do what you love Page 49 of 61

13 page spread in ‘Mingle’ (new magazine from Stampington!)

Posted on 2011-10-05 at 10:04 am.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the preview copy of Mingle, the gorgeous new magazine from Stampington which is all about ‘creative ideas for unique gatherings’.

The Do What You Love retreat is brought to life in 13 beautiful pages, featuring a few words from me and a host of photographs from the very talented Christine Boyd and Xander Neal of NavyBlur. Editor-in-Chief Christen Olivarez has done an incredible job.

This is a sneak peek of some of those pages… you can get your own copy from bookshops across the US or by mail order direct from Stampington.

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By the way, if you missed it the Do What You Love retreat film premiere is now showing here!

Do What You Love film premiere!

Posted on 2011-10-03 at 11:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

So excited to finally release this short (4 minute) film from the Do What You Love retreat held in Yorkshire in May. It was a really special event, which Jack and Rafael of Nut Films have captured perfectly in this short film featuring Matt Stinchcomb (European Director of Etsy), Flora Bowley, Rachel Hazell and me (excuse me for looking very tired!)

Thanks so much to everyone at the retreat for letting us use this footage. It will be archived on the retreat page here. I’d love to know what you think!

PS News of the next one will be announced at some point in the coming months. If you want to be the first to hear about it make sure you are on the mailing list (sign up here).

(Image: Navy Blur)

Featured in new magazine from Stampington!

Posted on 2011-09-14 at 8:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Have you heard about ‘Mingle’, the new magazine from Stampington? It is all about creative gatherings and is sure to be full of delicious images and inspiring words. I am excited that the Do What You Love retreat is going to be featured in the inaugural issue, out on October 1!

NB: For those of you like me who don’t like in the US, you can order Stampington magazines through their website here.

Flying the nest… we’re moving to Japan!

Posted on 2011-09-09 at 10:43 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I am a wanderer at heart, but I am also Taurean through and through – which means I like to surround myself with beautiful things, and create a secure home. This internal contradiction often pulls me in different directions, and right now has manifested itself as a very exciting decision… we are moving to Japan from next March for 8-9 months!

Image: Cover of ‘Kodansha Bilingual Encyclopedia of Japan’

Last Summer we bought our lovely house, and have been so happy here, but in the past few months my man and I have started to get itchy feet. I have long had a deep love of Japan, having lived in Kyoto for a year as a 19-year old student, and then in the snowy north, and in Tokyo for four more years in my twenties. My man spent several years of his childhood in Hong Kong, but has never been to Japan, so we decided that now is as good a time as any!

To me Japan is a magical place, a breathtakingly beautiful place, and a place where anything seems possible. It has also been home to some of my craziest, funniest adventures, and most deeply thought-provoking experiences. I have found myself dreaming of Kyoto quite often recently, and have long harboured a secret wish to spend several months just wandering – taking photos, writing, exploring, catching up with old friends, doing a class or two in indigo dyeing, papermaking or pottery perhaps… And my man wants to learn the language which has captivated me. So he is taking a sabbatical, and will study in the mornings, then spend the rest of the time exploring. And as for me – I have no plan whatsoever!

I have a feeling this is going to be a very precious time, and I want to soak in every inch of it. And I cannot wait to share it all with you!

PS. For this reason I have decided not to run a Do What You Love retreat in England next year. The next one will be in 2013 – I hope you can wait that long! (And maybe, just maybe, I’ll organise one in Japan, if anyone would be interested??)

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Did you hear the news? The Art and Business of Surface Pattern featuring Rachael Taylor launched yesterday! You will LOVE it – take a look over here!

Roadtrip #9: Strange times in the Catskills

Posted on 2011-09-06 at 3:07 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

I don’t really know what to say about the Catskills. Up in the mountains the views are amazing, and I can imagine it is a fantastic place to ski in winter. But we had a bizarre experience there and surprised ourselves by not staying very long.

It was the height of the tourist season and the weekend of the crazy Warrior Dash (where people do fun things like fire jumping, pond swimming and mud crawling – so the place was full of people caked in crusty mud!) and nearly every room in the town of Windham was taken. The only room we could find at short notice was in a B&B which we joked looked like something out of a horror film from the photos on its website. When we got there, it was just as weird as we had joked it might be! It was isolated, gloomy and imposing, hidden at the edge of dark woods. We had the worst night’s sleep ever and got up aching all over at about 5am to be greeted by a wild storm. You know how a bad situation can actually send you into a fit of laughter? That’s what we were like as we wondered whether we were only saved from the scary B&B’s resident mad axeman because he also couldn’t move after such a bad night’s sleep…

We had come to Windham to go mountain biking and do some fun stuff on the river, but it was nearly impossible in all the wind and rain so we did something we weren’t expecting to – we left! But not until we had picked up breakfast from a fab cafe, with exposed concrete behind the counter and cool art on the exposed brick walls…

And as we were leaving things got even more strange when we saw this truck driving down the road carrying a house – you would never see that in England!

A couple of weeks later Windham was hit by the edges of Hurricane Irene and the whole place flooded. I hope it recovers in time for the winter season, as I expect it is quite a magical skiing destination at that time of year.

More roadtrip posts here: #1 For the love of travel; #2 Sharks and jellyfish; #3 Boston and Harvard; #4 A fairytale wedding; #5 On top of the world; #6 To Canada, in search of stationery; #7 Japanese paper and pattern inspiration; #8 Niagara Falls

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“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration now and places are limited so book now to secure your place. This is the last time it will run this year.

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life… Join now!

