Happy March you beautiful people! Here is what I am wondering:
If I were to write a New York Times #1 bestselling book, what do you think I should write about?
Have an epic Wednesday and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Tag Archives: writing
Be on a Radical Sabbatical from Munich to Milan
Munich.
Alps.
Milan.
Food and toilets too!
Travelling with these boys is ALWAYS fun!
Truly an amazing time. No social media fluff and puff.
Take a scroll through and see what we have been up to as we have wanders from Germany to Italy. Please leave a comment too!
November 10th
Munich.
Biggest toy store (and LEGO section the boys have seen).
Biggest beer.
Oldest central plaza in Munich (Marienplatz)
Walking everywhere on foot.
Seeing Steve at work!
With help from a friend, I was able to find gymnastics training for the boys in Munich. It was a cool experience for them and made them appreciate their gym back home even more.
After training, we were able to zip to where Steve was doing his Fair talking to families in the Munich area about his school district. We were very grateful to see what he does. CC bought a new jacket at H & M today which matched his Dada’s.
After the Fair, it was time to get back to the hotel, get packed as we had a 5 and a bit hour drive to Milan, Italy the next day.
November 11th
1 final shower in our bathroom/shower room. Have you seen this before?
1 hotel breakfast.
1 shake for a boys who has eaten too much bread.
1 more walk to Marienplatz.
1 more visit to the toy store.
Purchases of 2 Porsche’s and a German Shepherd figurine.
1 solo shopping trip to H & M for ME! I found some awesome Christmas gifts for the boys.
11:11 in Italy. Remembering.
1 final squeeze through the driveway from the hotel garage to the street. The rental car was beeping like crazy. Sexy Neck is a genius to work the angles to get our station wagon in and out of this garage.
5.5 hour car ride to Milan, Italy.
Through 5 countries.
From Germany to Austria, by Liechtenstein, Switzerland and then finally into Italy.
11 tunnels.
Clouds, snow and sun!
1 panic attack by ME! (The first 5km tunnel freaked me out and sent me into fight or flight even though cognitively nothing was wrong! It was a learning experience.)
1 very strange toilet. You pushed the toilet seat down to make it flush and the water to wash your hands went into the toilet. 🤪
Another toilet for 50 cents.
5 amazing slices of margarita pizza, some gnocchi, a calzone and some gelato to end off this beautiful day.
1 awesome room at the Meininger Hotel/Hostel. (The same brand of hotel we stayed in in Brussels, Belgium).
Steve is working hard to catchup on email and prepare for morning meetings. The boys are watching cartoons in Italian. I am doing laundry… Hence the huge pile by my feet!
Bongiorno from Milan, Italy!
November 12th
I had completely forgotten, or maybe I didn’t realize, how much Italians LOVE children. From the waiter ruffling our son’s hair and shaking their hands last night to the free metro rides and free entry to the museums, wow, I love you even more Italy.
Today was the day that our oldest son, twelve year old JC, has been planning for months. Tying in with his study of Ancient Rome, this would be as close as we would get. Milan. He rocked his negotiation of the metro system and got us everywhere he wanted to go. We even saw a movie being filmed by the fountain outside the Castle.
Today’s plan was a fun one! I love seeing my boys plan, take charge and speak with the locals along the way. Jackson even ordered our lunch in Italian and paid for it.
Parco Sempione (Park)
Castillo Sforzeaco (Castle)
Museum featuring the mind-blowing work of Leonardo da Vinci. Hallogram videos and sitting in the room he worked on for many years was incredibly awe-inspiring.
Fried pizza for lunch. There was a HUGE line at Luini’s, so we knew it must be good. JC found this place on the internet through watching videos about Milan.
Gelato in Gallerio Vittorio
Duomo Di Milano (Church)
Climbing over 200 stairs to the terraces of the Duomo.
A clean toilet in McDonald’s. (Probably the only reason I will take my boys there).
Meeting Steve spontaneously in between his meetings. (I almost hit him when he came up from behind and surprised us)
2 metro rides.
Many kilometres of walking.
