Liz Bell Young is with me today for a conversation I didn’t know how much I needed. I messaged her afterward and asked that we always be friends, as I am not one to hold back my undying admiration and love. You will want to message her the same thing once you hear her talk about real, uncomplicated hospitality and how to create havens for the people around you. Liz is an artist, an author, an experience designer, and she collaborates with really cool people at Magnolia and Anthropologie. She is also an approachable and lovely Midwest girl and after drinking in her new beautiful book, Let There Be Havens: An Invitation to Gentle Hospitality, I was honored to get to talk with her.

Liz Bell Young is a writer and experience designer. Author of the memoir In the Wide Country of Love and creator of the Anthropologie-distributed Haven magazine, Young is an MFA graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Cincinnati. Young is a contributing writer for Magnolia Journal, Artifact Uprising, and Darling, among others. Young founded Haven Creative Studio and is a creative consultant for clients, including Procter & Gamble, Crossroads Church, and Stan Smith Events. Young and her husband, Ryan, live in Ohio with their three children. Find her online at lizbellyoung.com and @lizbellyoung.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Hannah Brencher is on the other side of a fascinating experiment that helped her redefine what it means to be living in this time, this place, and what it really means to take good care of ourselves in this digital and depleting world. I’m coming out of a very intense work season, and I’m looking at the aftermath and wondering anew what it means to take good, deep care of ourselves and of each other in all seasons, not just the calm ones but the busy and sorrowful and mournful ones and happy and swamped seasons too. I’m curious about what I don’t know, and after a year of 1,000 unplugged hours, Brencher has a lot to say about what we can gain by giving up the lesser things.

Hannah Brencher is a writer, TED speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded The World Needs More Love Letters, a global community dedicated to sending letter bundles to those who need encouragement. Named as one of the White House’s “Women Working to Do Good,” Hannah has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Oprah, Glamour, USATODAY.com, the Chicago Tribune, and more. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Lane, and daughter Novalee. Find Hannah at hannahbrencher.com and @hannahbrencher.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Happy summer and welcome to this special bonus episode of For Real! Today we are chatting about the glories of summer, most notably the State Fair! The Fair is a big deal around here, and it’s been that way for 170 years. Whether you are a Fair person or an air-conditioning-and-please-don’t-make-me-go-to-the-Fair person, I think you’ll love this behind-the scenes conversation about food competitions at the Fair. Let me just say I am not meant to be a judge in the tofu division. Carol McGarvey and Kay Fenton Smith have gathered history, human interest stories, and a treasure trove of blue ribbon recipes, and I had a blast hearing about their passion in this delightful, sunny conversation.

Kay Fenton Smith has been winning ribbons and learning the Iowa State Fair Food Competitions since 2007. She learned from her mom in upstate New York where she and her siblings also loved going to the State Fair in Syracuse.

A native of Boone and Perry, Iowa, Carol McGarvey is a proud graduate of Iowa State University with a B.S. in home economics journalism. She started as a food judge as part of her job as a features reporter for The Des Moines Register.

Learn more about their book, Baking Blue Ribbons, here.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.