Happy Second Anniversary, PLANK!

In a couple days, we’ll mark the second anniversary of the launch of PLANK. If you would have asked me two years ago if we’d be able to publish a blog every week for two years, I’m pretty sure my answer would have been no.

But with your feedback and engagement, we’ve covered everything from acting and fitness, to skin care and closet maintenance. We’ve cooked, decorated, gardened and volunteered. We’ve laughed, cried, motivated and inspired each other. We’ve shared stories, ideas and pieces of our lives. 1699 comments, 105 weeks, 48 recipes, 30 videos and 21 guest blogs … and we’re still going strong!

What To Do With Holiday Leftovers … Start a New Tradition

Who knows how traditions start. Certainly some cooking traditions develop over generations, or, like in the case of my cornbread & sausage stuffing, they take off quickly. In that case, I found the recipe and started a tradition that spread through my family and friends. 

However they begin, cooking traditions are fun, and I find it heartwarming to look forward to certain dishes each year.

Celebrating Hanukkah: Our Tradition of Family & Friends

As I shared before in my blog about Passover, I have always enjoyed the rituals, camaraderie and sense of belonging to a community that comes with Jewish Holiday celebrations. Early on in our marriage, my husband and I were lucky enough to find a group of couple friends who, like us, had one member who was Jewish; and we started celebrating Passover and Hanukkah with this group. My life-long best friend Carrie is among this group, but others are friends we’ve made along the way.  

As children were born and families grew, so did our annual celebrations. Over the years, even some of our non-Jewish friends have joined in on what has become our most fun and anticipated party of the year. For a while the the parties were HUGE, but as some families moved away, our group shrunk … and now we are typically about 15.

Taking the Stage … and a Leap of Faith

Many times, as I am daydreaming out the passenger side window while someone else drives, I am captivated by the passersby. I often imagine the day of the other cars’ occupants … their lives, them getting ready and getting into their cars to start the day.

Like those people in cars, we all move around on this planet in our designated or chosen groups or families.  How do we create our little circles? And why are we so easily ruffled or annoyed when a stranger stands too close or otherwise infringes on our circle? Sometimes, I think we close those circles in so tight that we find ourselves stuck … maybe we want to branch out, but we no longer know how.

Meeting People, Making Friends & Dancing!

As this Summer unfolded, I was dismayed by my lack of plans. My family and friends had busy summer schedules, and even though I worked, I still had some free weeks. I am never one to sit still, so, as always when I have no plans, I got moving.

First, I re-committed to exercising more (I know I always say that, but it’s true!). Then I looked for “crafty projects” – did you see our blog on cupcakes? When the weekends rolled around, I grabbed them with gusto! My husband and I rented (junky) boats and challenged our seamanship, went paddle boarding and hiked … anything outdoors! We made the most of those two days, so by Monday we felt we’d really had a vacation, albeit a mini vacation. And that seemed to make all the difference in the world. Each week, we came back refreshed, rested and connected … which, I have to say, after being married almost 31 years, is invaluable.

Then, after not really leaving home all summer, I have spent the last three weekends traveling. Two of those trips were spent reconnecting with viewers of Days of Our Lives, first in Nashville and then in NYC. As I have mentioned before, for me and my fellow castmates, it often feels like we work in a warehouse with just our friends, and we rarely see anyone else at the studio. Plus, we are all working our hardest to keep up with the lightening speed of the production each day that we have very little time to even socialize with each other.

Fall Fashion Forward

Many moons ago, when I left Days of Our lives in 1992, they gave me Kayla’s wardrobe. In the next couple of months, I got pregnant and didn’t wear any of those clothes for the next year and a half … that then quickly turned into two years.

My dear friend, Cynthia, came to town and I told her how my closet was jammed, but I didn’t have anything to wear. She said the first thing we needed to do was edit my closet … scary! We took EVERYTHING out, examined each piece and made some brutal cuts.