Life – Page 9 – Travelcraft Journal

October 13, 2014January 3, 2018

Mosquitoes may be stalking me.

The Sonoran Desert isn’t known for mosquitoes, but after an unusually wet September, they’re everywhere. It seems like I get new bites every time I leave the house – or don’t.

I finally resorted to pulling the bug repellent (ick) out of the cabinet, but that didn’t even work. Maybe it’s old. I’d like to find a natural (or at least less chemical-y) solution that works.

My great grandmother used to swear by Avon’s Skin-So-Soft for pretty much everything, including keeping mosquitoes away during humid Indiana summers. I also found an article with some interesting DIY natural repellent ideas, like putting baby oil or cider vinegar on your skin.

Have you tried any of these or found something else that works for you?

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This is my Microblog Mondays post. More quick reads at Stirrup Queens!

June 14, 2014May 28, 2019

June is not the end of the world

Yeah, I get it. Summer in Phoenix is hot. But I think we Phoenicians sometimes give up too early on the great outdoors.

Even in mid-June, the temperatures often still drop at night. And that makes everything so much more bearable. You can still get out early or late in the day to take a walk or sit in the shade. We still get an occasional coolish day. (After it’s been 108, 93 seems quite lovely!)

Just getting away from the city can lower the temp by 10 degrees or so – you don’t have to go far, just away from all that concrete.

There comes a point in the year where it never cools down. It’s how we pay for our gorgeous non-summer days. We get our version of cabin fever, and it gets a bit depressing.

But June can still surprise you.

June 1, 2014June 3, 2014

Year One

Today Travelcraft Journal turns one! I pubished the first post one year ago today. I was excited about finding and sharing ways to be creative and explore the world around us – even in the midst of real life busyness and constraints. I didn’t know where this little blog project would go, but I felt optimistic. A year later, I am thrilled and grateful at where the journey has already taken me and still excited about what’s next.

Over the past year, I gave you some tips on packing, booking flights, and airfare refunds. I shared some of my adventures with you, like Colorado road tripping, introducing our Chinese friends to camping, a whirlwind(y) tour of Chicago, sneaking into Arcosanti – despite tales of angry naked hippies – and living to return for breakfast another day.

Closer to home, we explored the Phoenix area – taking side streets, checking out a travel expo, hiking South Mountain and looking for the last spring wildflowers, reluctantly enjoying brunch, seeing festive lights and maybe wolves at Glendale Glitters, getting lost in a museum full of Arts & Flowers, and, of course, the time we started out on a new hike and I ended the evening exiting the restroom to roaring applause. (Just one of many proud moments this year.)

I also shared some things I made – a paper bag journal, upcycled gift tags, flowers pressed while traveling, super sangria, a desk fort, Peruvian bean chili, and mini envelopes. I presented on DIY gift bags at Craft Hack and travel journals at Southwest Maker Fest. But I always encouraged you to stop the DIY guilt. Make what makes you happy and don’t let anyone tell you to do more or less than that.

Only a few weeks after starting the site, I decided to go to Chicago for the BlogHer Annual Conference. I learned a ton about blogging and book publishing and met so many amazing people, including randomly bumping into one of the founders – twice. In between those two meetings, I had the idea that a session on blog design might be helpful to a lot of people, so I suggested it to her. That topic idea morphed into a mobile design talk at BlogHer Pro that fall. I’ll be speaking again when I return to the annual conference this July.

In the meantime, I talked to a friend about my idea for writing travel books and realized I needed to hone my voice and idea before pursuing it. But it’s still something I plan to do.

After seeing a panel at BlogHer that included the founder of Brit + Co., I started following the creative living site on Twitter. When they tweeted that they were looking for freelance contributors, I submitted an application and began this process that ended up stretching out about two months. Finally, I was accepted as part of the contributor team, and I continue to write for them on food, tech, and DIY topics.

Recently, I launched a newsletter with Travelcraft Journal highlights and free goodies. We were granted our first media pass for Phoenix Comicon. (I know I acted in my last post like it wasn’t a big deal. But I’m actually really proud of it.)

And now here were are, celebrating Year One! Wanna join the party? Enjoy a favorite treat in a favorite place and post a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #tcjturns1. (Or post it elsewhere and link to it in the comments.) If you message me your address, I’ll send you a nifty Travelcraft Journal sticker. Consider it a party favor and a thank you for being part of this community, because, really, you guys rock!

May 24, 2014May 23, 2023

Weekend brunch in Tempe

Phillip and I don’t always do brunch but when we do, it’s because I dragged him somewhere kicking and screaming.

But he likes it once there’s food in front of him.

I finally got him into Ncounter on Mill in Tempe a few weeks ago. It was pretty busy, but the line went quickly. And even though the cashier was moving customers through lickety-split, he still smiled when I joked that he must’ve known Phillip’s name since he handed us the letter P to identify our order.

Phillip ordered the meat and potatoes yin to my fruit and veggie yang. (Does that even make sense? I’m just gonna roll with it.)

The food was good. The coffee was good. We went to Tempe Town Lake to walk it off.

It was a nice day.

Hope your weekend is as lovely as brunch and a walk around the lake.

PS In case you’re wondering about this project, I need to keep you in suspense about awhile longer because of reasons. Keep guessing!

April 18, 2014April 17, 2014

The moon and our shadow

As we watched the lunar eclipse Monday night, I joked with Phillip that I could see our two shadows on top of the earth’s up there too.

We had walked down our sidewalk to get out from behind the trees. A few of our neighbors were already outside, sitting in yards, leaning over balconies, or standing on the sidewalk like us. No one said much. They greeted us or just smiled. One commented “Crazy, huh?” And it was. A lot of the people I used to know have moved out, and I haven’t really gotten to know this new crowd yet. But there we were, hanging out together outside at midnight, craning our necks to watch the shadow of the planet we were standing on eclipse the moon.

I felt a sense of community with our neighborhood that I hadn’t in a long time.

I remember looking at the moon the first time I travelled outside the country. It almost felt strange how it looked exactly the same when so much around me seemed a little off. But there it was, on its journey across the skies of the world, tugging at the oceans, moving through its same phases.

This week a lot of people in a lot of places were looking up at it in the same moment – from sidewalks and balconies, through windows and telescopes – like one huge, sprawling neighborhood.

Whether you saw it or not, we all cast a shadow across the moon.