Dinner back at a very Italian restaurant by our hotel in the Lambrate area. The boys declared that this was the BEST pizza they have had in their life. (Sexy Neck and I thought last night was better!)
And MORE gelato and a play at the park in the dark before we head to bed at 10:00pm.
November 13th
Cake and pie for breakfast. Sure why not! We are in Italy after all! This is how our boys started their day. We are finding our rhythm with a buffet breakfast between 8:30 and 9:30, then a mid-afternoon snack and then dinner around 6:30 or 7:00. We are all feeling GREAT and are truly eating our way around Europe.
This is our second and last day in Milan before we head north to meet friends in the Swiss Alps. We have been asking the boys each morning what they would like to do and it was unanimous that today would include:
Heading back to the Parco Sempione, a stroll by the Duomo again, a stop at the largest LEGO store in Italy that just opened on the 11th, a visit to the main train station and dinner there too! And yes more gelato too! We even convinced Sexy Neck to take the boys back into the Museum to see the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. He missed it yesterday when we went because he was working.
As the boys went back into the museum, I sat outside with a hot drink and got caught up on the blog. Now this is what a hot chocolate looks like:
It was hot and thick and absolutely delicious.
The boys wanted to checkout the largest LEGO store in Italy and along the way, CC decided to buy the Swatch Watch he had been looking at since we were in Brussels.
We decided to head home to our hotel/hostel via the metro to cook dinner for ourselves. We had soup and salad. First, we went to our favourite grocery store, Lidl, to pickup some supplies.
A few handstands before bed doesn’t hurt! Right? JC attempting to walk around the room on his hands.
Ciao! Italy, it’s been a very fun couple of days. We want to own an apartment in Italy one day.
Next stop the Swiss Alps!
Be Taking a Radical Sabbatical with us!
Our Radical Sabbatical – Chapter One
Imagine biking away from school on June 28th knowing that you would not be returning to that industrial looking school building and schedule for over a year? Imagine being able to design your learning, travel the world and live at a ski hill with the foundational goal of skiing every single day of the ski season? Imagine moving into a nine hundred square foot home with five people and no dishwasher nor in suite laundry?
Imagine.
What would your radical sabbatical look like?
This imagining above is the reality we are creating and that I will be writing about during our radical sabbatical. Our family of five is riding our bikes away from grades two, four and six and walking into grades three, five and seven as homeschoolers living in a two room condominium, overlooking the ski hill. With the addition of two trips, one month long trip to Europe and one two week vacation in the spring, you now have the big picture of what is going to unfold over the next twelve months and corresponding chapters of this book about our life yet to be written.
Could you imagine?
Would you ever step out, take a time out and shake up your reality to press pause on life?
Stopping all activities except skiing and gymnastics.
Withdrawing from all volunteer positions on boards and activities in our community.Renting out our main house and only bringing the bare essentials into our small living space.
Inspired by the gift of grief given to us by my beautiful mama over five years ago.
Fanned by the gift of grief given to us this year by Sexy Neck’s mama, grandma, grandpa, my aunt and our Labrador, Summer.
Walked out first and foremost, by Joanne Kraft when her family took a year off from activities outside of school. Her book, “Just Too Busy: Taking your Family on a Radical Sabbatical”, jumped off the library shelf last winter and cemented this idea in my mind.
Watered and lovingly supported by our friends who live our freedom and growth lifestyle.
Practically supported by our teacher friends and the school that we will work with to educate our boys over the next twelve months.
Divinely inspired by our Father in heaven who knows our hearts and allowed everything to seamlessly and truly effortlessly unfold.
Now, we create space for us to live in a nine hundred square feet condominium.
Building a learning space for three creative and hardworking eight, ten and twelve year old boys.
Building a triple bunk bed so that we have more space to play.
A radical sabbatical.
Twelve months to pause and change our routine.
New rhythm.
New schedule.
New space.
Finding our rhythm.
Our schedule.
Our space.
So, I sit here and ask again: What would a radical sabbatical look like for you? It doesn’t have to be as extreme as what we have done, but maybe it’s something as simple as eating dinner together every night or what Joanne Kraft did and taking a break from extracurricular activities. Whatever speaks to you as you share our journey with us, may it be meaningful to you and light up your life!
