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HOSPEDARIA TAVIRA

Hospedaria is the latest hotel by Rui Liberato de Sousa and his partner. In a former post office, bar and dancing on a triangular shaped piece of land they’ve created a tranquil place to stay.

  Outdoor shower

Together with Atelier Rua they worked on just a few rooms, a spacious communal space, a restaurant, a swimming pool and an honesty bar. The rooms have more space than the ones at Pensao Agricola. They differ in size and interior design, some have an outdoor shower, most of them have an outdoor terrace surrounded by lots of plants.

  Surroundings

In the restaurant of Hospedaria they prepare typical Portuguese dishes and serve Portuguese wine. You can spend a few hours in the sun next to the swimming pool or sit down on their comfy sofa inside the house to read a book. But it’s the surroundings that really matter. Rui has lots of recommendations. Go horseback riding during sunset at natural park Ria Formosa, visit picturesque village Cacela Velha or one of the most beautiful beaches of the Algarve called Fabrica.

  Check out: www.hospedaria.com.pt

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NEW & HOT: OCTOBER 2021

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THE MODERNIST FARO

3 reasons to go there:

  1.If you like to have an architectural experience in the heart of the Algarve.

  2.If you like to stay in a 70s inspired apartment designed by Studio Par.

  3.If you like to travel responsibly: The Modernist reduces the CO2 footprint and enable and promote the local economy.

  Check out: www.themodernist.pt

  (Images via the The Modernist)

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CASA NA TERRA ALENTEJO

  Casa na Terra is the latest house of Silent Living designed by studio Aires Mateus. And it won Arch Daily’s Building of the Year 2020.

  Concrete architectural gem

The building is almost invisible from the street. There’s only a small concrete pathway that brings you a few meters down at the entrance of the house. There are three bedrooms and from the kitchen and the living room you can enter the patio. A striking concrete architectural gem with a skylight, but most of all a 360-degrees view over the surrounding nature. Just imagine the sunset sky, the stars at night and the sunrise in the morning.

  Star-watching

Casa na Terra is located in Monsaraz, deep in the Alentejo region, close to the Spanish border. From there you can visit the mountain top village of Monsaraz, the surrounding lake or have lunch or dinner at Sao Lourenco do Barrocal. As the sky here is truly dark, you’ll see many stars at night. You can just sit outside the house or visit the nearby Observatory to learn more about the constellations.

  Check out: www.silentliving.pt

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SAO LOURENCO DO BARROCAL ALENTEJO

In the heart of the Alentejo region you’ll find Sao Lourenco do Barrocal. A vineyard turned into a hotel and restaurant with lots of interesting extra’s. Let’s explore!

  Heritage

Sao Lourenco do Barrocal is in the same family for 200 years already when one visionary mind decided to turn the enormous plot of land into a small farming village. 50 families lived there from the wine, grain and vegetables they made on the land. There was a school, even a bullring, and many families lived there happily. A few years ago, José António Uva, who is the eight generation of the family, decided to turn the property into a hotel and restaurant, without losing its interesting heritage.

  Small farming village

What he did was to use the idea of the small farming village to create not only a hotel and restaurant on this vineyard, but to let the guests get an idea they take part of it too. They can help with the harvest of the grapes for the winemaking, they can go on a sunset horseback riding tour or watch the stars in the former bee-keeping arena. In the restaurant they use as many ingredients coming from the on-site farm. And in the shop, you can buy the wines or olive oils.

  Architecture

The architecture and interior of the hotel is done by Pritzker Prize winner Souto de Moura. There are 22 rooms, 2 suites and 16 cottages for families. There’s a serene spa, and there are swimming pools on a huge plot of land surrounded by barrocais, ancient stones and one of the monumental features of this region. The resort is kids-friendly. They are probably happy with a swimming pool already, but here they can also grow their own vegetables or go on a treasure hunt.

