Order a Pizza

Today, I am not posting a recipe. Nor any photos. That is not unlike every day of the last year, when I have struggled to do much of anything on this site. I have been working almost entirely on my photography lately, and haven’t been cooking as much as I would like and haven’t had inspiration for anything original.  I guess I’ve also felt hemmed in by the format. You notice I post about food, but I rarely talk about the food in my post. I don’t feel comfortable as a food writer. I feel like a big dork, actually. Describing flavors — and using words like “unctuous” — doesn’t come naturally to me. So I usually muddle through a post and talk about something entirely unrelated. And then, whammo, you have a recipe for soup.

This has worked for a while. And I’ve learned a lot. And I’ve discovered interconnectedness. In 10 years, I’ve gone from: discovering daughter’s severe food allergies -> having an immediate need to cook from scratch -> learning about local and organic food -> wanting to preach about local and organic food -> starting this site -> deciding to integrate photography -> teaching myself photography -> doing professional photography -> getting too busy with photography to do anything with this site. And these are all good things even though it started with (what I felt at the time was) a horrible life curveball.

If someone would have told me 10 years ago that 10 years from now I would have quit my job, abandoned my PhD work, and been on my way to becoming a photographer, I think I wouldn’t have believed them. But strangely, I think I would have been really pleased with that outcome.  And I have no doubt that 10 years from now, photography will have led me to another place. And damn if that isn’t the beauty of life.

The strange thing with Cuizoo lately, however, is that I’ve felt like I have lost my voice. If I didn’t have a recipe to post, I couldn’t write. And I miss that. And I miss sharing little stupid things I do around the house or for the kids. I miss writing about politics and motherhood and all of the things that piss people off to no ends. (I actually shut down my last blog because I was getting harassed by a group of conservative men.  Lovely, those guys were. Who knew that they would spend so much time on a mommy blog that they completely disagreed with? And then become obsessed with trying to hurt someone they didn’t even know? Good thing they were Jesus loving and God fearing.)

But I’ve aged and the amount of products I buy at Kiehl’s shows it. And I’m not scared to put my voice back out there. My Facebook and Twitter followers know that I generally don’t hesitate to say what is on my mind, and I need to do that all in one place. And the Facebook friends who can’t stand me posting my Elf on the Shelf ideas because you think I am pathetic or you feel like less of a mother (BTW, I feel that way all the time when you run half marathons and sign your kids up for baseball and take them to every museum in New York City…) will probably be relieved that I have another outlet for my ranting. And to my Facebook friends who are Republican, I feel for you. Thanks for hanging in there.

So, I guess (without much fanfare), I present to you “Cuizoo: The Online Lifestyle Magazine That Will Talk About Food and Drink, Motherhood, Design Ideas, Kiddo Activity Ideas, Politics, Life in General, Products I Love, Things That Piss Me Off, Inappropriate Things That Will Embarrass My Mother, Technology, Photography, Music I Love, and Things I Find Funny.” It’s a long title. We’ll work on that later.

My general plan is to make this transition happen for the new year — hopefully, after sitting back down at the table with the brilliant people who made this happen the first time around. The timing feels right for a transition. Someone that I respect greatly recently commented on this site and said:

I kept getting pulled along by the simplicity of your words…just like the simplicity of the recipe. There was never a big idea that overwhelmed your simple message to appreciate the day-to-day observations that can often pass us by.

And I guess that’s what I want us to do here. The words will be simple, the ideas won’t be overwhelming, and we will focus on the beauty and perfection right here in front of us all — our kids, our families, our food, and our world. Irreverently, of course.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of David D’Amico