I distinctly remember the moment I knew how to read; the feel of the orange shag carpet of my parents' living room, the paper of the Dr. Seuss book I was looking at, and that the words on the page of "One Fish, Two Fish", actually meant something. From the moment I got my hands on books, I was hooked.
As a kid if I wasn't reading, I was either drawing or writing to what became a nearly impossible amount of pen pals from all over the world, back in the days when you had to actually write a letter by hand on paper and affix a stamp to drop it in a mailbox.
It wasn't until around 2006 that I decided to try blogging on a whim, and started my family focused blog Notes From the Cookie Jar. When a family member asked me to write her some recipes, I began Chasing Tomatoes, which then accidentally became a food blog. I had no idea where blogging would take me, but eventually I was asked to speak at Blissdom Canada and Breathe Now, wrote for Jamie Oliver and helped him run his first Twitter party before going on to write for sites such as Everything Mom, Yummy Mummy Club, the BC Egg Marketing Board, Mabels Labels, and Life in Pleasantville.
I loved to write; but what I didn't love was how my love of creating had turned into what felt like a full time job; I had a job already and a family so working all the time wasn't feasible. I hadn't planned to only create recipes or promote products, but once you start it's hard to stop until ultimately, I felt trapped by my kitchen and the expectations that surrounded my work there. All I did, it seemed, was cook or write about food. I resented the obligation to write about products or companies and felt trapped by the expectations. After awhile, I began to hate my kitchen and writing at all, so I took a very long break and stepped back from blogging. It was time to reassess what I wanted out of this space.
My step back from the arena of blogging was pushed by a series of tragedies and hardships that left me reeling and questioning if I'd ever be able to write again, because for awhile the words simply wouldn't come. It seemed that our little family was handed blow after blow and while we soldiered on, it took all my energy just to keep us afloat. After some years away I finally came back ready to write in August 2017, only to have the biggest tragedy come weeks later when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. His prognosis was good, but he died unexpectedly of complications from the flu only five months later in January 2018.
It still feels weird to say that.
Things have changed drastically in the blogging world since 2006, but then again, so have I. You will find no sponsored posts on this blog. Everything I recommend or talk about I will have bought or experienced myself because I want to be free to create as I see fit. Storytelling will be my main focus, with the occasional recipe thrown in because we all love food, but I don't want to be a slave to my kitchen any more. You are welcome to join me as I navigate what it's like to be a widow in my mid 40s and figure out who I am after nearly 25 years of marriage. There will be cat photos because come on, Cooper is absolutely adorable (but maybe I'm slightly biased) and who doesn't like a cat photo? I'm finally back for real this time; older, hopefully wiser, a little more jaded. On the other hand they do say that living makes for the best writing. I've done a lot of living while I was away, and have a lot of stories to tell.
I'm thrilled to be sharing them with all of you.
As a kid if I wasn't reading, I was either drawing or writing to what became a nearly impossible amount of pen pals from all over the world, back in the days when you had to actually write a letter by hand on paper and affix a stamp to drop it in a mailbox.
It wasn't until around 2006 that I decided to try blogging on a whim, and started my family focused blog Notes From the Cookie Jar. When a family member asked me to write her some recipes, I began Chasing Tomatoes, which then accidentally became a food blog. I had no idea where blogging would take me, but eventually I was asked to speak at Blissdom Canada and Breathe Now, wrote for Jamie Oliver and helped him run his first Twitter party before going on to write for sites such as Everything Mom, Yummy Mummy Club, the BC Egg Marketing Board, Mabels Labels, and Life in Pleasantville.
I loved to write; but what I didn't love was how my love of creating had turned into what felt like a full time job; I had a job already and a family so working all the time wasn't feasible. I hadn't planned to only create recipes or promote products, but once you start it's hard to stop until ultimately, I felt trapped by my kitchen and the expectations that surrounded my work there. All I did, it seemed, was cook or write about food. I resented the obligation to write about products or companies and felt trapped by the expectations. After awhile, I began to hate my kitchen and writing at all, so I took a very long break and stepped back from blogging. It was time to reassess what I wanted out of this space.
My step back from the arena of blogging was pushed by a series of tragedies and hardships that left me reeling and questioning if I'd ever be able to write again, because for awhile the words simply wouldn't come. It seemed that our little family was handed blow after blow and while we soldiered on, it took all my energy just to keep us afloat. After some years away I finally came back ready to write in August 2017, only to have the biggest tragedy come weeks later when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. His prognosis was good, but he died unexpectedly of complications from the flu only five months later in January 2018.
It still feels weird to say that.
Things have changed drastically in the blogging world since 2006, but then again, so have I. You will find no sponsored posts on this blog. Everything I recommend or talk about I will have bought or experienced myself because I want to be free to create as I see fit. Storytelling will be my main focus, with the occasional recipe thrown in because we all love food, but I don't want to be a slave to my kitchen any more. You are welcome to join me as I navigate what it's like to be a widow in my mid 40s and figure out who I am after nearly 25 years of marriage. There will be cat photos because come on, Cooper is absolutely adorable (but maybe I'm slightly biased) and who doesn't like a cat photo? I'm finally back for real this time; older, hopefully wiser, a little more jaded. On the other hand they do say that living makes for the best writing. I've done a lot of living while I was away, and have a lot of stories to tell.
I'm thrilled to be sharing them with all of you.
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