Let’s Gab: January 2022

I’m not sure how we’ve already flown through January 2022, considering I’m still inadvertently writing 2020 on everything that I date.

And I’m even more stumped by how this month marks 7 years of Live Eat Learn. That’s like…137 in internet years! I can’t thank you enough for being on this deliciously colorful journey with us 💛.

The month started strong with a TON of cooking! Everyone I knew in Denver was either out of town or quarantining, so I took the opportunity to dive into work, cooking up a bunch of new recipes that I’m so excited to share with you soon (like these bao buns, ash reshteh, and khao soi)!

With a full belly and in desperate need of some heat and humidity, I wandered down to San Antonio for a few days, where I had some firsts…

• First time splunking, which I could happily never do again
• First time skeet shooting, where I surprisingly had an accuracy of (what I guestimate to be about) 3% – not too bad, right?
• First time playing bingo, but like, the intense kind of bingo where you break a sweat trying to keep up with the announcer and get far too stressed at a game that you thought was supposed to be fun

Back up north, we hit the slopes. Rhubarb, who was somehow not scarred by her snow squall incident, loved zoomy-ing all around the base of the snowy mountains (because there’s still not much here in Denver)! We ate Ski Hill Charcuterie and Energy Bites and may have accidentally gone down a double black diamond or two.

Feeling Prickly

But I’m still feeling all prickly and excited after the greatest adventure of the month, when a bunch of us website owners (bloggers, publishers, whatever you want to call it) headed down to Phoenix!

Despite being connected to so many people virtually, this job can get lonely without having anyone in person to really talk about work with. Getting together with publishers from all different niches was like a blast injection of ideas and encouragement and motivation!

It was so inspiring to see how Annie from Maebells crushes it in niche food blogging, and how Amy from Get Busy Gardening has become the expert in all things plants, and how Kashlee from Travel Off Path has pivoted to stay relevant in covid times.

And, I mean, the food in Phoenix was also nothing short of inspiring. There were ample açaí bowls and Arizona’s take on Mexican food and more chopped salads than I could reasonably post on this site.

Between personal trips and business trips, it’s safe to say I could use a good nap. I’ll take a note out of Rhubarb’s book. Have a great February, friends!