Hello friendos from soggy Florida, where the hurricanes and election commercials are as plentiful as the mosquitos. (If you were thinking about moving here… we should chat.)
It has been a brat summer indeed, hot to go in all the worst ways, and so not demure and not mindful that I forgot to celebrate my 18th anniversary of blogging. Probably should have done something epic for that but I can barely remember what day it is with the maelstrom of daily life. So here we are. Happy birthday to blogging and the wild and wonderful, weird and wacky life that its afforded me since 2006.
Let’s jump into a recap of the past 90 days with this 60th edition of Reflections from the Road. Buckle up and remain seated. As always, we’re expecting… turbulence.
Highs
PODCAST-AVERSARY
I had zero experience hosting a podcast this time last year, hated the sound of my own voice and wasn’t sure if I was biting off more than I could chew in accepting the gig with AAA. Now? I’ve come to terms with my voice and I’ve got 50+ episodes of “Traveling with AAA” under my belt. I love podcasting so much that I started another one with RaeRae called “But Did You Die?! With The Jet Sisters.”
I’ve grown so much as a communicator and interviewed some outstanding guests for the show. We’re already planning for 2025 for AAA and Rae and I have some surprises up our sleeves for the rest of this year’s BDYD episodes. Given what Google is doing to independent blogs (See LOWS), I’m so grateful for this new outlet to share travel stories and stay connected with the community I’ve been building for the past 18 years as a creator.
If you haven’t tuned in yet, would you do me the hugest favor and listen to just one episode? If you hate it, you can always switch back to my audiobook on Audible 😉
ISLAND LIFE
I didn’t do a ton of traveling this summer, aside from a quick hop to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to speak at my umpteenth TBEX. Fifteen years ago, I found myself at the very first TBEX conference in Chicago, navigating the world of travel public relations while dabbling in blogging on the side. At the time, social media was still an emerging frontier for brands and destinations, and many skeptics viewed bloggers as just another passing trend. My mission was to gather insights to share with my team, but what I didn’t realize was that the conference would change my life forever.
Fast forward all these years later and I’m the one presenting on content marketing at the latest TBEX in Puerto Rico. This conference holds a special place in my heart; it was the catalyst for my transformation from a travel publicist to a full-fledged travel content creator. If the publicist I was back in 2009 could see my journey—becoming a published author, hosting one of the top travel podcasts in the world and founding one of the longest-running travel websites—I don’t think she would believe it.
In August, Rick and I flew up to Long Island for his high school reunion. I’ve only been to his hometown once or twice and never really got the chance to see or do anything, so this little jaunt was a treat. The reunion was a blast – and I don’t say that lightly because of course I didn’t know a soul and now I have new pals! – and now that I’ve experienced the magic of The Hamptons, I’m so hooked. My hope is that we can go up for at least week every year starting next summer.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Rick and I used to joke that we have nothing in common except Jesus and the hots for each other, but I’m slowly becoming the outdoorsy wife of his dreams. This summer, I’ve not only gone on a scalloping vacation to world famous Steinhatchee (which has since been obliterated by a hurricane), but I also participated in my very first fishing tournament, the YoungLives Triple Challenge. (Did I catch fish? Yes. Were they the right fish or the right size? Nope. Next year is our year.)
I could write 1,000 books and it wouldn’t make Rick’s eyes gleam with pride the way they do when I reel up a dumb fish. It’s so silly, but I’m the same way when he quotes a Taylor Swift song so I get it.
CHEF SLASH ARTIST
This summer I allowed myself to focus on hobbies more than I have since I was a kid. I hosted the first ever Figchella, a 5-course dinner featuring dishes made with figs from the tree outside my office. It went so well and I enjoyed it so much, I’m already planning next year.
The only problem is: I just have one fig tree so I can only invite so many people.
