A DAY OF K

Productivity and travel bugs

2015-07-06T17:03:00.000-04:00

I've been bitten by both.

The productivity bug has left me eager to pitch articles and ideas to digital outlets instead of ghostwriting for others. This bug has me wanting my own bylines once again, and eventually a well-rounded portfolio of writing clips. I've already been turned down a few times, but that just makes me more determined for some reason (this is not like me at all).

When I first thought of freelancing, it seemed impossible to do it without the help of platform, but now I see opportunities every day that excite me and pay well. I realized in the past few months that the best way to find these opportunities is to put yourself out there -- something that seems weird on the internet. To do this, I've stepped up my Linkedin game and created a Twitter account that represents me as a professional, rather than just a normal tweeter. You would be surprised how many accounts exist solely to connect writers with paying gigs.

The travel bug has infected me so severely I have to visit Italy to recover. More on that later, but if you'd like to follow along, follow me on Instagram.

Starting the freelance game strong

2015-05-22T08:30:00.000-04:00

I've written before that I get the how did you get started question pretty often when I talk to other writers who are interested in putting their skills to work online. The first, and easy answer I have to this question, is to take advantage of a platform that sources the work for you.

I've read a few articles advising freelancers who want to go full time not to do this, but the market is growing, the platforms are evolving, and if you're just starting out it's nice not to have to worry about building a website to host your own services or figure out Quickbooks for billing.

For those, and several other reasons, I started freelancing on oDesk (now Upwork). I wasn't profitable over night. In fact, it took about 2 months of active involvement in the website for me to start seeing money come through. There are several things I can credit to my reputation on the website, and these are the things I typically share with people interested in getting started.

+ Stay competitive in the beginning. Unfortunately, this means you may have to do a few projects for pretty cheap. The first job I ever did on the platform was writing a press release for $3. Luckily, that client had two more releases, so I increased the price a few dollars for each one. Once I was finished working with her, I increased my overall hourly rate, and continued to do so until it was in a range I thought was acceptable for my experience level and time.

Why?

Even if JK Rowling made an account here, she wouldn't have any feedback or client ratings, which automatically makes it harder to get good jobs in the beginning. Pricing yourself competitively helps you establish a reputation so you can go on to bid higher for future projects.

+ Focus on hourly jobs at first. This is also to build your credibility. Fixed price jobs ($100 flat fee, no matter how long it takes you, for example) aren't tracked with the website's time tracker. So you could do 500 hours in fixed-price work, but your public profile would still say 0 hours. At first glance, this makes you look too new and unexperienced. Most regular oDesk clients know those hours aren't counted, but some don't. Also, when you apply for a job, if the client has specified "100 hours" as the minimum experience level, your application will be flagged and potentially ignored.

+ Not having visible qualifications won't disqualify you, so apply if you feel confident you can deliver. Even if you're new and have a bare bones profile, explain in applications you submit that while you're new to the platform, you have plenty of outside experience. Your applications are very important, so take some time to write them as if it were a job you'd apply for in person. List previous jobs you've had that required similar skills, link to published pieces, and specifically address points the client lists in their project description.

Hopefully this is useful for getting started. Your profile, like a resume, is very important. I plan to write solely on this topic shortly...

(stock photo by Christina)

Viva Italia

2015-05-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time in high school, I worked at a tiny, Italian cafe to pay for my extracurricular activities. I introduced my manager to my bestfriend, and before long we were running the place on weekends without supervision. This meant we spent a lot of time eating savory turkey sandwiches smothered in sweet basil pesto and dipping little taster spoons into the luscious swirls of gelato we took our time carving in for decoration. Sounds pretty great, right?

The 600-pound obese toddler inside me admits that it was.

After I moved on to college, that little cafe closed down and I had to scour menus at Italian restaurants to find pesto of that same quality and flavor. However, it was actually at Sams Club that I found it. Now, each summer when it appears on the shelf, I can't help but to buy it. Nick has even caught on, so we've been slathering it on crusty loaves of bread and even made some pizzas with it.

This little Italian picnic we had got me pretty excited to fly back to Italy this summer. Nick's grandmother is Italian, so we stay in her Tuscan home and venture out to nearby towns. We've been together once before, but this time we're also going to spend some time on Elba Island, which looks so beautiful it could be fake. Here's to parmesan, pesto, and lots of good espresso.

Viva Italia!

Hiking Shenandoah National Park

2015-05-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, well not the whole park. After our hike in Roanoke, we took the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway all the way up through Shenandoah. We dedicated the entire day to this drive so we could stop at every breathtaking overlook and cruise through the winding roads without rushing to a destination. The end of our drive was the Skyland Resort, where we stayed for a few nights while we hiked during the day. This was the view from our room, which got things off to a pretty beautiful start.

