How Traveling & Change is Great for LIFE & CREATIVITY – WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS | XO, MACENNA EP. 19

I recently had the chance to visit France! There I roamed the bustling Paris flea markets in search of vintage home decor and explored the Provence region in the south of France. In today’s episode, I wanted to share how taking a trip, big or small, can have an impact on your life and get your creative juices flowing. I came back from that trip feeling so inspired and with a new perspective on design.

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Coming up in today’s episode it’s not really in the culture on the surface to really request anything special or ask for something that’s off menu or ask for a milk substitute or things like that so that just in and of itself is a cultural difference I was able to see that style

Paired towards other things that I really love and see how it could actually work really well and be more eclectic and feel more different more special and have more character than something that was solid I’ve been still walking through the neighborhood and I’ve been taking a different direction

Every day which is cool because I’m seeing something different I’ve even seen houses in our neighborhood that are beautiful and has inspired really random things like the landscaping for the cottage or something you know like I’ll just take kind of a mental note of it and it’s really changed my perspective

And really helped really like my creativity a lot this podcast is kindly sponsored by Squarespace Squarespace is an online platform where you can design a custom website that fits the needs of your business and brand and my website xom.com is entirely designed and powered on Squarespace and I love it Squarespace

Is always involving in adding new features for creators like myself and Shop owners to better share their voice and products so check out squarespace.com for a free trial and start building your website and when you’re ready to launch go to squarespace.com sxo to save 10% off your first purchase

Of a website or domain the fall and holiday season is always super busy for Romeo and I which doesn’t leave us a ton of time to figure out what to cook for dinner and that’s why we love hellofresh with over 40 recipes to choose from every week we are always getting to cook

And eat something new and my favorite part is I don’t have to go to the grocery store ingredients arrive at our doorstep pre-portioned and ready to cook along with pictured step-by-step recipe cards so go to hellofresh.com 5xo and use code 50 XO for 50% off plus

Free shipping use code 50 XO for 50% off plus free shipping by going to hellofresh.com 5xo thank you to hellofresh for kindly sponsoring this Episode oh you guys I am just now getting back in the swing of things from our epic trip to France truly it was so much fun it was I mean I’m I was really tired I think the reason that we had decided uh last year when we I went to Europe the

Fir for the very first time last year Romeo and I and we decided to take a tour and go on a Ki tour so that we could see a lot and not have to plan anything right I feel like that was the best decision too because we got to see

So much but we didn’t actually have to do anything we just had to show up on time so in terms of like moving from country to Country and hotel to hotel and even seeing like more of the touristy type things in each place was all taken care of for us so it was

Really really nice and then once we went on that trip it kind of told us kind of where we wanted to go back to so a big place and a big reason why we wanted to go back to Paris is because we didn’t get to visit the Paris Flea Markets you

Know anything about me and Romeo we love secondhand we love thrift shopping I personally love to buy home decor secondhand he loves secondhand clothing mintage clothing so together we just we we really really like it and when we were in Paris it wasn’t over a weekend

And we didn’t get to go because it only happens if you if you’ve never been or haven’t heard of it the Paris Flea Market Market it’s like a big flea market made up of smaller flea markets in between um that all kind of have their own unique kind of style and it

Happens every weekend so Saturday Sunday and some on Monday uh so you have to be there on a weekend and just how our tour lined up we weren’t there you know it just it how it happened but I loved Paris and being in France so much when

We went on our tour that I knew I wanted to go back so not this past Mother’s Day in 2023 but Mother’s Day 2022 I actually gave my mom a trip to Paris CU I was like what better person to come with us to the flea markets than

My mom my mom loves to go to flea markets you know so we flea market a lot together we love the same type of style of Home Decor as well up with for the most part um we kind of Go in different directions on the same style but a lot

Of our Styles cross over um from ornate frames and you know French style and things like that so I happen to be a little more moodier I like the moodier side of French provincial style she likes more brighter side we compliment each other really well so we were in

France for 8 days and we stayed in Paris first we flew into Paris we stayed in the most beautiful 18th century home that was so carefully curated with the most beautiful old things it was very much my vibe very much my style I just could not wait to stay there it was

Truly incredible um and then we stayed there for four nights and then we took the train down to the south of France and we stayed in exen provance and we stayed um not we stayed really like Central in like the old part the old town of EX and provance because I really

Wanted to be within walking distance to the flea market that was happening like basically on our street and also we went to like H the atellier of Pulsa on we walked up like it if you haven’t watched the series over on my Vlog Channel exom makina Vlogs you definitely should check