And when I wasn’t being a fig-farm-to-table-chef, I was in my She Shed painting canvases and bottles. The thing is – and this probably won’t surprise any of you – when I get into something, I get INTO it. And it’s all I can think about. Whether that’s my next book (fiction but based on a true story murder mystery), a bass painting for my brother’s birthday or the menu for 2025 Figchella.
HOMETOWN LOVE
The Jet Sisters did one big travel campaign this summer and I didn’t even have to travel because it was for Visit Jacksonville, my hometown tourism board. As easy as it was because we didn’t have to fly anywhere, it was also just as difficult to choose what places to highlight. When I go to a new destination, I just go where they tell me. With this campaign, I felt all this pressure to show off the very best of my town – and how can you even do that with a city as big and diverse as Jacksonville?! We hit some of my favorite spots to eat and play, and I love how our videos turned out.
Would love you to take a peek at some of our videos from the campaign and drop us a comment or two.
Lows
THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE
When Steinhatchee was hit by Hurricane Debby in early August, we breathed a sign of relief for them because the damage wasn’t too bad. And surely that meant they’d be good for the rest of this hurricane season… right? Hurricanes never seem to hit the same place twice in the same season.
A couple weeks later, we took a group of 10 down to enjoy a couple days of scalloping in the Gulf and made plans to return in 2025 for more of the same. It’s a cute little seaside town, with lively seafood restaurants, marinas filled with boats and families out scalloping in the shallows.
Then, just weeks later, Hurricane Helene came in and destroyed the whole place. It’s only been a couple of days so we don’t even know how bad it is, but the initial photos show most of the spots where we just made core family memories are completely gone.
And that’s just one town of many affected. Rick is still out trying to restore power here in Jacksonville, and we were so fortunate compared to the rest of Florida. I can’t even believe what I’m seeing coming out of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. People across the southeast will be recovering from Hurricane Helene for years to come.
THINGS I NEVER WANTED TO KNOW
Foster care, and subsequently adopting out of foster care, has been even more of a roller coaster than promised. I was prepared for it to be a lot. But that’s like saying Olive Garden’s All-You-Can-Eat Soup, Salad and Breadsticks is a lot. This has been like if All-You-Can-Eat Soup, Salad and Breadsticks morphed into a creature made of linguine and spaghetti sauce and chased you down in the street, noodly arms flailing, clawing for every piece of your sanity and ripping your heart out every single day. Meatballs and feelings and guilt splattered everywhere.
There’s so much I can’t say. I’ve already gotten a little wrist slap for going on a podcast and talking – very, very vaguely – about our experience. If you’ve seen me in the past 3 years in person, I’ve probably trauma dumped on you (God bless the ladies in my Bible study) so for that I apologize. And if you haven’t, I guess just be grateful it hasn’t gotten on you yet. Without being specific, here are a list of things I’ve learned about first hand: trafficking, shootings, attempted murder trials, interstate extradition, rehab/addiction, meth, Baker Act, bipolar/BPD, disinheriting (not un-adopting, don’t get it twisted) an heir, and more things I’ve probably suppressed at this point. It’s gotten better than it was at first, but crisis is always lurking.
Lessons
THE ART OF THE PIVOT
Google is doing everything it can to kill independent bloggers like me. If you use Google as your search engine, you may have noticed the past year or so the way you get results is very different. For example, if you searched for “Things to do in Jacksonville” last year, you might find a blog post of mine on the first page. Now you’ll get links to Reddit content from 2017 that’s neither relevant nor updated. The Google overlords have taken a decade of hard work and first person recommendations and shoved it to page 10. Content is no longer king.
What this means as a content creator isn’t so unusual: we’re always pivoting because this career has never been well defined and the mechanisms for monetizing are often wholly dependent on things out of our control. Algorithms and social media usage habits change faster than we can keep up, so it’s not so different. It doesn’t make it any easier when a revenue stream unexpectedly dries up and you have to scramble to replace it. Or, as with dozens of my blogging friends, you give up and go back to corporate.
