It’s gone stay this month and already has 13 posts up!
I additionally shared a preview of a brand new free product I’m introducing (and are partly by means of creating). It’s a little bit of an ebook-like product, however shall be free, and about one in all my favourite locations.
Finally, the larger submit was about our large change in honeymoon plans — Charlie and I have been planning on honeymooning in Chile and Peru in December, however the political unrest in Peru brought on us to reevaluate issues. How a lot did we actually wish to go to Peru?
The reply? Not that a lot. The new plan: Chile and Argentina! More mountaineering, extra wine.
Book Club This Month
Our subsequent Book Club will happen on Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 1:00 PM ET. We shall be studying the brand new novel Scatterlings by South African writer Resoketswe Manenzhe.
“In 1927, South Africa passes the Immorality Act, prohibiting sexual intercourse between “Europeans” (white folks) and “natives” (Black folks). Those who break the draconian new regulation face imprisonment—for males of as much as 5 years; for girls, 4 years.
Abram and his spouse Alisa have their share of marital issues, however in addition they have a cushty life in South Africa with their two younger ladies. But then the Act is handed. Alisa is black, and their two kids at the moment are proof of their involvement in a union that has been criminalized by the state.
At first, Alisa and Abram query how they’ll be affected by the Act, however then officers begin asking questions on the ladies’ college, and their property is catalogued for potential disbursement. Abram is at a loss as to the best way to shield his younger household from the grinding equipment of the regulation, whose worst discriminations have till now been stored at bay by the household’s financial privilege. And with this, his hesitation, the couple’s bond is tattered.
Alisa, who’s Jamaican and the descendant of slaves, was adopted by a rich white British couple, who raised her as their baby. But as she grew older and realized that the prejudices of British society made no allowance for her, she journeyed to South Africa the place she met Abram. In the aftermath of the Immorality Act, she involves a heartbreaking conclusion primarily based on her previous and collective historical past – and she or he commits her personal devastating act, one that may reverberate by means of their total household’s lives.
Intertwining her storytelling with ritual, delusion, and the heart-wrenching query of who stays and who leaves, Scatterlings marks the debut of a gifted storyteller who has grow to be a sensation in her native South Africa—and guarantees to take the Western literary world by storm as effectively.”
You can join the e book membership right here. Hope to see you there!
Side Projects Update
This part was known as “New Hampshire Way Update,” but it surely’s time for a change. Adventurous Kate may need began as a aspect hustle in 2010, but it surely’s my full-time job now, and new aspect initiatives have come into play!
On my New Hampshire website, New Hampshire Way, I printed just a few new posts this month that you simply would possibly like:
- 30 Unforgettable Things to Do within the White Mountains — This is the submit I used to be afraid to write down for the longest. I’ve been touring to the White Mountains my complete life. But I’m VERY happy at how this got here out and the way private it’s!
- 28 Fun-Filled Things to Do in Nashua, NH — Nashua isn’t a giant journey vacation spot, however a spot the place lots of people stay, and is getting cooler by the day! Since my good friend moved there I’ve gotten to do some cool issues in Nashua.
- New Hampshire Winter Festivals — Just like my Christmas in NH submit, this submit comes with a calendar which you could get at no cost once you join the mailing record!
But it’s not nearly New Hampshire. This month I began publishing on a model new website.
Why one other website? I’m thrilled (and nonetheless in disbelief) at how briskly New Hampshire Way has grown, however truthfully, New Hampshire is a small, largely rural state, and its affiliate potential is particularly small. There’s solely a lot it might develop till it hits a wall.
I feel I can fairly triple what New Hampshire Way is incomes now with Mediavine and associates, and that doesn’t embrace the earnings potential of merchandise (which I wish to do!), however New Hampshire will not be Paris, or Hawaii, or New York. I can’t develop it at this charge without end.
So I’ve determined to create one other destination-based website. A vacation spot that I do know effectively and is under-represented within the journey content material creation world (so…not Mexico), however has a lot better long-term progress potential than New Hampshire.
My Patreon folks already know all in regards to the vacation spot.
So this month I began publishing, and MAN, it’s been humbling! Its first 13 posts are up, and at first most of them weren’t even rating on web page 10 of Google. YIKES.
But I did get it from a DA of 0 to a DA of 4! Yay! (For comparability, Adventurous Kate is 74 and New Hampshire Way is 25.) Baby steps. Let’s stick with it.
What I Watched This Month
Station Eleven — After studying the e book, I needed to watch the critically acclaimed HBO sequence. And it’s FANTASTIC. They took a stunning e book and turned it into a fair higher sequence, fixing so many elements of the novel that didn’t work and constructing the world into one thing stunning.
