Hey there!

I've mentioned I like to start my year in the Spring.*

(*For annual goals. I accept the calendar year starts in January.**)

(**For now. Until I become Queen of the World.)

Anyway.

I had goals this Spring.

But the Spring had other ideas. My kiddo needed a lot of focus.

And that's...

Hey Friend!

I should've known I was gonna get mansplained.

The guy had that look.

Right out of the Uppity Urban Architect Fashion Collection: grey flannel pants, a black cashmere turtleneck, and a pompous attitude.

Some architects are like that...especially with "lowly" civil engineers like me....

Hey, Friend!

Weeding my garden put me in the hospital.

That I was weeding was an oddity in itself.

I love planning a garden.

 I love planting a garden.

 I love harvesting a garden.

I absolutely abhor maintaining a garden.

I always have. Even before it required me to go to physical...

Hey friend!

Five years ago, I dyed my hair blue for the first time.

It was a promise I'd made to myself when I started my business.

I wanted to do something I knew wouldn't fly at any of my old workplaces.

Now, when I went blue, I wasn't new to hair color.

I'd always wanted to be a redhead, so I...

Well, last week was a week, wasn't it?

In my neck of the woods, we had a Monday holiday.

Then two snow days.

Then, finally, a day of school!

...and then another snow day. 

We only had a few flurries last year, so these snows that dropped enough for sledding--and canceled school!--were a BIG...

Happy New Year! I can still say that, right? I mean, my holiday decorations are still up.

I hope you were able to get some downtime for yourself over the holiday.

I did. At least, I did after I decided to slow roll into 2024 instead of trying to get all of 2024 planned while also trying to manage...

I'm not proud of this, but I used to be an envious little twit.

I found it hard to be genuinely happy for my friends when good things happened in their careers.

I mean, I wasn't a total ass-hat about it.

I was happy for them. And I'd congratulate them and celebrate the news.

But inside I was...

I used to love life hacks. The stupider the better.

The algorithms figured this out and fed me video after video.

Most weren't hacks so much as crafts. And the rest seemed more complicated than what you're supposed to make easier.

It didn't matter, I'd watch the videos anyway.

Some of that was...

When I was little, I thought people said "It's a doggie-dog world."

I knew from the context it meant something negative.

I wasn't clear on why dogs were involved. Maybe it just meant not good for humans? Like how if something's "gone to the dogs" it was no longer good?

So I figured if something...

So, the world’s on fire. Even with my limited news diet, I know this.

And we’re all just supposed go on being productive?

How?

The thing is, I actually really want to be productive right now.

Because what I want more than anything is to re-write that “always be productive”...

I was absolutely certain I sent a weekly email last week.

I would've bet on it.

Aaaaannnnd....I would've lost. Because I definitely did not.

It's the kind of thing I could really beat myself up about.

And that's exactly what I would've done to myself in the past.

Somewhere in my formative years,...

"Don't get so emotional."

That's right up there with "calm down" as phrases guaranteed to elicit the exact opposite reaction than the words request...

I'm not sure which is worse.

It probably doesn't matter, since they mean basically the same thing:

"Your reaction is making me uncomfortable, so...