2020 is an inward journey for all of us. We are pausing and reflecting more, and we are spending more time at home. As a result, many of us are suddenly paying attention to the home life we neglected all those years when we were busy commuting and traveling.

We’ve started looking at our homes as the new epicenter of lives for working, relaxing, loving, cooking, exercising, and sleeping. Which is why, while other industries hang by a thread, home improvement is booming this year. And, why it was a highly relevant time for me to talk to the founder of iarchitect, Jane Leach, on Love Your Enthusiasm.

On the show, Jane shares how she uses her passion for eco-home architecture to help people live more intentionally and consciously, starting with our most important environment…our homes. In Jane’s words, “Everybody deserves to have a home that supports the best version of their life.”

Jane taught me that approximately 21% of architects are female, a stat that blew me away as I expected that number to be higher at this point. It’s great to see that Jane is doing something about it as one of the few female architects, ensuring women’s needs are better represented in their homes and that homeowners are making conscious decisions to protect the planet along the way.

Jane is such a lovely person. I hope you get tons of ideas and inspiration from this episode.

Continue reading “Love Your Enthusiasm with Jane Leach” →

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I launched Zoom to interview Marina Sofia. Would she speak with a Romanian accent? What does a Romanian accent even sound like? As soon as Marina sang out “hello,” I realized those years spent as a translator living in the UK and all over Europe resulted in an unexpectedly legit British accent.

Marina was a longtime writer and reviewer I knew in the blogging community—we always connected over our mutual obsession for words and linguistics. In recent years, I lost touch with Marina. She moved around, I moved around. She changed professional paths, so did I. She started a business, and I started several.

When Marina reached out about being a guest on Love Your Enthusiasm, I said “yes” with zero hesitation. I was excited to learn that she co-founded an indie publishing house this year.

Marina and the other co-founders at Corylus Books are bringing authors from lesser-known regions (think: Romania or Iceland) in front of English-speaking audiences by translating and publishing works of fiction that in most cases would be overlooked by publishers.

Starting Corylus Books was largely made possible by Marina’s failed attempts to launch a career in mainstream publishing. This failure became a bonus, leading Marina down a different path where she had the freedom to support the kind of literature she wanted to see translated and published.

In Marina’s words, “If a door bangs in your face, try another door. Try a side door.” Marina knows how to pivot and reinvent herself, while staying committed to her passions. Hope you enjoy this fantastic episode.

Continue reading “Love Your Enthusiasm with Marina Sofia” →

“Every human has the same vulnerabilities, the same desires. Everyone wants to feel happy. Everyone wants to feel secure. It really comes down to that base realization that humans are more alike than they are different.”

Bex Shapiro is the Senior Editorial Manager at Intrepid Travel…and one of the brightest women I know. At this point in the writing game, I am very picky about the people and brands I write for. Bex is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with and Intrepid Travel is an incredible brand to be a part of.

Every time I wrote a travel article, whether I was discovering the joys of Costa Rica, writing a love letter to Havana, or revealing the surprises and delights of Mexico City, I felt good about my work. I owe a lot of those good feelings to Bex.

I’ve never met Bex in person, but I always felt a solid connection with her. Or, as she puts it…we are like-minded souls. It was inevitable that we would get together one day outside of travel writing projects—and here we are with the latest episode of Love Your Enthusiasm.

Bex’s perspective on the state of travel in 2020, how we can shift to a more mindful way of traveling AND living, and her message of hopefulness for the road ahead are just some of the takeaways from this episode.

Very excited to have Bex on the show today. I highly recommend taking an hour out of your week to listen to this one.

Continue reading “Love Your Enthusiasm with Bex Shapiro” →

Through all of the ups and downs of 2020, many of us have been spending more time at home than ever before. As a result, we’re also spending more time in the kitchen. It seemed like the perfect time to introduce you all to vegetarian chef, Ashley Douglas, who is my guest on Love Your Enthusiasm this week.

I know Ashley from our corporate retail days, back when I used to support our corporate wellness program by teaching yoga in the corner of a gigantic, messy conference room. Whenever Ashley walked into that dark room, she quite literally lit up the room with her energy.

Corporate yoga classes ended when I moved to Portland—and soon after, Ashley also left Milwaukee to live in Dallas (my old stomping grounds where my entire family happens to live). Little did I know, she loves okra just as much as I do.

I kept in touch with Ashley on social media and followed her over the years. Along the way, I noticed she started a vegetarian food blog called Frobulous Veggies. And even though I am not a vegetarian myself, I have truly enjoyed catching her cooking videos—which are refreshingly fun to watch…even if I’m not cooking.

Back in the day, we had the yoga student/teacher relationship and we never really knew each other. Having Ashley on the show was such a heartwarming experience and I am so happy to share her love for cooking with all of you today. In Ashley’s words, “Half the battle with feeling better is eating better.”

Continue reading “Love Your Enthusiasm with Ashley Douglas” →