  Check out: www.barrocal.pt

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THE ADDRESSES CASA UM ALGARVE

The Addresses is a collection of holiday houses with a focus on architecture and design. Casa Um is a secluded house made for friends or families who like to gather in the more than inviting living room, or around the swimming pool.

  former 19th century farmhouse

All the houses of The Addresses are special in terms of design, history and location. The idea is to create hidden houses where guests can recharge their batteries and are in proximity of nature. Casa Um used to be a 19th century farm house, sleeps 8 and stands out because their retake on Portuguese architecture. Atelier Rua, also known for Pensao Agricola and Hospedaria, created two different levels. The communal areas are on the upper level while the bedrooms are on the lower level. Large windows look out on the surrounding nature.

  View from the shower

Atelier Rua worked closely together with the Belgian designers of Studio Stories. You probably notice some Belgian design items such as Bea Mombaers sofa for Serax or the Muller Van Severen cutting boards. Marble has a leading role too: not only in the kitchen, but mostly in the bathrooms who all have a view of the nature around the property. Special mention to Mario, the concierge, who welcomes you with a kind heart and has lots of recommendations for you to see in nearby Tavira and the rest of the Algarve with the eyes of a local.

  Check out: www.theaddresses.com

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THE ADDRESSES CASA TRES ALGARVE

The Addresses is a collection of holiday houses with a focus on architecture and design. Casa Três is located at the furthest eastern point of the Algarve, Vila Real de Santo Antonio.

  Silent retreat in Vila Real de Santo Antonio

All the houses of The Addresses are special in terms of design, history and location. The idea is to create hidden houses where guests can recharge their batteries and are in proximity of nature. Casa Três is special as the house is a silent retreat in the middle of a bustling town, but only a 15-minute bike ride brings you to a secluded beach as Praia de Santo Antonio.

  Portuguese/Belgian love affair

The design and architecture of the house is a Portuguese/Belgian love affair. Atelier Rua, known for their work of Pensao Agricola and Hospedaria, did the architecture. And Gent-based Studio Stories make sure you’ll feel at home in between the beautiful furniture such as the Puffy Lounge chair of Faye Toogood for Hem.

  Surroundings

Casa Três has three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, a patio with swimming pool and a rooftop for late night drinks. The perfect place to unwind, although you’ll always have a local Portuguese restaurant around the corner for some freshly caught seafood. Other interesting places to go to are Spain on the other side of the river, the Grand Beach Club for a sunset drink or to one of the most beautiful beaches of the world (Fabrica near Cacela Velha).

  Check out: www.theaddresses.com

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CASA NO TEMPO ALENTEJO

Casa no Tempo is one of the houses of Silent Living designed by studio Aires Mateus. The spacious house is located on a 580 hectares big farm with panoramic views of the surrounding nature.

Small town in the Alentejo

To get to the property is quite an adventure. The directions lead you to a small town in the Alentejo where Domingos is picking you up. You then follow his car for about 15-minutes over a dusty road over the farm site to the house. A white building with four spacious suites, a living room, fire place, kitchen and walk-in showers with a view over the surrounding nature. Where you’ll also find the 400sq-meter infinity pool.

  Manuel Aires Mateus

Silent Living’s founder Joao Rodrigues works with his good friend and well-known Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus for the renovation of all his houses. From the renovation of two fishermen’s huts in Comporta to an 18th-century townhouse in Lisbon. Casa no Tempo is extra special as the house was in their family for a long time and it was their grandfather’s wish to look after it for the next generation.

  Large windows looking out over nature

Guests will be amazed by the architecture of the place. Although it may look like a typical Alentejo farm house the architect created large windows that look out onto the mesmerizing nature wherever you are. The clay blocks on the floor were locally sourced and are heated in winter. And the kitchen really stands out due to the marble construction, but also as this may be the kitchen with the best view of the country.

