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Blog

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.

  • puzzle to solve

    I ran to a park today jogging the 1.7 miles there slowly but steadily. I jaywalked more than I should have but looked both ways as I did, laughing when I realized a few times I was crossing one way streets. I lost track of the sets of pull-ups I did before heading back the […]

  • Rebuilding

    Some years are for rebuilding–that’s what I’ve always heard coaches say. This last year epitomized that sentiment. I rebuilt my life starting from the ground up like so many others starting with the basics, like being in the same room with people again. I grew used to hugging people after spending over a year without […]

  • Let’s chat about WordPress 6.0

    I know, I know. WordPress 5.9 isn’t even out the door yet (coming to a site near you on January 25, 2022) but I’m already so excited for 6.0 thanks to the foundation 5.8 and 5.9 are bringing to the WordPress world for full site editing features. It’s wild to think about what will be […]

  • Thoughts on “Where the despairing log on”

    Content warning: This post discusses suicide and a forum about suicide.

  • mental trail

    I’m off work this week which means there’s space for some new thoughts to enter my brain. I don’t have the capacity nor do I want to spend the energy meticulously documenting each and every one but I do want to leave a mental trail for my future self to return to them. I have […]

  • dwindling

    The days are dwindling down in WNC. As time shrinks, my gratitude grows. On my toughest days, I hope I can look back on this time as a shining example of never knowing what or who is around the corner.

  • Why I voted to delay WordPress 5.9

    Thoughts on why I voted to delay WordPress 5.9.

  • best effort

    For the last five days, I’ve hardly had the energy to leave the bed (or the tub where I’ve spent hours), let alone the airbnb I’m staying in. I keep thinking about how lucky I am that I picked such a great spot to fall apart. There’s an adorable reading nook that I’d sleep in […]

  • Collapse

    Where can I collapse?I must pick a place soon. I don’t have much time.  It can’t be too comfortable.I’ll never leave if so. I don’t want to stay forever.  It can’t be too harsh.I’ll come to accept it. I don’t want to leave here too soon.  The search for such a placekeeps me herefor longer than i can […]

  • Illuminating an exciting moment in time

    I shared a version of this within Automattic, the company I work, and a colleague suggested that this would be helpful to have in the wider WordPress conversations so I thought I’d share here! This post won’t cover everything despite my best efforts but it will cover, at a high level, the basics of the […]

  • sleeplessness and all

    I went camping last week at my childhood friend’s childhood camp. Another camp friend of hers joined and together they sang songs, reminisced, shared infuriating riddles over camp fires, and guided us around. I loathed every camp I ever went to (there aren’t many) but felt as though I could have replayed this night endlessly, […]

  • extra pets

    I made some new furry friends this past weekend and wanted you to meet them too. Don’t worry, I already gave them extra pets on your behalf.

  • Sharing Approaches for FSE Feature Adoption

    While conversation continues around the WordPress’ full site editing project and the collection of features it brings, I’m increasingly getting questions around adoption. When should we adopt features? Do we have to adopt features? What would be easiest to start with if I’m not ready to leap fully into the block theme world? This post […]

  • losing track

    How is it possible that I can repeatedly capture so much beauty, love, and joy yet still somehow lose track of each of them all the same? Sometimes I scroll through my phone’s photos and can hardly believe the memories crammed within all the 1s and 0s. When did this become my life? How many […]

  • so badly

    “Please, I want so badly for the good things to happen.” — Sylvia Plath

  • Automattic: 7 Year Anniversary

    To say I feel lucky to still work at Automattic is a vast understatement. To stay I miss my co-workers feels the same. In the dim, horrifying, mind numbing, and surreal days of the last year, working at Automattic was a gift. It felt like the library on my college campus that I could retreat […]

  • To those who aren’t very attached to life

    This is somewhat a part II of a post I wrote a few years ago (five years ago?! what is time?!) titled, “To those who feel like a burden”. Considering the last year both busted open the flood gates of mental health crises and gave an easy “excuse” to talk about mental health, it felt […]

  • Odd thing to hope

    This might be an odd thing to hope for another person but I hope you find a song soon that you can’t stop listening to that makes you feel a ton. A song you’re glad you stuck around to hear, you know? I sent the above in a text to a friend recently but realized […]

  • empty road

    After searching for a few weeks, I finally found a group that aligned with my values locally in Salt Lake City that would take my few items of furniture as a donation. The two men arrived this morning, smiling and extremely sturdy. Sometimes I delude myself into thinking that I’m strong until I watch a […]

  • pathways for participation

    I have terrible stage fright and general public speaking anxiety. Years spent painfully correcting speech impediments will do that to you. At one point, a speech therapist I worked with dumped out my piggy bank of carefully collected coins and began taking away coins one at a time when I got words wrong. Needless to […]

  • On future outreach program models in the WordPress community

    The FSE Outreach Program was started as an experiment and, just over one year in, it felt advantageous to document thoughts around future outreach program models while I’m in the midst of building this current one. Plus, I love a good reason to reflect! It’s important to note that I’ve struggled a bit in writing this post […]

  • So you want to talk about Full Site Editing?

    As we’re nearing 5.8, there’s an increasing demand for people to speak about Full Site Editing and this post should help act as a resource guide to enable more people to do so. As always, I would love contributions from the wider community to build this out into an even more comprehensive resource! While this […]

  • Look

    Look for reasons to love people. Look far and wide if you have to. Look for love in the differences — in the way their soul lights up over something you know nothing about. Even after you’ve found so many reasons (and you will), keep looking. Expect to find more. There’s no limit to how […]

  • The walls became the world all around

    “That very night in Max’s room a forest grew and grew and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around.” Excerpt from “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak “You are constantly told in depression that your judgment is compromised, but a part of depression is that […]

  • One Year in DevRel

    This week, I spoke at a WordPress meetup group about one of the biggest features coming to WordPress: Full Site Editing. Leading up to the presentation, I recorded a version of the talk and shared the link with a few trusted community members hoping for feedback. In true “it takes a village” fashion, I got […]

  • Like riding a bike

    I got the first dose of a Pfizer vaccine today. It feels a bit unreal! I purposefully wore a shirt that said, “Enjoy this beautiful day” in hopes it would help spread some good vibes to those I knew I’d interact with. It proved to be such a great way to connect even briefly leading […]

  • Dead end

    Truth seems to get flimsier the messier a situation gets. How I even view the idea of truth depends on who I listen to, what I manage to remember, who I seek out to cross check me, what mood I’m in, how recent an event was, whether there’s documentation, what my value system is, what […]

  • What a relief

    Some days I walk around relishing in the fact that I want for nothing the world says I should. What a relief to spend my energy striving to connect rather than “succeed”.

  • 28

    Last year, I used the following quote: “Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not […]

  • soul at scale

    I sometimes wish I had a team of Annes. One would spend all day outside snapping too many photos and taking naps in the sun. One would grind away at work with music going, caffeine at hand. One would write letters and call friends asking as many questions as she wanted. One would spend their […]