Don’t Call it a Comeback

Hello, dear friends. It’s me! I’m here with my digital stick vac and feather duster making my way through the cobwebs at Smashed-Garlic.

This blog of mine has sat idle for too long. If you missed it, thank you for saying so. I love(d) coming here. I got to thinking about why I let it go, and after coming to terms with myself, determined why.

Before I get too far… If you’re only here for the ‘chops – I feel you! Scroll all the way down for the goodness. For everyone else – I’m hoping you’ll join me on this shape shift here. With the re-launch of Smashed-Garlic.com, you can expect to hear all about food and recipes, but also more about our lifestyle and the choices that go along with it. Subscribe if you’re with me. Or feel it out first, no pressure!

Back to why I let this blog drift out to sea… Let’s talk about patterns. This one here is mine, and it goes something like this: Get (really) excited about an idea, take off running with it, go all in, and then… boop, lose interest.

Do I actually lose interest, though? You can’t see me, but I’m wagging my finger ‘no.’ If I bump into something challenging along the way, historically speaking, I’ll do everything I can to move away from that feeling. It doesn’t matter what it is. Does that resonate for anyone else? Looking around now, I admire people who push through things that are really challenging, uncomfortable even. More so, I admire the people who seem to figure everything out. These are the people I am looking to surround myself with. High-five if you are one!

So here I am with a new penchant for figuring out the stuff that stumped me. Old me never asked for help. It never occurred to me to reach out. I truly thought that everyone was out there figuring it all out on their own and there I was, feeling stuck and frustrated, feeling ‘less than.’ Wait, what?! Yes, I actually felt like I had to have all of the answers and be perfect all of the time.

What was so hard about a silly blog, anyway? It felt like all of it. I expected my food styling and photography to look like the storytelling images of the bloggers I adored from day 1. OMG, Kristen, no! I was comparing my beginning to someone else’s middle. My writing. Lord help me with my ability to make a sentence go on and on. My inexplicably bad grammar and punctuation. People, I went to private school AND COLLEGE. Man, did I luck out when I married a live-in editor… Then there was my personal expectation of reader engagement. I might be an introvert, but blogging can feel lonely. Hello, is there anybody out there? Lastly, the tech stuff. Don’t even get me started.

So, what’s new? I’m on a self improvement journey (I’d love to know if you are, too). I started seeing a Naturopath, consequently my other half did, too, and we’re feeling better than ever. A few summers ago, I found some courage, bought a road bike, and found another place of calm through cycling. Last summer, I fell in love with a clean beauty company called Beautycounter through a colleague and shortly thereafter decided to join the mission. Through Beautycounter I learned of Rachel Hollis, which led me back to my love of reading. She has this amazing podcast called Rise (actually she has two, and if you know, you know) which I became completely hooked on. That was the gateway to all of the podcasts… and suddenly, I’m evaluating everything around me.

What’s next? Let’s find out together. I hope you’ll be a part of this story!

Oh, and that gorgeous pork chop you see up top? You can snag the recipe here, the plums are in season. Xo