These are exciting times my friends. Truly exciting!
xoxo Joanna
#befree
#momofboys
#isalife
<Note: Joanna is currently seeking a publisher to partner with to publish her book as she helps people be free on their own journey as she shares her radical sabbatical with others.>
Be a Papa Dealing with Death
Death.
Divorce.
Despair.
Distance.
These four D’s that I talked about in my last post can bring us to our knees.
These gifts of grief can also help us rise into who we truly are.
This is what it’s been like for our Papa as he finds a new normal without his beloved wife after 52 years.
The partner Papa loved to share with and bounce ideas off of.
The woman who showered him with food love and a beautiful home.
The exceptional mother of his handsome boys.
The ever present Grandma of his five grandchildren.
Papa could have easily been brought to his knees but he truly has risen.
Going to many of the grandchildren’s events in the last three weeks.
Planning a funeral to honour his beloved wife and my mother-in-law.
Papa has poured out gratitude for everyone’s help.
He has poured out his heart in tears and given himself space to grieve.
May all people deal with grief like our Papa. He is a role model for us all.
Blessings poured over you, Papa, as you walk this journey. We, your fellow grief journeyers, are so proud of you.
Xoxox
Be Writing a Blog about Your Blog
Have you ever thought about writing a blog?
If yes, what would your blog be about?
I started writing this blog over ten years ago. I believe that there is value in every person writing a blog about one thing they are passionate about, just one thing they are passionate about. It can be anything. A blog is simply a post with a title, two or more pictures and some words strung together in a personal way.
My blog is about my passion to see people living as human “beings” not just as human “doings” on the hamster wheel of life. I want to see people:
⭐️ live AWAKE
⭐️ feel ADEQUATE
⭐️ know ABUNDANCE
⭐️ be ASSURED they are “enough” exactly as they are right now.
In my time as a blogger, I have written over 750 posts. I have had over 17,000 visitors visit my site.
A few of my recent and memorable posts have been:
⭐️ Be Learning Lessons from a Lab where I shared lessons our family learned from our dog as we reflected on her life.
⭐️ Be Savouring the Seasons was a blog I wrote when I kept hearing people complain about the weather. This is one topic that human “doings” love to discuss.
⭐️ Be a Toastmaster was a blog I wrote about my experience in that organization. The post was inspired by a task I needed to complete on my Visionary Communication pathway. I needed to write eight blog posts in under one month. I completed this is February, 2019.
I am very grateful that over ten years ago I took the time to start writing down my thoughts, my poems, my song lyrics as well as journeys of people around me through this “beenough” place. Blogging is one tool that has helped me survive and thrive through the death of my beautiful mama, becoming an entrepreneur, leaving my teaching job and being a mom of boys and wife to Sexy Neck.
Tonight, this process of sitting and writing about this blog has reminded me why I blog. As much as I love blogging, I want to see my blog become a book. Why? For me personally, being a daughter of a librarian, growing up with weekly public library visits and being surrounded by shelves of books in our home, there is something about books. I love the smell of them. I love holding a book in my hands and feeling the pages between my fingers. And the sound of pages flipping is one of the most peaceful sounds I know.
Now, I wonder who will join me in this blogging world from my group of readers. I am very curious to see what you would choose to write about.
Blog away.
You are enough.
Exactly as you are.
Be enough.
😘 Joanna
<come hangout with me on Instagram @cannjoanna>
Be Writing a Blog about Your Blog
Have you ever thought about writing a blog?
If yes, what would your blog be about?
I started writing this blog over ten years ago. I believe that there is value in every person writing a blog about one thing they are passionate about, just one thing they are passionate about. It can be anything. A blog is simply a post with a title, two or more pictures and some words strung together in a personal way.
My blog is about my passion to see people living as human “beings” not just as human “doings” on the hamster wheel of life. I want to see people:
⭐️ live AWAKE
⭐️ feel ADEQUATE
⭐️ know ABUNDANCE
⭐️ be ASSURED they are “enough” exactly as they are right now.