It out if you are any in any way curious it was a truly amazing trip and it was just it was incredible and before that trip I had very much been feeling like I was in um somewhat of a creative rut when I kind of put a pause on working on

The cottage I had worked on the cottage every day morning to night for about 2 and a half years renovating everything with my own two hands and it just took a toll on me physically and emotionally and also creatively I just felt like I would start a new project and I just wasn’t

Inspired anymore I really I’m usually with a project really in tune with where I want to go or the direction that it’s going to take and of course I let every project kind of take on a mind of its own but it I really wasn’t coming to me

Like I would go into like one of the bedrooms or one of the bathrooms room or the next major space I was going to take on and I was like I don’t know I you know it just you can kind of your your creativity cup can kind of run

Out and I felt like about May of this year my creativity cup had run out so it was really itching to just do something different no matter what it was and I pretty much changed everything about my life at that point I was like okay for the summer I’m going

To go home to Cali uh we’re really going to just like take it slower cuz maybe I was just really tired and take it slower take a step back work on projects still because obviously I love to do projects I love to do it but like maybe changing it up

Would give me like a a you know a different kind of spark of creativity which it really did because this particular house is is different than the cottage in terms of style and made that decision came to California rested for a little bit felt inspired tackled the room that we’re currently sitting in

Which I love and I really took my time with it and let it really come to me and slowly but surely that creativity cup started to fill back up but it never got really full because I was really itching to just go somewhere or do something

Different or just be inspired and I I feel like the the biggest way to shake up your creativity and just your perspective on things is to travel to somewhere that doesn’t speak your Lang language that doesn’t live like you live that doesn’t have the culture that you

Live and of course that’s not possible for everybody and and that’s not possible all the time this podcast is kindly sponsored by Squarespace Squarespace is an online platform where you can design a custom website that fits the needs of your business and brand and my website xom.com is entirely

Designed and powered on Squarespace and I love it Squarespace is always evolving and adding new features for creators like myself and Shop owners to better share their voice and products if you’re like me and would love to share your passion for home decor through blogging and content creation or DIY your own

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Of a website or domain the fall and holiday season is always super busy for Romeo and I which doesn’t leave us a ton of time to figure out what to cook for dinner and that’s why we love hellofresh with over 40 recipes to choose from every week we are always getting to cook

And eat something new and my favorite part is I don’t have to go to the grocery store ingredients arrive at our doorstep pre-portioned and ready to cook along with pictured step-by-step recipe cards and from hellofresh Market we can add on more items to our delivery every week from desserts like apple cider cake

With caramel sauce to appetizers like barbecue pulled pork nachos I’ve never been much of a cook and I can’t easily whip up a meal from scratch so hellofresh allows me to make yummy dinners for Romeo and I every week like the creamy lemon butter chicken with

Zucchini and couscous that I made for us last night so go to hellofresh.com 5xo and use code 50 XO for 50% off plus free shipping use code 50 XO for 50% off plus free shipping by going to hellofresh.com 5xo thank you to hellofresh for kindly sponsoring this episode I’ve now

Traveled out of the country several times but I did not step foot or fly out of the country until I was 30 yeah never never went anywhere never even went to an enjoining like country like Mexico or Canada never I haven’t I still haven’t been to either

Of those those places uh so it for a long time I just knew what I knew I knew our culture I knew our language I knew the way that we lived what we were accustomed to um which was great which was fine and I still feel like there

Were ways to fill up my creative cup you know we could take small trips I went all over the United States really I’ve been to lots of different states um and I’ve lived in lots of different places so I think that that kind of helped um stimulate and just taking a small trip

To somewhere I haven’t been before really really just gives you a little bit of A New Perspective but traveling abroad is a totally different it it’s it’s a totally different game so going to France obviously they do not speak English majority some do obviously um

But I also know a little French so it helped me you know kind of get out of my own comfort zone and really you know force myself to do something that wasn’t comfortable and I don’t speak French every day so it took me a minute to really get comfortable with actually

Speaking it and it I was pretty proud that people thought I SP spoke French from the little bit that I did speak they obviously don’t have the same culture um as us I feel like after this last trip I really uh realized and it’s solidified that America is a very um for

Lack of a better turn like a a you can customize anything here it’s it’s like you can go like let’s take Starbucks as an example you can literally customize everything about your coffee order and if you go to a restaurant you can kind of request certain things and I think

That uh here you hear a lot more about Alternatives like milk Alternatives and substitutions and the allergies of it all and I feel like that’s very culturally that’s how we experience everyday life so I’m not allergic to anything in I’m not allergic to really anything food related um but I do use a