First, we conquered Old Rag Mountain, famous for its tricky rock scramble and stacked boulders at the highest point. There is no way I could have done this without Nick. Aside from feeding me lots of snacks yet again, there were times he literally had to pull me up or catch me as I jumped down narrow passageways in the rocks. This makes me sound quite feeble, but some of the literal climbing toward the top required parkour moves and we saw at least three people turn back. My raw palms were well worth the multiple views we got to take it, though the top wasn't a distinct point like Mcafee's Knob was.

Our final hike was Hawksbill Mountain, the highest peak in Shenandoah. But at 2-ish miles, this was too easy and we'd be done in a flash. Nick mapped out an alternative route that took us down before heading up, since we'd parked more than halfway up the mountain. His route added an additional 6 miles, so the majority of our last day was spent snaking around streams that turned into cricks (creek) that turned into rushing rapids and waterfalls. Though this was the easiest hike in terms of terrain, my feet were starting to blister and I had pulled a muscle in my hip. My the time we reached the top of Hawksbill, all I wanted was a real toilet and boiling water to soak my feet in. The view however, was incredible again. This peak is much more traveled, so the "highest point" was actually paved and given a railing.

Nick and I both agree this is the best trip we've been on together to date. Though, Italy is coming up fast...

the mountains were calling

2015-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

We first discovered our love of feeling the rocky earth under our feet while living in Texas. Our first real hiking experience was here, and it quickly became a highlight of that trip and a favorite pastime. From then forward, we planned our weekend getaways and bigger vacations around the hikes we could take in each location.

Since we'd almost been in Virginia an entire year (!) without a visit to some of the world's most beautiful mountains, planning our anniversary took very little thought. We'd been craving the feeling of being thousands of feet above civilization with earthy, fresh air inside our lungs.

So I ordered Nick a pair of fancy athletic pants, ideal for hiking, and got to work taking notes on exceptionally beautiful areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had seen Mcafee's Knob on Instagram, and every single picture looked incredible and breathtaking and I wanted to feel the rush of looking over that ledge for myself. Luckily, this natural wonder resided in Roanoke, Virginia, so our first destination was born.

We arrived at the foot of Catawba Mountain at 8am after zigzagging our way through curvy mountain roads. It was supposed to rain around noon, but we crossed our fingers and started up the trail anyway. This is when I realized I am not in good shape. Nearly the whole path is like climbing steep stairs, and I felt the effects of working from home (...the couch).

Nick encouraged me and fed me snacks like you have to do with a toddler who's out for the day. My thighs burned and I could hear my heartbeat, but we kept climbing. Some parts of the hike up are a blur, partly because thick fog moved in and partly because I felt like a 90-year-old mule. It did start to rain eventually, but we carried our soggy selves all the way up to the top.

Reaching that tip top up in misty rain clouds was euphoric. I forgot about my cold, wet sweater and the puddles in my shoes. We had the peak to ourselves, which is something that doesn't happen I hear. Most of our pictures are like Big Foot sightings -- blurry lines with the roughest outline of a person. But the clouds blew through a few times, and we scrambled to whip out the camera to capture the turquoise valley below.

Of course, pictures never do these landscapes justice, so if you're ever itching to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail, I recommend this little fragment. The top is unlike anything I've ever seen.

It's our anniversary!

2015-04-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Today, we've been married for two years!

I can't wait to share some pictures here of our anniversary adventure. I think, in addition to exchanging modern versions of the traditional milestone gifts, we'll continue incorporating getaways into our yearly celebration. On our first anniversary, we went to San Antonio for a few days after trading the paper-themed things we picked out for each other (I made him one of these).

The second year is cotton, so things were a bit more challenging...

For the English majors

2015-04-17T13:17:00.001-04:00

Now that I've reached the other side of the "just started freelancing" hump, I get a lot of questions. From my high school AP Lit teacher to acquaintances I've hardly spoken with in years, people seem to be interested in freelancing. And, with articles like this predicting that freelancers will make up 50% of the labor force by 2020, it may be a good idea to start inquiring now.

How did you get started is almost always the first question, but before I answer that, I have to backtrack to where I felt the true beginning was.

When I was in college a few years ago, there were two prominent kinds of English majors: the bookish kinds who wanted to be writers, and the mouthy kinds who were going to law school after they graduated. As a freshman, I think I was the former. I had just come from the padded bubble that was high school, where they tell you you can do or be anything you want as long as you get to college. After I wheeled the last of my suitcases into my first dorm, I realized this was not the case. Signing up for a major did not mean you signed up for a career.