  Surrounding nature

The mission of Silent Living is to create timeless properties with a strong local approach in design and architecture and a leading role for the surrounding nature. When I woke up at Casa no Tempo I saw the most magical sunrise ever. I’ve sat down to take it all in. My skin gradually felt warmer, first I heard the cows moaning, then I heard the birds singing. As far as I could see there was nature. And it gave me a strong connection to all there is. A true remarkable experience!

  Check out: www.silentliving.pt

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MOONBACK ROTTERDAM

New hotel platform Moonback is as transparent and fair as possible when it comes to booking a hotel. You won’t see blinking ‘Hurry up! There’s only 1 room left’ buttons, but a pleasantly designed site where you can book a hotel at your own pace. Moonback shows you where your money is going (hint: most of it goes to the hotel itself, compared to other booking sites) and if you have any questions, the hotel itself will help you out.

  Antwerp

Moonback launched the site in Antwerp where Hotel Pilar is one of the hotels you can book. And more recently they’ve added Rotterdam to the site with Petite Passport favorite Supernova Hotel among others. Slowly they will also introduce other cities to their platform. So keep an eye on their site or their Instagram.

  Rotterdam

To celebrate the launch of Rotterdam Moonback organized a tour through the city where we stopped at Kino, the cinema without popcorn, at the Kop van Zuid with Hotel New York, at the roof terrace of Room Mate Bruno and at Restaurant Heroine for a delicious dinner.

  Check out: www.moonback.com

    The tour started at Rotterdam Central Station

    First stop was Kino, the cinema without popcorn but with a restaurant and an independent selection of movies

    On our way to the Watertaxi in Veerhaven where we passed Rotterdam latest prestigious housing project (Zalm Haven).

    View of the Kop van Zuid with Hotel New York, one of the hotels you can book via Moonback

    Margreeth Olsthoorn on the Kop van Zuid 

    The view from the rooftop of Room Mate Bruno, one of the hotels you can book via Moonback

    Dinner at Heroine in Rotterdam

    A stay at Supernova Hotel, one of the hotels you can book via Moonback 

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DTLA PROPER HOTEL LOS ANGELES

3 reasons to go there:

  1.If you like to stay in one of interior designer Kelly Wearstler’s latest hotel projects.

  2.If you like to book a unique suite experience. One of their suites has a pool in the living room, another one fashioned from a vintage basketball court.

  3.If you like to visit one of their three restaurants. Cara Cara is the panoramic rooftop restaurant, Caldo Verde is the signature ground floor restaurant run by Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne and Dalia is the speakeasy bar.

  Check out: www.properhotel.com

  (Also check out the Santa Monica Proper Hotel if you like to extend your stay in Los Angeles)

  (Images via their site)

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NORMANN COPENHAGEN

3 reasons to go there:

  1.If you like to visit Normann Copenhagen’s brand new headquarters in a former printing house.

  2.If you like to check out their latest collection.

  3.If you like to explore the center of the city. Normann Copenhagen is located in a side street of shopping street Stroget.

  Check out: www.normann-copenhagen.com

  (Images via Normann Copenhagen)

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SOHO HOUSE PARIS

3 reasons to go there:

  1.If you like to check out the first Soho House in Paris (and you’re a Soho House member).

  2.If you like to stay in 19th century apartment building that was once home to the family of artist Jean Cocteau.

  3.If you like to explore former red-light district Pigalle.

  Check out: www.sohohouse.com

  (Images via their site) 

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RUSH RUSH CAFE ANTWERP

Coffee fanatics head to the Zurenborg district to order an espresso at Rush Rush Café. On Summer days you can also sit on the terrace.

  Coffee and small bites

The building itself it already worth a picture on this warm Summer day when everyone wants to sit on the terrace. It’s still quiet in the morning, but at Rush Rush Café the coffee machine is already running and the kitchen is busy preparing lunch. It’s all about the high quality coffee here, but people also come back for the almond rice porridge. Or the Jerk Chicken Sandwich for anyone who likes something savory. And then they also have tasty cakes on the menu. The interior stands out because of the mix of the classic elements together with the green speckled coffee bar. A true recommendation.

