The Beach Speaks

Capturing the essence of the beach with my phone is one thing, but in a painting - in real-time - it is a whole other thing. I’m in awe of anyone who can paint in the moment - no photograph- just sitting in nature with a canvas, painting the scene in quick brushstrokes. You have to stay in the present and pay attention. This painting practice is called plein air, a form of impres

I was a guest on an Instagram live with Amanda from Northern TIdes Studio and Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind - talking about water, the Blue Mind movement, and the healing properties of the ocean. Amanda asked how living at the beach has changed me. I don’t know why that question caught me off guard - it was a great question. I wasn’t really sure I had the answer - at

When I started thinking seriously about moving from land-locked Orlando to the beach, the first three questions people would ask were, “What beach?” “Where will you live?” and “What will you do?” I would say, “I haven’t decided what beach yet, but I’m sure I’ll find one with a couple of palm trees where I can hang a hammock, and, I don’t know, I’ll make jewe

It’s February, so in the spirit of this Month of Love, I asked my soulmate, Ernie, to join me on the podcast because it’s a very special month for us.Although I’ve talked about how we met and our journey to living out our vision here at the beach on the podcast before, I thought it would be the perfect time for Ernie to share some of his own beach stories and reminisce about

I love quotes, especially the ones that when I hear them, I think, " Oooh, I can relate to that - or that is so inspiring! I need to write that one down before I forget it! " I’ll rush to scribble it in a journal or notebook - it’s like I’m attaching a sticky note to my brain - you know, a reminder, to go back to it later. And let me tell you - there are a LOT of st

Imagine, you’re about to do what might be the craziest thing you’ve ever done. And you’re thinking this could be crazy good or crazy stupid.Then the “what ifs” start to creep into your consciousness: “What if something goes wrong?” “What if I’m not good enough?” “What if it turns out to be nothing but a waste of time and money?”That’s how I felt three year

Recently on The Beach Speaks, I posted an episode sharing my beach story as a guest on Rabiah Coon’s podcast More Than Work. Today, I’m bringing Rabiah back - this time as my guest - to hear her beach story. Rabiah currently lives in London, but she grew up near the beach in California. When she said she was coming home to California for the holidays, I thought it would be the

Hey Beach lover, How is the beach speaking to you today?I’m sure you have noticed that I’ve been doing a lot of solo episodes: like, how I met my soulmate - on the beach, watching fighter jets fly over the beach, and how learning to fly was a lot like moving to the beach - and while it’s been a lot of fun sharing stories about how the beach speaks to me, I thought I’d do so

Many of you have asked me how I found the nerve to leave my job - to move to the beach - and not have a job to go to, and what beach? Where was I going to live? I would laugh and say, I’m sure whatever beach I go to, there will be a couple of palm trees where I can hang a hammock, and I’ll make jewelry out of shells! It sounded silly when I said it out loud, but in my head, I w

You know I love the beach, but I also love airplanes! This fact is especially poignant because aviation and learning to fly was one of the (many) surprising characteristics that attracted me to my husband, Ernie (You can hear more about that in my recent episode “How I Met My Soulmate - On the Beach”) Ernie spent the majority of his Navy career on an aircraft carrier where he w