When I entered my first English class, twenty other versions of me filled the desks in that small, dim room. We didn't know what else to study, but we were good readers and writers and AP English classes were the only ones we enjoyed as seniors. I think seeing some naiveté in my fellow classmates helped me see it in myself. So, I added a second major and took up a minor, just in case. As much as it pains me to admit, branching out from literature classes are the only reason I got anything out of college.

There are things I wish I knew sooner, and things I still learn everyday that I wish I had studied then. These particularly apply if you're currently sitting in a class somewhere, hoping to be a copywriter on the creative development team for a huge company.

+ English majors learn Chicago style, Journalism majors learn AP Style. If you hope to edit book manuscripts, study Chicago. If you hope to do almost anything else, AP is imperative. Only because of my minor did I cross a bit into the world of journalism, but I am so thankful I did. I took intro classes for Public Relations, Advertising, and Mass Communications. Now, those skim-the-surface classes help me land jobs, as they taught me what businesses and brands look for in their copy.

+ Realize that though books are one of the best things in this life, electronic media is the focus of most writing positions. I knew this in college, but denied its credibility. Now, when I see the monetary difference between (freelance) jobs posted for fiction writing versus those posted for copywriting or website content, I am a believer.

+ Even if you keep your major as English (because there still is value there--I see jobs posted all the time requiring English majors) you must study marketing. I did not, and now I have an empty legal pad waiting for me to self educate. If you pull up any job search engine right this second and click the first writing job listed, I would bet my morning coffee that the word "marketing" appears at least once. If you hope to write for someone--and you're not writing their autobiography--you need some knowledge of strategy and keywords and the target audience.

+ Where are all those dream jobs people get? Maybe I still don't know the answer to this. When I searched for jobs in the same solar system as my major, I never searched under the term "copywriter" because that sounds like a lowly peasant writing job. It isn't! I was just drooling over some jobs listed here that take similar titles. It's important to realize that your duties as a writer will overlap with other departments, especially if it's for a corporate job. I've also found that employers don't always know what they need, so they'll list more general job titles. If you're curious, I've found good leads by searching for jobs with the keywords "communications" "public relations" and "marketing" though "writer" "editor" also turn some good results.

+ Technical writers have the potential to make bank. If you're less interested in media and the creative side of things, take some professional writing and technical writing classes. Huge software and technology companies hire technical writers alllll the time to translate that confusing engineering stuff into understandable content. These positions are also easier to come by if you're not in or around a major city. I've looked into getting a technical writing certification for that very reason, since I do not and have not ever lived near the creative hubs.

+ One or many internships may save you so much job search pain. I completed one internship for a newspaper, but I wish I had more actively looked for opportunities in bigger cities. You've probably heard that internships lead to full-time positions, and that's true, but it isn't the main reason I recommend this. Agency experience, as they call it, is one of the only ways to really learn how to blend your writing skills with business strategy. If you're applying for an in-house job after graduation, they most likely won't be interested in teaching you this if you haven't worked in that environment before. If you hope to get into publishing, taking a few internships is equally as important. I have a freelancing friend who focuses more on books and manuscripts, and I feel like she knows a world more than me because of her first-hand experience.

Sometimes I regret being an English major, but when I really think about it, it's more than I regret the things I didn't study when I had the opportunity to. If someone invents a time machine, go back and tell 20-year-old me to branch out from what I feel is safe; take less classes that exclusively study books; and don't shun the girls who've taken to wearing bows in their hair again, because their journalistic skills are very valuable and could help you be a better writer if you study them too.

It worked

2015-04-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

However unintentionally, this space seems to have gone through a winter hibernation. I wasn't sleeping through all those cold days, though...

In my last post, the air outside was just starting to cool, and now it's just starting to warm. I mentioned feeling a sense of a turning point on my last birthday, and I feel as if I've aged by 5 years instead of 1 in the time since I've written that.

My handlettering intentions were good. I set up an Instagram account for it, did a friend's wedding invitations, got a sweet opportunity from Christina/Blue Sky Papers, and started doing a lot of custom orders. I never spent a dime of my own money on that endeavor, since I would invest half of the money I made on the previous piece into new pens or real drawing paper. I thought this is how I wanted things to grow. I all but hit the "go live" button on Etsy until a very natural thing for me happened: freelance writing and editing took off five times faster than I imagined it would.

Before I knew it, I had so much freelance work lined up that I didn't pick up a pen for nearly 3 months until someone asked if I could make them something. I had gotten rusty, and I noticed that if I didn't doodle at least one thing every day my lines were noticeably more flawed. So this is where I decided to let the thousands of real artists dominate the world of paper goods and hand-drawn novelties.