  Check out: www.rushrush.be

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FEST ROTTERDAM

Last Friday Fest Rotterdam opened the doors of the fifth Fest store in Rotterdam. In what once was a chocolaterie, you can now find affordable design items. From a candle to a sofa.

  Success story

Femke Furnee, the founder of Fest, started her label in 2013 when she felt the urge to create design items without a heavy price tag. The few items she had by then turned out to be a big success and in 2016 she opened her first store on the Van Woustraat in Amsterdam. Five years later, the second store opened in Amsterdam, and the first ones in Utrecht, Antwerp and, since last week, in Rotterdam.

  Design

This time they also worked together with Pepijn Smit of S-P-A-C-E projects for the interior of the store. Naturally in line with the characteristic Fest style, but with a modernist edge. The cabinet with home accessories has a black and white color palette, there is a funky metallic counter and on the first floor the red neon lights stand out. The first floor was converted into an apartment where you can get some interior advise with a typical Rotterdam view.

  Check out: www.festamsterdam.com

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PLACIDO Y GRATA SEVILLE

3 reasons to go there:

  1.If you like to stay in a Nordic oasis in the heart of Seville.

  2.If you like to start your day with breakfast at their in-house cafe. Or end the day with a cocktail in the bar on their private terrace.

  3.If you like to discover more than just a good night of sleep. They also offer cooking workshops and live music for example.

  Check out: www.placidoygratahotel.com

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JOURNAL FRIESLAND

This weekend we went to Friesland to stay at this family-friendly forest home. Of course we also explored the surroundings with lots of nature, restaurants, vintage shopping and a new small design shop. Let’s see what caught my eye via the lens of my iPhone camera.

    Kids-friendly holiday home

    Oudemirdum 

    Lunch at Omke Jan in Woudsend

    New shop on the Midstrjitte (no name, but you can’t miss it)

    Coffee bar in Workum

    Oudemirdum

    Vintage shopping

    Vintage shopping

    A stay at my favorite guesthouse in The Netherlands

  Find more recommendations in The Netherlands Guide

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Connecting the Dots: My Chronic Pain Explained. (And a Long Overdue Update)

It’s been awhile, and though I do share tidbits more frequently on social media and via my newsletter, I wanted to do a full write up of what has been going on. I haven’t published a blog post since April, so this is a long overdue update. It shares some exciting professional news, but also the personal as it relates to my health.

This community has been a huge part of what has kept me afloat during the last few, difficult years. With my limited bandwidth due to the ongoing spinal cerebrospinal (CSF) leak, I hae had to cut out some of work I want to do. The blog was put on hiatus first, because updating on social media (primarily Instagram) is quicker and less labour intensive.

But while I have not been putting out new posts here, I have spent many hours updating the backend of the website, and working on a number of other things that I wanted to share. I’ve also seen specialists and learned more about my body, enough that that information sheds a very different light on the many years of chronic pain I endured prior to my CSF leak.

It has taken time to process the thread that now connects dots I never thought to connect, and I wanted to keep my community updated.

Personal Updates

A few updates about how I’m feeling, those connected dots, and where I’m living.

Moving to Gatineau, Quebec and Living Semi-Independently

Since May, I’ve been living in Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa. My brother lives in Ottawa, and my plan is to eventually move there as well. For now, though, Gatineau has been a lovely middle ground. I got to spend a summer wandering down to the water, seeing my family, and learning how to live mostly alone, with a leak.

Unfiltered / unedited photo from a sunset over the Ottawa River, taken from the Gatineau side.

My brother and his partner come over once a week to help with things I cannot do, like getting groceries for me, and doing my laundry and my vacuuming. I’m lucky that I have them to pick up the slack that my leak steals away, and I will never complain about getting more time with people I love so much.

