Signs that led me to start Elevating Everyday

Spending the holidays at my grandparents home in Texas usually meant at one point of time I would run out of things to do. I never wanted it to be the case, but when I found myself alone, with no internet, and just time on my hands sometimes I found myself 'bored'. Often I would read whatever was on the shelf (hello The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II), but I would usually look for the countless housekeeping and cooking magazines my grandmother had.

I remember in college at Thanksgiving and reading a Southern Living article about how having a cookbook was like having a conversation. You are meant to experiment, add ingredients, take notes, and hopefully fall in love with some amazing recipes. The article went even further and made it about an on-going multi-generational conversation in a shared cookbook even when nothing was said.

My grandmother Kay

Why did I buy the Classic German Baking cookbook? I wanted to see if I could make some of my favorite German recipes while connecting with my heritage. And that didn't exactly happen right away. Although I bought the cookbook in December 2018- I didn't attempt my first recipe until summer 2019.

In fall 2019, I read an article in Martha Stewart Living about a woman wanting to share experiences with her young child, so she attempted to remake experiences that she had shared with her own mother who was no longer living. The moral of her story was that her child was not as enthusiastic about the same activities, but they did find a new bonding experience to share together that were unique to them.

Looking back, I feel like there were a lot of signs trying to point out that I should take this path of starting a blog. I feel like I am the human in The Good Place thinking I solved a puzzle to only find out that Michael had hid thousands of obvious clues with the hopes of me eventually piecing the plan together sometime soon.

It had been years since I had seen Julie-and Julia, but I threw it on in December 2019 (around the one-year- anniversary of my grandmothers death) and realized I was way too similar to Julie Powell. My job was emotionally soul sucking, I was not where I thought I was going to be at this point in my life, and I lived in a tiny overpriced apartment in Brooklyn with my significant other.

I wanted to do something for me.

I could have started this blog in summer 2019. I could have had a year of content by now. But it was not the right now. Now is the right time.

Learn more about my German Baking Journey here and all my German Baking Posts here.

P.S. When was the last time you believe you saw sign telling you to jump at an opportunity?