When I first started devouring (and subsequently writing) blogs in 2008, one of the first I ran across was Simple Mom by Tsh Oxenreider – and I inhaled it. I followed Tsh like some kind of organizing, coffee-drinking, living right Pied Piper right over to the other sites that fell under the Simple Living Media umbrella in 2010 and began imploring everyone I encountered to check them out, ad nauseum.
I downloaded her ebook, snapped up her book Organized Simplicity the moment it debuted and felt like I learned to blog, write coffee and live more simply right alongside her. Tsh was my muse, my mentor, the friend I leaned on to learn to navigate life the way I wanted to live it. My utmost goal has truly been to live intentionally, and here was someone relatable to guide me.
If you know me, you’re aware that this behavior is highly uncommon. I am not a groupie, not a fan girl, definitely not a celebrity chaser and have never once felt the desire to stand in line and have a book autographed. Not once.
But yesterday when I grabbed a couple of items at Barnes & Noble in Rogers prior to a road trip, I noticed Tsh’s new book: Notes From A Blue Bike. When Simple Mom became The Art of Simple, I apparently stopped keeping up as regularly, so I was shocked and delighted to see that this appealing book was, in fact, by one of my favorite muses. I commented on it offhand to the clerk, and she said “Oh, I think that author is coming to the store this week!”
Shut the front door. Hello, I just waxed poetic to everyone in town about my new turquoise bike. Here’s the simple information you need: one of the most intentional, inspired and lovely ladies I follow on the interwebs will be in Rogers, Arkansas this week. While I wouldn’t have stalked her for a signed book, I would have stalked her to just grab her shoulders, look her in the eye and say “Thank you.”
I can’t wait to inhale the book, and I hope that you will make me proud by checking out her work for yourself. Head on over to Barnes & Noble in Rogers this Wednesday at 5p and soak up some Tsh goodness for me in my absence. I promise, your life will be better for it. Show her the same enthusiasm that would smack her in the face if I were there with you so she knows how we welcome our kind in Rogers!