At first, adjusting to the apartment felt really deflating. There were many things that I couldn’t reach, or use. The bed was too low and very painful to get in and out of. The freezer was a drawer under the fridge, so I couldn’t open it without making my CSF leak worse. The dishes and pots were too heavy for me to wash myself, or use comfortably. The list went on.

These are fixable problems, of course. I got a mattress pad, a tiny freezer, and new lightweight dishes and a small pot to use, thanks in no small part to the Amazon gift cards you got me for my birthday.

But the initial weeks here felt really deflating. As humans we are so good at adjusting. Sometimes too good, and we forget where we really are. The perspective I lost was that I am actually more disabled than I remembered, something that hit me hard when I moved into this apartment.

Like anything else, adjusting to this new life has its ups and downs, and eventually I got past the frustration and started strategizing ways to fix the problems I was facing. I also got a kitchen rolling cart, lots of canvas storage bins since everything has to sit on counters to be reachable for me, and a few other things that make the place more comfortable.

I was never sure if I’d even be able to live independently again. So while there is a lot I wish I could do, I am very grateful that I am able to have more autonomy after years of being so dependent on others for every little thing.

It’s 3.5 km to the Ottawa River and back, and I am beyond grateful that I am able to walk there when my body allows.

Spinal CSF Leak Status

As I mentioned, my spinal CSF leak is still active. But my body either seems to have produced more CSF, giving me some additional “uptime”, or it has gotten slightly better. I did have a whopper of a setback before my birthday in August, but ultimately I have come back to baseline again. That baseline now is better than it was last year at this time. I am getting around 5-6 hours of standing time a day, with many breaks to lie down in between.

The net of that uptime is that I am able to put some extra work in, and I have thus divvied up my hours toward some of the projects below. I’ve also been able to handle longer walks, which always helps lift the spirits.

A percentage of that uptime goes toward the necessities of life, since I’m living alone. Doing my own dishes, preparing my own food—it all takes time and effort, and pain. But it’s been wonderful, and peaceful, and like rediscovering myself again.

My life does remain very small, and an “exciting” day for me is when I go for a slightly longer walk than usual, or make some progress in other ways. Like last month, when I was able to go and get take-out food at a restaurant by myself, for the first time in many years. It’s not anywhere near the intensity of the life I used to lead, but it remains more than I thought I’d be able to claw back.

The little things are what I now celebrate. And I am lucky to have others here to celebrate with me.

Angry Mast Cells

I recently finished a very long mast cell activation disorder page. Well, for now it’s finished! I update it when new studies or research comes out.

Mast cells!

Many of you know how tough the last years have been in terms of reactivity to food, environments, and other strange new triggers—like sunlight. Some of these issues started after I got sick in 2013, but I actually had many years as a child where I would cough and itch while trying to sleep. This went away when I hit puberty, and remained mostly in repose until 2013. Then, when a lumbar puncture gave me a CSF leak, the sleeplessness, itchiness, tickling in my throat and more came back, in addition to many new issues. This culminated in my going into anaphylaxis on the table during my final round of blood patching.

Ever since, I’ve been struggling to stabilize and calm my immune system. I started learning about mast cells because other CSF leakers with complex cases also seemed to have this issue. It was a fellow leaker who suggested I look into it initially.

From the page I wrote:

Mast cells are “sentinels” of the immune system, a type of white blood cell that helps control the immune processes in the body. They are called resident immune cells because they reside in tissues and not in our bloodstream. And they reside in tissues all over the body, from the connective tissue, to the endothelial cells, to the epithelial cells, and even in the brain.

Over time, I kept a huge folder of notes, studies, and protocols and whittled down my own self-experimentation to something that has worked. I was able to self-refer to a specialist outside of Canada (thankfully my global travel insurance covered the lab work needed to test for it, but not the specialist appointments themselves), and travel to the United States to do the required testing.

