VAGRANT
va·grant
adjective ⎯⎯⎯ /ˈvāgrənt/
moving from place to place; wandering.
I’ve never been one to enjoy change.
I’m good at embracing it, but I’ve never liked it.
I’m a socially anxious planner with ADHD, which means whether I’m starting a new job, moving to a new state, or making a phone call to literally anyone, I have to plan out every possible scenario at least 30 minutes in advance and make sure I’m ready for the worst possible outcome. My excuse is that I like to be over-prepared, but in reality I might just be a bit of a nutcase.
All that’s to say that I’ve become accustomed to change my whole life–I moved between towns and school systems my entire childhood; I’ve lived in 4 different states down the east coast and now live in Chicago, just because; I changed my college major (and schools) more than a couple of times until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.
I’ve worked in a dog kennel and in bakeries and in customer service and in retail–during holiday season, no less. My personal style changes on a biweekly basis.
And after spending my whole life dreaming about it, I actually got to travel the world, staying in a new country every month for the better part of two years.
Essentially, my life has felt like years of wandering around not knowing exactly what I was looking for, but knowing I was hungry for something. It took me longer than I expected to halfway figure it out, but we’re making good progress, I think.
APPETITE
ap·pe·tite
noun ⎯⎯⎯ /ˈapəˌtīt/
a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food.
I know that saying “I love food” is a total cop-out for someone who runs a food blog. Like, we know you love food… everyone loves food. You’d be certifiably insane if you didn’t love food.
But even as a writer who drafts novels in her spare time, prides herself on being eloquent and articulate, and is known to write a killer email for any scenario you could imagine–I can’t think of a better way to sum up how I feel better than saying that I just really. f*cking. love. food.
I’ve always known that I wanted to pursue food as a career (I’m talking Easy-Bake Oven days, people), and that dream has looked a little different over the years.
It started out as me wanting to open my own bakery (age 5), then wanting to be a food/restaurant critic (age 10), then wanting to run a food blog (age 16), then wanting to be a pastry chef at a restaurant (age 18), then back to opening a bakery (age 21), and NOW it’s wanting to be a food photographer and blogger who travels the world until she’s old enough to settle down and open a bookstore with a bakery inside. (phew.)
I wonder how long it’ll be before I come up with another dream life, huh?
I’ve really just always had a huge appetite for food–literally and figuratively. I love tasting new foods no matter how full I am, learning about different cultural dishes, trying my hand at making whatever I happen to be craving that particular moment, even if I don’t know how.
Long story short: I always have a craving for damn good food, and I want to share it with anyone who’ll follow along.
Vagrant Appetite is my passion-project-turned-hopeful-career. It’s a space where I can mesh all of my loves–food, photography, travel, writing, expression in all forms. It’s my love letter to anyone like me, just trying to find your way through the world with a yearning to do what you love, whatever that may be.
If you have an appetite for adventure, a tendency to roam, and love pictures of beautiful food and beautiful places, then stay a while.
I hope you find joy in the things that I share, because for me, they’re everything.