Could I have become a pro? Who knows.

That aspiration wasn't one that came natural to me, it was one that I wanted and slightly forced. It was one that would have taken years to get to a point where I would feel satisfied. I admire the artists who do it day in and day out and make money and pay their rent with inky pens, but this was not me. And even more honestly, I felt the same dilemma I did working in an office -- not feeling fairly compensated for my time and effort.

I have a new respect for the handmade community, and understand the "starving artist" concept after trying to make lettering "my thing". On average, I would spend 6 hours on each single page custom order. But who wants to pay $60+ for a drawing done by a rookie? No one, and I didn't feel it fair to ask.

Although, I didn't mind requesting $60 for a resume that I had written. Or a manual that I had edited. And so on. Writing is and always has been my thing, the most obvious choice when it came to favorite subject questions or college majors, yet I hadn't found a way to make it work. Now that I have figured out a starting point, it feels so natural.

I still enjoy lettering words, and may continue pursuing small collaborations. But when I'm not doing that, I'll be buckled down on my turquoise couch, writing for clients all over the world and brushing up on ways to get better. I think it's a good sign to enjoy the learning/growing process of what you do, so it seems I've finally found a good start.

turning with the season

2014-09-23T12:18:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow I turn the age Mindy Kaling was when she got her job writing on The Office. So, I've got some catching up to do.

Today, I celebrate the first day of fall, like everyone else north of the Florida state-line. Nick rises early and goes from room to room, opening those creaky windows I love and hate so much. Our thermometer has leveled out at 68 degrees and I am able to drink my chai latte in sweatpants. This mini-season is always so welcome, but "the first day of fall" is also the last day of another year I have lived, and that beginning and end two-in-one always feels like a turning point.

In my 23rd year, I moved to a little town in Texas that everyone said we would hate. We loved it. I worked as a marketing assistant, the realest job I've had to date. We also moved from Texas, drove too many hours to the coast of Virginia and settled into a charming house that has been more of a learning experience than a cozy home. I started another job, quit after three days, and came straight home to pursue freelance writing.

That's where I am now, writing and editing for clients around the world while moonlighting soon-to-be Etsy orders.

It feels good, it feels like fall.

You can read some of my favorite posts from the past year here, here, here, and here.

defining professional

2014-09-12T10:51:00.001-04:00

I'll be honest and admit that a huge reason I haven't mentioned my pursuit of handlettering here much is because I don't mentally label it in the "respectable job" category. I know, this is basically the pitfall of women today, and a huge center of a lot of woman-power conversations. Ironically, this only applies to myself. If I see others running successful hand-made or home based businesses, I think they are awesome and talented and in possession of secret skills that I don't also have. But if I imagine myself splitting time between freelancing and custom lettering, I feel kind of embarrassed.

Since attending and graduating college, I just assumed my career would progress in a different way. I wasn't sure what, but I felt confident that it would come. But then this came, these things that allow my daily life more flexibility, more time with my mister who doesn't work traditional hours, and don't leave me feeling drained and angry at the end of the day. I can get paid for things I like doing, for writing and editing, for creating things. It sounds so perfect when I write it out, yet each time I meet a new person and they ask what I do, I scramble to find the most flattering words.

I read this article by a GIRLS actress recently, and thought it was so perfectly worded (and entertaining!). Even though I agree, I still have so much trouble getting into that thought process. I think writing about it more will make me feel confident about things I accomplish in these fields, even if it doesn't affect the world in a really important way.

After my previous post, an old blog friend reached out with a lettering opportunity for the wedding bindery she works with, Blue Sky Papers. After seeing nothing but my Instagram account, she gave me the chance to collaborate for a project they were working on. Isn't that crazy? It was amazing to me what doors have been opened by actively pursuing all the things I last mentioned, amazing that opportunity found me just because I wasn't afraid to admit my desire to work creatively. So I guess I'm learning that, no matter how big or small, your professionalism is defined by how you treat your work, not by what you do.

Each of these beautiful photos were taken by Christina, who's blog link is above. She created the content of the madlib, styled the photos, and wrote the blog post for Blue Sky Papers, who is offering this as a free wedding DIY. I drew the branches and the main title. Thanks for reading these posts and being such an encouraging community.

sometimes it feels good to be a quitter

2014-08-25T10:24:00.000-04:00

I started a new job. It wasn't something I was particularly excited about because in spite of applying for it, I was hired for a different position. I mulled the offer over for a long 24-hours and then accepted it the next day (because paycheck).

I showed up in my new gray slacks with optimism and my best professional attitude. After being showed around and having the basics explained to me, I was given a desk facing an empty parking lot. It was here that I sat, for the entirety of my workday, stuffing and sealing envelopes.

