Winter, to me, is the time for slowness, to hurry a little less and be a little more, to steal that extra minute under a warm fleece blanket and, above all else, the time for visiting cozy bookstores and whiling away the hours absorbed in a good story.
This is my first winter as a bookstore owner, and I've been excited and, naturally, nervous.
I had no idea what to expect last December, and the events that played out that month taught me in some very big ways to let go and know that unexpected things will always happen.
So settle in with a cup of tea and let me tell you about our winter adventures thus far.
It begins with a few projects I've wanted to do for a while.
I am proud to say that we finally dedicated a whole two bookcases to used books.
My lovely friend also painted this beautiful mural for us, and my husband Luke, built a shelf to display and sell crystals, a passion of his
We were both very excited to go into the holiday season, knowing that with snow come skiers, who also love to take breaks and spend them at a warm bookstore.
So we dedicated an entire weekend as a family to decorate and pretty up the bookstore so that it can look as beautiful as possible for the year's end.
But of course that also meant that we had to take time outside of our work to enjoy the snowfall as well.
And that was well worth it.
Muy bien.
Okay.
¿Estás listo?
Three, two, one, yay!
There is no magic that can quite compare to soft snow falling in a quiet world.
I'm glad I can share this special wonder with my son, who turned a year and a half last December.
Thank you.
I would love to tell you that our December went as planned, with no unexpected challenges, but life just doesn't work that way and it's up to us to accept that or fight it for the rest of our lives.
I have come to understand.
Because if any of you have been following the news in the Pacific Northwest, you would know that in early December we had historic flooding in the entire state harsh rainstorms of warm water that melted most of our snow and left us with an icy, muddy mess.
Rushing rivers full of murky water and thousands of people homeless.
It was a scary time and, to be honest, coupled with the stress of seeing friends having their houses flooded, wondering what this meant for our businesses.
Dealing with a big issue with my publisher I'll talk more about later.
And being a highly sensitive person experiencing a very big life change.
I found myself having anxiety attacks.
As you may know if you watched past videos, I recovered from a nervous breakdown several years ago.
And since then I've made incredible progress by learning to listen to my body and soul and manage overwhelm.
But no healing journey is meant to be perfect.
I still have anxiety at times, and this was a difficult month.
However, I do recognize how far I've come.
Just a few years ago, I would have never been able to manage all this at once, and I responded to this time of stress with a lot of journaling meditation, nature walks and, of course, some much needed arts and crafts projects to focus my mind on the present.
I spent my time outside of work making little decorations for my home, staying present to my emotions and knowing that they would soon pass.
If there is any word I would offer you as advice to get through any difficult time, it is to be gentle.
Be gentle towards yourself.
Sometimes there is nothing to resolve, nothing to do.
Sometimes you just need to be allowed to feel.
Despite everything going on, I actually got a very exciting package in the mail on the 13th and I couldn't wait to share it with you.
This is just about the most exciting day I've had this year.
So over three years ago, when I was going through a challenging time, I found resilience and hope and was able to recharge through a very important creative project that has culminated into The Woods and Wisp.
This is a book that I wrote for both children and adults, especially whimsical adults that hold a sense of childlike wonder in their heart and are also a fan of animals and nature and exploring topics that are deep and poignant about our soul and our place in the world, and finding hope in a very gentle way that isn't scary or sad, but instead uplifting, and so i really wanted to write a book like that, not only for myself, to help me through that difficult time working through a lot of anxiety and becoming a much more resilient and stronger person but i also wanted to write this book for my son, and there is a dedication for my son, Caspian.
Beware, there are grownups out there who will insist the world is a bleak and dark place.
They are right, but only a little.
There will be others who look upon that darkness and cry bitterly.
Then they tilt their heads up and notice the stars.
They face both pain and love with an open heart.
They're not afraid to jump in rain puddles and belly laugh.
They spread kindness and make the world a better place just by being their truest selves.
They find reasons to hope each day.
They have discovered the secret. the way things truly are.
It takes courage, but you have that in abundance.
With a love that extends to the stars and beyond, your mother.
P.S.
If you ever need me and I'm not there, go befriend a tree.
No doubt, I'll be close by.
The Woods and Wisp is about a rabbit who goes on an adventure to find her lost friend, who is going through a difficult time.
There are quite a few illustrations.
I filled the book with as many illustrations as I could.
The main character, that is Wisp.
So some of you may know that I wrote The Cottage Fairy Companion and that is a book I wrote quite a long time ago.
It feels like a lifetime ago now.
Something very unfortunate has recently happened in regards to that book.
The publishing company that published that book went bankrupt.
Unfortunately, it was a very disorganized process where there were a lot of people left out of the loop, including myself.
And I, along with many, many authors, were never paid for well over a year of book sales and their work.
It's been a really tragic, tragic experience.
I've had weeks to process, but initially I was very sad.
I even contacted a lawyer at one point to try to understand what my rights were, because it was very, very difficult to even get the files of my book back and I wasn't getting any clear communication from the company.