In my time as a blogger, I have written over 750 posts. I have had over 17,000 visitors visit my site.
A few of my recent and memorable posts have been:
⭐️ Be Learning Lessons from a Lab where I shared lessons our family learned from our dog as we reflected on her life.
⭐️ Be Savouring the Seasons was a blog I wrote when I kept hearing people complain about the weather. This is one topic that human “doings” love to discuss.
⭐️ Be a Toastmaster was a blog I wrote about my experience in that organization. The post was inspired by a task I needed to complete on my Visionary Communication pathway. I needed to write eight blog posts in under one month. I completed this is February, 2019.
I am very grateful that over ten years ago I took the time to start writing down my thoughts, my poems, my song lyrics as well as journeys of people around me through this “beenough” place. Blogging is one tool that has helped me survive and thrive through the death of my beautiful mama, becoming an entrepreneur, leaving my teaching job and being a mom of boys and wife to Sexy Neck.
Tonight, this process of sitting and writing about this blog has reminded me why I blog. As much as I love blogging, I want to see my blog become a book. Why? For me personally, being a daughter of a librarian, growing up with weekly public library visits and being surrounded by shelves of books in our home, there is something about books. I love the smell of them. I love holding a book in my hands and feeling the pages between my fingers. And the sound of pages flipping is one of the most peaceful sounds I know.
Now, I wonder who will join me in this blogging world from my group of readers. I am very curious to see what you would choose to write about.
Blog away.
You are enough.
Exactly as you are.
Be enough.
😘 Joanna
<come hangout with me on Instagram @cannjoanna>
Be Observing International Women’s Day
What is a better what to observe and notice International Women’s Day than with words and photos.
This wordsmithing woman threw together some words and founds some pics to show you the faces of the inspiring woman surrounding me.
May the women around you stand by you.
Lift you up.
Hold you up.
Pray you up.
And never stand you up.
The woman in my life that is ALWAYS very present was my Mama.
She made me a better mom to my boys, a more thoughtful friend, a more forgiving wife and always helped me to get over my temper tantrums.
I am grateful for all the women in my life.
If you are the sum of the people you surround yourself with, I am kick *ss.
These are the women in my life.
The ones that truly care and you know that they are there.
Ones that help you with your babies and your business.
Those who nurture your mind, heart and spirit.
Women that help you grow, that you may not even have in a photo. 😉
Thank you to all you wonderful women!
😘 Joanna
Be Sharing a Song
🎵 This is what I do! 🎵
I love seeing Mama’s who live “on purpose” in their day whether it is at work or at play.
They plan, schedule and make it happen and when someone gets sick their is no more lapping.
They shut things down, they hold the fort tight and just hold their baby knowing it will be all right.
No striving or goals will be checked off on that day, they just sit still and maybe have a play.
With the ones they love.
That override it all.
With the ones they love.
That they help hold tall.
With the ones they love.
They see them through and through.
With the ones they love.
They know inside what to do.
When things are flowing, the checklist may be long, but us Mama’s know that we need to be strong.
We need to hold space and show up with grace.
When we are focused and fierce and know exactly what to do, there is nothing that will stop us, not even the loo.
We need to have goals and show up as we are.
This is what I do!
With the ones I love.
That override it all.
With the ones I love.
That I help hold tall.
With the ones I love.
I see them through and through.
With the ones I love.
I know inside what to do.
I love being a Mama who lives “on purpose” in my day whether it is at work or at play.
There is no shame in doing, as long as you are being you!
There is no harm in being exactly who you are.
Show up.
Be you.
With the ones you love.
Show up.
Be you.
With the ones you love.
(A song written in the gift of grief, with fond memories of our Lab, Summer. May this bless you to be present and to live fully as a human being, not just as a human being. Be enough. Be free. 😘 Joanna)
NOTE: I started writing songs after my annual conference for my nutrition business in NASHVILLE in August. These songs just started pouring out of me there. What fun writing songs are… cannot wait to hear someone sing them!
"Be" ENOUGH 