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…

Dear Dad (5 Years)

Dear Dad, Five years is both an eternity and a blink of an eye. I learned so much going through your death that I thought it would prepare me for others. I learned that proactivity is important. I’ve now realized it may not mean much in the long run. As it turns out you were…

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…

2023 Byline Roundup

You’d think my skin was as thick as Kevlar with as much rejection as I’ve endured over the years in my freelance writing career and book publishing journey. But 2023 ended up being deeply soul-sucking in the ratio of my article pitches to published articles. In an attempt to rationalize (to myself) why I have…

Holidays in Denver

Yes, I am still in NJ passing time and wondering do I go back to AK or stay with my mom—who despite having a terminal prognosis seems fairly stable, but embraces her fate waking up everyday and saying, “I just didn’t think I’d be alive today.” Reality bites, but I am practicing my best forms…

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…

27 Days in Baja, Mexico 

In case you missed the several times that I might have mentioned it: we spent 27 days in La Ventana/El Sargento, a small hamlet on the Sea of Cortez (east) side of Baja California Sur. We’ve been there twice before because our friends Clara & Shadow moved there in 2018. And since we (I) need to…

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…

Exploring Alaska: Spencer Glacier

I have a penchant for exploring seldom-visited, off-the-beaten-path natural destinations, and since most of Alaska is inaccessible by roads, there’s no shortage of adventures I can dream of. Enter Spencer Glacier. I’ve had Spencer Glacier on my radar since we moved to Alaska. It sits 60 miles Southeast of Anchorage, but you have to take…

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…

Birthday Reflections: 45

Aging is wild and messy, so as an obsessive introspector (not a word, I know) who always overshares, I like to canonize my birthday through a mini aging journal where I unravel my physical, mental and social state of being. We all know I’m not known for brevity, so here we go …  If I’m…

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…