Milk alternative so we went to France you won’t catch me asking that question for a milk alternative unless it’s listed on their menu ever um there’s it’s not really in the culture on the surface to really request anything special or ask for something that’s off menu or ask for a milk

Substitute or things like that so that just in and of itself is a cultural difference I feel like my mom experience that more than anything um because she really enjoys ice in things like ice water ice things like cold things so they don’t they don’t don’t really do

That there it’s not really super common to have ice um in your drinks at all um if you request it they might give you a cube a lot of the places that we went to didn’t even have an ice machine it wasn’t something that they had abundance

Of so you’re not going to get like a lot of it I guess it depends on where you go really so when you you get out of your element you go abroad you’re changing you know your language often times you’re changing your culture and when I

Travel I really like to live like a local that’s why I choose to stay in airbnbs and really get to experence um what it’s like to live in the different neighborhoods and live like someone else would because airbnbs obviously you’re staying pretty much in someone’s home um or a home that they’ve

Turned into just like a a short-term rental so you get to experience travel in such a different way than if I was to go to Paris and stay in a high wise if I would you get to experience travel in such a different way the alternative to that would be to go to

Paris and stay in a really modern new westernized kind of building and if I could get it here in America I don’t want it somewhere else I really want to experience the culture and um really get to experience the way that they live there so breaking out of my comfort zone

Getting out of the country taking my mom and Romeo experiencing all the new things staying in the new neighborhoods exploring the different flea markets and seeing the different styles and going down to the south of France taking the train for the first time through the country

So beautiful like just all of that has left me feeling like my creativity cup is very full right now it really is it’s it’s it’s a good feeling because I feel super inspired to do something and um I feel really like motivated to try new things and I have a different

Perspective and outlook on specific designs so I’m feeling great right now if you haven’t heard I also just did my haul of all of the pieces that I actually found at the Paris Flea and I brought back which is super exciting um you know I

Was pretty sad to get to the airport and them tell me that I had extra space you know like it I wasn’t to the weight restriction so I was like I could have filled it more I didn’t really have a lot of space space but I had weight left

You know so that was disappointing to hear I could have brought back more but I really do feel like I bought everything that I really wanted so that makes me really happy and just the experience alone was totally worth it and uh just so much fun my mom brought

Back a ton her luggage was definitely heavier than mine um she had a hard time getting her stuff from my house in California back to Texas too I think some stuff is left upstairs so in addition to wanting to go back to France um just to visit the Paris Flea Markets

I also wanted to go back because I actually have a very French provincial um French influenced style of Home Decor that I love and especially going down to provance I mean that’s where French provential really started right like it’s just to see all of the architecture

And the color paletts and the how the light streams through the trees and the atier of peson and just things it was truly truly amazing for my own creative kind of like outlook on the style and so it’s really inspired me to come back and really see how those

Elements and what I’ve seen really starts to inject and incorporate and Inspire my work here one thing in particular that it is already inspired uh is I’m currently working on our primary bathroom kind of mini makeover if you will uh we don’t want to renovate right now and we want to really figure

Out what we want to do with that space in addition to the kitchen but the primary bathroom is just very blah it was very blah before I started it’s got White Walls it’s got all white Square Tile shining tile lots of silver which you know that if you know anything about

My design style I don’t gravitate towards silver at all I love brass antique brass even black even not silver but what it does have are these little floral like leaf like designed tiles and they’re very small but they’re kind of set inside in a diamond pattern inside

The white square tiles uh so it’s it gives it a little bit and then what they’ve done is in our primary bathroom the previous owners had taken I guess inspiration from those tiles and painted the Cabinetry a dark dark chalky blue and for how many how many months have we

Lived here we um we bought this house in in November we moved in in January so we’ve lived here for nine months I’ve hated that tile that blue tile I have hated it until I went to France because I saw so much of that tile in France in so many things in tile

In little Ceramics in hand painted things around I I even picked up a couple two to bring back so I I just kept seeing that recur throughout the French style that it actually made me embrace it a little more because I was being I was able to see that style

Paired towards other things that I really love and see how it could actually work really well and be more eclectic and feel more different more special and have more character than something that was solid or maybe a different pattern or a different color so coming back I went into the bathroom

And I was like huh I really don’t hate that now that’s really what I saw all over France um so I that definitely inspired me and now I’ve taken it further and wanted to design that room it inspired me so much that I actually wanted to jump into the bathroom next

