Currently: February

Currently living/working: Justin joined me in NJ for a few weeks this month! Thank goodness for gig work and our convenient side hustle of virtual library presentations because trying to incorporate the tide of personal responsibilities and work goals into the caregiving seems impossible to me. Also, I sold at least 6 Between Each Step…

Currently: January

Currently living/working: I took a leave of absence from my job … Wait, who am I kidding? I’m a freelancer who makes her own schedule. For the foreseeable future, I’m an unpaid—but much appreciated—caregiver to my mom in NJ. It’s what I dubbed as my limbo life. Meanwhile, Justin is battling the dregs of winter…

Currently: December

Currently living/working: It’s been an eventful month, and I’m so grateful for the carefree time in Mexico, because it’s all gone downhill! Let’s see, where to start? While we were in Denver visiting Justin’s family for Christmas, Justin ended up in the hospital. Apparently, he had a bacterial infection—unrelated to Mexico, but related to one…

Currently: November

Currently living/working: We’ve done minimal work this month. We both wrapped up a few projects before jet setting to the East Coast and we’ve been in Mexico since 11/21. This is the chunk of the year when we live off our savings thanks to our seasonal work as well as the random freelance paychecks that…

Currently: October

Currently living/working: Writing while hibernating, as per the season. But we’ve also been regularly giving weekly virtual presentations (Life in the Last Frontier: Alaska) for libraries!   Current mood: I did not rush into any substantial writing projects after the seismic seasonal shift to winter, knowing I needed a minute to recover from the frenetic…

Currently: September

Currently living/working: We survived another summer of wrangling what seems like a 30-gallon bucket worth of income streams and logistics!!! From guiding to managing/cleaning investment properties to freelance writing/speaking gigs to passion projects, I love the diversity of our safety nets, but it is always admittedly exhausting. Now we’ll both make the shift to solely…

Currently: August

Currently living/working: As the summer season draws its curtains, I would say we more than earned our keep jam-packing the season with multiple jobs (guiding, cleaning, writing). I guided 15 trips in August, and Justin 18, making for the busiest month for both of us thus far!  Current mood: I always mourn the loss of…

Currently: July

Currently living/working: We are in the trenches of a very typical Alaskan life: juggling multiple jobs in the long twilight days of latitude 64. Justin guided 16 trips this month! All while squeezing in a press trip and a smattering of cleanings when he could. Meanwhile I guided 14 trips!! And I took on the…

Currently: June

Currently living/working: I guided 9 trips this month, which is almost as many as Justin’s 14. I typically guide less than him since I’m managing the Airbnbs and cleaning, but he was away for a week for Telluride, so I was filling in for him. By day 7 in a row of hitting the alarm…

Currently: May

***You may have noticed that my website got hacked for most of May into June. My website guy said there is no rhyme or reason for why I was targeted, but “they” (not a real person) installed a pretty vicious malware virus that kept self-replicating. Then the backups to the server were taking crazy long…

Currently: April

Currently living/working: Neither Justin nor I had any deadlines in April, nor any virtual presentations, nor much cleaning, nor any hours working at the library, so it felt like we didn’t work since we didn’t get paid! But, we were pitching and prepping for future projects, which is a very important piece of the freelance…

Currently: March

Currently living/working: I mentioned last month that winter freelance work has been busier than any other winter—between writing projects, virtual presentations, pet-sitting, cleaning, and my library gig. We are grateful!! But I’m personally trying to slow the roll a bit for April, knowing that summertime means double time productivity. I wholeheartedly believe in off seasons,…

Currently: February

Currently living/working: I think it’s adequate to say Justin and I have established 2 distinct work arrangements according to the season. In summer, our hours of operation are pretty much 6am-8pm with a mix of guiding, airbnbing and a few writing projects squeezed in. We move slower through the winter, but leverage the freer schedule…

Currently: January

Currently living/working: Petsitting/Writing/Virtual Library Presentations/Cleaning. That’s basically the summary of our work this month—a little of everything, but a lot of staring into the glowing screen.  Current mood: This month, we spent an amazing 8 days in Hawaii (blog posts coming), where we eschewed the to-do list and stayed out of touch with calendars and…

Currently: December

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Currently living/working: We’ve spent nearly the whole month in Alaska, and it’s been so incredible to settle into winter routines at home after so much fall travel. I’ll be honest, this month has been less about paying work and more of a mix of life tasks, relaxation and play during this holiday…

Currently: November

Currently living/working: Wandering in the lower 48, but writing! Justin & I joined forces on holiday gift guides for Backpacker … these are always fun, and we didn’t get to do any last year, so it was exciting to get the assignment for “Under $25,” “Backpacker” and “Car Camping” this year. Justin has also still…

Currently: October

Currently living/working: We were kind of all over the place this month—Justin in Oregon for his boys’ trip and me in Nashville for my sister’s 50th bday trip. And both on our own in Alaska for a bit! Since Nashville, I’ve been in NJ at my mom’s and will be here into November. Work-wise, we’re…

Currently: September

Currently living/working: Our season came to an abrupt end on Sept. 5, when Justin ended up in the hospital! Life went from warp speed to a snail’s pace. But in general, we had a very fulfilling summer and y’all know how I love stats, so here they are! Justin led 61 trips for Traverse Alaska…

Currently: August

Currently living/working: Summer work (guiding, Airbnbs) will wrap up next month, but August was still bananas!  Current mood: I’m still in fired-up summer mode, but I can definitely feel myself physically and mentally slowing down.  Currently excited for: Ready to trade chaos for calm and to take a break from fulfilling the needs of tourists!…

Currently: July

Currently living/working: We are still in the go-go-go stage of the typical boom and bust arc of Alaska life. For me, it’s a juggling act of managing our yurt, cleaning other people’s airbnbs, guiding and writing. For Justin, it’s mostly just guiding (like 6 days a week) and writing. Figuring out when Justin & I…