Needless to say, I came home frustrated and wanting the money back I spent on an undergraduate degree. Chalking it up to "first-day busy work," I went back the next day with a little less optimism. Days 2 and 3 were exactly the same, except people had at least started talking to me at this point. While I sat with a mound of international mail in front of me, the girl doing an equally tedious job on the computer to my right said, "Just wait, you think stuffing these envelopes is bad now, but once you start doing other work you'll wish you could be doing this again."

That was it for me. I couldn't imagine it getting any worse. I already felt over-qualified and robot-like, settling for this position because some money is better than no money. It was embarrassing to tell people who asked what I did, embarrassing to see another August outside of a college campus without a "real job." I didn't want to stick around to hate that work more than I already did. I told my husband that my misery was worth much more than they were paying.

On day 3, I stared out that window and into that parking lot the whole time. My hands could do the envelope stuffing at this point, I was like an assembly line. But on this day, I felt so much peace daydreaming about quitting. I thought I would go home right after I left and apply for new things more worth my time. I would be more meticulous about getting freelance work, and I would stop being scared that my entry-level experience wasn't good enough to contribute.

It's so easy to pin those inspirational quotes on Pinterest and to surround yourself with "NEVER SETTLE!" propaganda; it isn't easy to pull those messages out of your pocket when you need them and apply them to living. As a serial people-pleaser, I decided that I wanted to show me more respect. So, I quit after three days—and it felt so good.

With all that newfound confidence and determination, I slowly built a freelance career that brings in more money and quadrupled my job satisfaction. Sure, it was scary to leave the safety net, but doing so taught me to consider the both the numerical and intrinsic value of my work, potential to grow, and happiness.

the city that stole our hearts

2014-07-30T11:54:00.000-04:00

It is typical of us to go ahead and add our names to the guestbook of people who have fallen in love with New York City after having only been there a few days. Over July 4 weekend, we drove up from Virginia to a quiet street in Brooklyn lined with brownstones, where Nick's best friend lives.

It was already well past 12pm, but we spent a few more hours drinking wine on the stoop and creating an itinerary for the weekend. I think this was the key to our visit - neither of us were interested in standing in a 3-hour line to see the view from the Chrysler Building - so we filled that little schedule with coffee shops and bookstores, walking through markets and stopping in bars for craft beer. We did a few tourist things, like walk through the Met (for free with military ID!), attend Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, go to the top of the Rockefeller Building (no wait), sit under shady trees in Central Park, and see the Statue of Liberty from across the water.

Since we toured the city with a local and a foodie, a lot of our time was spent admiring our surroundings while we walked from restaurants to hole-in-the-wall bars and back to more food again. This sounds underwhelming, but so much of the magic we felt was casually strolling down streets and daydreaming of what our lives would be like here. It is so appealing to be surrounded by hundreds of people at all times, and not feel out of place or too crowded. I think there is something so romantic about that kind of transparency, where everyone can be what they want or act how they want, and it can't be against the norm because there is no norm. I remember noticing all this on the subway. We were on our way home after a long day and I dipped my head down onto Nick's shoulder, and he grabbed my hand. I imagined, that anywhere else I would have felt uncomfortable with this PDA, that someone would have flicked their eyes in our direction and maybe be grossed out, but here, no one did a thing. The beauty of being ignored and noticed all at the same time.

We visited the best bookstore I've ever been to, another little bookstore with ladders leaning against the shelves (I got vintage postcards for free!), the coolest coffee shop I've ever been to (inside the lobby of a hotel, and my first time drinking cold brew), and attended one of the most unique shows Sleep No More. We had a little time to kill, so we also walked the highline in Chelsea and drooled over everything in the Chelsea Market. I hugely recommend everything linked in this paragraph.

Our other food and beverage venues included...
Co. (recommended by A Cup of Jo, are you there Joanna, it's me, Kaysie?)
Russ and Daughters Bagels
Public
Gotham Pizza
A rooftop barbecue in Williamsburg
Pret a Manger (warm almond croissant was heavenly)
Cider from the Union Square market
Dead Rabbit (the best cocktail I've ever had)
Proletariat
Please Don't Tell (a speakeasy!)
Nevada Smith's (to watch France vs. Germany)

We're already planning our next trip back, and daydreaming about a possible future in the city. This trip sparked a new Pinterest board and casual browsing of real-estate in the Chelsea and Brooklyn areas. Maybe one day I will get to be a struggling writing in New York City, afterall.

literally, humble abode

2014-07-22T11:25:00.001-04:00

I think it's most fitting for this post to directly follow that last one, even though there is a 2-month gap between them. In that post, I am hopeful and excited, and taken by the updated features of this house. Love is blinding, so they say.

