Personal: A Balancing Act

 Sometimes I have to force myself to shut up in order to carry on. 

Coming home is surreal and confronting. I feel like I'm inside a shadow. 

I live with my grandparents, in the house where my mom and her siblings have many unpleasant memories. This house feels dark and disorganized. Everywhere I turn, I am picking up proverbial pieces of lumber, things falling from the walls... things out of place... things forgotten.

My grandmother relapses again in her lifelong addiction with alcohol. She fell in the living room while I was in the shower. Before then, I'd heard, "Fuck this... *mumbled garble made worse with the sound of water overhead," and "Fuck that *something else...", and finally, "Fuck you!" and a thump.

Shampoo still in my hair, I turned off the faucet, slipped on my robe - still soaking wet - and puddled my way to the living room. She lay on the floor and my grandpa stood over her. 

I wondered if he pushed her. 

I am afraid of that. 

Even though they are old and he is much calmer now, he raised his hand to her several times when they were young, partying parents.

I watched as they shakily held onto each other, until she was sitting upright and could make her way to the recliner. I asked if they were okay. 

I returned to my shower and rinsed the shampoo. I tried to go back to the song I was singing before.

I don't know if that's what I should be doing or not. If it's wrong to look the other way, so to speak. I wonder what I can do to help them. Even though they are old and some people argue that they are too old to want to change, I can't accept that. I have never been able to accept the idea that you stop changing or learning at a certain age. I want to help them break their bad habits and take better care of themselves.

Dwelling on this while I shower... formulating ways to better their lives and help steer them toward a healthier old age, trying to understand the choices they've made, realizing things about your family, deciding how that realization affects you... these, for me are worthy pastimes. The insight gained from this can help me understand and make better the lives of those around me. Plus, I love to solve puzzles. I love to make connections. I also love to make things better. More efficient. More sustainable. I love how things are when they're organized, balanced. 

But at times, getting there is emotionally difficult. Weird as it sounds, growth only happens from changing the process half the time, the other half of the time, it comes from changing your mentality, having a hard conversation, or confronting something you've been avoiding. I heard in a podcast recently that in order to grow, you have to let go.

Besides all this, I have actual commitments that demand my attention. Like, a lot of my attention. I have projects, clients, errands, bills... adult things to take care of. These are the things I should be thinking about. I need to get in the right headspace to go to work (from my computer in the spare room) after this.

These intense responsibilities and familial distress weigh on me, but I also remind myself that I don't have to have it all figured out today.

While I don't want to put things off and never see to them, at this moment, I have to catch up. Buckle down. I have three podcast episodes from two different clients to start on, plus throwing some finishing touches on one I finished yesterday. I have to send invoices and check where I am at for the week. Thinking about all of this stresses me out, because I am close to the deadline with all of it, and each day that passes is another that I don't make money.

Since setting a definite goal of $300 per week income, from any source, I keep a close eye on my finances day to day. It is a challenge for me - my brain has been busy. Surprisingly, it has also been happy. Not once have I actually reached my goal, but I know exactly what I do have coming in, and writing each transaction down makes me feel accomplished.

Another thing I am incredibly happy about is that, for the most part, I direct my energy towards things that I love. Even when I am editing audio and I reaaaaaally don't want to be, the content is at least interesting because I only work regularly with people that interest and inspire me. A quote comes to mind at the moment... I'll have to paraphrase it, 

"There will never be a job or an aspect of life that doesn't come with a big pile of shit. Even your dream job will come with tasks that you hate - or you learn to hate. You have to stick with something that is worth going through the pile of shit for. It's different for everyone." 

(I'm pretty sure I read it in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.)

Overall, the things I am working toward light me up inside. I am making art and helping people find pen pals with my stationery store, I am traveling and delivering gifts with my foreign food sale orders, I am learning more about business and sustainable crafting while I edit for some amazing podcasts, I am making my grandparent's lives better with my insane organizing. 

My grandma can see the floor again in her spare room. I turned it into the sewing room and displayed all of her mother's fabric on racks that lean against the wall, so she can see them and be inspired to create. This is one of the things I've undertaken to rearrange and reorganize the house to fit their needs. It all takes a lot of energy,  but the effects are worth it. Sentiment aside, the benefit of a clean and organized house that stimulates creativity is tenfold. It's an investment into a better future. And it's a good way to keep busy.

All of these things have a tendency to stress me out, even though I willingly choose to do them. Yet, they do bring me joy, even if its only when they're over.

