Who’s Behind the Blog?

I may have some new readers because of Kristen’s guest post (along with my participation in NaBloPoMo!) and thought it might be helpful to provide a quick introduction.

Hi. I’m Elisabeth.

The first thing you should know: whenever I say a blog post will be short or concise…I’m lying. In fact, me suggesting this will be a “quick introduction” is laughable.

MY ROLES

• Christ-follower. The foundation for my life, my hope, and my purpose is the amazing grace of Jesus. I don’t talk in detail about my faith all that often on the blog, but I think (hope!) that long-term readers will agree that faith is clearly woven throughout my story.
• Wife. I’ve been married for 15 years. A lot has happened and through it all my husband, John, has been my #1 cheerleader. Marriage relationships are hard; it’s certainly not all butterflies and roses. But I know I am tremendously fortunate to be able to say we have fallen more deeply in love with each other as the years have gone by.

• Mother. I have two kiddos: a teenage daughter (“Belle”) and a 10-year-old son (“Indy”).

• Daughter/Sister. My parents have influenced my life in so many positive ways and I celebrate our time spent together. They live on a lake in New Brunswick, but relocate to Nova Scotia each winter to be closer to our family which is delightful.
• Friend. I am an introvert blessed to have a variety of rich friendships with people scattered around the globe. If you’re looking for small talk, keep moving; if you want deep conversation, I’m your girl.
• Employee. Work is the the least important thing about my identity. Last year I stepped down from a project management role at a university, but kept my two part-time jobs: a departmental coordinator at the same university and behind-the-scenes management of the business I co-own with my husband.

MY LIFE

Born to a Baptist pastor and his wife (my name is spelled with an “s” because that’s how it’s written in the King James Version of the Bible), I am the youngest of four siblings and was, in essence, an only child. When I was a teen, my father retired and my mother returned to full-time work as a nurse. They retrofitted a bare-bones, off-grid cabin in the woods to a year-round residence. Concurrently, I switched from homeschooling to a public school system for the first time in my life (skipping a grade in the process). It was a big adjustment and I struggled socially. Let’s just say I was never favoured to win Most Athletic or Most Humourous or Most Social from my graduating class. I was, however, voted Most Likely to Succeed which sounds better than Most Likely to Have Their Head in a Book or Most Likely To Make a Fool of Themselves in Gym Class. I was also class valedictorian which is not nearly as cool as being sporty.

Next, I pursued a Biology degree at university. Every summer was spent in research positions; the first year in Montreal at a biotechnology research institute and the rest at my alma mater doing intertidal research on the foraging habits of migrating shorebirds.

In the final year of my undergrad, I met my now-husband. Falling for each other was like something out of the movies, and I’m smiling this very minute as I think back to those heady days of young love. He makes up for my shortcomings, including being voted Most Likely To Appear on Saturday Night Live by his high school graduating class. He’s extremely funny and, thankfully, has made me funnier as a result…I think?

I was planning to accept a scholarship to get my PhD studying Black Stilts in New Zealand, but opted to stay in Canada for love – no regrets – and complete a Master’s Degree in Biology. More specifically, I researched the impact of in-hive pesticides on learning capabilities of honeybees.

One year into that program, I got married. Less then two years later, Baby #1 (Belle) arrived. A few after that Baby #2 (Indy) joined our family.

Not surprisingly, this “quick introduction” is rapidly becoming a tome. If you’re interested in the entrepreneurial side of things, I have a fairly in-depth summary of our experiences founding two small businesses here (Laura Vanderkam’s blog) and explaining how we made ends meet along the way here (The Frugal Girl’s blog).

My husband travels frequently for work, so I often solo-parent. There have also been some tremendously stressful – but largely “unsolvable” – personal challenges impacting our family over the last few years. Last fall I reached a breaking point of sorts, opting to step down from my biggest working role. In 2024 I have focused on resting and enjoying life in a process I have more formally declared to be my Year of Shmita.

I started blogging in 2021 and could never have imagined how much joy this community would bring to my life. My original blog was accidentally deleted last September, but within a few weeks I was back online ready for a fresh start. I write about motherhood and mental health and travelling and thrifting and share important tidbits like where I store almost every single item in our house and ask readers to debate the best/worst Christmas movies and songs…

(A FEW OF) MY LIKES

• Spending time with family; the kids are great, but my favourite is weekly at-home date nights with my husband.
• Walking with family or friends (special shout-out to Joy).
• Memoirs and biographies. These are my reading kryptonite.
• Watching documentaries with my husband.
• Watching F1 with my family.
• Walking through the woods; the smell of evergreen trees in particular.
• Sleep.
• Magic bags.
• Being warm. Hot showers, fluffy blankets, cozy sweaters.
• Taking pictures.
• Adventuring with family and friends. (Travel posts here.)
• Being in our house all by myself. Ahhh. Silence is blissful.
• Blogging.
• Thrifting.
• Listening to music.
• Singing. Also, talking to myself when no one is around.
• Tidying a space.
• Christmas.
• Writing cheques. Random, but true.
• Sushi.
• Peanut butter and banana on toast.
• Yogurt or cottage cheese with peanut butter, raisins, and pumpkin seeds.
• Cherry cheesecake.
• Coffee with cream and maple syrup.
• Waffles
• Food. I just like food.

(A FEW OF) MY DISLIKES

• Balloons being popped anywhere in my general vicinity.
• Laundry. From start to finish.
• Grating anything. I once grated part of my knuckle off when I was a kid and have disliked that kitchen task ever since.
• Parallel parking. It’s less about disliking it and more that I am simply incapable of doing it.
• Making small talk with strangers.
• Any large-group gathering. *Shudder*
• Swimming in cold water. Anything short of bathtub temperature is too cold for me.
• The smell of campfire smoke on my clothes.
• Spicy food.
• Rollercoasters.
• Heavy metal music.
• Water getting splashed on my face.
• Insects and anything that creeps or crawls.
• Early mornings.
• Late nights.
• Black coffee.
• Quiche.
• Crumbs in butter, peanut butter, jam, or any other spread. Gross.
• Putting away groceries.
• Scraping the remainder of food out of jars.
• Cleaning bathrooms.
• Taking out loose teeth (I hated it as a kid and I categorically refuse to help my children remove wiggly teeth).
• Mental math.
• The colour orange.

Your turn. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, can you think of anything important I forgot to mention? If you already know me well, did any revelation in today’s post surprise you? What are some of your main likes and dislikes?