For a fuller view of my writing beyond my recent posts, dive in below and peruse as much or as little as you’d like. I write about a wide range of topics from WordPress to Surrogacy to Photography to Mental Health. Don’t follow me if you want to only hear about a certain topic as I write based on what comes up for me in that moment of time. As always, thanks for reading.
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An ode to 23
“I don’t know what to expect out of this year. Ideally, I’d love to pick a place to stay more long term to live. I could also see myself loving the nomad life for another year. Who knows! I don’t and I’m not worried about figuring it out. More than anything, I want to […]
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A beautiful San Diego Day in the Life
I work at Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com and all that jazz, as a Happiness Engineer and a team lead. My team is in charge of creating happiness for a wide variety of users from Jetpack to Sensei. I’ve written before about what my days at Automattic have looked like but haven’t since “settling” down […]
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Go where you are rare
“Go where you are rare” – Megan Smith I just got back to my place yesterday from Lesbians Who Tech in San Francisco. It was exhausting just as much as it was inspiring. This line from the third ever CTO of America stood out amongst everything else I heard. She said it in the context […]
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Who doesn’t know any better
“Treat your mind the way you would a young child who doesn’t know any better. Be gentle but firm. Meditation means bringing your mind back when you notice it has wandered; it’s not about keeping your mind from wandering in the first place.” – Mark Epstein, The Trauma of Everyday Life I’ve been reading the book […]
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Caffeinated meditation
Deep breath – WHEW FEEL THAT ENERGY. Focus on the breathe….. Man, lunch was good. Is that a feeling or a thought. That’s a feeling. Erm. That’s a thought. How do you tell the difference? Okay okay. Calm the mind. Calm your shaking hand. Calm…. GO DO ALL THE THINGS. No no. Be here now. Deeeep […]
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Blending
I was reading over old blog posts recently on my private blog when I found multiple mentions of not recognizing my life. As I try to write to explain how I’m feeling, I’m reminded of this quick passage I wrote in college i read for the last section of my philosophy class about whether language […]
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Thoughts on what to wear to therapy
Hmm. I don’t want to look too put together so she thinks I actually have my shit together and runs me out of therapy. “You’re good, girl! Go out into the world!” Must avoid. Hmm. I can’t look too disheveled though – that might be concerning. She may question the last time I did laundry or […]
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what happens after vegas
This past week, I headed to Las Vegas for a meetup with the happiness leads working at Automattic. Since we are a distributed company the time in person is really valuable and provides a new way of communicating with one another. I am living in San Diego right now so I decided it would be way […]
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Stepping up your mom game
One of my favorite coffee shops happens to be in a neighborhood with very little parking. In an effort to find a silver lining, I use the time it takes to walk from my car to the coffee shop to quickly call the few people I can bear to talk on the phone with. Quick […]
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Embrace the delay
On Friday, I left abruptly to head to Arizona. I drove through terrible weather – buckets of rain, heavy winds that shake your car, fog that makes it hard to see. It was fantastic though. As I was driving, I was delighted to realize I was going to be able to catch the sunset on […]
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Gender & Google
Inspired by this article “Does Google Think You’re the Wrong Gender?”, I’m running a test and changing my gender in Google’s settings to “agender”. I don’t strongly identify with either gender and, after hearing a coworker mention the term I ran with it for this fun little test. I’m curious what ads I’m shown when they don’t […]
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Kind words written by a stranger
I’m a prolific writer in many ways. I write all day for my job. In small moments, I’ll scribble notes in my phone. I have nearly 300 of these notes on my phone currently. I was scrolling through last week trying to find a specific day to piece something together when I found this entry […]
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Sleeeeep (or the lack of it)
For the last year or so, my body has gotten into this strange habit of waking itself up for no damn reason at around 4am-5am in the morning. In an attempt to track this and see if there’s any reason/cause/whatever, I’ve started trying to remember to take screenshots of my phone this week when I […]
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Minimalist Home Fund
As of today, I’ve officially decided to start a minimalist home fund. No sooner than being 15 minutes into the documentary on minimalism, I could barely contain myself from looking up shipping container homes, designers for tiny homes, lessons learned, etc. I have no doubt I want to live this way for the rest of […]
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End of year vignettes
