2015 & 31.

It's the eve of my 31st birthday, which means it's been nearly a year since I've written anything in this graveyard of a blog. So much happened in 2014:

• I left Charleston after seven glorious years in the Lowcountry
• I moved to a farm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina -- to a home that felt like it had been waiting for me
• Steven moved to LA and after a few months, rushed right back to join me in the South
• I got a new job that allowed me to do a lot of traveling 
• Steven and I got engaged!
• Close friends are moving around and having babies and taking big steps in the grown-up world

It was a good year and a necessary year.

But now I'm experiencing those annual waves of restlessness that come with a new calendar year and a new year of life. 

2015 feels fresh and clean, like the new journal I cracked open on January 1, waiting to be filled with experiences (including a wedding).  Just like every year, I promise myself that I'll write more and experience more and push myself more. I take inventory of my flaws (there are a lot...complaining, lack of motivation, urgh...) and tell myself that this is the year that I can do a lot of fixing on all those loose and creaky places of my psyche.

Besides the tinkering on all of my inner problem areas, I'm trying to really embrace those waves of restlessness. I keep trying to figure out how to catch them and channel them into something useful and BIG. Regardless of all of the hopping around I've done in life, I often have the feeling that I'm sitting in a giant cosmic waiting room, tapping my toes and watching the clock. This year is a year for action and for making something of my life and not just letting things happen passively. I feel scared and not ready and more than ready all at the same time.

Happy 2015, y'all. Let's make something.

Dream Jobs.

The blog world has been all a-flutter as of late with the news of Jenna Lyons' appearance on Oprah today. Jenna is the creative director for J. Crew and the force that gave a huge makeover to the brand's reputation and brought it to the height of cool. Also, I should say that besides being obsessed with this woman's career, I am also wildly in love with her Brooklyn brownstone. (You have to take a peek if you don't know what I'm talking about. Her closet alone is worth committing crimes for.)

I can't find an embeddable video yet, but click here to get a glimpse of a day in the life of Jenna Lyons.

Hey, Jenna, let's trade!

And while on the topic of all things Jenna, here are some of her shopping tips:


Did you hear that? She's obsessed with white shirts and blazers. I think we are meant to be friends.

When I Grow Up...

I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that. ~Lloyd Dobler (played by John Cusack) in Say Anything


Someone brought up this quote yesterday and it made me think.

Instead of thinking of all the things I don't want to do, my mind has been filled with all the things I dream of doing. My ideas are as vague as Lloyd's, but I'm trying to hone them.

I know some people cringe and reach for the hand sanitizer at the thought of spending hours at Goodwill, but nothing thrills me more than digging through other peoples' junk and finding buried treasure. Maybe, as-is, the item is no charmer, but with a fresh coat of paint, some new fabric and a staple gun, the item could come straight from an Anthropologie catalog.

One of my favorite shows on HGTV is FreeStyle. The designs on the show are hit-or-miss, but the concept speaks to me. When you live among your own things for so long, you start seeing them in only one way (this happens all the time to me in my own house). But bring in fresh eyes, and your whole room/house could be entirely reimagined just by mixing up what you already have.

This concept is also true in fashion. You buy a top and you love it. It looks great with your favorite jeans, so that's how you wear it. You loan the top to a friend who wears it an entirely different way...suddenly you realize all the possibilites the top has and it took your friend's fresh take on the item for you to realize it. There is a company called White-Starr Aesthetic Counseling, and they are basically closet organizers times infinity. They have you try on all your clothes and they help you evaluate everything. Haven't worn those pants in 10 years? See ya! The color and fit of that dress are fantastic but it's a bit too long for your height--so get it hemmed three inches! After they've helped you wade through your wardrobe to find all its potential, they take you shopping to help you find classic pieces that you can wear for years. They're like your own personal Clinton & Stacy, without all the TLC cheesiness. (Caveat emptor:Their time and the clothing they pick out is not cheap...not ideal for the average twenty-something.)

What I love to do is a hybrid of all these things. I love facing the challenge of a limited budget and exploring all the possibilities that are so often overlooked. Maybe digging through the thrift store rubble is my way of compensating for never becoming my childhood dream--an archaeologist. And maybe stretching a budget is my way of compensating for my parents' dream for me--being good at math. Either way, just thinking about these things thrills me to the bones, and I'd love to tumble all these things into a career.


Eeep...this was like a really long, rambling cover letter to apply for a job that doesn't exist.

Does anyone else have ramshackle dreams that you've woven or want to weave into a creative career? Does it happen? Can it happen? Can it happen without having to pay to go to design school? Sigh...