Currently April 2020

Currently | 4.29.20

Life in the Age of the Queen

That’s what I’m calling this “thing” that has impacted the world because Google penalizes you if you aren’t a medical site. She is royally kicking the world’s ass at the moment!

The last time I left my house to go anywhere (not counting walks in our community) was February 25th when I went to my company headquarters in downtown Raleigh to do a presentation and get my haircut at my new salon. It was my first cut and color there, but hopefully not the last. I get my hair cut every four weeks so I missed appointments for March and April, and I just got notification they canceled my May appointment as well!

After 2 months without a cut, Easter weekend I took things into my own hands and cut my hair using these texturizing scissors I bought on Amazon. I am not sure what the back looks like, but I don't think I did a terrible job on top! Last weekend, Mr. Misadventures and I attacked the color. After a few recommendations I got from friends and readers on Facebook, I went with Madison Reed because they seem to have more natural ingredients than harsh chemicals. 

Much like I was when I started cutting Mr. Misadventures hair with clippers when we started RVing, the hubby was a little bit hesitant on the amount of product he used on the roots (aka where the greys are!) but otherwise, it turned out pretty good. Next month we will be sure to be more generous with those greys! You can see the result of both the cut and the color below in the “My Favorite Photo'” section.

Mid-month we thought we were going to be “forced” to go out because we were unable to get butter – remember…this is a French household so that does constitute a real emergency. As we planned our outing on Saturday to get the butter, you would have thought we were planning a trip to Paris! “If we go get butter, should we stop at that little Vietnamese restaurant next door?” “Should we get coffee while we are out?” It was nutty.

Then we woke up Saturday morning and said, “Nah, butter isn't worth risking our health.” Before you shout, “Mon Dieu !” We have joined a local CSA and have been getting fresh vegetables and some dairy from local farmers and producers, and we couldn't be happier with the fruits and vegetables that we are getting. For a few other items, like butter, we have been using Instacart to shop at our local Publix (we are a little out in the country and don't have a lot of choices).  We simply just waited a few days for Publix to restock, picked up some butter, and survived.

We have been extremely lucky to be healthy and bored in our new home. Me with a job, Mr. Misadventures with plenty of new home projects. We are planning many future trips and are hoping that you are healthy and doing the same.

Now, onto April and what's been going on in the Misadventures world!

And P.S.

Watching | Nothing interesting, sigh

> We are watching Star Trek Next Generation for about the 50th time. No new movies to see. Not a lot of TV series that interest us. (But I am always open to suggestions!) We did watch Extraction when it was released last Friday, but that is about it! 

Reading | The Crowded Grave

> I very quickly read When We Left Cuba and am looking forward to book 3 of this series, The Last Train to Key West when it comes out in a few months. After reading that, I picked up Bruno, Chief of Police book 1 in a series written by Martin Walker that takes place in the Périgord region of France, once that I am not very familiar with but have fallen in love with! They are known for their black truffles and much, much more, so I have been voraciously reading the books. I got through 3 in April and have picked up the fourth, The Crowded Grave. There are 14 books with number 15 coming out at the end of May!

On one hand, I want to get through the series, because my friend  Kristin Luna has put a bug in my ear about a book she absolutely loved called, Code Name Hélène, but on the other hand, I don't want to read them too fast because who knows how long we will be stuck at home! Because I am blessed with still having my fulltime job, I need some downtime on the weekend to decompress from full days and lots of news, I have turned to books (since I can't travel) and I am rediscovering just how much I love reading!

Best Bite | Mushroom Soup

> So remember that 12-hour period where Mr. Misadventures and I fantasized about getting Vietnamese food? Well, I would like to say our best bite was the Vietnamese Bun Cha Gio that we tried to make, but it wasn't, our first attempt fell flat. We are readjusting the recipe and will try again. My best bite was a blended mushroom soup that the hubby made accompanied by croutons made with our low carb bread. We made a batch in March and froze half of it. The second frozen batch was tastier than the first batch, all that mushroom goodness marinated for a month!

Working On | Updating Older Posts + Drafts

> Having a blog for 11+ years, the work is never really done. I have slowed down new content, although I did post several new ones in April. I am working on updating some older ones for May. I also have a million drafts I started but never completed, it will be nice to get through some of those too.

Published in April:

J’adore #84 – My Picks for the Best Eco-Friendly Beauty Products for Travel & Home
Visit Tucson Arizona
Paris for the Second Time – Things to do in Paris After Your First Trip
Free Paris Coloring Pages

Feeling | Bummed

> Like every other lover of travel, I was pretty bummed when we hit the cancel button on our plans for France in October. We were going to spend a week in Paris and 3 weeks in Brittany, continuing farther into the region from where we left off on our last trip to Cancale, St Malo, Dinan, etc. October is the peak season for this area, so we booked this trip last October (2019). The good news is that we were able to just move everything out until October 2021. Except for our airline tickets, which we haven't tackled yet. 

Planning | Camping Trips

> We won't be getting on a plane, train, or boat for quite a while, so now we are thinking about what kind of camping we can do. As you know, we are well equipped for that!

Loving | Tucson

> With the Queen showing her teeth, the vast majority of sponsored travel work has been canceled. I was thrilled that Visit Tucson went forward with their campaign and writing a love letter to a city I adore was not hard to do. I am happy to support a place like Tucson and the visitor and convention bureau that invested in bloggers during this crazy time in the travel industry. Read the post and if you are feeling generous, click on one of the Visit Tucson links to plan your future visit.

And of course, it was fun to see myself in a Jambu email campaign! As you know, I love this brand and in March I worked with them for their latest Spring 2020 models. 

My Favorite Photo | Paris Coloring

> I used to color from time to time when the adult coloring book trend first happened in the mid-aughts, but my career got busier, travel took over almost all my free time, along with the blog, and I never picked it back up. Recently as I was looking at a sketch that Linden Eller  created for one of our collaborations, I thought to myself, “that might make a cute coloring sheet.” So I asked Lindsey is she would want to convert some of the illustrations we did into coloring pages, and she agreed! Yesterday I shared the first book with 6 pages and I am working on a second book now.

P.S. – see the hair? Doesn't look too shabby for total novices!

That’s my month, what’s CURRENTLY going on with you?

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