Welcome! Or Welcome Back!

It's me again.

Well, HI everyone.

Wanted to send out a welcome and a thank you.

This greeting won’t be full of too many promises. If I’ve learned anything over the last two years, it is to be cognizant of my own limitations - and, in some ways, to even honor them for the sake of more fulfillment.

Fulfillment has replaced success in my vernacular. I don’t think I was ever too big into traditional versions of “success”, per say, but holy shit was I tricked and trapped by the productivity machine that consumes this nation’s personality.

When I started this page in 2020, it was - in part - because my busy body just didn’t know how to sit still with all the things that were going on and, more shallowly, I was terrified of “losing” all the momentum I had built in my “career”. In addition to what has come (and continues to come) to the world over the last two years, in my small part of it: I published a book, which I am very proud of. It received a warm welcome into the world, which I am emotional and overwhelmed by. The world was full of deep change then and continues to be full of monumental change and, I believe, give us permission to change with it. I took the challenge seriously but, frankly, was exhausted by the energy I had give my memoir for so many years and - what I started here on this Substack - had to fall by the wayside.

I am still working to become a more solvent version of myself - focusing on my daily dues instead of getting all the big picture ones paid in full by breaking my own damn back every day. The big, important things like financial security sometimes feel scary and great. But, that feels like the agreement I signed on to years ago when I accepted that my life was, at some point, going to be dedicated to writing. I was seventeen when I made that commitment to myself. I worked a lot of long years doing a lot of tough things to earn the right to say that I am officially giving myself permission to work as hard as I can to make it true. You joining me on this ride is something I can’t believe I am lucky enough to experience. Whew.

So THANK YOU.

This will be a grab bag of goodies.

Starting with a solid recipe on Wednesday for Chocolate Cake - because it is all I think about when the end of the world feels imminent (enter hysterical, sobbing, disaster laughter).

This recipe went a little viral through BitterSoutherner and the Instagrams last month. I posted a photo of the recipe, but it was a large batch restaurant recipe. I have adjusted and rewritten it for home bakes and will share that one with you all. It will be the first free post for all subscribers and the only free recipe I post. After that one, paid subscriber will receive City Guide and Recipe content.

I’m very happy to be here with you guys again. So happy. And relieved to be in a space where we can talk about food and travel and find some joy amongst the challenges of this time. It’s nice to know you’re all out there.

With love and gratitude,
Lisa