So I guess where I'm getting with all this is that life is hard, but I'm alright.

*cue the Jo Dee Messina 

I'm signing off...

Hopefully,
Alison

I'm Sorry I Stopped Writing

    How to start these things? That's always the worst part.

    For a book-obsessed girl in her early 20s on her way to take the world by storm, I was ready at the keyboard and determined to see and learn everything. 

    That was 4 years ago. 

    I only wrote like I wanted for the first 3 months. After that, things got boring for a while, and then very stressful, and too confusing to make sense of, and then too conflicting to talk about, and then too shameful to admit. I wrote here and there, and things got a lot better. I made sense of them, I found my voice, I had the best times of my life and I discovered groundbreaking things, but some of them were mine. 

    And I didn't keep writing. Not steadily. I wrote on and off on the blog. I wrote on and off in my journal. I wrote on scraps of paper and taped them on my wall, I collected scraps of paper to glue to my journal so I would only have to write a few short lines next to it. This way, I'd be able to document everything and look back on it later, when I had time to write. Once I had time to breathe.

    But after 4 years of that, 3 countries lived in and 2 visits home and then 2 visits to the city that became second home, I felt like a million scattered pieces of paper. 

    Still, I had my keyboard, and I'd picked up a microphone along the way. I had started a podcast during one of my motivated periods and I spent more time making episodes, doing interviews, talking about the things on my mind and what I'd seen and learned while crawling over the bits of earth I'd traveled to.

    But again, I was confronted with my shameful parts. I was so scared to offend people and scared of being judged. Often, the cultures we grow up in are strict in their social rules and expectations, and those can feel restrictive when you've outgrown some of those beliefs and discovered freedom.

    My thoughts were usually confronting for others and controversial in nature. Although I tried to tell it from my honest point of view and remained open to factual corrections about it / respectable debate, people were angry. Besides, I'd been on the road for so long now, meeting new faces every 3 to 6 months, all of my strongest connections were online. Everyone I loved was in another time zone. There were many feels during that time.

    That was a few months ago. During the worst of it, I was at one of my best friend's mom's house in England, staying with her for a while- just because. I would cry on the phone to my boyfriend about the comments I received on a recent article or episode or Facebook Post; I spent a lot of time writing in my journal to try to make sense of things or just going for walks to think. 

    Karla looked out for me and told me her honest opinion over and over again, which is exactly what I find security in and what I needed at the time. After spending a few weeks with her on 2 different occasions, she had helped me turn my head around.

I have to say, I also hear Ru Paul's voice in the back of my head telling me to tell my story, make people laugh, don't try to polish or present yourself in a certain way to the world - just be yourself, be vulnerable, use your strengths in every challenge and attack it with your own personality, shamelessly promote yourself whenever you can, and don't take yourself too seriously.

Oh and one more person, who always tells me to keep writing. Thank you, Mrs. Labrousse, my 6th grade Language Arts teacher who is a Facebook friend. I love that for us.

Now I know that I can be myself, I don't have to be afraid of showing up exactly how I show up, I don't have to pretend to have the answers or want to have the answers. I can give my very best, have the most fun, do the most good where it feels right, and even keep some secrets to myself if I want. I know that no matter what people say about me, they do not know me. Not like I know myself. And I am not afraid.

I've recently relaunched the podcast, but the blog that came from all the way from the early days and had evolved into a branded, matching copy of the podcast I haven't touched yet. Until I received a comment on one of my photos online about how being myself had inspired a good friend of mine. He said that he still checks the blog and reads it, even though I haven't written in months or even regularly before then. What more did I need? The itch has been at me to write for publish. I always have ideas for books floating around in my head, but this week it's actually 4 mini-books, so I know I'm ready.

Hence, here I am.

Every time I stop writing I always say I'm sorry I did it. But there's no real need for regret right now, because it's something I can so easily remedy. Why lament that I didn't do more of something if I can just do more of it starting now?

Note to self: don't worry about the negative comments, they're not about you, and don't count every view like your self esteem depends on it.

Signing off,

Alison

Ep. 4 Crucial Conversations

What is a crucial conversation? A discussion with someone you don't agree with when the stakes are high, especially when emotions are involved... something we could all be better at and start practicing immediately. 

And guess what? Our Patreon is up! For only $4 a month you can join the WAM FAM, get a shout out on the show, and get access to exclusive content.

Let me know what you thought of this episode! Record a voice memo on your phone and contact me via instagram @wampod for a chance to get aired on the show.

