Mind Vacation № 19: Finding the Pocket of "Ease”
New long sleeve t-shirt, my grandmas wooden bowl and little bits from the ocean.
We’ve got a little housecleaning to do! It seems that our Mind Vacation blog posts took their own vacation. To usher them back into the fold, and into 2025 we’re going to introduce a new format. It’s like a conversation with Jen. Casual. Fun. And you don’t know where it’s going to go!
Why did you start Mind Vacation?
I started the Mind Vacation series with the encouragement of a former brand person I was working with. It was mid-2022 and she had an idea that we could do a newsletter that kind of mimicked the way I am conversationally, which is chatty and uninhibited. I was like “sure, why not” and while I felt self conscious, I still went with it. We wrote it together and it was an experience that I treasure … I love the co-writing experience … especially when I get to talk and someone else writes and edits! Mind Vacation was always intended to be more frequent than it turned out to be, which is a lesson in itself. After parting ways with the brand person, I intended to keep the series going on my own and I tried. In 2024, I only did two posts, so clearly 2024 wasn’t the year to tackle it on a regular basis. SO now we are here and it is 2025 and I’m feeling inspired to kick it back up again. BUT I swear, if it all feels way too overthought, it gets overwhelming and I just can’t do it. Luckily though I have Taylor helping me with newsletters and correspondences through my email list and she suggested we kick it up. I thought this interview-conversational idea feels like I can approach it with ease. That really is the goal for me in 2025, to find that pocket of “ease” where things can flow freely.
Where do you want the series to go this year?
I’d like to bring the behind-the-scenes of a small business, with all it’s twists and turns, to light. A place to talk about my painting as it transforms. Lots of honest, real talk… you know, that kind of thing.
What are you personally MOST excited to get back into as you start the new year?
Back to my painting. Big changes are happening and it is feeling really good and I just want to keep it going.
Any insights on where Jenny Pennywood is heading this year and what we should get excited for?
We are dropping new napkins, tea towels, new sock styles, a few new sweatshirt styles and the most exciting things are t-shirts! They are RAD. (The first drop is already online!) We’re also exploring and producing “underthings” (yup, that means underwear) and more styles of socks such as sheer socks. Want more? We do too! We also have a new pattern coming later this spring called Dottie.
I hope you’ll stick around because I’m truly excited to jump back into Mind Vacations again. I’m hoping it can be a place to genuinely share, expand on small business topics, get behind the scenes, explore my artwork, and stay out of the weeds that social media and the news can become.
Thanks for being here.
xoxo
Jen
