Hi! Hello! Hi. ♡
I’ve had this coffee date on my heart for months, but life! time! It all feels extra slippery these days.
Recently I’ve met several people out in the real world who talked about what POY means to them and how much they have enjoyed the recipes over the years. And I think these little meetings gave me the push I needed to sit down and write this post.
It reminded me of the realness of you – the people who read Pinch of Yum. It would be an honor to just give you real, wonderful, generous people a glimpse of what we’re thinking about and refining behind the scenes of Pinch of Yum as we head into 2024! (Yes, it’s February. This sort of lateness is on-brand.)
There have a been changes to a lot of things within POY in the last year – almost all of them for the better, being driven by alignment of values and priorities.
And there have been some lost-feeling moments, too. As life goes.
This coffee date is really just a review of where things are at personally, and blog-wise. ♡ Maybe you can relate or maybe you just find it interesting? Or maybe it’s actually very boring and you’ll be done reading in about two seconds! We’ll find out!
Here we go. This is, in a (long) nutshell, The State of Things.
The State Of Mom Life
Our Kids Are Into the Preschool Stage And I Love It So Much.
Our girls are 3 and 5 and OH MY! it is a fun stage for me as a mom.
We are out of the sleepless nights stage, the “why is my baby crying” anxiety cycles, and the pumping / breastfeeding / spit up loop that was somehow both so rewarding and soul-crushing.
And now we are sleeping again. (PRAISE!) The baby stuff has generally moved out of the house to make room for a seemingly endless supply of trinkets, paper scraps, stickers, and Paw Patrol and Barbie toys and accessories that I find literally everywhere. Help?! We are on a regular rotation between hugs, snuggles, I love you’s, and Level 10 tantrums, but this works for me. Even though I absolutely love babies, I feel much better equipped to handle the challenges of this stage than I ever felt with our girls as babies.
Things are Always Changing. And It’s Bittersweet.
This last year has been one of soft and normal parenting goodbyes.
In the fall, we took Lena, our youngest, to Build A Bear so she could put her very last pacifier inside a teddy bear as part of Operation: Pacis Are Not Forever. As we were getting ready to leave the house, I ran upstairs to grab the paci and did my signature paci-grab move – one knee on the ground, tuck the shoulder, and a far reach back under her crib to grab the last little rubber paci and it just hit me. This is the last time. And I felt the pinprick of tears almost immediately. It is such a mundane little mom task. I never particularly loved needing to contort my body into this weird position to grab her pacis from under her crib and never even thought twice about it. And then it just ended, and I won’t do that part of mom life anymore. It’s bittersweet.
We’re now almost done with diapers (didn’t cry about that one) and we’re talking about Kindergarten and gymnastics and big girl beds and finding a new home for the crib and the stroller. The baby days look so rosy in hindsight and I’m already missing them so deeply.
But, big picture, I’m in such a better place than I was 2-3 years ago. I’m so glad to be sleeping. I’m so glad to be generally in a predictable routine. I’m a more confident mom – I feel like I generally know what our girls need. And most days, I just get to stand in awe of what wonderful little creatures these kiddos are.
This is a good stage for us. I really love it.
The State Of Blog Life
13 Years In And I Love This Work More Than Ever! And Also… I’m A Bit Lost At Times.
The irony of the internet is that things change so quickly and so frequently that you never really fully develop any long-lasting mastery of a thing – it’s always a moving target.
There are constantly new waves to catch, and I kind of love it. It keeps me on my toes and makes life exciting.
But at times, it can also feel a bit disorienting. Like, wait, I thought I had this down? The other day, in a moment of blah-ness, I said to Bjork: “I don’t even know how to write a blog post anymore.” I’ve literally written thousands of blog posts. I’ve always felt like I knew what I was doing. But things are constantly changing. People’s internet behavior. What is helpful. Who I am as a person and what I value in the content I create. None of it is static. And sometimes that feels a little defeating.
On the good side:
- I love food, recipes, and new ideas more than ever.
- And I am a better cook than ever! I know with confidence that I can find and share recipes that will be really exciting for all of us. And that’s really fun.
- And I’m incredibly motivated and, going to say it, BLESSED! to hear from many of you on a regular basis about the recipes you’re making and loving. I truly love it and I’m so grateful.
And on the tricky side:
- What felt just right a few years ago isn’t necessarily what feels right today. Or tomorrow.
- The only thing that’s constant is that things are always evolving.