Check out this episode!

How Can We Have a Better Social Media Experience?

We all know social media has drastically changed each and every one of our lives. If you look back even as recent as 10 years ago, the way we interacted socially was way different. Can I say better? It's not a secret. Most of us curse social media, but we still use it. Many of us have to take breaks from it because it can have such an affect on our emotional health. 

Why are we at such a conflict? Why do we hate it but still use it? In order to better understand this complicated mess, let's look at a few of the things social media has changed - and how we can create a better experience for ourselves going forward.

We don't see normal, natural bodies. We don't see mess ups, progress, or rough drafts.

    With more of us moving online for everyday interaction, coupled with our inability to share things that don't make us look really, really good, an entire part of real life is in danger of being forgotten. What normal looks like. Perfection is unattainable; when you don't allow yourself to be seen in your natural state, you are telling yourself and others that it's not okay to not be perfect. Share the blurry pictures! Let's see the first take. Let's see more of you enjoying yourself and feeling natural and fully expressed! Post it, even if it doesn't match your color theme, if it shows your lumpy stomach or if you have a pimple. This is life, baby. And when others post an unflattering pic, try not to pass judgement. This will help you allow yourself more freedom. Remember my last post about seeing yourself in others? Let's embrace ordinary.

We miss having the approval or validation of others.

    It's natural to need attention from others - self esteem comes from being needed and valued. If someone is lacking that, reaching out to others is a natural reaction. Often we are embarrassed at ourselves for looking for approval - and embarrassed for others. Don't be hard on yourself for needing love and affection. Give yourself more grace. And try not to judge others when they're looking for attention. Post more encouraging comments, cheer each other on, celebrate your friends' successes and don't be afraid to reach out when you crave the same.

Authenticity. 

We carefully craft our message, caption, photo or video, all with the likeability factor in mind.

    Although its tempting to tweak our posts to be a little more "likeable", especially when you're in need of approval or validation, give yourself a little more credit. Just how you show up is fine! Just how you look is perfect! Your sense of humor is on point! If you be your natural self more often, you'll attract people similar to you and you'll start to see more of yourself in the world, maybe you'll notice that you start to feel like you belong, like there's room for you. And by being your natural self, you might be that feeling of belonging for others.

Thinking before you speak.

We miss when words had consequences.

    A lot of people say things online that they'd never have the courage to say in real life. Shit, probably all of us do. Good or bad, there's a lot more social status risk when saying things to someone's face. What if they break up with you? What if you confess your love and they don't feel the same? What if you get hit? Fired? What if they don't agree? What if you cause a scene? There are so many unknowns in real life, but almost no consequences to typing a quick reply. After a while, we can get kind of used to that and we don't really think twice about it anymore. 

What does this mean for you? Well, for one thing, try not to take it personally. Another thing you can do is be very honest in your reply. Type what you feel. I don't mean in a way that attacks them, shames them or insults their character. Maybe something as simple as "That comment really hurt my feelings. Do you really think _____ about me?" Don't be afraid to post it publicly if they did, it might be the first time someone else sees that type of honest, authentic interaction online.

   *Story time* Yesterday, in my DMs, a close friend and I got into a heated conversation about politics. I felt like she was accusatory and aggressive, and she was hurting my feelings. So that's what I told her. After that, we went back and forth for a little while about the content of the post in a way that was much more manageable for me. Eventually it ended with "I can respect your opinion even though I hold a different one." I felt like that was much more productive than some of the other interactions I've had in the past, and I believe it's because I was honest and admitted that her words affected me.

We miss being heard.

Our voices can get lost in the crowd.

    Sadly, because there is so much information to sort through, it is easy to feel like your post, your photo, your opinion doesn't matter and isn't heard. It goes way down on the bottom of the timeline and you get no interaction. To battle this, it helps to find a smaller group where you can contribute to conversation that everyone is interested in. Social media apps themselves can't replace the feeling of community, but there are ways to find strong communities inside of these apps. You might have to do some digging to find the right group, you might have to make your own, you might have to clean up the list of who you're following and try to seek out new people with similar interests, but working to find a group that you can add something to can be really helpful in feeling like your presence online is valuable and in creating an enjoyable atmosphere for yourself.

So overall, what can we do?? We can be more ourselves. We can try to have more fun online, be silly! We can be more honest, whether that's lovely honesty or the harder to swallow kind. We can be more respectful. We can take less to heart. We can trust ourselves, share our story, encourage others, discover small businesses, support artists, stand up for what's right and gracefully and joyfully navigate these social waters that are today's world. 

