Dispatches

In true Lisbon fall fashion, this is the season where one cannot leave the house without an umbrella, regardless of how sunny it may be. Yesterday I got a hair cut and by the time I was back in the office (11 minutes by bike) I had the lovely look of a drowned cat.

Anyway, final countdown now! 🛫🎄🛫🏖️

This week

... I'm focusing on client work, still, getting things done before Christmas. Got sick with a cold last week and that did not help my productivity.

… I’ll send out the last Nuggets of the year. Got a few interesting tidbits to share!

... I'm reading Katabasis, R.F. Kuang's latest, at last! Two graduate students decides to pop down to Hell and rescue their professor. I have a soft spot for dark academia.

... I'm officially starting my first volunteer assignment! I've been wanting to do something for a long time, but it's been tricky finding something that works remote. This opportunity showed up in November and made perfect sense. I'm nervous, but excited.

... I'm looking forward to being on the road again. Packing has started!

Last week

... I finished reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. I like the author, but this just wasn't for me. When following multiple characters I often like the characters are fabricated for the story more they are real people. Maybe it's a me thing.

... I co-hosted the last Deep Talk Writing meetup of the year. It's been so much fun to be able to create the event we wished existed.

... I went for a last ocean cold plunge of the year. Which may have contributed to the next point.

... I got sick with a cold and had to prioritize rest. But managed to hang out at our Kompis Christmas Drinks for a bit, before heading home to the couch and Netflix.

... I finally got my new AirPods. I lost my right Airpod two months ago and thought it a good opportunity to detox from podcast listening. One month later I ordered new ones, but they never arrived. Ordered replacement, which got delayed and delayed, and finally, on Saturday, I got sanity restored in my life.

On the 20th we leave for Christmas holidays and a week later, onwards for tropical weather! I've mentioned this before, but my sweet spot of time being home is about three months. Now it's been over four and all I can think about is riding my scooter up and down the familiar roads, swimming in the warm ocean and waking up to the sound of birds. Ugh, I can't wait.

This week

... I'm focusing on client work, getting things done before Christmas.

... I'm reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. I really enjoyed Cleopatra & Frankenstein by the same author, but so far, I'm not convinced by this one. I'm reminded of another book that covered sisters, and it seems like writers often try a too hard to distinguish them from each other, creating a bit of a caricature? Most sibling groups I know have quite a bit in common with each other too. Not to forget that they are all epically successful, of course. But let's see where it goes!

... I'm looking forward to a few things!

• Co-hosting another Deep Talk Writing meetup at Kompis. This will be our third edition and it's so much fun nerding out about writing with other writers.
• Organizing Kompis Christmas Party, if enough people can make it.
• Probably start packing for our annual winter escape, because why not?

Last week

... I tried pottery for the first time! I will not be quitting my day job, but had a great time. We went to Disco Wheel, which is a whole experience and includes delicious wine (which may or may not assist in your creation). Worth checking out if you're in Lisbon!

... I finished Stacken by Annika Norlin and it was a fun read! Can't wait to have a discussion about it.

... I got back to work on my essay about masculine and feminine energies. It's taking shape, slowly. Love that everyone has an opinion on this topic when I bring it up.

... I went to the adventure park and did all the things! Including the bungyjump swing thing that was terrifying.

... Spotify Wrapped was released and to nobody's surprise, Sabrina Carpenter was my main obsession. Team Sabrina.

Happy Monday everyone, let's get to work!

I'm blasting Christmas music from 7.30 and yesterday I baked my first[^ But certainly not the last.] saffron cake of the season. Got no photos, but trust me, it was delicious. Now, please invite me to dinners so I have an excuse to bake more.

This week I'm

... focusing on finishing and publish my new website, which shows a new direction I'm taking business wise. Or, not so much new actually, but a refinement of what I do best. Feeling more enthusiastic about work than I have in a long time.

... reading Stacken by Annika Norlin, for my Swedish bookclub (aka excuse to catch up with my friends). More than halfway through and completely obsessed.

... looking forward to a few things!

• Trying pottery for the first time on Tuesday.
• Biweekly non-fiction writing meetup on Wednesday.
• Adventure park for a friends birthday this weekend.

Last week

... I started taking supplements for iron and B12 (doctors order), and my energy levels went from sloth to squirrel in a hurry.

... I had the final part of onboarding for a volunteer assignment I signed up for. Nervous, but really looking forward to it!

... I finished All the Way to the River, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I really enjoyed it, insightful about addiction and it got me out of the reading slump I've been in for weeks.

... went to a Christmas market to stock up on the best scented candles (seriously, the scent is amazing).

Alright, let's get this week started!

The weeks before vacation always end up being the most intense. Everything needs be done yesterday and nothing can wait until tomorrow, but at one point I had blocked every client calendar, set my out of office replies, and changed my Slack status to a palm tree, the universal symbol for relaxation. Ciao, I'm going to Italy.

