This week was a fun week of work and exploration! For those just joining we are traveling back and forth from the upper area of upstate NY to a RV resort in Homestead FL every two weeks for 4 months. A break from the bitter weather, time for family and extra time for new discoveries and a lot of time to be creative! After the work day we try to get out and see the local area on bike, motorcycle or in the truck (soon to be Bronco!)

This week the weather was perfect so we took some time to explore the Redlands around us. Places we visited were The Berry Farm, Monkey Jungle and taking the vehicles out to explore.

The Berry Farm was amazing! The Sunflower field was beautiful and perfect for working on my photography skills. The food was good and it was the Strawberry festival so we enjoyed some live music. It was very busy and worth the visit. There is a huge area for the kids of all ages to play.

We also were able to visit the Monkey Jungle. This place was my favorite! A unique wildlife park that allows you to learn up close about the monkeys, birds and reptiles. Our tour guide was wonderful and had a huge heart for all of the wildlife in the park. The up close part allowed us to feed the squirrel monkeys and capuchin monkeys. The family loved it and well worth the stop if you have the chance.

I usually talk about all of my creative discoveries and adventures but this week I am introducing you to Ken. Ken loves dirt bikes, his GS, being outside and exploring as much as I do. This week Ken couldn’t wait to take the Husaburg out to explore the dirt roads. He asked around for the best locations and did some cool discoveries along the everglades irrigation canal He took some great video that we are going to add to our YouTube channel this upcoming week so watch for this.

In between all of our exploring we enjoyed our RV Life! RV life fun included Monday Bingo, Smoking up some fabulous ribs on the Pit Boss (thanks Ken!), playing pickle ball, and learning Texas Hold-em. In between all of this I took a lot of photos and did a little bit of painting and most of all absolutely enjoyed family, the sunshine and warmth. Next week we will be back in the north and hoping that the temps are not so bitter!

Here are my highlights!

What I learned this week – My favorite sentence these days is ”i was listening to a podcast….” ☺️ I have and continue to love the Goal Digger podcast and she has new episodes every Monday and Wednesday. I get to geek out on tools, time management hacks, and social media education. lots of fun. Though my brain seems to need constant change so I was looking for something a little different. I found another podcast that got my attention this week. It is called The Unmistakable Creative Podcast. The Monday episode was on The Secret Language of Charismatic Communication- Vanessa Van Edwards. There were so many reasons I had to listen, #1 – who doesn’t love finding out a secret language! #2 – I am a huge believer in the importance of communication. #3 – I do feel like I can use some work on my charismatic nature 🤓 so all in all the title drew me right in! Van Edwards talks about communicating and points out communication tools that assist a person in being a charismatic communicator. It had some take aways that can improve my communication with a mix of psychology. Take aways: speak in your lowest register – this allows you to be heard without as much volume, use verbal and emoji cues that trigger neural maps -she explains this as almost mirroring what the other person is saying/doing, maybe to put the person you are speaking to at ease, my last take away was approach people with open palms- this gives a person a sense that you are open and want them to belong. I have already started using these take aways, not sure I am all of a sudden charismatic but I do think it helps me to relate, think about the language and tones used around me. Overall great learning week!

How I was creative this week – Painting and photography! My current two favorite hobbies and I was able to do both. We were RV’ing this week so I didn’t have all my paints so I purchased so Walmart paints. I was inspired by a YouTube video from AB Creative video. Though my paints did not end up pouring very well I had to improvise. In the end I was satisfied with the first phase. This next week I brought it back to the north where I can touch it up and hopefully love it. I have posted a few sneak peeks but will post my video with the full process, including my struggles, on my YouTube channel. I will come back and relink it when it’s up but until then you can check out some of my other videos – click here.

Photography fun – I continue to be drawn to flowers and trees in nature and working on my macro photography. I decided to purchase some lenses that can clip to my phone. I will review them this week and see if they make a difference and how easy they are to use. I’ll add a few of my favorites below. Flowers, trees and nature are great to add quotes to. So I am really enjoying taking my pictures, editing in Adobe Lightroom and then adding quotes.

Quote of the week – When the flower blossoms, the bee will come – Srikumar Rao

What I listened to this week –  I completely covered this in my what I learned above:)

App/s I have explored – New app I tried is PicPlayPost – This gives a new spin to creating videos from photos, Live Photos and videos. It has some neat layouts and will also automatically add the layout, design and transitions if you do not want to spend too much time editing. The only downside is $6.99 a month. At this time I do not think I need it to add to my regular app list but I will keep it in mind if I get rid of a different video app. If you do not have a video editor you love give it a try.