Take heart! There's lots we can do to spread love. I'm looking forward to seeing more of you.

Xx, Alison

Accept Yourself and Your Human Nature, Seeing Yourself in Others

The graphics for this article all come from WAM's Share Your Story Collection. Each one is a declaration of one possible way to see the world. We all decide what our narrative will be. What's your story? Copy the picture at the very end of the article to make your own declaration or find a blank one on @wampod 's Instagram page. Share with us how you are interacting with the World Around You.

Do Not Apologize

I've always said that love is a great teacher. You learn so much when you care about someone who is affected by what you say, do and decide. You learn about yourself, mostly. About what you won't apologize for, what you're good at, what you're not so good at, what you lack and what you bring to the table. Which parts you are proud of. Which parts make you, you.

I'm reminded of that tonight as I struggle to tell my boyfriend that I'll need some alone time this weekend. I don't know why this is a struggle for me. I envy those who just say what they need and are not afraid of the space they take up. Don't get me wrong, I am like, half-that. But the other half hides. And sugarcoats... pussy-foots... 

I can be a beat-around-the-bush-er. 

But the good thing about having someone that's kind of in on this thing that is you, as you're moving forward and editing yourself, is that you can start to make a little more room and feel okay about it. At least, if your partner is supportive. If they're not, you're learning a different lesson. Probably: 

"How much shit do I put up with?" 

or "How many times do I forgive?" 

or "At what point am I a completely different person?" 

"How hard is love really supposed to be?" 

and maybe 

"What is it made of?"

It's all hard, isn't it? It feels that way. The work we do on ourselves is the toughest. And we really do come face to face with it when we're deeply involved with someone else.

My biggest enemy is the second-guesser. She always gives the other person the benefit of the doubt and takes responsibility for her part. 

But wait - that's good, right? 

I think it is, but the problem arises when I had a problem to begin with, and then later backed out and changed my mind about the problem, convincing myself the other person was right in their understanding. That I wouldn't know what is was like for them until I walked a mile in their shoes.

Or maybe I'd decide it just "wasn't a big deal" or isn't worth it anyway, and brush it off. 

And when I'm feeling especially naughty, I get on my high horse and ride it straight to bitterness boulevard, climb my tower and look down from my "I can't be bothered" balcony. 

But I read a book recently; it's called Crucial Conversations. The quick summary is that in our lives, we sometimes have to have crucial conversations - a moment when you have to speak to someone else with a different opinion, with high stakes and with emotional charge. How we handle these interactions largely affects, not surprisingly, the outcome. To make a long story very, very short and skip a lot of the other good parts, I read one thing that I've immediately put into action, and that is this: 

If you are not sorry, then do not apologize.

That doesn't mean that you can't be gentle, understanding, a good listener, and willing to work things out - you can! You can do all those things and stand your ground. And feel confident about how you handled it. 

Often we think it's either 1) put up with it or 2) put up a fight - we can't even consider a third option! There is one. There's almost always one. Take a stand for yourself.

DOOOOONNNNNNGGGG!!!

Alison, did you really put a gong with sound waves right there? Yes. You heard it, didn't you? That is the signal of someone just realizing an obvious truth. Me. Ok, it was me. I realized it.

But no really, it sounds good to me! Being unapologetic and kind? WALK that tightrope, mama! You can take on the world from there.

On Racism: American History with Nick Cheatham, Part 2

Following the racism series, we hear more from Nick Cheatham about America's more recent history of racial divide.
To support the show on patreon, visit www.patreon.com/wampod

Check out this episode!

On Racism: American History with Nick Cheatham, Part 1

In this episode, we dive into America's history, specifically pertaining to African American rights and movements. To better understand what's happening today, we have to first understand our past. We will look at events with a big-picture mindset, keeping in mind the sociology we covered in the last episode. Share this with a friend and continue having these important conversations!

Check out this episode!

Systemic Racism: Introduction to the Group Model

Let's take a look at current American issues from a sociological perspective. How can people be racist and believe they're actually in the right? Or on the flip side, why are people of color always getting these extra programs to help them out and they're still complaining? How come we can't even understand each other? These are just a couple of the questions I confront in this episode.
The WAM Pod on Insta: @wampod

Check out this episode!