And figure out how I could Elevate everything else to match that tile or to accent that tile rather because to I don’t want at this stage to tear out any tile if you ever torn Out tile in your home you know how much of a job it is

And how much mess it makes and how much you ruin things around it like the flooor and the the wall behind the tile um when they install it they mean it to stay for sure so I wasn’t in the mood to do any kind of major renovation so

Instead embracing that blue and white and incorporating the other elements that we’re going to be putting into the bathroom I’ve already done the floor it already looks better which also was inspired by our trip we were staying in that 18th century Airbnb and when you walked down the stairs there was a a

Checkered pattern a diamond diamond shaped pattern of alternating darker tile and white tile and we saw that all throughout France obviously that’s super classic and when you think of French style and French design that’s often a flooring that you’ll see Incorporated some kind of diamond alternating color

We actually saw in one of the buildings or somewhere that we were my I saw it and I made a mental note of it and then my mom pointed it out and I was like oh yeah I’ve to do something like that our next partner is ag1 the daily foundational nutrition supplement that

Supports whole body health and I gave ag1 a try a few months ago when I felt like I was getting really exhausted in the afternoons and I was resorting to multiple cups of coffee throughout the day and just overall wasn’t feeling my best and now I drink ag1 in the

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Someone that doesn’t like to take a bunch of pill form supplements you are going to love ag1 if you want to take ownership of your health try ag1 and get a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free ag1 travel packs with your first purchase go to drink a1.com

Sxo that’s drink a1.com sxo to check it out I really try to live a healthy lifestyle you know staying active by walking with Kinsley in the mornings and working on my renovation projects and eating well but I don’t always know that I’m getting all the nutrients I need from food every day so

I’ve been taking rituals essential for women 18 plus for years now to fill those gaps in my nutrition and I take two ritual capsules every day that contain nine key nutrients such as Vitamin D B12 and iron and the caps have a minty coating that makes them so much

More enjoyable to take every day than other multivitamins that I’ve taken in the past I love that each ingredient is high quality and traceable so you can see exactly where each is sourced right on their website and ritual is one of the few women’s multivitamins that’s USP verified meaning that’s what’s on the

Label is what’s in the formula it’s also soyf free gluten-free vegan friendly and formulated without GMO no more shady business rituals essential for women 18 plus is a multivitamin you can actually trust ritual is offering my listeners 30% off during your first month visit ritual.com sxo to start

Ritual or add essential for women 18 plus to your subscription today thank you to Ritual for kindly sponsoring this episode in one of the buildings they had the same diamond pattern flooring but it was a lot calmer it wasn’t so Stark black and stark white it

Was a more of a cream and a gray and it was so much more calming on the eye it wasn’t so harsh and so when I came back and had the inspiration to do the bathroom I actually found peel and stick tiles from Lowe’s and there were two different products two different colors

They weren’t Lowe’s didn’t Market them as something you could do together but I was in the store and I kind of took them down and tried to create that pattern myself and it worked and for $50 we were able to update the flooring in the bathroom for now until we renovate

Granted it is peel and stick tile and it is vinyl so it doesn’t feel like real ceramic or porcelain tile or marble it it doesn’t feel like that uh but does it look a lot better and will it carry us through 1,000% and so all of the things that I

Brought back from the flea market and all of the inspiration that I’ve brought back in my own mind and my cre creativity bucket really full just reminded me that kind of just getting out of your comfort zone or changing up your routine and changing up something

In life uh really can give you a different perspective and I know that traveling abroad isn’t for everybody and you can’t do it all the time so I’ve been thinking about ways that I can do that here at home and whether that is still traveling and maybe taking a small

Trip somewhere really close by where you can drive and maybe stay a night or two or it’s just a day trip to somewhere that you’ve never been close to home especially as The Season’s changing and we’re in Fall now I’m always inspired by the you know the changing leaves and The

Fall season and the brisk air and the colors and so like going somewhere where you can see more of that change in the season could be really really magical or I was even thinking like taking something that we probably do every day whether you drive to and from work or

You’re going to the grocery store or you’re taking a walk in your neighborhood I was even thinking like what about just changing the direction driving a completely different way you know like take a different route if there’s a different route that you can take to work try it maybe you’re going

To see a new restaurant that you want to try or you know you’re going to see things from a different way or even I thought on my walks um through the neighborhood I’ve actually already been doing this since I got back from Paris cuz we walked so much all over the

Country uh we are walking between 15,000 and 25,000 steps a day and naturally I don’t do that many steps and so coming home I sit at a computer all day long or I’m doing things with my arms but I’m not really walking a lot so I’ve been still walking through the neighborhood

