Ask the Audience: Where Did You Grow Up?

Happy Monday, FOAS! How was everyone’s weekend? I ended up moving all my spices that were basically impossible to see in the cabinet next to my stove to the drawer next to my stove and miraculously, they all fit perfectly and now I have wonderful access to them all. I then proceeded to take the empty cabinet and move all my oils, vinegars and salts that I had on a messy lazy Susan on the counter into the cabinet, and now I can’t stop and stare at the tidy counter every time I walk by.

It’s truly amazing how much changing something so subtle and little can change the energy in a room. On the other side of my kitchen, I FINALLY dealt with the mountain of random bottles of hot sauce, tea boxes, half-empty honeys and peanut butters and cracker containers we end up throwing there because we have no real food storage, and again, I literally breathe more easily now.

I didn’t get to cleaning out and organizing my linen closet as I hoped, but dealing with those little corners and nooks in my kitchen made me feel so good that it makes me want to keep going. One little area a week is what I’m committing to. Purging, organizing, rearranging…it was time. I feel like everyone did this in the early days of the pandemic. Everyone except for me, clearly.

OH, I also started testing solid bar shampoos so I can write that up in a week or so when I make my way through the stash I purchased, and so far, I found one that is SO SO good, I honestly can’t believe how much I loved it. More on that soon.

Then Sunday, we took another beach trip but brought a friend along with us and it was so, so wonderful to sit and talk for hours, catching up and just loving each other. I mean, my leg cramped up from being on the ground for that long, but I’d like to say it was worth it. 🙂

Anyhow, now that we’re all caught up, let’s actually do a bit more of that, shall we? I started a post this weekend where I wrote about my design Achille’s heel: rugs. On how much I always struggle with them in a room’s design, how I second and third and fourth guess myself when I’m picking them out. Ay! But it’s not quite where I want it to be, so I’m pivoting so I can get to bed at a decent hour.

I started wondering the other day about you, readers. There are some of you that I know pretty well from our daily chit-chats in the comment, and by “know pretty well” I mean I know a few things about you that you’ve chosen to share with me/us. But specifically, today, I was curious…where do you live, and even more…where did you grow up? I’ll go first: As I know you likely know because I talked about it often, I live in Los Angeles. Have for about 3 and a half years now (wow does that sound wild to say; we only ever planned on staying 2 and here we still are). I grew up in Florida, but Orlando specifically, which was a very interesting place to come of age.

Yes, I went to Disney World a lot, because EVERYONE asks me that when they hear about my hometown, though I never did work there. Universal Studios and Seaworld, however, did employ me a few summers in a row, and while it was insanely hot, it was such a fun time. There were so, so many malls, and outlets, and chain restaurants, and places with laser tag and mini-golf and literally every tourist attraction you can think of. Fun fact: My first official date with Charles was at Downtown Disney (which they call Disney Springs now, I believe). All of that is such a deep part of who I was growing up that it feels 100% normal to me.

At the time, as an only-sort-of angsty teen, I said I hated it there. I wanted out. But in retrospect, I think I was pretty lucky to grow up there. I wouldn’t necessarily go back, as it’s changed so much even in the 10 years since I left, but it was a pretty sweet existence in the ’90s and early aughts, that’s for sure.

So that’s me…where did you grow up, and where do you live now? Can’t wait to learn more about you all.

See you tomorrow, FOAS.