My 5 Year Travel Bucket List

 As much as I talk about missing home and wanting to belong somewhere, I do really love to travel!!

Lately I’ve been watching Down to Earth with Zac Efron on Netflix and it’s got my adventurous spirit all in a tissy. It’s basically everything I want to accomplish in my blog and in my podcast - traveling to different places around the world to see how they’re Living, to learn from them, and to have fun along the way. 

Ahh, the dream. 

So I’ve been daydreaming about places to go next, not just for “adventure”, but for fulfillment. I want to add to the collective good wherever I am. So here’s my 5 year travel bucket list:

Volunteer in Puerto Rico for a few months

Visit European schools and learn about alternative education

Nanny a summer in Jersey in my old community

Spend Christmas + a few months with the fam

Take an RV road trip with my mom

Study ways to help farmers in my hometown harness alternative energy and use alternative waste disposal methods 

Learn more about Dutch builders / engineers developing land that enhances nature or works with it

develop my language learning company, bringing together adult students, linguist enthusiasts, and professionals alike to celebrate language and culture

Teach English to immigrants 

Visit countries with excellent prison reform systems

Learn to surf

Live in a tent

Go to where Lord of the Rings was filmed

A few months someplace peaceful and serene / in nature

Volunteer work in South America 

I think that’s quite enough to start with!

What are some of your travel bucket list items?

Comment below 😊 

Until next time,

Xx Alison

How I Visit Art Galleries from Anywhere in the World

    One thing that I love to do when I’m exploring a city is go to a few art galleries. I love to see local and living artist’s work, especially when it depicts the city I'm in or the surrounding landscape from the artist's point of view.

Me at an art gallery in New York last year.

Me at an art gallery in Amsterdam.

One of my favorite people ever in an art gallery in New York.

    So far my favorite city for art, whether in a gallery or on a building, is Philly.

Somewhere in South Philly.

And in Center City Philadelphia, featuring the lovely and elusive Kyan.

When I lived in a hostel in Philadelphia, I was right in the Art District, where loads of local art galleries could be found with amazing and interesting art inside. I found a few that were my favorites and would pop in every few weeks, checking out the current show and lingering on the pieces I found interesting. How did the artist do that? With what medium? What did they draw first? When did they add this detail? 

One art piece seen at Arch Street Arts.

    I miss going to my favorite galleries. One in particular is called Arch Enemy Arts (you can find them here), and it was always filled with oddities - off beat art painted on plaques or carved out of clay. Ribcages and blooming flowers. Tiny details and intricate designs.

    Another place I'd love to go art gallery visiting again is the Chelsea area of NYC, pictured earlier (and again below).

    Corona sure puts a damper on that. Also, not having a private jet... Gotta get on that.

    But one thing I’ve found lately that gives me just as much enjoyment is flipping through design magazines online, like this one called frrrresh.

     If you read my blog series a couple weeks ago, you know I was glamping in South Holland, and I used and abused the fact that I had WiFi, spending a lot of time on my phone, looking at cool art from my perch in the hammock. (I don’t feel bad about it.)

    

    I use the issuu app to find all kinds of publications: newspapers, magazines, reports, studies, and even textbooks. And a while ago I came across one magazine in particular that reminded me of that odd art gallery in Philly. I finally had the free time to flip through them, and I so enjoyed it. I’ll post some of my favorites below!

Note: To separate the artists, I've put a kiss in between each person's work. 👄 I am crediting all artists using the text provided in the magazine. If this is your art and you have a problem with it being published here, please email me at alimaglaughlin at gmail.com. Links to each artist's website is provided where possible.

https://matthew-davis-tzlg.format.com/

👄

whoisnemos.com

👄

artbythorhauge.blogspot.com

👄

paulabonet.com

👄

martamontiero.com

👄

momoko-harada.com

        I don't think I'll get that private jet anytime soon... I'd feel too guilty about the environmental impact, anyway... but until then, I'm going to tickle my fancy with visual arts magazines! There are several issues of frrresh I haven't even opened yet. But when I finish with those, I'll need some new material. 

     Any ideas? If you've got magazines to share, post them in the comments below!

   

    If you liked this post, consider sharing with friends and followers. It really helps me and the artists out. *wink*

Hope you enjoyed!

Xx Alison

Black Lives Matter is not an issue of politics, but one of humanity.

Time and time again since the Black Lives Matter movement started gaining traction, I've seen people take up metaphorical arms on the internet. As for me, I've been fighting with family on Facebook since I started vocalizing my support of the movement. I've seen others do the same - calling out friends and family members in righteous anger. 