And here I am, at Lake Garda. Where the buzzing of cicadas follow you everywhere you go. A thunderstorm can roll over the lake in minutes, and in the time it takes you to finish an espresso, it's sunny again.

Four days here and I've hit my pasta/pizza/cheese limit. Fortunately I have no such limit when it comes to pistachio gelato. I'll have two a day, thank you very much.

Yesterday we put our carb reserve to good use and went for a hike on Monte Baldo. Perfect warm up to test our gear for next week, when we'll be out for five days, going hut to hut in Austria. Vacation diaries to be continued!

Not sure where on earth March went, but it sure was fast. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I came home to Lisbon a week ago, after two blissful months in Thailand. Koh Phangan is full of spirituality in a way that doesn't always resonate with me, but the beautiful thing is that you can set your own intentions, make your own adventure. Mine was to be creative and focus on new clients. It went pretty well: I published a few blog posts here I'm quite happy with, and a bunch of newsletters over at Between Deadlines. I also started working with two new clients I'm really excited about.

Oh, and I also turned 39, celebrated with my favorite little commune group, stubbed my big toe so bad I could barely walk for a week, ate all the delicious breakfasts, enjoyed a few gorgeous sunsets, and treated myself to a facial which made my skin glow for a day before I sabotaged it by traveling for 36 hours straight back to Europe. Oh, well.

Here's a photo dump.

Being home is beautiful too, though. When I'm walking the same old cobblestone streets I've walked a thousand times here I notice I feel genuine happiness again. 2023 was a rough year, and while it started turning around end of 2024, it was still an uphill battle. Now, I feel recharged on every level. Ready to go, create, work.

Let's go 2025!

This morning I woke up with an overwhelming urge to fiddle with this blog. I've had the same theme for three years and frankly, it was time for a little update in both design and functionality.

One thing I've been craving is a space for brief posts, sort of the things I used to post on Twitter. A bit like Maggie Appleton does with Smidgeons, but more casual/personal. Hence; dispatches!

The past month I've been focusing on my new newsletter, Between Deadlines, which is more of a Linkedin-vibe about project management. It feels a bit like I've prepared my home for spring and it's time to organise some parties here!

(And by party I mean blog posts, but I'm sure you got that.)

My AirPods are set to transparency mode, so I can hear the birds through my latest music obsession. Rainy season was supposed to end in November, but somebody did not get the memo and it's been all drama and no chill for days. But this morning there are no ominous clouds in sight.

My porch wraps around half of the petite bungalow I'm staying in. It's on stilts, painted in an intense blue color I somehow don't mind. Every morning I walk to Indigo Coffee to pick up a cold brew, and for a few hours I sit on a meditation cushion with my laptop placed on a bright green stool in front of me. Sipping my coffee, looking at birds, writing, working.

It's 31 degrees in March and I'm not hating it.

This is a welcome change from last year. At that time I was fed up with traveling and all I wanted was to be wrapped in a blanket on my couch at home, and never see an airport again. I was in Lisbon for more than ten months 2024, the longest I've stayed in one place since 2014.

But, by December the familiar sense of restlessness begun to brew. Like being hangry, but instead of eating a Snickers I needed to wake up to a different view in the morning. And now, I feel satisfied. Driving around on my scooter to new coffee shops and hidden spots to work from. Living out of a suitcase is calming to my nervous system. It appears my traveling days are not quite behind me. Who knows if they ever will be.

I'm a routine junkie at heart and maybe that's why I crave switching it up more than most people do. If I don't relocate every once in a while, my tracks of habit run so deep it buries me in the ground, and my creativity with it.

Anyway. I'm grateful for being able to live this weird little life. Rain or not.

The Status Report 📋

... reading Rejection, by Tony Tulathimutte. My reading year has kicked off strong and I'm just finishing a collection of interconnected short stories about romantic rejection with some of the most well-crafted non-likable characters I've read. It's somehow repulsive and delicious? Pls read it so we can have a book club about it.

... listening to Sofi Tukker, because I crave sassy female energy that has nothing to do with spirituality.

... working on wrapping up projects for a client, it's been a hectic week. Also working on the newsletter I started about project management, Between Deadlines, which is really fun to experiment with.

... thinking about my conflict with spirituality and certain beliefs in this area. Like the concept of "masculine and feminine energy", where some people argue it's biological nature for women to follow and men to lead – excuse me while I'm trying to stop my brain from exploding. It's also tying into pseudoscience and I'm trying to sort out my thoughts on it. Will likely become an essay series here.

... writing longer posts that will take a while to be ready for publishing.

... watching the birds bopping around the trees here and also Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix, highly entertaining about the wellness grifting industry. Maintenance Phase did an episode about the real Belle Gibson, if you want to dive deeper.

... practicing some calisthenics to keep my strength up while I'm here, but also: my aerial teacher started sharing flexibility classes on Youtube and they are legit so good.

... enjoying every sip of my morning cold brew.

... looking forward to having almost two more weeks in this exact spot. 😌