Testing confirmed that I do, in fact, have this disorder. It’s a doozy, and it affects every aspect of my day-to-day life, in addition to the leak. I went from eating tons of street food and traveling the world, to going into anaphylaxis with certain smells, foods, or insect stings.

Given how many people have written me over the years with strange reactions, hives, thick sticky blood, bone pain, rashes, itching, headaches, and much more, I wanted to share the resources page because it goes into symptoms caused by each of the systems affected by mast cells when they are dysfunctional.

In addition, the prevalence of long-covid during the pandemic is relevant. Anecdotally, many of you wrote in to say that you’ve been diagnosed with a mast cell disorder following a COVID-19 infection. This matches some of the literature, but research is ongoing in this area. At least one mast cell specialist agrees. It’s also similar to what happened after I got sick in 2013.

Given those numbers, I wanted to make sure I had a resource page for those of you with long covid, too. It has felt so bewildering to manage and tackle this very erratic condition and I know how exhausting it can be to look at the scads of very contradictory information online and try to make sense of it.

While I am obviously not a medical doctor, nor do I play one on TV, I hope my research notes will help patients navigate this complicated disease.

Wonky Connective Tissue

Another mystery solved. It turns out that I also have a genetic condition that affects my connective tissue. It’s called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), of which there are different subtypes. According to the geneticist I saw, I have the hypermobile type (called hEDS), the subtype where the gene has not yet been found. Diagnosis is thus made based on clinical findings.

Way back when I started writing about this spinal tap and what happened thereafter, I said that the patients that had connective tissue problems were the ones who seemed to have the worst outcomes.

Sadly I am in that boat.

The geneticist confirmed that disparate issues I never would have thought to connect all lead back to my collagen synthesis. And that the worsening expression of this condition also explains the years of chronic pain since I got sick in 2013. (Apparently it’s also why I look so young, though the rest of my body feels like it’s 90 years old.)

My appointment with the geneticist was an overwhelming one. For starters, she was taken aback by the force of what I put my body through during my many years of travel. She told me she was surprised it took so long for everything to really collapse. She confirmed that in some of her patients, getting a bad virus can worsen the underlying collagen issues, which dovetails with the changes in my body and skin after I got sick in 2013.

But even before then, there were so many strange quirks that ran in parts of my family but did not seem to affect my friends. Those included how my ligaments easily tore, how I had delayed wound healing, how my skin was soft and velvety and thin, how flexible I was, the fact that local anesthetics don’t work for me—and more.

This last factor was also why my spinal tap was so excruciatingly painful.

Prior to the lumbar puncture, any concerns I raised to doctors about my rising pain levels or easily-obtained injuries were simply dismissed as “stress.” This minimization or ignoring of symptoms isn’t new, but is common. Says geneticist Dr. Clair Francomano,

“A lot of people hear that it’s all in their head, and that there is no physiologic basis for their symptoms,” Francomano said. “Particularly if they’re healthy-looking young women, unfortunately there is a tendency to dismiss their experience.”

Via STAT Magazine, “Everyday bumps injured her joints, but finding the reason took half a century“

For me, the diagnosis was validating. The stretchy skin and painful joints and so much more made sense. As does celiac disease and the mast cell issues. A 2021 case control report found that celiac disease was one of the most common gastrointestinal conditions associated with EDS, and the association was much stronger than in controls. And a different 2021 analysis found that in hospitalized patients with MCAS, 1 in 3 had a comorbid diagnosis of hEDS.

But it was also deflating. Connective tissue disorder patients seem to be the ones where the leak repairs don’t hold. In my years in the CSF leak groups, those of us with wonky tissues are the ones who blow out new leaks and/or have their old ones re-open frequently, even with surgery. This information is part of why I’ve been so conservative about pursuing further procedures.

