"Julie and Julia"

Greetings, Blog Friends.

While the inn has been a bit on the quiet side lately, I've been able to visit with some good friends, work on recipes, get some projects done around the inn, and watch some movies.

Foodies will delight over "Julie and Julia, " a delicious movie about the lives of a writer struggling to find meaning in her personal life (Julie), and the life of an icon (Julia Child). While I won't go into a plot synopsis or review (other than "watch it!"), I will say it brought up many thoughts in my mind.

Every excuse in the world can be made to follow our passions, withhold the truth, and keep us safe in the "same old" routine. Julie felt this need for change in her life in the movie. She moved her life forward through Julia's cookbook. Shouldn't we?

I know sometimes it is scary to move yourself forward on your path. This might mean breaking ourselves out of past patterns or putting ourselves into a situation where no light ahead can be seen. It might even mean losing other things that we love--all for the sake of falling "into ourselves" more and more. I did this with Inn at Long Lake. It was familiar turf, for sure (I was the Chef before I became its Owner). I reveled, though, in taking the inn to its "next step"--only to find that I found myself more as I opened myself up to activating changes at the inn!

Life is too short to stay static and unhappy. When I left New Orleans in 2001, I wrote a list of 20 things that I wanted to do in my lifetime. I had to move back to my native New England, a U-Haul packed with old comforts, to come home to myself. Amazingly, some of the things came into being in time! Try a shorter list of your own. You might very well be surprised how they come into your reality (life experience). Make the list fun, full of your heart, without boundaries!

So, tonight, like Julie in the movie, I write to you from this Blog. Yes, we all have moments of questioning and fears. Movies aside, though...give your life--and all the aspirations that you have dreamed in happy silence, "two thumbs up!" You might just be amazed at the recipe called "Your Life."

Your Maine Innkeeper,

Keith A. Neubert

Innkeeper

Naples, Maine