And I’ve been taking a different direction every day which is cool because I’m seeing something different I’ve even seen houses in our neighborhood that are beautiful and has inspired really random things like the landscaping for the cottage or something you know like I’ll just take kind of a

Mental note of it and it’s really changed my perspective and really helped really like my creativity a lot I think we get used to seeing things a certain way all the time and it can feel like I remember driving on my way to work my corporate job and I wouldn’t I began not

Even remembering driving there you know how you just go into autopilot and I would get in my car and then I’d just end up at work now I’m saying that lightly like I didn’t close my eyes and somehow I was there obviously I was cognizant of something that I was doing

And I knew I was driving but your mind wanders you start thinking about something else because it’s something you’ve done every day it’s it’s monotonous it’s it’s the same so it’s not really enriching your life in any way it’s just downtime so like I could imagine like just even changing the way

That I went if I had time to you know or walking a different way I feel like getting out of the everyday routine can really change our perspective on a lot of things we just get so used to seeing things the same way one way all the time

That changing it up can only benefit us in a good way you know what I mean so I know that I’m feeling really excited after coming back from Paris um if you guys have ever been or you’ve gone abroad or it is greatly impra your creativity please let us know how and

You know like what you do or what you do differently to just stimulate creativity can be anything truly we would love to hear from you guys I always want to know what kind of topics you want to talk about too uh especially now that we’re

In a new season and we’re coming up on the holidays please please let me know I am feeling very very inspired to tackle projects here at the at the house and we’re going to be working on the bathroom and then I want to do some bookshelves and I want to decorate more

For fall and you know we’re in kind of spooky season right now Halloween is coming up um and we’re in like Thanksgiving and then we’re in the Christmas and this time of year is really just inspiring to me in general this is I know that the holidays can

Either like you can go one way or another you can love the holiday season or the holiday season can super stress you out and it’s not for you I am very much a lover of the holiday season it brings me so much joy it puts a huge

Smile on my face even seeing people decorate for Halloween and just like have fun with the holidays really really makes me like really happy it’s it’s it’s so special so I hope you guys are having a great fall so far I hope it’s feeling it is still a little warm here

In La it’s not really feeling like the season has really changed um so we’re still hanging on to Summer but I hope you guys are having a great season and stay tuned for more uh renovation and I hope you guys enjoyed this episode stay tuned for more projects coming really

Really soon and let me know in the comments if you’re watching on the YouTube channel what you would love to hear I will see you guys very soon for another episode bye Guys our next partner is ag1 the daily foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole body health and I gave ag1 a try a few months ago when I felt like I was getting really exhausted in the afternoons and I was resorting to multiple cups of coffee throughout the

Day and just overall wasn’t feeling my best and now I drink ag1 in the afternoon before diving into a big project that I’m working on and it makes me feel so energized and like I’m giving my body the nutrition that it craves ag1 was designed with ease in mind so you can

Live healthier and better without having to complicate your routine it’s just one scoop of ag1 into 12 O of cold water and every scoop of ag1 is packed with 75 vitamins minerals probiotics and Whole Food Source ingredients that give major benefits like boosted energy gut and mood support

And even healthier looking skin hair and nails and if you’re someone that doesn’t like to take a bunch of pill form supplements you are going to love ag1 if you want to take ownership of your health try ag1 and get a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free ag1

Travel packs with your first purchase go to drink AG 1.com sxo that’s drink a1.com sxo to check it out I really try to live a healthy lifestyle you know staying active by walking with Kinsley in the mornings and working on my renovation projects and eating well but I don’t always know that

I’m getting all the nutrients I need from food every day so I’ve been taking rituals essential for women 18 plus for years now to fill those gaps in my nutrition and I take two ritual capsules every day that contain nine key nutrients such as Vitamin D B12 and iron

And the capsules have a minty coating that makes them so much more enjoyable to take every day than other multivitamins that I’ve taken in the past I love that each ingredient is high quality and traceable so you can see exactly where each is sourced right on

Their website and ritual is one of the few women’s multivitamins that’s USP verified meaning that’s what’s on the label is what’s in the formula it’s also soyf free gluten-free vegan friendly and formulated without GMOs no more shady business rituals essential for women 18 plus is a multivitamin you can actually

Trust ritual is offering my listeners 30% off during your first month visit ritual.com sxo to start ritual or add essential for women 18 plus to your subscription today thank you to Ritual for kindly sponsoring this episode