Life Lately

It seems I’ve taken a bit of an unplanned break from this space, but I’ve been wanting to get back into it! I blinked and April was gone. It was kind of a weird month for me, and I’m not sad to see it go.

After returning from Texas Style Council, the real world felt just a little too harsh, which made it too easy to retreat — to just jump back in to a very busy life packed with conferences, Philly Tech Week, a bit of travel, and a jumble of uncertainty.

But for now, I’ll just recap what I’ve been up to and where I’m at now.

Just finished: House of Cards Season 3. Giving this presentation on Sublime Text at the Philly Women in Tech Summit. The two are unrelated.

Working on: Revamping this website! I’ve been working with Sarah on designs for integrating this here personal/lifestyle blog with my portfolio and hopefully some more technical writing! I’m going to start development on it soon, and I can’t wait for it all to come together. I’ve also got a few new freelance projects in the pipeline that will keep me plenty busy. And! I’m hosting May’s LadyBoss event with Heart and Dash.

Listening to: Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell. I think I listened to this pretty exclusively for most of April. Named after his mother and stepfather, the album is all about his relationship with his mother, who died of stomach cancer in 2012. It’s stunning in its beauty and sadness, with elements of playfulness. We saw Sufjan perform it and a ton of other stuff at the Beacon Theatre a few weekends ago and it was transcendent. We almost went back for one of his Kings Theatre shows, but it’s kind of a hassle to get to Brooklyn on a Friday night.

Reading: Just finished Marilynne Robinon’s Lila, which was everything I’d hoped for and then some. If you haven’t read Gilead, Home, and now Lila, I highly recommend them. I also recently finished The Thrill of the Chaste by Valerie Weaver-Zercher, which deals with the  popularity of Amish romance novels. It dealt really well with issues that have been bothering me a lot about the fascination with the Amish — tourism, exploitation, appropriation, and inauthenticity — while still being fair and kind in its treatment of the genre’s readership.

Dreaming about: Moving to Spain for three months. Buying a house in Lancaster. Moving to State College. None of these things really go together. I’m getting restless for things I never thought I’d want. Hopefully it’s a phase.