Add becoming a parent into the mix and it’s left me asking the question, “what am I even doing” on a semi-regular basis over the last few years. As in, is this the right thing to focus on? Is this where my heart is? Am I connecting with people the way I want to?
And yet, in a lot of ways, I feel more confident, competent, and motivated than ever before.
What a ride. 🤪
I’m Still Here! Still Excited! And I’ve Decided to Be Home with our Girls More In This Season.
After thinking about all of this for literally years, in January we made a pretty big schedule change for our family that has resulted in me being home significantly more with the girls.
For 13 years, I’ve been publishing new blog posts every Monday. Now, I’ll just be publishing something when it’s ready and done. No deadlines, no hardcore posting schedule. Just taking my foot off the gas a little bit and letting it happen as it happens.
With this new schedule and mindset, I’m finding myself saying no to work things that I’d actually like to say yes to which is hard and feels counter-intuitive at times. Fun project? New brand? Upcoming trip? YES I want to do it! Buuut… I’m going to say no.
The no’s are in service of aligning better with my values, which, in this season, include slowing down and being really present with my girls. I know that’s not for everyone, and some people are able to hustle pretty hard even while they have young kids. But I know this pace and these decisions are right for me.
My belief is that some of those passed-up opportunities will bounce back. And that I’ll look back at this time and say, I’m so grateful to have had the unique opportunity to be home with our girls more and I’m grateful that I took myself up on it.
Friends and Good People Are What Make It.
Over the last few years, we’ve scaled our team back quite a bit (due to everything that I just mentioned).
At the moment, we have just this tiny full-time-ish crew:
- Me: new content
- Bjork: tech and strategy
- Jenna: meal plans, emails, bringing almost all new ideas to life and being generally amazing at everything
And then last year we ended up kind of stumbling into a new video arrangement that now involves me working with Krista, our shoot assistant, and my best friend’s husband Landon to film recipe videos. Okay! Fun!
Between all of these great people plus our two other close friends who office in the same building, there are a lot of days that end up kind of just feeling like one big hangout as we all pop in and out of each other’s offices for lunch, a snack break, a time-wasting chat. This is intentionally not a hustle season, but it’s one that’s rich with people-time and that feels so, so good.
Sometimes even when I’m not working, I will bring the girls over just to hang out with everybody at the office. This is honestly one of the best parts of my life right now.
Our people really make it.
We Started a Thing Called Snackdive!
Speaking of working with friends!
I said no to a lot of things this year, but I said yes to one very fun thing in 2023 and that is a new brand called Snackdive! My friend Nate and I started creating this after years of talking about it, and as one commenter said, it’s “delightfully dumb.” The energy! The silliness! It’s been so fun.
We… basically just talk about snacks! We embrace our stupidly specific opinions about things like Reese’s and Bugles and Goldfish crackers, and we teach each other little tricks like how to do a Tim Tam Slam.
You can see the videos and follow along here! Right now we’re doing a weekly episode that’s shared on Instagram. My hope is that it’s a little burst of delightfully dumb joy in your life.
In Summary
I’m so happy in my life right now. I’m grateful for so many things.
I also feel a little lost sometimes. Like maybe we all do sometimes. I’m constantly needing to remind myself to stay aligned with what actually matters to me on a deeper level and work towards those things, because they are here. Right in front of me.
I’m having so much fun working on some new things this year. I’m staying home with the girls more and loving it. My pace has changed but my heart is very much here with Pinch of Yum. And my hope is that being present in my real life in the way that feels good right now will actually lead to more genuine, helpful, true and real content for Pinch of Yum.
Sage Says
You being you is a gift to the world.
Most dogs love playing with toys. Running around. Meeting new people. Sagey girl…. she just doesn’t. She’s shy, sleepy, a little bit grumpy and very snuggly. And you know what? We love her so dearly. We don’t ever wish she was like other dogs. She certainly doesn’t wish she was like other dogs. She’s just exactly who she is, and the world is a better place for having her in it.
You don’t have to love the same things other people love. You don’t have to be good at the things other people are good at. You don’t have to change who you are to fit some kind of typical mold. Uniqueness and quirks and real, genuine people are what makes life awesome.
You are perfectly and wonderfully made. Be that. ♡
I have so much more to talk about – travel, working out, new organization of our office pantry, air fryers, getting your colors done, and how are people keeping their houses clean?!
But this is already very long and so we’ll just consider this the “State of Things” update.
Maybe there’s another coffee date soon to talk about the superficial fun stuff.
Sending all my genuine love, admiration, and appreciation to you. Thanks for being here.