I’m not there yet, fortunately. I’ve never put all my eggs in the Google/blog basket so for that I’m fortunate. But I’m constantly reassessing how I do this content creator thing, if it still works for me and if it’s actually useful for you, the people I make the content for.
All this to say: if you like what a content creator / influencer / blogger is doing, it has never been more important to like, comment and share. If you don’t, mark my words, the quality content will disappear and the only videos left will be recycled crap and ads. Kinda like the search results Google is showing us now.
THE TRUTH ABOUT BOOKS
You think your whole life is going to change when you finally publish your book and ascend to the immortal plain of existence where the real authors live, but then you do it and find out the only thing that changes is the small talk. Now, everywhere I go, people say, “So how’s the book?” instead of “How are you?”
What they don’t tell you is that you need to write a lot of books to really make it into the VIP section of author club and also, a book is often just a vehicle to sell stuff (courses, merch, speaking engagements, more books) than anything else. The kind of books I want to write aren’t really for that, and I’d rather walk 100 miles barefoot than sell a course on how to do what I do, so that leaves me in an odd position. I’ll find my way as an author, but real talk, I haven’t figured it out yet.
Next Steps
We can make our plans but God determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9
CONCEPTS OF A PLAN
I had some very solid plans for Q3:
- Read more books than social media (I read Reign by Katherine McGee & Wander Woman by Beth Santos)
- Go to the beach at least once per week (I went twice total)
- Outline potential new book (Done!)
- Paint a whole series of canvases (I painted 2 canvases and 2 bottles)
- Make space for leisurely mornings on the back porch, pressure-free treadmill runs through the Eras Tour setlist and unlimited naps (Didn’t really hit the mark)
- Find $200,000 on the ground so I can start my new business without debt (Weirdly this also did not happen, in fact I feel like I spent that much replacing Rick’s phone which he lost twice…)
So all in all, not super successful with my goals. In the next 90 days, I’m not adhering to specifics, but here are some general goals:
- Finalize details for group trips in 2025 (Jane Austen Festival anyone?!)
- Locate resale tickets to the Eras Tour in Miami that don’t cost more than a mortgage payment
- Get away with my man for some real rest in Hawaii
- Make it through the election with relationships in tact
- Host my first ever official book club discussion for Flirting with Disaster (see below!)
WANDERFUL BOOK CLUB
I’m thrilled to share that Flirting with Disaster has been chosen as the October selection for the Wanderful Book Club! This is a fantastic opportunity for readers to dive into the story and engage in a lively discussion. Wanderful is hosting a global virtual chat on October 12, where I’ll be answering questions and sharing insights about the book.
Whether you’re a Wanderful member or considering joining, I’d love to have you participate. (Vulnerability alert: every author fears going to an event where no one shows up, and I’m no different!) Members can sign up through the provided link, and non-members can take advantage of a 14-day free trial to join the conversation. Sign up here.
VOTE FOR PEDRO
If you’ve been with me for any amount of time, you know election year has always been a rough season for me. I can feel the tension, the anger and the hate on a cellular level. If that sounds dramatic or doesn’t compute for you, well … what does it feel like to be God’s favorite? I kid, but seriously. Being wired to feel this deeply can really be exhausting, and election year just magnifies it all because the loudest voices are louder and more extreme than ever.
Until 2020, I went to Kauai every election year because it’s my happy place and I felt like I could disconnect from the mainland there. We’re going to try that again this year. It’s been over a year since Rick and I had a romantic, just the two of us vacay, so we’re overdue. With any luck, we’ll be on top of a volcano with no cell service or underwater with some manta rays while the rest of the country is glued to the TV for election results.
GOOD LUCK, BABE
As we enter the next season of holidays, the presidential election and the solemn anniversary of October 7, I’m wondering if you’d pray with me for peace in the US and abroad. I believe prayer is more powerful than a vote (but please vote!) and it’s easy to do.
Thank you for being on this journey with me for the past 18 years. May you experience abundant joy and grace in Q4!
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