It started with a long night when I sat upright in bed, clenching a mace keychain and jumping at every noise. Most of them are cracks and pops normal of an old house with wood floors, but some of them sounded like they were in the ceiling above me and walls behind me. Every 20 minutes I would gather the courage to peer through the blinds, making sure no one was scaling the side of the house (because that's what it sounded like!). No parkour criminals were ever outside, but something alive was very much in the attic. We assume these are rats, gross I know, and have exterminators come.

About a week later, I am Pinteresting in bed while Nick reads. I hear him yell and before I can blink we are huddled in the corner of the bedroom opposite the door. I assume he's seen a rat and that those jerks have found their way into the actual house, until he tells me something flew by the door. Bats.

There is a bat in our house at 11pm and neither of us are volunteering to capture it. We pack bags and run, hunched over, down the stairs and out of our home to the safety of a Days Inn.

The next day, a technician/biologist spends 3 hours searching our house. No bat. He tells me, "Most times in this situation, we don't find the bat if it isn't caught when it's seen. We typically hear that people find them later, once they've died in their hiding place."

This is when I started searching for a new house.

We never found that dumb bat, and assume he came through an air vent that had a hole in the duct work. Our landlord came over that weekend to fumigate the attic and put screens up. That fumigation process led to a disoriented, flapping bat, who half rolled off the roof into Nick's lap. After he sprayed inside the crawl space, we had bugs coming out of the floor vents and crawling up the walls.

I have cried over this house more than 5 times, and cannot wait until our lease is over so we can move, and downsize. Before we moved here, I was so excited to have a stand-alone house with plenty of space and finishes that I liked. I thought I would decorate it and the styling and feng shui would make me the ultimate homemaker. I have been so humbled by this and the trouble my materialism has caused. For the next place, I will take beige carpet and ugly walls over 1800 square feet of charm and white kitchen cabinets. I will take safety and correct construction over DIY upgrades with cut corners. I can make those less desirable things home, but I can't play house for two additional years in a space that feels so forced.

old bones, new town

2014-05-28T09:35:00.000-04:00

We made it.

Our new home in Virginia is like the stylish librarian from middle school. The walls are covered in paint colors like sage and pale gray, with white trim to make the worn wood floors stand out. Even though things like countertops are new, the 8-paned windows are old and the stairs creak as we walk up them. This house is beautiful, but it's old.

Without any furniture except an air mattress, we've gotten to know the bones of it very well in our few days here. The fire alarm goes off if you take a shower too hot, the office is the warmest room because it faces every night's sunset, ants only come in through one specific window, and if you part the grass just right you can see little red berries growing up through the blades.

So far, so good. It already feels like home here, or at least that I know it will be home here. It feels so natural to sneak outside with Zoey when the morning is still cool and quiet to read under one of our 3 flowering trees.

It may take me a while sleep through all the pops and cracks of this house's shifting bones, but I figure a girl this old probably has a lot of stories to tell.

1,618 miles

2014-05-17T16:55:00.001-04:00

Be right back! We've started the moving process and will be on the East Coast in no time.

the positives, v.15

2014-05-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

We'll take the good with the bad. Here's the list of negatives with the positives that offset them. It's about the little things, and as Google says today, "here's to the dreamers, doers, shakers, and makers."

+ A house. We have a house! After finding and losing "the one," we've found a beautiful home, and the owner has waived the pet fee for little Zoey.
- A freak hail storm rolled through last week. In less than 5 minutes, our car looked like it was in the wrong neighborhood at the right time.

+ Shoes! My best friend is getting married in June, so I had to get some new heels to go with the bridesmaid dress. After trying on an $70 pair of Gianni Bini heels, I thought I had found the ones, but with the wrong price tag. These were a solid alternative, and I think I can get more use out of them.
- The price of plane tickets. Although, I love flying and think airports are kind of fun.

+ Nick will be finishing up school this week. That means, I get my husband back after a month of 12-hour days.
- After a few good days with his parents, we'll have to immediately start packing and cleaning.

+ After our car was pummeled with hail, Nick started driving mine. I had to stop working 2 days earlier than planned, but that's given me time to breathe and savor morning coffee time. I've been able to blog and cross several things off my to-do list.
- Leaving our awesome neighbor will be hard, especially for Zoey!

+ This picture had Nick and I giggling in bed for several minutes. It's good, eh?

bookish

2014-05-09T12:45:00.002-04:00

As soon as the bells chimed for "2014" I thought, I need to read more this year! But I also don't like failing, so I low-balled the number of books I would commit to (a fair 10).