We are all emotionally charged about this. We all feel like we are definitely in the right. But I keep seeing the conversation go way off track. Too many times, politics are brought into it. I'm thinking of a specific recent post of mine. 

I shared a short comic strip that illustrated the dichotomy of those who demanded justice for Cannon Blake Hinnants, a five-year-old boy who was shot in his front yard a few weeks ago, killing the innocent child. The kid's death is indeed a terrible tragedy, but the local police department treated it as such. They utilized all of their resources (their own words) to locate and arrest the main suspect, within 24 hours even, but nonetheless, conservative Americans launched a campaign for justice using Cannon Blake as its face, boldly saying that the media was intentionally not covering his death while unnecessarily over-covering the death of George Floyd.

Disclaimer: I looked for the original of this comic posted by poorlydrawnlines.com, but could not find it. It may be that someone edited the original comic with the above text.

The comic strip illustrates a man demanding justice for the child's murder, another man holding up a file and stating that justice had already been found, to which the first man set fire and said, "I don't want justice. I want black people to shut up about being murdered by police."

This, of course, spurred lots of heated conversation in the comment section. I understand that everyone is worked up right now. We all feel the need to defend our opinions to the death because it could mean life or death for some of us - or at the very least, an undecided future (ahem, scary!). But I was unpleasantly unsurprised to see the comments turn political. I didn't think Trump or Biden or any politician had anything to do with this. But there they were, several memes slandering Joe Biden stacked on top of each other, and plenty of other off-topic stuff besides.

I hate this stuff. It's not about democratic or republican views. At all! It's not about who you vote for, but what your morals are, how the situations differed from each other, how they are the same, what the community's involvement in each was. Are there other occurrences of this type of behavior? Are there ways we could make a difference so we have less of it in the future? How were the parties involved treated? Does that line up with our morals? What could we do about it?

If we had these conversations instead, we would probably find that we have a lot more in common. Mainly the common goal: to stop unnecessary killing of innocent lives. I think we are all on board there. But it's hard to stop being mad. Sometimes we'd rather die on that hill.

I have been guilty of letting my emotions get the better of me, but I'm going to try harder to keep the conversations geared toward productive conversation. Hopefully, those family members who are disappointed in me and think that I must be ill informed or naive will stick around and participate in the conversation, too.

But to make a difference at all, I may need some help. Who else is willing to stay on topic with me?

If that's you, consider sharing this post or adding a comment below.

Till next time,

Xx Alison

The Pressures of Behaving in Society

Where has the podcast been??? Well I'm back to talk about the past few months and my struggle to "doe normaal". I've not been able to speak up, and it's affected me in a lot of ways. I wonder... is it really better to stay in the lines, to behave? Screw that! Let's discuss.

 

Thank you PrinzzAli for the intro and outro music. Check him out on all music streaming platforms.

Check out this episode!

Camping in Europe - Trailer House Paradise

Over a week ago now, I wrote my first post about camping in Europe, a far different experience than the camping that I'm accustomed to in America. One stark difference is all of the facilities you can find at a European "campground", which is more of a trailer park, an RV park and a summer camp all rolled into one. To see more of the grounds and facilities, check out my earlier posts.

Now, in the U.S. we definitely don't have other folks living on the campground, unless you count the park ranger, but that's just one. Here, they have entire neighborhoods on the grounds, and some of the trailer houses look ripe for Goldilock's pickin'... I want to sneak in and pretend they're mine for a while.

I promised you a trailer park Homes and Gardens tour, and I'm delivering, baby. As you're looking through the photos below, decide which one you'd like to spend a stolen evening in. (There will be a test at the end.)

To start, let's take a stroll down this road.

I love this photo of the trailer called Eekhoorn, pronounced a lot like Acorn in English, but with an added "H" sound... ache-horn. It means squirrel.

I don't know about you but I could definitely sit here for a while... on the outdoor furniture behind this wall, cold drink in my hand, nose in a book, listening to the beads in the doorway move in the breeze.

I know Goldilocks would be tempted by this charming gate and vine arch. What wonders lay beyond?

Ahh, now this one is fit for a Queen.

This spot looks simple and cozy. If I were Goldilocks, I'd sit here with my Goldilover,
hand in hand and happy.

Well, that concludes our virtual tour!

I lied about the test.

But I do want to know... Where would you hide away?

Until next time,

Xx Alison