By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on June 17th, 2013
I’m SO excited & thankful to be a part of the Bloom Book Club! Jessica & Angie chose Bread & Wine as this summer’s book, and this weekend I went to Nashville to shoot a whole bunch of videos for it.
The book club starts on Monday, June 24th, which is a week from today, and every few days there’s a new video—lots of conversations about the book, and four recipes that we cooked together, too.
Here’s a link to the intro video, and here’s a link to the details and schedule. No need to sign up—although you can, if you’d like to get an email when each video goes up. All you need is a copy of the book, and you can always get them at B&N, Amazon, and right now Dayspring has them at a great price, too.
On Saturday morning, Jessica picked me up at the hotel, and we drove to Angie’s house, where the video guys were setting up and her darling girls were just about to leave for the pool.
We spent allllllll day in Angie’s house, snuggled up on the couch, and then bumping in to each other in the kitchen, telling stories, crying a little, and literally laughing till we cried. (It took TEN takes for us to get through the Breakfast Cookie segment. I’m absolutely not telling you why, but my stomach hurt from laughing.)
We talked while the cameras were rolling and while they weren’t. I’d never met Jessica or Angie, but we have dear mutual friends, and more than that, I think, we’re on the same page in some fundamental ways: women who are pursuing lives of faith, parenting little ones, juggling books and blogs and travel schedules, trying to live with courage and honesty, trying to soak up the little kid years and do the work we feel called to do.
Honestly, we connected. I hope that translates. I know it will. I hope you sense that we really had a fantastic time together, that we weren’t turning anything on for the camera—if anything, the poor video team had to keep waiting for us to get back to the topic at hand, you know, the videos we were shooting.
As ever, I’m such a believer in what happens when we invite people into our homes and lives and stories. Saturday was a total treat, and I hope you get a chance to take a peek at some of the videos we made. Happy summer & so much love.
By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on June 13th, 2013
A few months ago, a friend of mine recommended that I write a post about how to be a good dinner party guest. Certainly, I spend so much time writing and talking about how to host dinner parties—you know I could go all day and all night on that topic. But I’ve never talked about how to be a good guest…until today!
Here are a few thoughts, and I’d love to know what you think—what did I miss? What makes a great guest in your eyes?
1. Come on time, or let the host know via text that you’ll be late, and exactly how late. This is not the time to say “Be there in 5” if you’re actually 30 minutes away. Your host …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on June 7th, 2013
Congratulations to Angie! You won a fancy French Magimix!
Here’s Angie’s comment: “Summer to me is salsa and hummus time! It’s so much better when you can make those yourself since you usually eat the whole container in one sitting:) Chips and Salsa outside at sunset can’t be beat! Happy summer all!”
Angie, send me an email with your mailing address, and you’ll be whizzing up homemade hummus and salsa in no time.
And really, it’s absolutely worth reading through all the comments, because there are SO many great summer recipe ideas!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Tonight we’re off to Ravinia, a classic Chicago venue for concerts and picnics. I’m bringing bacon-wrapped dates (of course!) and steak with chimichurri sauce inspired by our amazing …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on June 4th, 2013
Happy Tuesday! Things feel so funny and upside down but all in a good way around here–Henry’s done with kindergarten, my brother’s home from a long season away, Aaron’s traveling like crazy and for the first time in a long time, I’m not. We’re settling into a totally new summer rhythm–lots of time at the park, lots of peaches, lots of bike rides and boat rides up at the lake. As you know, I’m a summer girl, and summer food is my favorite food: berries and corn, anything grilled, ice cream and popsicles all day long.
I’m in the mood for summer cooking, and I’m so excited about this giveaway. The team at Magimix by Robot-Coupe asked if I’d like to give away one …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 29th, 2013
I think I said at one point that four years old is the perfect age for a human. And then I think I said it about five year olds. But I really mean it this time: six-and-a-half is just the best. Henry and I took a super-quick trip to New York City this weekend, and I can’t get over what a great time we had. We met my dad there on his way back from a very long international trip, so our first stop was lunch with Papa Bill–pizza, of course!– and a quick run through the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center.
The weather was truly, truly terrible: 49 degrees, windy, driving rain. But the great thing about a little boy is that rain means …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 22nd, 2013
Someone described me recently as “a confident, outgoing mom and a successful writer.” I looked around for who they could possibly be talking about. I can’t even begin to tell you how incredibly far-off that description sounds to me.
I’ve realized in the last year that no matter what happens to me and no matter how I change, in many ways I’m still telling a very old story of who I am.
And I think I might not be the only one. And I want to start telling a new story.
A friend’s mom came to town this weekend. She’s great and difficult, both, and my friend was debriefing the visit with us the next day. Someone asked, “how does your husband deal with some of your mom’s …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 14th, 2013
Working from home is wonderful in many ways, but it does means there’s no commute at the end of the day to let the mind unwind, and no external signal to move me from work mode to non-work mode. I’ve learned the hard way that I need both of those things—a way to create mental if not physical distance from my work, and a way to nudge myself from work time to family time. I’ve had to create my own ritual, essentially, to mark the end of the work day and the beginning of the family evening.
This is what I do: I close my laptop, and I go to the kitchen, the place that repairs me, that allows my mind to loosen and my …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 6th, 2013
So it seems like one million years ago, but a week and a half ago (can it be?), we celebrated the release of Bread & Wine at the brand new Lululemon Athletica store at Deer Park.
The store is beautiful, and the Lululemon team is amazing. I was a Lululemon fan before this event, and now I’m like a crazed evangelist. I love their clothes (I just got the Forme jacket and I’ve been wearing it non-stop), but more than that, I love how they do what they do. They’re real and warm, community-oriented, positive. I can’t say enough.
On the night of the party, my friends came early and assembled gift bags and moved tables …
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 3rd, 2013
Brittany Stringfellow Otey!
Brittany, send me an email with your mailing address and which piece you’d like us to send you–congrats and love to you! XO
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By Shauna Niequist
Posted in - General on May 1st, 2013
Approximately one second after Bread & Wine released, people started asking me what’s next. Let’s be clear: this is exactly like asking women if they’d like to have more children while they’re still in the delivery room with their teeny-tiny babies.
But everyone’s asking, from my publisher to my friends to readers to people I sit next to on airplanes. What’s next? What’s next?
I don’t know.
I want to explain to them that this little book is still a newborn, fresh and lovely and teeny-tiny, and that she deserves a little time of her own. I love this book, and I want to help as many people as possible find their way into their kitchens and around their tables, and more than that, into community and …
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