welcome

I left my full-time job at a local nonprofit last September. I went straight into full-time freelancing, which meant working from home. There were so many adjustments and though I still haven’t perfected it, I’ve learned a little something in the past nine months.

If you follow me over on Instagram, you’ll notice that every once in a while I write haikus in the comments of my photos. I’m not super emo, but it’s just a little reminder to my husband that I’m thinking of him.

Travis and I met 6 years ago in Africa. I was instantly smitten with him, but he took his time “warming up” to me. (Can you imagine?!) Our time there only overlapped for four months, and we formed a strong friendship, emailing quite frequently as we traveled separately all over the continent and then sharing meals with a group of friends when we were both at our home base in Kampala. He handed me a letter when I left, telling me to open it on the plane ride home.

I’ve been 28 years old for an entire six days. And let me tell you … I’ve learned some stuff.

Using Photographs as an instrument of memory is probably a mistake because I think that photographs actually sort of impoverish your memory in certain ways, sort of take away all the other senses—the sense of smell and taste and texture, that kind of stuff. … Sally Mann, Photographer

I was recently introduced to the legendary work of Sally Mann (which is beautiful, evocative, and warning: full of nudity in case you Google.) And I was utterly intrigued as to why someone so gifted at the art of photography would say these things about essentially, her own work. On first reading, it seemed like a put-down to me and my defenses rose up. ‘No! We take pictures to remember! That’s the whole point!’

To introduce this series, I thought I would start with my favorite thing that exists on planet earth: cookies. I would love to say there isn’t a cookie I’ve met that I didn’t like. But it’s just not true. I’m very particular about my cookies and you should be too. You owe it to yourself. There are a couple things I’ve learned that might be helpful for you on your own cookie journey:

The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? Well I do, and it happens to be an addiction to the thing that comes with me everywhere. 

The thing that is hard about this addiction is that it’s very socially acceptable. It’s actually socially UNacceptable to not be attached to your phone. To take too long to text/email/call someone back. I‘m guilty of being annoyed with people for not answering me quickly. And I’m just perpetuating the problem.