Are You There Shameless? It's me. Elisabeth.

There is an infamous answer my father always gives when someone asks him "Where are you at?". He will always reply with:

"Right before the at."

Over the past three years that is where I have been stuck. At the at. Where we last left off in 2019 I was still moving through a lot of medical matters. Just as it seemed that was getting under control, the universe had jokes to throw at us all with a worldwide pandemic, murder hornets, and... I really don't want to go down this road. We don't need reminders.

Just like the rest of society, it was a time to refocus priorities. Reevaluate lifestyles. Rethink the wheel. And for me; I was already in the midst of a new job that was also having to chase down and adapt to what the new "normal" meant. As it did with most of us, it took time to get comfortable with how things were shaping up in the world. Oddly enough I became enveloped with confidence navigating all these different roads and pushed myself more and more to be, well, more the me I love.

"So what do you want? A medal or something?"

DAMN RIGHT!! In fact - I earned myself several in 2020.

I walked my ass off. (Quite literally in fact). They weren't fast walks at all. But there was so much beauty in that because it gave me time to reflect and gain some peace after having to battle chaos most days.

I kept my walks between 1 to 2 miles. The routes I had typically had me circling the same streets within our neighborhood. On one of the first routes I was walking out, I was breathing a bit heavy and sweating and just about done with it all when I look over and see this logo in the driveway I'm walking past:

And all I could do was smile.

Then it wasn't me thinking how I was done with the route and the heavy breathing and the sweating. It was me grinning and thinking about Shameless.

So guess what: that route became my new favorite route. Just so I knew there was going to be a point I smile.

Onwards I went into 2021 with this new joy. Until of course, medical matters arose again and walking had to unfortunately cease for quite a bit. But I wasn't about to give up that smile. So eventually I found myself at Adventure Brewing Company, sipping beer and saying "bring it home 'cause it's baking time".

And now here we are in 2022. Many test batches later. New breweries, a cidery, and distillery. New smiles snuggled in an old feeling of comfort as I baked. Pushed myself a bit more and it's time folks. It's time to come on back to Shameless.

We may not look the same as what we did in 2017 or 2018. But we're still here and thanks to cottage law I am still able to offer my baked goods to the public. I may not be seen at events quite yet such as at the breweries; but trust me - things are in motion and I'm all wrapped in bubble wrap to make sure they stay in motion.

For now - let's all smile together and enjoy the awesomeness that is headed to us all as we finally exit into a new "normal".