The diagnosis also hit me hard for another reason: throughout my life, I joked that I was scrappy “even though my body hated me”. I’d say things like, “oh I was built from the defective parts of other people!” My ex used to say I was built with no warranties (yes, as lawyers we thought this was funny). But the truth was the opposite. Not knowing I was a canary in a coal mine, I put my body through so much. I pushed myself to the brink many times. I stubbornly kept traveling even when I got frequently sick. Even when I dealt with years of chronic pain. 

And throughout I was mad.

Mad at my body, mad at my exhaustion, mad that I couldn’t be “normal” like everyone else. 

Why did I always get hurt? Or sick? Or exhausted?

Now I have my answer. All those years when I was mad at my body, I should have been proud of it. Despite these underlying things I didn’t know, it allowed me to see the world intensely for a decade. 

Now I know. 

Business Updates

Some of the projects I’ve been working on in the months since I last published.

Sharing Resources about Pain on Patreon

I created the Patreon as a way to accept support from this community, but it is slowly morphing into a place where I also share resources for people who are suffering for chronic pain, or those who know someone who is in pain.

The sad reality is that most of us are in one of those two categories.

Over the years, I’ve received many questions about how I’ve coped with my own pain levels. Now, I’m getting questions about how someone can support a person in pain. So the Patreon’s AMAs are a place where I answer those questions, and add additional resources.

The posts I’ve shared there also go into how I made the apartment I’m in accessible, and what changes to the setup allowed me to handle living alone with the disabilities I now have. Most recently, as sometimes people feel bad about asking for help or accepting help, someone asked me to talk about how to talk to someone in pain to help them get support if they are stubborn. (I’ll be answering this in the next AMA).

From feedback so far, these have been really useful. I look forward to sharing more.

Also, I’m now a Patreon ambassador! I got an email from them in the summer, asking if I’d be interested in applying for an ambassadorship programme they were building. I’m one of a small group of creators (out of their 200,000 users) who were accepted.

It’s still quite new, and thus far it’s been lovely to meet some really interesting, super artistic people. The ambassadorship is unpaid, but features workshop—I’ve attended a few so far—and rewarding breakout rooms with others in the programme to share strategies and problems/successes. Other perks include 1:1 product support, social media features, fun swag for my Patreon community, as well as paid opportunities to participate in things like product focus groups or creative collaborations with their team.

I don’t know how they found me, and it’s intimidating because many of the other creators have upwards of 2000 Patrons, but I’m looking forward to participating! Given that it was all of you who asked me to start a Patreon, I have this community to thank!

If you’re interested in joining the Patreon community, you can do so here.

The Curious About Everything Newsletter

Despite all this excitement of moving to a new place, I’ve managed to keep my newsletter running. I’ve been playing around with format (and emojis, I can’t help myself), and primarily spotlighting a few important reads each month, along with more fun photo-essays and quirky pieces I find. I sometimes include personal updates, but the focus of the newsletter is on talented and/or important writing worth reading.

While it is on Substack, and many writers have moved to a paid newsletter model, I do not plan to do so. The Patreon is the primary support system for my income, alongside celiac cards and the food maps shop. The newsletter I plan to keep free.

Even if this site has been more dormant than I would like, I feel happy that CAE has gone out every month for the last 11 months.

You can sign up below if you are interested in receiving it.

A Big Piece about Mental Mindset (Coming Soon)

I had a post called How to Get Through Terrible Times that I had on this site, but I have temporarily taken it down as I planned to publish it separately. But it, and Instagram posts about resilience and reframing, caught the attention of an editor at a big outlet, who commissioned a piece about how I found joy again despite my limited life.

I’ve been working on this piece during the last while and it’s still in editing, but I am excited to share it here along with the republication of the Terrible Times piece.

Redesign of Legal Nomads:

You may have noticed that the site is a little different!

Arthur the raven, my mascot, is very prominent. Ravens are such incredibly curious birds, and I chose one as my site’s throughline in order to highlight that I still am too, albeit in a different way to before.

