Fall Back, Regroup

I’ve been coming to the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, specifically Franconia Notch since I was 5 years old. Every summer my parents would make the trip up here for two weeks in August. It became my home away from home. I shared my love of this area with Craig (my boyfriend at the time) and he too saw why it was so great to get away here. In November of 1998 he drove me here, up to one of the scenic turnouts on the Kancamagus, in the snow, and handed me a box. I had already found out he was going to propose, but he didn’t know that, and he still was able to throw me off. The box was not small, but rather a 9 x 9 x 5 box. I opened it to find a binder […]

Retreating to Disconnect

This is trip is a vacation for all intent-and-purposes, but it’s got a second role, a company retreat. The company being the two person venture of CRIANA. In May I was elated, events were finally aligning where I could truly go solo and focus my energy, skills and time on our business idea. Increased work came in from a client who I had been working with for over 2 years, excellent this was happening! I thought, great now my part time side clients can truly get the attention they need and deserve. I will finally have time to do everything I want to do. Except that didn’t quite happen. I’ve been busy, some weeks swamped, so swamped just before vacation I fell asleep with my laptop on my lap at 6:45pm. What I did not realize is that I had […]

Home Office

Prelude to Change

It has been quite a while since I consistently wrote for my site. To say a lot has happened since December when I wrote about the ornaments, or let alone early 2012, is an understatement. My 30’s have been an interesting time. Depressing, surreal and confident; not exactly three words one would normally put together. There is a lot of change on the horizon, and a lot of change that has already happened. I’m on my 3rd job change since the beginning of the year. This has been a bit jarring after two previous jobs that I held tenure at for 5.5 and 7.5 years respectively. The number of anxiety attacks during the past 6 months is more than I have ever had in my (albiet short) life. Each one though has led to more clarity, more confidence and far less questioning and judgement of myself. […]

9,949 Views

I guess I would have hoped one of my photos from Maine would have had a highest view on Flickr. Instead the photo that gets that accolade is my “What’s in Your Bag?” photo from 2006. It’s certainly funny looking back at what I carried then. I still have most of the items. Sold the Timbuk2 to a friend. The Treo650 and iPod got condensed into an iPhone (version 6 now). The portable HD is still around, as are the knitting needles, card reader, and usb hub. Many of the wires have been able to simplified and some eliminated over the years. Maybe I should do an updated version of this…

2014: A Year of Hard Work

2013 could be easily defined with chaos that led to change. It could also have been defined as taking great leaps of faith, settling into hard work, which we then continued in 2014. 2014 was right up until the very last day, the slow payoffs for the hard work we’ve been doing. Craig took his health by the reigns and changed his future. He lost 42 lbs, ran 5 kilometers 3 times a week, and worked with the right practitioners to help balance his spine and body again. He also dove back into his music, his love. For Christmas he presented me one of his albums completed. He hasn’t had a completed album since 1999. I took my career by the reigns. I was promoted to manager at the end of 2013, but it was 2014 that I ended up with 3 employees reporting […]

Maine Lighthouses

Day 6 of 16: Down East

Starting in 1995, we began vacationing in Maine. This I can thank my wonderful in-laws for. They told my Mom, she booked a house rental way up on the down east coast. This was a big deal for my parents, as every year of my childhood, summer vacation was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. My father did not do change. Gratefully this was a change he liked. 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 and going. We’ve usually figured out some way to get there for at least a week. The down east coast has been good to us, giving us solitude, fresh air and incredible views which allow us to regain our energy and start creating again. It has certainly given me many opportunities for wonderful photos. Craig has written several […]