But then I discovered that lawyers can be 400 an hour to consult, and so I did realize that that probably wasn't a realistic avenue to go down.
So I ended up not doing that because who can afford that?
But I did have feelings of anger disappointment, frustration and mostly just heartbreak for other authors.
And it is frustrating to have a book still out there where I don't even know how to get access back to me.
I don't know, but I did want to explain this situation because I just wanted you to know that if you do purchase The Cottage Fairy Companion and you find it somewhere online, it is no longer unfortunately, affiliated with me, even though I am the author, because It has been somewhat helpful honestly, to have this bad news during such an important time as writing a new book.
And I learned from the past and this book is completely self-published.
I did not want to work with a company again, mostly because I just can't control the quality of the book itself and the quality of the experience.
And so I am older and wiser now, and I really wanted to share something that I was truly, truly proud of.
That was exactly how I wanted it to be.
I've always felt that there should be a genre for children and adults to share together grown-up children out there that really still enjoy whimsical and cozy reads and I wanted this book to feel very peaceful and cozy and sweet, and still thoughtful and meaningful.
So I hope that will be the case for you if you decide to purchase it.
Of course, there is no obligation to purchase it, but I do now have it available.
I do recommend you pre-order it through my Etsy shop.
It will take me a little bit longer to fulfill those orders.
I'm going to print on demand, so one to two months to have the book completely ready to go and at your door.
But I will be able to control the quality.
Make sure it's perfect.
I will be able to package it in some beautiful wrapping paper that I have found.
I'm going to have a little wax seal to seal it.
I will be sending so many well wishes and fairy dust with the order.
And if you order through my Etsy shop, you will receive a matching bookmark and two prints and quote cards of kind of my early sketches regarding the book.
It's not often that a creature stops what they're doing and looks up.
Clouds don't mean that the stars are not there.
So if you do wish to support this creative project, please feel free.
I will leave all the information down below.
I am so very, very excited about this.
This is, I think, the book I always truly wanted to write.
Thankfully, by mid-December the snow had started to return and we finally got a few ski trails open.
While it still hasn't been the best winter, we have dealt with it as best we could and ended the year with a very busy holiday, which was wonderful and so encouraging.
My internal turmoil healed and things started to feel peaceful once again, reminding me that all things shall indeed change pass.
We just need to give ourselves time.
Ow!
So it is a very cold winter morning.
Snow is covering the trees, the windows are frosty, I have a warm cup of tea and, once again, like I said in my last video, I don't believe any video related to a bookstore can be created without, at the very least, talking about books that at one point I have read.
And so I thought that I would share with you a rather non-exhaustive list of books that I read this year and how I felt about them.
Baby turned into a toddler this year and I have been running around constantly and often very overwhelmed and overstimulated, as many people, especially highly sensitive people, would be at this phase of parenthood.
And so I have not been tracking my reading.
I'm sure there's a lot of books that I have read that I can't either remember that I've read them because they were early in the year, or they're just leaving my mind at this moment.
One of my very favorite books that I've read this year is The Wheel of the Year by Jessica Rowe and Fiona Cook.
The reason I picked it up was definitely because Jessica Rowe is one of my favorite illustrators.
They make absolutely beautiful, beautiful art.
And this book goes through every season of the year inspired by kind of ancestral ideas in the Northern Hemisphere and just going through some really fun activities and things you can do to enjoy the season.
In a similar vein of interest,
I read To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donoghue.
His writing and poetry is just so beautiful.
I think that it doesn't matter what belief system you have, whether you are religious or spiritual or none of the above.
I believe you still can find beauty and value in the way that he sees the world and portrays it in words.
No mud, no lotus.
Of course, I am a huge fan of this author and I've read pretty much all his books.
I had, in some ways, a difficult year.
There were very stressful moments and this book was a quiet, gentle reminder of many things I've already read, but it was still special nonetheless.
I also read The Magician's Daughter by H.G.
Perry.
I read this one a while ago and I don't think I ever actually got to finish it, so I actually did this time.
H.G.
Perry is one of my favorite authors.
Everything he writes is just magical and his writing style is just fantastic.
It is a slow-paced book.
It feels very nostalgic, very atmospheric.
It's not like a really super crazy entrancing read.
There were times where I just really settled into the slowness and coziness of the story and it reminded me a little bit of The Mists of Avalon.
And The Mists of Avalon is one of my favorite books of all time.
How it expresses characters and the story of King Arthur is just so original and so incredible.
This book I still have not finished, but I have mostly finished it.
So I'm thinking I'm going to finish it by the end of December.
It is The Druids.
This is a deeply researched book and it can be very, very dry, very dry at some points.
But I did really want to learn about this group of people from the past.
I reread The House Witch this year because once again, when I was having a very stressful month midway through the year, I really needed something cozy and something that just reminded me of the truly important things in life.
Making food, taking care of your home, doing simple everyday acts of kindness and connecting with your pets.
And this book is the ultimate cozy read, I think.
It just feels...
So wonderful, and it was just so fun to read.
And so I picked up this book.
