I hope all of you had a wonderful (and safe!) New Year’s Eve!
I’m sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t been here much. I’ve been working on a new website! While this blog will always have a special place in my heart, I realized that I have outgrown it. I decided to start fresh, with a new focus that I’m super excited about! I’m not deleting this blog right now, but I won’t be posting here anymore.
I hope you’ll all join me at my brand-new site, AshleeFit.com. I have so many things planned!
For now, it’s still under construction…But my first post is up, and I’d love it if you would take a look!
Thank you to my wonderful readers…This blog has been so much fun, and was the perfect learning experience. I hope to see you all soon at AshleeFit.com!
Often, when I explain to people that I work from home I think they picture something very different from the truth. After all, lots of characters on your favorite tv shows have home offices, with fancy architect tables and gorgeous leather desk chairs. I can see why someone might assume that I also have a beautiful, Pinterest-worthy office at home.
But friends, it wouldn’t be farther from the truth.
The wonderful people at WeWork asked me to share a behind the scenes look at my office space, and I was more than happy to do it… but after having a look at their shared office spaces (not yet near me, sadly), I have developed a major case of office envy.
Why? Well…
We have a third bedroom that I could use… I even went as far as to move my desk in there. Then I decided to store most of my (rather extensive) yarn stash in that room… and I may have put a few boxes of stuff in there… and what I’m trying to say is no, that is not so much an office as it is a storage space at this point in time.
So where exactly does the magic happen?
Well, a lot of the time my office looks like this:
O likes to get his laptop and practice ABCs while I’m working. He also likes to drive his tractor/choo choo/ truck over anything I’m trying to write on.
This is my office if I happen to be working on a food post. I have given up trying to keep those little fingers out of anything.
On days like today, my office is in my car, and in a banquet room of a Best Western. You can get a surprising amount of work accomplished by making work calls on your way home from a giant networking meeting.
It helps if you pick up a cold brew coffee and a breakfast sandwich, by the way.
Some days (and maybe these are my favorites), my office is wherever my crochet hooks are. I love spending time trying new patterns and working on new items for my Etsy shop.
Of course, I haven’t given up hope for an honest-to-goodness office quite yet. I actually have a rather lovely Pinterest board dedicated to the idea that one day I will have a real home office.
I’m not holding my breath.
If you do happen to live near a WeWork location, check them out. Seriously, the Hollywood Boulevard location looks like an art gallery. I could probably live there.
Hey, wait…Is that allowed?
Hey guys! Check out the article I wrote for Parade… These fortune cookies make a tasty Valentine’s Day treat. I should know, I ate a hundred of them while working on the article.
Anyway, check it out on Parade.com!
So today is the last day of 2014. I don’t know why, but somehow New Year’s Eve always manages to sneak up on me…It’s as if it hides behind Christmas, only to jump out at the last minute. SURPRISE, HERE I AM!
I don’t know why it bothers me…The BF and I generally enjoy an evening at home, watching Kathy Griffin torment the Silver Fox and maybe having a glass of wine. In other words, it isn’t an evening that requires much planning.
See?
Of course, I like to spend some time thinking aboit the previous year… What was great, what sucked…Goals I accomplished and things I need to work on…
All in all, I think I can officially say 2014 was a good year.
I got published in not just one, but two magazines.
I went a little nuts crocheting, and found out I might actually be fairly good at it.
Elsa in progress
I did a lot of baking.
2014 saw my TV debut…
And a wonderful article that appeared on the front page of our local paper.
Photo taken by John Dykstra for the Journal Review
My sweet boy turned TWO this year… Still healthy, happy, and a little bit wild at times. I still think of him as my little miracle.
As happy as I am with how things went in 2014, I’m looking forward to an even better 2015. I have big goals, and I’m finally gaining the confidence I need to work toward them.
Thanks for sticking with me for another year, friends. I hope you had a great 2014, and lots to look forward to in 2015.
Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!
What was your favorite moment of 2014? What are you looking forward to in 2015?
Yesterday, in the middle of running a couple of errands with my mom, I got a notification from WordPress. It was the one all bloggers love to see: Your stats are booming! I couldn’t figure out why my blog was getting so much attention until it hit me…
The piece I wrote for XOJane must have been published. Could it be?
I quickly checked the site, and there it was: IHTM: MY 8-POUND BABY AND A 3-POUND TUMOR SHARED MY UTERUS
Yes, another article about Fred.
Anyway, I have had a huge smile on my face ever since I saw it. I loved Jane magazine and was a faithful subscriber until the print edition folded (saddest day ever). After an insanely long and empty time without a monthly dose of Jane, I was beyond thrilled to see that a new online edition was here. The day I got an email saying they were interested in my story, I just about died right there.
I checked the site again today, and there it was:
So it wasn’t just a dream. I’m even cool enough to have my very own author bio!
Check it out, and make sure to read the comments. They’re all pretty supportive and some are downright hilarious.
I just can’t express how cool this all feels… It’s like a little slice of happy pie, topped with validation whipped cream and a paycheck cherry.
And right this second I don’t even care that none of that made sense because I got published in a super cool magazine. Hooray!
Well it never fails. Whenever a holiday comes up, I get an email from someone wanting to hire me to write for them. Yesterday, I got an email from a new client, asking me to write a funny article about something business related. It’s due in three days, so I got to work right away…
Sort of.
I think most creative people will tell you that it can be really difficult to perform on command. There is nothing less funny than someone that is actively trying to be funny, in my opinion.
I drove to my mom and dad’s this morning so I would have a little extra help with O while I wrote. Three hours later, here I am with about fifty tabs open in two Chrome browsers, and two Word documents going…armed with pot of coffee number two (ok, The BF drank part of the first one) and 230 words. I need 500. And not just 500 words, 500 funny words. The last sentence of the client’s email was, ” Looking forward to laughing.”
It’s gone about like this:
Was that funny? Maybe that isn’t all that funny…I think I’ll take that out. Wait, maybe that WAS funny, but I need to put it here…Oh hell, I don’t remember how I phrased that. Did I quote that right? Probably ought to check my source…Oh, I clicked the wrong tab so…Hey, a Facebook notification. Why not lose five minutes goofing off on Facebook? It will be good for the creative process. But only 5 minutes.
-15 minutes later-
Shit, I really got a little off track there. Ok, where was I? Oh, I’m out of coffee. Better get a refill… Aw, O is doing something really cute with Grandma. No, I need to get back to work. After I pee first, because hello coffee.
-At this point, I come back and sit down to just stare at my screen for a bit.-
I hate this. I don’t think this is “look forward to laughing” funny. I need to start over.
WHY DID I JUST DO THAT?
Shit.
I’m going to check my blog stats. GOOD LORD, Fred’s birthday post got a lot of views. I guess tumors are interesting? I wish that’s what I was supposed to be writing about…It would be a lot easier. You know what? I think I’ll start a post. Maybe that’ll get the creative juices flowing.
…
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
Willfully Disobedient 