During my month in Colorado, one of my dearest friends and I tackled the Manitou Incline together. When we reached the top, we decided to keep going and half rock climbed our way up a rock face to get a better view. Per usual, I was hesitant but Steven took something that felt out of […]
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2016: Let my shadows prove the sunshine
Oh, 2016. I set out to write this post as many others have done before – it was a really hard year personally speaking. This time last year I was newly single, driving up to ATL to spend NYE with friends, and completely lost. I had nothing that was tying me to my day to day life […]
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Stay
It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you: Leave. Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. […]
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Witnesses
We are dangerously close to repeating the past. Walk through a museum and you’ll be reminded of this. We must first be witnesses. We must first learn to know better. Then we must act. Go to a museum and witness the past and present through the few lenses willing enough to offer it to us. […]
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What to wear to therapy
I very rarely think about what I’m wearing but, for some reason, going to therapy sets off mental alarm bells like I’m going to the principal’s office or headed to an important meeting. “I should probably look presentable while I word vomit about all the rushing thoughts in my brain.” “Hmm I can’t just wear […]
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On flying
Without fail each time I board I flight, I contemplate mortality. I pause and look around me at the folks on board. “Who would I turn to if the flight went down and I only had one other person to mutter out my deepest wishes before dying?” Or would I just be a witness to […]
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notification avalanche
18 text messages. 45 slack pings. 55 emails in my work email. 18 emails in my personal email. 3 Facebook messages. 5 Facebook notifications. What on earth?! One day I want to track how many things I’m notified about just to get a sense of the shear amount of information I have to process on […]
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Leadership lessons from living nomadically
“Oh – are you actually going to work today?”. I just moved to San Diego and the barista at a coffee shop 2 blocks from my house looks surprised as I sauntered in to order coffee doned in my favorite casual attire aka PJs. I chuckled and started to explain my job. I realized today […]
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Post office trips
Less than a block from my apartment is a somewhat rundown post office affiliate. I passed it without realizing it was even open the first time. Having a post office not even a baseball throw away has turned me into a prolific postcard writer these days. If I’m lucky, the owner’s dog is there. We […]
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To those who feel like a burden
This is for those of you who feel like burdens to friends and who are valiantly trying to shoulder the weight of your struggles by yourself. Please give others the opportunity to help. Please don’t fight alone. Please treat yourself as you would a dearly loved friend. In the last year, I’ve had too many […]
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Actress Roundtable
Despite this really terrible YouTube still image, this roundtable conversation that I stumbled upon on the way down the rabbit hole that is the internet is absolutely fabulous. I love listening to these women talking about similar issues we talk about in tech. I don’t even want to say too much because I really think it’s so […]
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A rare gift
“In this world of numbness and information overload, the ability to feel, my boy, is a rare gift indeed.” ― Patrick Ness If you know me, it’s no surprise I am an incredibly intense person. I’ve spent most of my life trying to “manage” (for lack of a better term) it all but it inevitably […]
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never invite me to trivia
“Um – what’s the date where after it’s not okay to wear white or something?” I had to call my mom and ask her about this recently. I’m horrible with remembering things like this. On this note, never invite me to play trivia – I don’t remember major dates of big political events, anything about […]
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My own little rebellion
It was nearing 1am and I had a flight to catch at 7am. After sharing a few drinks and swapping stories with a friend in Orlando, I was headed home happy, exhausted, and overwhelmed. I still hadn’t packed and my to-do list was longer than I wanted it to be (when is it ever shorter?). […]
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Coming out of the deep end
“Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you can not bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond that pain.” ― Kahlil Gibran I was making breakfast this past week when all of a sudden […]
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Saving for tomorrow
I have this great “problem” of being incredibly intense and focused on whatever it is I’m doing. I say “problem” because, while it makes me incredibly efficient and allows me to go knee deep in whatever I’m working on or doing, it also means I run the risk of burning out or overdoing it. I […]
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