I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m still waiting for someone to throw a parade to celebrate making it to the other side of everything we’ve been through as a species since 2020. This, of course, always starts the worry-chorus in my brain churning with, “Wait, but are we really on the other side of anything? Isn’t there a new germ, a new war, and a new slew of horrific tragedies waiting just around the corner? Don’t you dare celebrate yet!” I tend to apply this kind of thinking to celebrating or just plain sharing my own personal and professional news, too — in my mind, bolder accomplishments and bigger news are always a mere matter of weeks/months away, so why crack open that bubbly in the piddly ol’ here and now?
BUT, with the start of a new year I figure I’ll attempt to break with my usual habits and share a bit about what I’ve been up to lately…
First is a pretty big piece of news: we moved! Back in 2021 my hubby and I decided to relocate from the thick of West Hollywood to a quite slice of the Northern California coastline. Since then, we’ve been renovating and — whenever possible — lovingly restoring a 1950s bungalow. (For the record, our house had those awesomely kitschy his/hers pink and blue bathrooms when we bought it and we’ve managed to keep most of the blue bathroom intact thanks to inspiration I found on this funky site.) As someone who’s lived in big cities her whole life, I must admit I’m still adjusting to being a country girl, but one thing that’s taken absolutely zero adjustment is my newfound ability to just pop out the front door and hike in nature or take my pup for walks by the ocean.
Speaking of the pup, Claude is now 13 and seems to be accumulating more wisdom on his face (aka, grey hairs) by the day. He still naps curled up either in my lap or at my feet daily while I write, and he’s still as spry and wiggly as ever. In fact, most people still mistake him for a puppy from far away.
Some of my favorite reads over the last year have included: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Once More With Feeling by Elissa Sussman, and In The Shadow Garden by my enchanting friend Liz Parker.
My favorite viewing experiences have included: Air by Ben Affleck and Barbie by Greta Gerwig, as well as the tour de force final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the grippingly binge-worthy two seasons of Winning Time.
I’ve been hard at work on some TV projects and my latest novel manuscript that I’m positively itching to share with you, your mother, and the world at large soon. These things take time, though, so in the meantime I hope to get a teensy bit better at touching base here and maybe dipping my toe back into the wilds of social media now and then. I’m a digital ghost and social recluse who now lives in a forest, though, so I make no promises. xo, coté
