About Laurie Buchanan

Author and speaker

ON hiatus – OFF the grid

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Laurie Buchanan

For the next three Tuesdays you won’t receive an email notification that I’ve published a fresh post. Why? Because I’m ON hiatus and OFF the grid from February 1-19.

I’m not going to share my exact location at this time, but here’s a hint. The photo below is a well-known landmark a stone’s throw from the location I’ll be at.

If you know where it is, shhhh, don’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret. I’m going on a deep-dive and won’t come back up for air until I return to Boise.

When was the last time you went on hiatus? Click To Tweet

When was the last time you went on hiatus?

Adventure Awaits

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Laurie Buchanan

There are no two ways about it — I ❤️ TO TRAVEL!

When I mind-map each year, the four categories that I break down into small attainable steps are health, family/friends, travel, and writing/speaking. Stateside or international—planes, trains, or automobiles—for me, travel is a cornerstone.

Whether I go by myself, with Len, or with my sister, I enjoy the sense of adventure. I make a practice of packing light. Really light. I never check my baggage: just two pieces, a wheeled carry-on, and a laptop tote. And I enjoy arriving at the airport early so that I can people-watch.

The moment I buckle into my seat, I pop my earbuds in (the international signal for “please do not disturb”), pull out my Kindle, and read until the plane lands.

I currently have four sets of round-trip airline tickets waiting for use in my travel folder. My first adventure of the year is coming up soon. I’ll share more about that in next week’s post.

Do you have up-and-coming travel plans? Click To Tweet

Do you have up-and-coming travel plans?

Watershed Moment

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Laurie Buchanan

The original usage of the word “watershed” describes a ridge of land separating waters that then flow into two different bodies.

A “watershed moment” is a turning point, the exact moment that changes the direction of an activity or situation, a dividing point from which things will never be the same. It’s considered momentous, though a watershed moment is often recognized in hindsight.

I’m not ready just yet to share my watershed moment, but I recently experienced one. It was momentous and didn’t occur in hindsight.

When was your most recent watershed moment? Click To Tweet

When was your most recent watershed moment?

Focus Word 2020

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Laurie Buchanan

For the past decade, instead of establishing New Year’s resolutions, I’ve selected a focus word as my guiding light for the year.

Last year I selected a short phrase: Joie de Vivre—joy of life.

As we start a new decade, this will be the first time that I’m choosing a repeat.

Joie de Vivre has been—and continues to be—so incredibly fulfilling that I’m choosing to embody and focus on it again.

Joie de Vivre—A delight in being alive; an exuberant, keen, or buoyant enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit.

Joie de Vivre—A philosophy of life, a sentiment that involves one’s whole being.

Do you have a focus word this year? Click To Tweet

Do you have a focus word this year?

Hoist the Sails!

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

Take a spin around, click on links, and test-drive some of the features at at lauriebuchanan.com.

Is Tuesdays With Laurie going away? Not on your life! You’ll still find me here every Tuesday.

What are your plans for the new decade? Click To Tweet

What are your plans for the new decade?

“Writers are the wind that sail words across the page.” —Laurie Buchanan

Happy Holidays

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

Happy Holidays
From Me and Mine
To You and Yours

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Happy Holidays! Click To Tweet

Favorite Season

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

Though it’s been getting downright chilly in Boise, Idaho—with a dusting of snow flurries here and there—winter in the United States officially begins with the Winter Solstice (also known as Yule, or the Longest Night) on Saturday, December 21, 2019.

I took this photo in Garden Valley, Idaho, this past summer, when we were camping at their lovely fly-in airport campground. They start getting ready for winter early, and for a good reason, their elevation is much higher than ours, so they get snow—in earnest—early!

What is your favorite season? Click To Tweet

Regardless of your geographic location (I realize many of you are entering summer-type weather right now), what is your favorite season?

Pick Me Up

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

Living in a historic district, we get to walk past grand old mansions and quaint cottages regularly. One of my favorites has a hay bale hauler near the peak of its roof.

In the family stories passed down to my sister and me, we’ve heard that one time, our maternal grandfather’s wedding ring got caught on part of a hay bale hauler, and he hung there until they could “reel him in.” Not an ideal pick-me-up.

Laughter, especially that of my granddaughter, instantly picks me up, lifts my spirit.

What lifts your spirit? Click To Tweet

What lifts your spirit?

The Road Less Traveled

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

Metaphorically speaking, a person who takes “the road less traveled” is someone who acts independently. They’re free from conforming to others (who choose to take “the road more often traveled”).

I took this photo at the Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge Center near Lake Lowell in Nampa, Idaho.

This person generally makes their own choices and perhaps leaves a new trail that will become the road more often traveled (until, of course, someone takes the road less traveled).

When was the last time you blazed a new trail—took the road less traveled? Click To Tweet

When was the last time you blazed a new trail—took the road less traveled?

YOU-nique

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Laurie Buchanan

There’s not another person in the entire world who’s exactly like you.

Law enforcement agencies and certain governmental departments use FINGERPRINTS to identify people. That’s because no two people in the world have the same prints.

Scientists in Japan have discovered that our LIPS are distinctive too. Just like fingerprints, lips have little markings on them, tiny grooves in the skin, and each person has a different pattern.

No two people have the same SMELL. Police and other tracking dogs can follow a person’s scent—without getting mixed up—just by the smell (scent trail) a person leaves behind.

EYES, too, are used for identification. Just like fingerprints, every eye in the world is different.

Our TEETH are different as well. That’s why our dental records can be used for identification.

My favorite thing about me? My earlobes. Definitely my earlobes!

What's your favorite thing about you? Click To Tweet

What’s your favorite thing about you?

Tuesdays with Laurie

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." —Laurie Buchanan

Author Archives: Laurie Buchanan