It’s not excellent — the plot across the Prophet is odd and doesn’t make sense — however every little thing else is great.
What I like about this sequence is how uplifting and hopeful it’s, even after the world falls aside. I like considering that a spot just like the Severn City Airport may exist after a pandemic kills off many of the world.
Highly really helpful.
The Bear. I heard a lot buzz about this present happening in a Chicago restaurant, but it surely took me a while earlier than I received into it.
And I’m glad I did — as a result of episode 8 of The Bear, the penultimate episode of the season, is likely one of the finest episodes of TV I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s up there with Ozymandias. It’s astounding.
And you gained’t understand what’s completely different about this episode immediately — till you’re a number of minutes in and it hits you. “Wait, is this episode…are they actually doing this…WHAT?!?!”
Watch it for that purpose. Though for those who’ve labored in eating places, as I’ve, you may need hassle watching it. It’s SO demanding!!!
What I Read This Month
This 12 months, I’d at the very least prefer to get again to ending one e book per week. 52 books in 2023 looks as if an inexpensive objective to hit!
Spare by Prince Harry (2023) — Well, I don’t have to offer this one an introduction — you’ve heard a lot from Prince Harry over the previous few months. This is the memoir that covers his life from the dying of his mom to the start of his daughter.
I preferred it. And I like Harry and Meghan very a lot. I’ve adopted them within the information for awhile, however I believed this e book particularly illuminated how the Royal Family on the whole and Charles particularly have stepped on everybody they will, together with Harry, for the sake of fine headlines. Even once they’re conscious of the tales being false.
I additionally talked about to the e book membership that this e book exhibits how a top quality ghostwriter will be transformative. Harry’s ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, is the very best paid ghostwriter on the earth and wrote Andre Agassi’s Open, amongst different books. He made it unbelievable and introduced the proper quantity of Harry’s humorousness into the e book.
And it made me understand that this e book may have simply gone the route of Matthew Perry’s memoir and grow to be a bitter, immature mess. This e book was so effectively performed by comparability.
Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces by Elamin Abdelmahmoud (2022) — Elamin Abdelmahmoud immigrated from Sudan to a really white city in Canada when he was a youngster. This memoir is about his household, his struggles to slot in two completely different cultures and by no means fairly becoming into both, and a few unbelievable popular culture tangents.
I like Abdelmahmoud’s voice — my favourite new author for certain! He really works for Buzzfeed, which makes a lot sense — he’s so enjoyable and vibrant and humorous, and I like the best way he sprinkles humor and popular culture into every little thing. He has extra books coming, together with a memoir, and I can’t wait to learn them.
How High We Go within the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (2022) — This e book is about every little thing that occurs after a local weather change-induced pandemic hits the planet. It’s one half Station Eleven, one half Interstellar, and one half World War Z, telling diverse, inventive tales about pandemic survivors within the centuries that observe.
Some of my mates adored this e book. I didn’t go fairly that far. As a dystopian novel, it was nowhere as uplifting or peaceable as Station Eleven. But it was so extremely unique, and once more, inventive. Who else goals up an amusement park the place terminally ailing kids are despatched to die joyfully whereas driving a curler coaster?
Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullshit to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love by Tori Dunlap (2022) — I’ve learn lots of finance books and take heed to a lot of cash podcasts, together with Tori’s. Lots of the knowledge is identical in all these books (How to get out of debt! How to speculate! How to barter the next wage!).
But what I appreciated about this e book is how political it’s, consistently exhibiting concrete examples of how the monetary world is constructed for white males, how girls and other people of colour are consistently put at an obstacle, and the way we are able to struggle again.
One factor, although — that is going to sound prudish, however I didn’t love how usually she swore on this e book. I like profanity. I take advantage of profanity. But I really feel like the purpose of profanity is to make a well-timed influence — and once you use it consistently, effectively, it loses that energy.
Coming Up in February 2023
Greetings from Palermo, Sicily! As I write this, I’ve been right here for just a few days and have actually been having fun with it. My greatest takeaway to this point is that Palermo isn’t as wild and hectic as I anticipated. Naples is the top; Palermo isn’t extra excessive than Naples.
It’s not fairly the hotter getaway we had in thoughts (seems locations can really feel a lot colder when buildings aren’t constructed for cold climate!), however there was lots of good sunshine, I purchased a cool Italian coat for a steep low cost, the meals is superb, and I’m wanting ahead to our agriturismo keep and mini street journey across the west.
After that, it’s again to Prague for the remainder of February.
What are your plans for February? Share away!
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