So far, I've just been keeping track of this progress through Goodreads' built in book challenge... meter? But then I saw this post that adds a different spin to the typical 20 BOOKS IN A YEAR! challenge, so I'll be doing a modified version.

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.
— The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
— Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around.
— Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.
— The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
— The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge.
— Bossypants, Tina Fey (first read by Geez, Louise)
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title.
— Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014.
— Child of God, Cormac McCarthy
25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
— Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's, John Elder Robison
30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.
— One More Thing, B.J. Novak // A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

right now

2014-05-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

cooking | our favorites, without meat
drinking | soy chai and Nantucket coffee
smelling | flowers starting to bloom through the heat
reading | David Sedaris and more of your blogs
wearing | flowy dresses over jeans whenever possible
planning | to update this blog's design
making | lots of fake calligraphy
loving | morning breezes enjoyed in our guest room, deemed "the coffee room"
anticipating | our East Coast move and new chance at creating "home"
wondering | if I'll ever work again at a regular 8-5
wanting | to chop chop chop my hair off
hoping | we find the perfect house
looking | at new furniture and Etsy business models
feeling | like my life is an awesome adventure

Why are gyno visits so awkward?

2014-05-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'll tell you why.

When I was in college, my gynecologist was amazing. If I had a private jet, I would fly my future pregnant self down to Florida and have her deliver all my babies.

But now, I have a new doctor in Texas, and then I'll have another new doctor in Virginia and then another new doctor somewhere else after that. That's a lot of people I'm not married to seeing my goods.

In Florida, the office was light purple and smelled like babies and lavender. There was a removable ceiling tile right above the table with an Italian countryside landscape on it, you know, so you have something to look at. Not in Texas, where everything is bigger except the exam rooms. White walls, white ceiling (no picture, what the heck?).

While I laid there disappointed and naked, new doctor made it even worse by casually talking to her assistant like I wasn't even there. Like she was knitting or something instead of doing what she was doing. If anything is awkward, it's pretending something isn't awkward when it is.

And then, before she was even finished, she told me how her husband's sister's husband murdered her husband's sister who is in a wheelchair.

I'm usually good at dealing with awkward, but can I at least put my pants on first?

How to defrost your wedding cake

2014-04-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Now that I've had my cake and ate it twice, I feel a little qualified to write this for people frantically searching the internet on day 364 of their marriage.

Having and planning and being in a wedding requires so many strange rules. I didn't (and still don't) know about half of these. So I also didn't know that successfully defrosting your wedding cake starts with the wrapping process.

In addition to all the other things that should have been delegated to sweet Aunt Glenda, she should wrap the cake.

Glenda should:
- Remove everything from the top layer, even if it's edible. (But not like, the
frosting.)
- Chill the cake until the icing hardens enough to wrap it.
- Wrap it in 4ish layers of plastic wrap, then insert the wrapped cake into an
air tight bag (or Tupperware). We actually just put it in a box and plastic-
wrapped that.
- Freeze it.

To defrost:
- Remove the cake from the Tupperware or whatever you used, and put it
in the fridge, still wrapped in plastic. Let it defrost partly in here for a few
hours, then transfer it to the counter to finish.
- I forgot the above step, and I'm here to tell you it's going to be okay. You
can also completely defrost by letting it sit at room temperature for at
least 5 hours (or until the icing is soft). I think the important part is
leaving it wrapped in plastic so it retains moisture and wedding bliss.
- If you did something wrong, and the outside is hard or freezer-burned,
you can still try to cut a piece from the very middle of the cake.

P.S. Did you know this started in the 18th century by newlyweds trying to combat future marriage problems?

Austin footnotes

2014-04-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last last weekend, we spur-of-the-moment getawayed to Austin, Tx. I heard countless choirs of people sing their praises of the place, so I was excited to see (and eat) it all for myself. We only had a few short days, and having discovered our love for hiking we devoted the whole first chunk of the trip to hiking Pedernales Falls State Park.

This place was beautiful, guys, and totally worth a few hours of your trip or time in Austin.

We also ate at Banger's Sausage & Beer Garden (where I ordered my first meal that was so typically vegetarian: the "blt" with sausage made from tomatoes, toasted "bacon" mushrooms, greens, sliced tomatoes and a side of veggie jalapeno mac and cheese). The beer selection here was awesome too!

Then we braved the horrible traffic, which was overwhelming and gave us a case of the grumps. But we were en route to Gordough's, so the risk of dying like twice was worth it? They were out of bananas, so I got "the puddin" with strawberries instead - a fried doughnut, filled with cream, topped with cream cheese icing and sliced strawbs. I thought this was heavenly, and Nick liked it too, but he thought I was also tasting a bit of the hype in mine. Not true.