It's described as fantasy meets Sherlock Holmes, and so I just had to give it a go.
It was incredibly violent.
It was dark.
It was creepy, and it was disturbing.
It was very adult, so you know you are forewarned if you are interested to read this.
But I really do love Sherlock Holmes and this book did feel like fantasy Sherlock Holmes.
And I have to admit, the world building was incredible.
It was so incredible.
It is a world where there's much higher humidity in the air, and the buildings and the way of life of the people are intrinsically intertwined with plants, and plants can be just as predatory as animals in this world.
Two books that I had to reread were Snow and Rose, a classic on this channel, and Heartwood Hotel.
Again, two other books that are really close to my heart.
It was time for a reread of Howl's Moving Castle, especially because I was motivated to reread it due to this gorgeous, gorgeous cover and this limited edition version of the book.
And I think it is such a special looking book.
And this book inspired me to rewatch some of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies.
And I actually watched My Neighbor Totoro for the very first time.
For one reason or another, I just hadn't watched it until now.
And I'm so happy I did.
It was such a special movie.
And of course I had to rewatch Howl's Moving Castle as well.
This is not a book I've read yet, but my number one book to finish reading before the month is out is Mirrors in the Earth.
Amidst unprecedented ecological devastation, It's easy to feel hopeless and disconnected.
It's easier still to forget about our inherent goodness or to discount the power of our inborn empathy.
For those of us who are highly sensitive, people innately attuned to the workings of the natural world, it can be hard to embrace the belief that we are enough as we are and that this awareness can heal the earth.
It sounded like an absolutely beautiful book.
A viewer sent it to me, and I'm very grateful that they did.
I've mentioned this book already, but it truly has become one of my all-time favorite books.
Circe by Madeline Miller.
I knew it was so popular at the time that I first saw it, and so I didn't read it.
I thought it was maybe overhyped.
But now that the interest in the book has died down, I did want to take a look.
And Madeline Miller is such an incredible writer.
The book has very mature themes.
There is definitely a lot of disturbing things that happen in it, especially traumatic events to the main character.
Books with those elements are often difficult for me to read.
And yet this book somehow just kept me so engrossed page by page by page.
And the ending, just the best ending to a book i think i have ever, ever read.
What would it be to be powerful and immortal, why we would never want to live that way, and why the life cycle and life and birth and death and pain, and all these things are so important and so intrinsic to who we are, and this book so effectively told that story.
I did become part of a nonfiction book club this year because I wanted to read more nonfiction.
I had recently read The Heart of the Sea, which was one of my favorite nonfiction books.
It was so good.
And so, for this nonfiction book club, we read In the Garden of the Beasts, which was an incredible book, one that I think everyone should read, as well as The Indifferent Stars Above.
And this book is just an amazing, amazing book.
It is so educational.
It really submerged you in a whole different era in American history and it was so moving, so heartbreaking.
It showed the best and the worst of that era, and it also showed so many aspects of that era that are still very relevant today in terms of how we treat other people and who we perceive as belonging and not to our groups.
It makes you just amazed at the resilience of humanity and it gives you hope too.
I really do feel that you see what people have gone through and that they've still gone ahead and made the world a better place and lived beautiful lives.
It just inspires you to keep going.
I also watched the movie Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro and I've been a fan of his movies in the past, even though they can be really hard to watch sometimes and so I really enjoyed it.
And I did want to read the book Frankenstein and, even though I knew it was quite different from the movie, I did read it and it was very thought-provoking and it was just kind of amazing to read something that an 18 year old wrote that was so original and groundbreaking for a genre and Yeah, it was a wild read.
I don't know if I'm gonna read it again, but I'm glad I did.
I read El Mago de Oz in Spanish or The Wizard of Oz, because I have been trying to listen to audio books with my son, who is learning both Spanish and English.
And I thought it was actually one of my favorite classic children's books, besides Anne of Green Gables.
It is so well written and so fun to read.
I am no doubt forgetting of so many books.
Watercolor in the Woods being one of them that now just came through my mind.
I absolutely love that book.
I've been using it for so much inspiration for art and it's one of the best ones watercolor books I've found for a long time.
I also read The Highly Sensitive Parent, which was an incredibly important book for me to read.
The book was so incredibly helpful for helping me understand myself better and learn how to manage these feelings better and feeling very overstimulated and how to respond to that and also unlearning some things I had in my mind with what I should be as a parent versus what is the healthiest and more balanced version of myself as a parent.
And I think those are very important questions for all parents to ask themselves, to rewrite their internal narrative of what they think is healthy good, appropriate parenthood to what actually helps for the health and balance of both child and the adult.
So there you go.
I wanted to share with you at least some books that i've been reading and enjoying.
If i had to pick my top ones for the year, it would be these ones, and i just wanted to share with you.
Next year, my goals are once again to branch out into new genres as well as to, of course, go back to my tried and true favorites, such as cozy mysteries and cozy fantasy and everything that feels wholesome and not stressful whatsoever.
I am sending you all so much love and thank you for joining me here today for this very bookish chat.
