Hello friends,
I’m finally back in the Brooklyn groove—which mostly means I’ve traded the sound of crashing waves for endless construction noise including the near constant reverse-beep-beeping of heavy machinery on our otherwise quiet street. I’m still a New Hampshire girl at heart, though, so while everyone else was mourning the end of vacation, I was secretly relieved to be out of the humidity and back in my creative studio-corner with our sweet pup, Rue.
Our family trip to Oahu and Kauai was fantastic. We spent a nice chunk of time snorkeling in Turtle Canyon, exploring the Aviation museum and USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, and I got some sketching in around Kauai. Despite crazy rain, and a drastic retooling of our itinerary before we even got started, it was much needed family time before diving into a very busy spring.
A couple of trip Highlights: Waimea Canyon is truly breathtaking! We mostly drove the gorgeous ridge and stopped at each of the look-outs for a quick walk and explore. If we’d had more time, I’d have done a bigger hike. Will definitely have to come back!
In Waikiki, I crumbled at a Ukulele shop, but isn’t she gorgeous? This magical instruments sounds like an angel. Of course, I don’t have enough time to really teach myself how to play, but I’m having fun with the dozen chords and simple strum patterns I have picked up so far…
If you want to see how I managed to document the trip without driving my family entirely insane, my latest video is up! I’m sharing my approach to keeping a travel journal, even when you’re covered in sunscreen and chasing a teenager down a waterslide.
Now, for the big news. Throughout May, I’ll be hosting some Live Journaling Sessions on Youtube. I am aiming for two sessions at noon on Mondays — May 4th and 11th. If all goes well, I’ll turn this into a regular feature of my Youtube channel but as with all things: let’s test and learn before committing to a bigger goal.
We’ll have prompts, I’ll be reading some excerpts from my old journals (the good stuff, not just the to-do lists), and I’ll be answering every single question you have about notebooks, gouache, pens, and why I own 20 different watercolor paint-boxes (conservative estimate). And most importantly, my goal is that anyone who attends will be inspired to write something in their journals during the session. So if you have a stack of unused or partly completely journals, pick one out and join me in May.
Here’s the kicker: I am a middle-aged woman who moved to NYC in the 90s, and I have never hosted a live stream in my life.
I’m calling this a “Grand Experiment,” but let’s be honest—it’s probably going to be me squinting at the camera asking, “Can you hear me now?” or accidentally showing you the top of my head for twenty minutes. It might be a disaster, it might be delightful, but it will definitely be authentic.
I hope you’ll join me for the inevitable tech hiccups and hopefully some really good writing and art-making.
In the meantime, what are you writing about? What are you working on? If you are not sure what to write about in your journal today, write about a moment in your life when you did something you weren’t sure you could ever achieve. How have you surprised yourself? It doesn’t have to be big. For example, I am not much of a baker but a while back I discovered a yogurt-based cheese cake with pomegranate syrup and it turned out incredibly delicious. I have now remade it several times for pot-lucks and dinner parties. Just talking about it, makes me want to pull it together again this afternoon…
With gratitude (and a little bit of tech-induced anxiety),
Amanda
p.s., if you are interested in the my written journal series, the link to the playlist I have so far is right here.
p.p.s. sorry about the typo in my first photo: it’s PoiPu — and it’s an enchanted place!
p.p.p.s. if you are still reading this, you are awesome.
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