AK Monthly Recap: January 2023

January goes to be a month of labor, I vowed. I’m not going to waste my motivation this yr.

I don’t learn about you, however I really feel SO MUCH MOTIVATION in the beginning of the yr. New Year’s resolutions, goal-setting, taking your online business to the following degree.

January is a month after I wish to buckle down, work arduous, and do little else. And I didn’t understand that till final yr, when Charlie and I spent January in Puerto Vallarta and realized that we have been spending our huge work month in a rustic that’s all about play.

So this yr 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 greatest pals welcomed a brand new child this month, and he or she is BEYOND good! I’m so glad she arrived safely and might’t wait to get her a flower headband for my marriage ceremony.

Bringing dwelling a extremely cool classic eating desk. Last month I talked concerning the classic chairs we discovered, and this month we introduced dwelling 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 one million 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 like it!! And the cats love laying on high of it.

We rented an elliptical machine for the winter. Did you recognize you’ll be able to lease cardio machines? I had no concept that was a factor till just lately.

From spring by way of fall, I take a LOT of walks in Prague, nevertheless it’s arduous discovering the motivation to train open air when it’s miserably chilly outdoors. This has been an superior method of getting low-impact cardio in 5 instances per week.

If you’re lacking cardio however don’t wish to go to a health club, you must take into account 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 abilities from my lumberjack day in Nova Scotia, however very quickly, my pals have been wonderful 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 pals and their children.

Well, the present was positioned between two tram stops. Our pals bought off at cease 1. We have been there early, so we determined to get off at cease 2, have a chunk to eat at a pub, after which stroll from cease 2 to satisfy them.

Charlie and I walked into the woods, down an extended, steep staircase lined in snow, holding fingers and yelping, attempting to not fall. Finally once we bought 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 method again with out having to climb the steps, and the children 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 reasonably than creating new ones. Not essentially the most thrilling stuff, however significantly better for the location 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 per thirty days. We even have a personal 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 web site — which I speak about additional down on this submit. It’s gone dwell 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 way of creating). It’s a little bit of an ebook-like product, however might be free, and about one among my favourite locations.

Finally, the larger submit was about our huge change in honeymoon plans — Charlie and I have been planning on honeymooning in Chile and Peru in December, however the political unrest in Peru induced 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 might 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 ladies, 4 years.

Abram and his spouse Alisa have their share of marital issues, however in addition they have a snug life in South Africa with their two younger ladies. But then the Act is handed. Alisa is black, and their two youngsters 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’ faculty, and their property is catalogued for potential disbursement. Abram is at a loss as to how one can defend his younger household from the grinding equipment of the regulation, whose worst discriminations have till now been saved 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 little one. 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 he or she commits her personal devastating act, one that can reverberate by way of their whole 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 develop into a sensation in her native South Africa—and guarantees to take the Western literary world by storm as properly.”

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,” nevertheless it’s time for a change. Adventurous Kate may need began as a facet hustle in 2010, nevertheless it’s my full-time job now, and new facet tasks have come into play!

On my New Hampshire web site, New Hampshire Way, I revealed just a few new posts this month that you just may like:

• 30 Unforgettable Things to Do within the White Mountains — This is the submit I used to be afraid to jot 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 dwell, 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 totally free once you join the mailing checklist!

But it’s not nearly New Hampshire. This month I began publishing on a model new web site.

Why one other web site? 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 may well develop till it hits a wall.

I feel I can moderately 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 fee without end.

So I’ve determined to create one other destination-based web site. A vacation spot that I do know properly and is under-represented within the journey content material creation world (so…not Mexico), however has a lot higher long-term progress potential than New Hampshire.

My Patreon folks already know all concerning 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 zero to a DA of four! 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 beautiful e book and turned it into a good higher sequence, fixing so many components of the novel that didn’t work and constructing the world into one thing lovely.

It’s not good — the plot across the Prophet is odd and doesn’t make sense — however every little thing else is fantastic.

What I really like about this sequence is how uplifting and hopeful it’s, even after the world falls aside. I really like pondering that a spot just like the Severn City Airport might exist after a pandemic kills off many of the world.

Highly beneficial.

The Bear. I heard a lot buzz about this present happening in a Chicago restaurant, nevertheless it took me a while earlier than I bought into it.

And I’m glad I did — as a result of episode eight of The Bear, the penultimate episode of the season, is likely one of the greatest 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 instantly — 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 in case you’ve labored in eating places, as I’ve, you may need hassle watching it. It’s SO anxious!!!

What I Read This Month

This yr, I’d at the least prefer to get again to ending one e book per week. 52 books in 2023 looks like an affordable aim to hit!

Spare by Prince Harry (2023) — Well, I don’t have to provide this one an introduction — you’ve heard a lot from Prince Harry over the previous couple of months. This is the memoir that covers his life from the demise of his mom to the delivery of his daughter.

I favored 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 usually and Charles particularly have stepped on everybody they will, together with Harry, for the sake of fine headlines. Even after 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 might be transformative. Harry’s ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, is the best paid ghostwriter on this planet 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 might have simply gone the route of Matthew Perry’s memoir and develop into a bitter, immature mess. This e book was so properly carried out 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 teen. 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 really like Abdelmahmoud’s voice — my favourite new author for positive! He truly works for Buzzfeed, which makes a lot sense — he’s so enjoyable and vibrant and humorous, and I really like the way in which 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 assorted, artistic tales about pandemic survivors within the centuries that observe.

Some of my pals 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 authentic, and once more, artistic. Who else desires up an amusement park the place terminally sick youngsters are despatched to die joyfully whereas using 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 a whole lot of finance books and take heed to plenty of cash podcasts, together with Tori’s. Plenty of the knowledge is similar in all these books (How to get out of debt! How to speculate! How to barter a better wage!).

But what I appreciated about this e book is how political it’s, always exhibiting concrete examples of how the monetary world is constructed for white males, how ladies and folks of coloration are always put at an obstacle, and the way we will struggle again.

One factor, although — that is going to sound prudish, however I didn’t love how typically she swore on this e book. I really 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 always, properly, 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 largest 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 a whole lot of good sunshine, I purchased a cool Italian coat for a steep low cost, the meals is wonderful, 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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