Hello Giggles!

Over the past few months, I've been giving myself time to actually sit down and engage in the very many awesome things that are happening on the internet. One of those things is Hello Giggles, a particularly wonderful website that is described by itself as "..the ultimate entertainment destination for smart, independent, and creative females." In a dream future, I would write regularly for Hello Giggles.

I've read some great pieces on the site that were contributed by readers. They're not just little write-in things, they're real articles written by real people.  I find that really exciting, and when an idea for a particular piece of writing came to me, I decided to give it a shot and submit it to Hello Giggles for consideration. Well, guess what! They published it!

Click the image of the website to go to the actual article!

Woohoo!! So exciting! What's even more exciting is the amount of fun warm thoughts I've been getting from Facebook friends about the piece. Which is, essentially, the point of the piece!

Some other thoughts:

I've revived Bricks to Sticks!  I'm going to be doing a lot of work on Love What You Do in the coming weeks.  I want to create a really creative, fun, wild space here.  So, I'll be putting most of my reflections-on-Vermont pieces there, instead. There'll definitely be so overlapping, but nevertheless, Bricks to Sticks is back!

I'll be back again in a couple of days! I'm getting together some fun projects, recipes, etc. to start launching this website as what I think it can be in its best form!

the drive-ins!

last night we did something i haven't gotten to do in a long time: we went to the drive-ins! hathaway's drive-in is just outside of bennington, so it was about a 45-50 minute drive for us (believe it or not, here, that is not a long time!) because it was a weeknight they weren't showing a double feature, so we only got to see spiderman (sorry: 'the amazing spider-man') which is okay because even that didn't end until 11:15. it gets dark late these days!

we brought a blanket and pillows and turned the back of our car into a comfortable little laying pod (one benefit to having a 14-year-old station wagon!).  i forgot how awesome it is to lay in the open air and watch a movie.  and i had really forgotten how weirdly cool it feels to walk toward and under the screen while a movie is playing.  i departed the car to go to the bathroom at one point and there i was in this open field walking toward a movie screen.  i don't know why it felt so cool but it did.  i guess because it's not something you usually get to do.

anyway, here's a few photos i snapped.

the sun setting next to the screen. the funny thing is that when i showed garret this picture,
he had actually just taken the exact same one with his phone. 

murgy and i settle in while garret grabs us some dinner from the snack bar. 

it begins! this is actually a trailer, not spiderman ;)
murgy, who has never been to the movies before, was rather alarmed when it started.
she eventually settled down and i think thought our car was actually our bed.

daydreaming

I've had a fun/inspiring day so far today.  I woke up to a message that someone wanted to put in a custom order for a pregnancy announcement through my Etsy shop!  It's so exciting to be putting this little bit of art out into the world, and to realize that my photos, words, and ideas are going to play a role in such important and exciting correspondence for someone.  Twenty people I don't know are going to receive my work in the mail, and it's going to deliver exciting sentiments to them.  How fun is that!

The sale inspired me to sit down and create some new card designs, which I did for a few hours this morning.  I came up with seven or so new cards, which I ordered photos for.  I'm excited that I'll be able to offer new designs as soon as the photos start coming in!

Afterwards, I headed to a big open field in our neighborhood (pictured above with some words embedded).  I've been doing a lot of writing outside lately.  Not only is it beautiful out, but being isolated outdoors with no internet and just a notebook tends to boost my productivity/focus.  Instead of clicking away at Facebook during pen pauses, I glance around at my surroundings and think about the work.  It's simple but it really does make a big difference.

Each day I'm here I fall more in love with the tiny little details of "life in Vermont".  Sitting in that field is one of them.  Out there it was nothing but the sun, a swingset, and a sheet I was sitting on.  It reminded me of the playground at Latham Ridge, my elementary school.  Of course, we had a big [particularly awesome] playground that was much more than a simple swingset, but for some reason every time my friends and I would find ourselves there, we'd retreat to this one solitary swingset.  We'd sit on the swings and talk for hours.  Big ideas and daydreams were exchanged.  I did some great imagining there - about other people, about what my future would hold, and about who I was.  And semi-full circle, it seems, here I am again in a field, near a swingset.  Wondering about who I am and what I'll do, reflecting on all I've done.

I think that back when I was on those swingsets at school, I thought that by now - 27 - I'd be living some fancy fabulous life and that I'd have it all figured out.  I'm starting to realize, I think, that there's no such thing as having it all figured out.  There's just daydreaming and wondering and ice cream cones with rainbow sprinkles.  Which is just fine, if you ask me.