The "F*ck It, I'm Buying a Cabin" Edition

30-Second Skill: How Do You Pour Yourself More Wine Without Looking Like a Giant Lush of a Sasquatch?

When you grow up in a trailer, you make a point of learning how to move through the world with more class than you have.

This has always been my M.O. And along the way, I learned how a lot of things you might not know if you grew up surrounded by dairy farms and big rigs.

While it may be easy to snub your nose at "the rules," I've always embraced them. You know why? Because they let you glide into any room with confidence because you aren't distracted by thoughts of your own inadequacy.

When you feel like a fish out of water, you can't swim. And, I prefer to swim. Really fast. In a vintage ball gown if I damn well feel like it.

Which brings me to today's 30-second skill.

It's about wine, because when you're with other people—especially in elegant places—you're probably going to be around wine a lot.

However, there are two etiquette faux pas that will "give away your trailer park," if you may.

1. The first one is pouring wine into your own glass first, even if you're the only one who's empty. This is impolite AF. Even if you're the only one who needs a refill, the polite way to do so is to top off everyone's glass first before serving yourself.
2. And the second one is pouring wine into your own glass last. Once you've made the rounds, the bottle might be almost empty, so it may be tempting to finish it off into your own glass. Don't do it! 🤣 You might as well announce you just got out of jail. The etiquette is to pour yourself a small amount and then finish off the bottle into another guest's glass.

This might seem petty, but as you continue to travel the world you'll meet all sorts of people from different backgrounds, you'll feel so much better knowing you can handle your business...rather than risking coming across like an ignorant American.

(CAN YOU IMAGINE???)

F*ck It, I'm Buying a Cabin

This is THE MOOD right now—and it's even being reflected in the book titles being acquired in publishing.

Saw this book sale happen on Friday: Fuck It, I'm Buying a Cabin—about a burned out corporate millennial vying for a different life.

How wonderfully timely!

Let's face it: hustle culture is over and we all want to be investing in cabins in faraway places where we can wake up and walk in a meadow with our morning coffee, enjoy a morning of meaningful creative work that pays us well for our talents, have a crisp, fresh lunch of asparagus and lemon (or something), and then spending the rest of the afternoon leisurely refinishing an old bureau in the backyard, listening to French cafe music, and journaling ideas for our new novel in the warmth of the evening sun. Who doesn't want that?

The thing is, it used to sound like a pipe dream. But today, it's more possible than ever. This kind of lifestyle simply requires you to learn how to leverage two things:

1. Talent
2. Time

If you can learn how to do that well, you can make space for yourself to live again. Because otherwise, when is the LIVING supposed to happen??? After you've shut down your laptop at 10pm? In between Zoom calls with blowhards you don't even like? When you stay on the toilet extra, extra long, just to have a few minutes to yourself guilt-free? (Guilt free: new toilet paper brand???)

When are you supposed to actually live? Because working all the time isn't actually living. But, sometimes I wonder if we just don't know what else we're supposed to be doing. Should we be frolicking in meadows? Should we be—gulp—relaxing? Should we be doing LESS? (Eeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!) Is that a responsible adult thing to do?!

Everything besides work feels wrong. At least, that's what modern culture has created—and it's no thanks to Instagram and now TikTok that everyone feels like they've got to be on ALL. THE. TIME. There is no off button. There is always another person to respond to; another reel to be posted; another game of circle jerk. Quick, a message! Quick, be responsive! Quick, be engaging!

It's such a joke.

So much of what we're doing to ourselves right now is a joke.

And the worst part is, we started doing it all in the name of "freedom," but I've never seen a more sorry sack of humans than the ones running around on the earth right now.

You thought keeping up with the Jones' was hard? Try keeping up now.

Someday you will die super pissed off that you spent your entire life worrying about creating 15-second videos that meant nothing to you, instead of creating a body of work that did.

F*ck it, let's all buy cabins.

In a world that preys on our attention, it might be the last place we have.

Nomad Business Idea to Steal 👀

This girl's traveling the world in search of the best cheeses.

This woman literally has an entire company called "Cheese Journeys."

This chick wrote an entire book about how she moved to England to work in cheese and became a cheese influencer. (It's called Cheese, Wine & Bread: I'm halfway through her book and LOVE IT.)

Point is: experiential travel is bigger than ever right now—and cheese is only one example. The world wants authentic experiences with real people making things with their hands...perhaps as a reaction to too much screen time / work time / hate my life time / home in a pandemic time.

There's massive opportunity here.

Why not invite people to your home in Maine to learn how to watercolor by the sea?

Why not offer an opportunity to come do creative writing in an old farmhouse in Scotland?

Why not bring them to New Orleans to teach them how to photograph real people in real places?

Why not gather everyone together to learn pottery? Sewing? Crossstitch? Knitting?

Do you know how to garden? How to remodel bathrooms? How to develop photos? How to shuck oysters?

Whatever you know how to do...someone else would love to come try their hand at it, too. And they'll pay you good money to create the experience, because this is what we need.

We need time offline.

Time outside.

Time with our hands.

Time remembering what it's like to be human.

We haven't been human enough. But, we can help each other remember.

P.S. Did You Know?

If You're Ever Doubting Yourself... Remember that there's a guy who sells hand-painted globes for £80,000—a business he started entirely by accident after trying to make one as a surprise for his father on his 80th birthday.