And, a new slogan: curious about everything. I am no longer telling stories through food, so that slogan had to go. The new logo reflects a divergence from my prior life of travel and food, but also the truth of who I always was: someone who wanted to learn as much as possible.

I started to feel really dissonant when I looked at the ‘old’ Legal Nomads, so this reflects more of where I am in life while still maintaining a similar structure.

I’ve added health and chronic pain to the main categories on the home page, too, since they are now a bigger part of what I write about.

I had really specific ideas of what I wanted, so as with the last redesign to the site I provided the assets (new logos, Arthur the Raven, etc.) to a web developer instead of hiring someone who did branding as well as development. The assets were inked by my artist-in-Legal-Nomadsness Ella F. Sanders. The redesign was done by a web developer who works for fellow travel blogger Mike’s web development company. While her work was paid, he donated his own time pro bono to help supervise the project.

Post Overhauls and Page Updates:

My morning routine is to get up, make coffee, and then do some work on the website until I need to take a break.

This has allowed me to slowly update pages and posts over time, and keep Legal Nomads more current.

Among them:

The gluten free guides are updated for 2021. They’re here.

The gluten free New York City guide has also been updated to reflect restaurant closures and some newcomers to the scene that are 100% gluten free.

I added a history of Belize section, and a “where is Belize located” section, because believe it or not that’s the most common search term for this post. It’s also got COVID-19 rules for visiting, if you were choosing to risk going now.

I updated the Vietnamese Egg Coffee Recipe with places to get it in North America, and new pieces and videos about the sweet treat.

I updated my piece on sleep issues and jet lag with information about how to sleep better, and new studies about chronomedicine and Covid-19.

I updated my Vipassana Meditation retreat experience with some new data about the dangers of those kinds of retreats, and how in some cases they can lead to a mental break.

The Alternative Careers for Lawyers page has been updated to include pandemic information, the rise of consultants in the legal field, and a more clear breakdown of how to go about shifting careers when you feel overwhelmed thinking about how to do so.

I will update my history of chili peppers post soon to include the 2021 Nobel Prize winning research on capsaicin and pain.

RSS-to-Email Changes: Feedburner is no more. RIP Feedburner.

Google has been threatening to cut RSS-to-email options for Feedburner for many years. The service was deprecated years ago, and this July they finally said that they were done supporting that option. So I had to figure out what service to use in order to get those people their emails. (Since I barely write here, I had lots of time to do this!)

For those of you who opted to receive Legal Nomads updates via email, you’ll see that this post looks different in your inbox. It’s being sent by a newer company called Follow.it. I moved over the Feedburner list to this new company after researching options for a replacement.

For those who are interested in signing up to get these posts via email, you can do so here, or via the sign up form below.

Given how infrequently I post here, the best option to receive a similar service as prior is to select “email updates” as I’ve highlighted in the image below:

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Get new Legal Nomads posts by email:

Yay! Subscribe.

If you were already subscribed to get Legal Nomads posts by email, you do not need to do anything. I wanted to explain why the emails look different, and let everyone know they can also sign up that way if they prefer.

That’s it for now!

While the pain I’m in never goes away, these projects and my newfound autonomy have helped make these last few months some of the best in years. I may not be mobile or traveling the world anymore, but I believe that I’m able to help more people than ever before.

Whether it’s helping navigate tough times, understanding pain and loss, or just giving more context to the illnesses of loved ones, this work feels useful.

And feeling useful goes a long way toward life satisfaction for me.

Thank you for allowing me to share this journey with you.

Until next time, Jodi

The post Connecting the Dots: My Chronic Pain Explained. (And a Long Overdue Update) appeared first on Legal Nomads.

Connecting the Dots: My Chronic Pain Explained. (And a Long Overdue Update) published first on https://takebreaktravel.tumblr.com/