First Top 3 for the Top of 2024!

Happy New Year! 
 Here is a quick snapshot of the Top Shelf items I obsessed over recently!  The first of 2024!
A favorite or new food or recipe crush, a book/quote/podcast, and last but not least, a song I cannot get out of my head. I am so excited to share them with you in the hope of bringing 
something new and inspiring into your day!   

Collards. Collards. Collards.
 
When I say I have been obsessed with collard greens over the past few weeks, I mean they have been the bulk of my green veggie intake!  I made a total of 15 bunches over 3 group holiday meals, and a batch just for because.  I have wanted this recipe sorted out and written down for as long as I have been putting my collection together.  (Much longer than you know!)  When you are taught by Southern Grandmothers to "just taste it and add things till it tastes right" it is incredibly difficult to translate to unfamiliar tools like measuring spoon!
 
Many beautiful memories have been collected around a pot of collards and 2023 created more than most!  PSA for all collard cooks:  Should you choose to not travel during the entirety of the holiday season. You will be called upon to bring collards to every gathering. So stock up on love and chicken broth... both are required for the perfect pot of greens.

Click for the recipe for my 'Go To' Collards

How Did I Not Know??
 
In June 2023, Cormac McCarthy passed.  He was 89 and had written a dozen or so books spanning my lifetime and then some, and yet, he had never once entered my reading radar.  A conversation with my brother led me to my first McCarthy read. He is one of Jimmy's favorites and, in honor of his passing, he was finishing out the books he had not yet read.  That night I started "All the Pretty Horses."  I can say with certainty I have never read anything like it. The story is haunting, tragic, and resilient...written with such beautiful language I could not absorb too much at a time.  I might be behind the curve on this author, but I have finished all 3 in the Border Trilogy, and just after I take a mental break and read some beach trash to recover, I'll set out on another journey through Cormac McArthy's inimitable imagination. 
 
“Between the wish and the thing 
the world lies waiting.”
~Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

"All the Pretty Horses" on Goodreads

This one we are blaming on Laura Aura, a podcast and alignment coach I love... most of the time. Except for moments like the one on December 13th when she posted a reel with this itchy little challenge:
 
"If you wanna get all up in your feels today and do a little inner-child healing work, listen to "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift through the lens of remeeting your inner child. 
I'm sorry, but you're welcome."
 
She is soooo not sorry. For weeks I have randomly caught myself humming the lyrics, mulling them over, and allowing all the "feels" to surface. Including a moment little Beth tugs at my jeans and says, 
"I was enchanted to meet you too."
 
I'll share more when I get it into words, but for now... have a listen or two, breathe deep, and introduce yourself to a new and deeper understanding of how enchanting you ARE and have always been.  
 
"This was the very first page, not where the storyline ends.
My thoughts will echo your name until I see you again.."
  
"Enchanted" ~ Taylor Swift

That’s it for this round! Feel free to forward to a friend!  I’ll be back with more. Until then, know that you are a badass…exactly the way you are.  Celebrate YOU a little today! 
It’s Time.   ~Beth

Have you done your 2023 Joy Scrolling?
  
It's never too late! I do a little exercise each year where I go hunting for a few of my favorite things of the year as we enter the new one.
This year, I thought I'd share it, complete with instructions AND a bonus 2024 Badassery Bingo card! My twist this year to the intentions list. 

Keep shining and happy scrolling!

Free Download!

SKIRT.
Journalism Edition
 
Skirt has been a beloved Charleston magazine for decades. Since 2020 we have missed the powerhouses featured in Charleston First Women's Magazine.  Now, thanks to founder Pixie's determination, they are back with the publication's 30th Anniversary Edition.
There are still copies available and I am crazy proud and humbled to say that a submission of mine was included! This gorgeous tribute to Lowcountry women is packed with inspiration and mentorship that can only come from a collective of badass women. 

Read it here!

Grace, Habits, and Pinballs
The Winter edition of 
Focus On Fabulous Magzine has arrived!
 
What do grace, habits, and pinball machines have in common?  Find out at the link below!
 
Focus On Fabulous has been highlighting and supporting extraordinary women for years!  For a full copy, there is a link at the bottom of the article and on my Lintr.ee/CounterTalks.

Read it here!

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Thank you for letting me share some of my favorite things with you!  
If any of it resonates and you'd like to know more,  CLICK HERE for info on upcoming events! 

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