The line for Gordough's was moderately long, so Nick wandered over to the food truck next door, Mellizoz Tacos, and ended up eating what he said was the best taco he's had his whole life (and come on, the guy is half Mexican).

On Sunday before our drive home, we stopped at Brick Oven on 35th, right as they opened. The atmosphere of this place was really cool and the pizza was so delicious.

So yes, we strategically went hiking first so we could burn a ton of calories and feel no guilt about the two dinners we had in one night.

ear drum vom

2014-04-14T14:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday our lazy Sunday was rudely interrupted by a weird bout of nausea that seemed to be coming from my ears and head. All day I laid around, sporting my "inch from death face," as Nick calls it. If Zoey barked I felt my insides turn. If I looked around too quickly I felt my insides turn. If I looked at Instagram I felt my insides turn.

You know it's bad when I turn down at least 3 offers to get a milkshake.

So today I am home from work, feeling guilty that my ladyboss has to do my work in addition to her own. But I need the break, and I think it would be awkward to puke on a government computer.

a chickyboo goes swimming

2014-04-03T14:25:00.005-04:00

With this new month, came new air. Warm, dry Texas air that has slowly crept through our closed blinds and into our home. The heat makes me lazy and makes me boycott pants.

I think Zoey has been feeling the same, especially because she hasn't finished shedding her winter cardigan. But the lake! We can go to the lake. So we drag our lazy naked buns out to Lake Nasworthy with our neighbor and his chocolate lab.

We wanted him to be there to show Zo how it's done. Her experiences with water start with a blow-up, 3-foot deep pool and end with us tricking her into the shower every few weeks to rinse all the dust off.

She was golden until she reached the end of the boat ramp. There must have been an obvious drop-off there, the part where she should start swimming. But instead, she would leap out of the water and over her perceived abyss.

We giggled at her inexperience and curiosity. She chomped at the water and only went in after the toy when we threw it. Overall, she did great. I stood like a proud mommy as she paddled around like a baby beaver.

And then she squatted, in the water up to her belly, and peed. We're still learning, guys :)

(Flashback to her little pool days)

the positives, v.13

2014-03-31T14:28:00.001-04:00

+ This weird thing happened where I stopped posting and got at least 5 new Bloglovin' followers. Maybe silence is golden?

+ A new challenge. Ahem. Not eating meat. I've always been kind of weird about it, only eating the perfectly white parts of chicken or needing my turkey to be sliced as thin as a strand of my hair. No steak. No fish. After watching a Netflix documentary my last year in college, I learned how inefficient the industry is. Then this weekend, we saw Noah. It probably isn't a very typical (okay, it's kind of weird) reaction for someone to leave a movie and decide to stop eating meat. But there was a scene where Noah and his two sons see a "man" kill and track and animal so they can eat it. The boys look to Noah, confused, and ask why they killed it. He says, "they think it will make them stronger." And then I felt so guilty for upturning my nose to other outlets of nutrition in favor of meat for no real reason (bacon does taste good, I'll give you that). And I thought back to that documentary that lifts the curtain a bit on meat farms, and I just decided right there in my coke-stained seat that I would really try to leave it behind this time.

+ We're down to days left at this base. This small, hot, dusty base that was branded as being downright awful. But actually, we really enjoyed living here, and feel confident about going anywhere and still growing and laughing and making it a small part of the collective definition of home we have.

+ We had dinner with our friends, who brought cheesecake for dessert, then proceeded to leave all the uneaten pieces in our refrigerator. Nick doesn't like it, so those babies are all mine. Nevermind the calorie count...

the positives v.12

2014-03-17T08:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a while, no? I think The Positives will happen bi-weekly over here, but feel free to keep doing them weekly if you were. Or start if you haven't at all!

+ New iPhone. The screen on my 4s was so shattered it made me feel motion sick when I read texts, or blogs... or anything. Even an old school Nokia would have been an upgrade, but my sleek gold 5s feels pretty nice too. You guys look so much better through this screen.

+ I finally got around to having an allergy test. Turns out, I'm allergic to 21 of 25 allergens in Texas. It is a step in the right direction to unswell my swollen turbinates. (Weird word, but I promise it's a contraption inside your nose.)

+ My best friend is getting married soon. I was digging through an old box trying to find some letters we've written to each other over the years and I found at least 4 CDs from teenagerdom. I'm that girl who still listens to all the same music she did in 8th grade. So long car radio.

+ www.doyogawithme.com. Have you heard of this? Free yoga for everyone and you don't have to leave the house.