Going to Carolina

We will be on our way to North Carolina this time next week. Well, I will be. Tommie is already there, so I guess he'll be on his way back.

We've been living separate lives for a few weeks while he started his new job down there and I stayed here to wrap up and pack. I think we both feel we could use a temporary boyfriend/girlfriend while the other one is away. I swear I just want one to help pack and move things around, though naturally I wouldn't mind if he did this with his shirt off. Alas, I'm managing without a Ryan Gosling look-a-like to help, but I'm anxious to get going. 


Just like when my family moved to California, I'm not sure what to expect. That was over six years ago, and now I look back and I forget what a crazy time that was--learning a new place, meeting new people, making a new life. 

The first time I left home I was nostalgic, but it's different leaving the second time. It is partly true what they say, that you can never really go back home. It's not the place that changes so much as it is you that changes from living somewhere else. Also, after leaving home for the first time, you realize you can leave home. You can make a life for yourself somewhere else, and that knowledge is powerful. 

I used to be afraid of change, but over time I realized I can't control it--all I can do is try my best to thrive within it. So, here we go onto the next big change. I'll be sure to document bits and pieces along the way.

We Are Moving...Again!

The stars have aligned for my husband and I to embark on our next journey, and it's taking us to North Carolina!

Tommie was recently offered a job at a non-profit based in Durham, NC. I really think the change will be good for us and will help us move on to the more "grown-up" stages of our lives. Let's be honest, with the household income of a writer and an organizer, we really should be in a more affordable place. 

The truth is, Tommie and I have felt a pull to North Carolina since our first road trip together six years ago. It was the first stop on our drive from Massachusetts to California. Since then, we have been back to visit on several occasions. My Mom blames Dawson's Creek, which is partly true. I fantasized about rowing down a moonlit creek where they filmed the show until I learned there were gators down there. Anyway, we won't be by the creeks in Durham, but there is still a lot to like about the area. It's warm, it's cheaper, it's up-and-coming, and it's an interesting place to explore.

Before Tommie landed his interview, we started a Vision Board on Pinterest with North Carolina in mind. Now, a couple months later, we are getting excited to head down there and start pinning in real life.

DIY State Art: California Love

I have been loving the look of those cute, modern "I heart my state" prints that people sell on Esty, so I decided to try my hand at making one myself.

Even though California isn't our home, it was at one time and it will always hold a special place in our hearts. Plus, it seemed like an easy shape to outline!

Some people create prints on the computer, others paint it on canvas, but I wanted to use an old wooden frame I had just spray-painted white so I decided to make mine using two pieces of scrapbook paper--cheap and easy.

I first found the silhouette image of California from a simple Google image search. After zooming in to get it to the desired size, I printed it out.

The second step was gluing the image to the back of a cereal box to give it some stability. Once dry, I cut out the state and used an exacto-knife to trim the stencil onto the patterned scrapbook paper. The blue piece of paper just had to get taped behind it.

I cut out a little heart (first in green, but it blended in too much so I swapped it with yellow) and put it down near San Diego. 

The Hollow Woman

My sister and I joke about wanting to be hollow...and I don't mean shallow, though we can sometimes be that too...I mean hollow bodies--no bones, no blood, no organs. Like one of those chocolate Easter bunnies'. I wish I was born hollow (and somehow still alive) because as I'm terrified of being "hollowed out" involuntarily.

My Mom hasn't had the best of luck keeping what's inside her. Heck, even my sister and I had to be cut out (C-sections); she told the Docs to grab her appendix while they were in there. Last year, they had to take even more from her...one of her kidneys that had a cancerous mass on it, and just last week they took a lobe of one of her lungs where another mass had formed. I am beyond thankful she is recovering well as I write this. My Mom is so much more than a bunch of cells and organs that are in her and taken out. I hope she always keeps her inner strength, humor, love, and of course, the rest of her insides. (She blogs about her experience here.) 

Vision Board

I'm happy to report my husband's blood pressure no longer sky rockets when he checks out Pinterest. He has a few boards going, and we even created a shared "vision board" where we can post our mutual ideas for the future. I know it sounds pretty "new age," but I do think it helps put positive thoughts into the universe.

I want to have my own home someday, but instead of festering on the negative aspects of what I currently have--a rental that's been surrounded by construction projects since last October--I need to focus on the positive reasons to try to get out of it. Even before the money or the means to do so, we need a clear vision. Sometimes that's enough to steer the course of life in a certain direction. 

Pinterest: Bravely Go Where Few Men Have Gone Before

My husband prides himself on being somewhat of a social media guru, and he is pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out how to navigate new technology, but he joined Pinterest today and the pressure to pin has left him pretty distraught.

He is very concerned about the "finality" of his boards and pins--so much so, after two hours he had only two pins and he tried to strangle himself with his wrist rest. 

He is also trying to understand the patterns to everyone's boards and the number of boards they follow. Numbers? Patterns? This is Pinterest, Tommie, not Excel.


Based on other blogs and discussions, it seems it's more difficult for men to wrap their heads around Pinterest because it appeals more to a woman's mind which is constantly going from one thought to the next in rapid succession, and to our affinity for pretty things. Pinterest helps organize the jumble of ideas we have, the inspiration we come across, and captures our dreams. I think, if it's pretty, pin it, while Tommie abides by the motto, ponder before pinning.

Other men have mastered the art of Pinterest, but for Tommie, it will take some time. He just isn't comfortable being swept away by pretty pictures--he's got to approach it with a solid plan in place. Here he is manually writing out his board ideas on a whiteboard. Who knew pinning could be so serious?