Roadtrip #8: Niagara Falls

Posted on 2011-09-03 at 1:38 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

As one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Niagara Falls is indeed stunning, but I was shocked to see how it has been completely ruined by the ugliness of the city built around it to capitalise on the visiting tourists. Concrete everywhere, huge casinos and hotels and very little else. I had heard a whisper that it was like that, but wasn’t really expecting that people could actually build in such an unsympathetic way next to somewhere so naturally beautiful.

On my travels I have had the good fortune to see the Iguacu Falls in Brazil/Argentina, and the Victoria Falls in Zambia (where I took a helicopter ride over it to see how the falls are really just a huge gash in the landscape – breathtaking). In both cases visitor numbers are high but the locals have realised the value of the natural wonder they have been blessed with and have sensitively preserved it. What a pity the same hasn’t been done at Niagara.

Mother Nature triumphed in the end though – as we were leaving (and as most of the other visitors were arriving), a beautiful rainbow appeared and stretched up into the sky right in front of our eyes. Magic.

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“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration now and places are limited so book now to secure your place. This is the last time it will run this year.

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life…

Join now!

Roadtrip #7: Japanese paper and pattern inspiration

Posted on 2011-09-02 at 11:02 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Found in this little slice of heaven in Montreal…

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Other roadtrip posts: #1 For the love of travel; #2 Sharks and jellyfish; #3 Boston and Harvard; #4 A fairytale wedding; #5 On top of the world; #6 To Canada, in search of stationery

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“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration now. Places are limited so book now to secure your place. This is the last time it will run this year.

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life… Join now!

Roadtrip #6: To Canada, in search of stationery…

Posted on 2011-09-01 at 1:04 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Oh my oh my, did I find some delicious shops and cafes in Montreal. And what a fantastic city it is. Thought I would share some of my discoveries with you…

Ahh the delicious Papeterie Nota Bene at 3416 Ave du Parc (Sherbrooke St), piled high with journals and other bits of stationery goodness.

I could wander streets like this for hours (and I did!)…

Making frequent stops at cafes like this

Before setting off again to explore more streets like this

Oh yes, Montreal is definitely my kind of city.

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Pop back tomorrow to see what gorgeous things I found in Montreal’s Japanese paper shop!

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Other roadtrip posts: #1 For the love of travel; #2 Sharks and jellyfish; #3 Boston and Harvard; #4 A fairytale wedding; #5 On top of the world

***

“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration now and places are limited so book now to secure your place.

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life… Join now!

Roadtrip #5: On top of the world

Posted on 2011-08-31 at 8:28 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am afraid of heights, but I am definitely not a huge fan. But so much fun stuff happens high up, that I just had to go for it in, zip lining across the forest canopy 150 feet up and 800 feet across the mountainside, walking sky bridges and whooshing down ropes from the tops of trees.

With bungee jumping or rope swinging it’s always the jumping off bit that gets me. But this was too good to miss, and the view from the top was incredible. I probably made a few squirrels jump with my initial screams – which turned to whoops of adrenaline-fuelled joy by the end!

You should see the video footage…

We soaked up the great outdoors in the White Mountains, mountain biking for miles through forest trails, and doing stomach flips at a huge waterpark.

We had rain, we had wind, we had sun. And after all that exercise, we had a lot of food!

We stayed at this wonderful B&B in Bethlehem, which was built as a family home at the turn of the last Century. Marilyn Monroe used to spend her summers there, and Cary Grant had his honeymoon in the room next door to ours.

Lovely innkeeper Mary welcomed us with freshly baked cookies, beer in the fridge and an endless supply of delicious coffee which we drank sat on rocking chairs in the wraparound porch. We played croquet in her beautiful garden, and felt quite at home in this tiny part of New Hampshire.

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Other roadtrip posts: #1 For the love of travel; #2 Sharks and jellyfish; #3 Boston and Harvard; #4 A fairytale wedding; #6 To Canada, in search of stationery

***

“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration now. The adventure begins on September 26 but places are limited so book now to secure your place. This is the last time it will run this year.

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life… Join now!

Roadtrip #4: A fairytale wedding

Posted on 2011-08-28 at 3:33 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

It was actually a wedding invitation that took us out to the US in the first place.

One of my man’s old school friends fell in love with a lovely girl from Bow, New Hampshire, when she came to England to help develop the game of lacrosse. They decided to get married at the bride’s family home – a beautiful house set in gardens the size of a field, overlooking nothing but mountains in the far distance. The wedding was simply stunning, like something out of a film – and a very happy time was had by all.

Although the wedding was huge, it was really personal and so full of loving touches. The bride’s family even built a bar in their roof garden in the style of an English pub in honour of the groom, and put up framed vintage photos of the groom’s hometown in Manchester to make him feel part of the family.

It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between US and English weddings. One of my favourite parts was travelling from the church to the reception in an old school bus!

And the bit where the wedding party (including best man, bridesmaids etc) made a big entrance doing a funny dance. I cannot imagine that happening at most traditional weddings in England! I also loved the favours – we each found a glass jar waiting at our tables, and could fill it with as many sweets as we wanted from a table overflowing with old fashioned sweets. Perfect for the road trip ahead!

Around 50 people had flown out from England, so it was fun to have a few days enjoying the area with old and new friends. This was our second overseas wedding this year, following a gorgeous one in Greece just a couple of months ago. It is quite odd to have your holiday destination determined for you, but it is a fantastic new way of experience a place – and so much fun to party on such a special occasion in different corners of the world!

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More roadtrip adventures all next week!

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“Life-changing”, “Revolutionary”, “Awe-inspiring”, “Transformative“ – just a few of the ways former participants have described the Do What You Love e-course.

Do you fancy some of that in your life? Do you want to get closer to identifying your true passion and finding a way to do what you love, for life? Then this is for you!

This is your chance to join a global tribe of like-minded people who will support and encourage you to find your way.

It could be the most influential six weeks of your life… Join now!