Sidetracked

Posted on September 24, 2015 | Leave a comment


Today, I was stopping by Bibo’s (my favorite chai latte spot in Reno—the only place I’ve found that uses powder instead of concentrate, which makes ALL the difference) and decided to run into the Freckled Frog, in the same plaza. On Tuesday, I’d gone by this beautiful French country estate for an interview for the Winter issue, and the homeowner told me that the owner of the Freckled Frog helped with a lot of the design. She wasn’t in, but the store is incredibly cute and I picked up my first Christmas gift of the season! Freelancing—0; Christmas shopping—1.

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Posted in Journalism Perks, Life

Autumn Food & Wine

Posted on September 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

Melon & caviar from Wolfdale's

Melon & caviar from Wolfdale’s

What a fun day! On Sunday, I got to join TQ  food and wine editor Sue Rock at Northstar California’s Autumn Food & Wine Grand Tasting event. This is a decadent event. Restaurants pair with wineries to create the perfect culinary concoction. It was impressive: wineries such as Orin Swift, Failla and ZD paired with eateries like Mikuni, D’Lish Catering and Pianeta. I particularly liked the duck sausage from Campo (which sat on a delectable duck fat-fried potato skin), the duck nachos from Sunnyside, the melon/caviar dish from Wolfdales and the most glorious bacon ever (it was topped with peanut brittle and an onion relish) from an Orlando bbq joint.

We had some haze from the California wildfires, but the lack of sun kept it cool, which was nice. I went back for seconds at a couple of spots, and stuffed myself so much that I didn’t need to eat at all Monday. A very well-presented, delicious event, and a big thanks for Northstar California for the hospitality and Sue for letting me tag along with her! Now, if only I could find a way to recreate that peanut brittle bacon…

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Posted in Journalism Perks

Exit Summer, Into Fall

Posted on September 9, 2015 | Leave a comment


As always, I’m ridiculously behind on blogging. It’s been a busy summer, but the absolute highlight was my brother’s wedding. A beautiful ceremony and so wonderful to spend so much time with my siblings (above), who are five of my favorite people in the world, as well as so many of my East Coast family and friends.

Now that fall is here, I’m trying to get back into work mode: I’ve already been to the TQ office twice, once to go through the Home Award applications, once for Ski & Ride proofing, and I have another day of proofing next week.

I’m sending the girls to school twice a week, with the hopes that I can be more efficient with my freelance work, but also make time for my personal writing. I’m currently halfway done with a major revision for my novel, and am hopeful that a few child-free days a week will help me make significant progress in the next few months!

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Posted in Freelancing, Life, Writing

Fun Find

Posted on June 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

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It’s always fun to see Tahoe Quarterly in unexpected places—in this case, in a bathroom display at Western Nevada Supply in Reno. I was there to pick out a sink and faucet, but if I’m ever in the need of a new bathtub, this model has my vote!

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Posted in Life, Published Work

Getting Ready for the Summer (Issue)

Posted on June 11, 2015 | Leave a comment

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Just finished editing the Summer issue of TQ and it looks beautiful! Lots of great articles, including one on scuba diving Lake Tahoe (which made me a little queasy reading) and a really interesting feature on the state of the forests coming off four years of drought. I wrote a big piece on the Nevada Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition Tahoe: A Visual History. It will be pretty impressive and include basketry from the Washoe Tribe, nineteenth century paintings, large-scale wall installations and will include pieces from artists such as Ansel Adams, Frank Lloyd Wright, Maya Lin, Phyllis Shafer and Erika Osborne.

During the first proof, last week, I got to stop on Mt. Rose on my way back over the Summit and take my fur baby for a hike (the first hiking I’ve done after a solid three weeks of being sick). For the second proof, it rained most of the day in Incline, so we skipped the beach. Not complaining, though—we’ll take all the water we can get!

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Posted in Published Work, Writing

TQ Proof

Posted on April 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

I just finished up two days of proofing for TQ’s Best of Tahoe issue. It’s a beautiful issue, and I’ve cried editing it twice now—once for a moving Through the Lens photo, again for the very sweet feature piece written by Jen Schmidt. The magazine looks great and will be on stands around Tahoe/Reno in early May.

And, if I didn’t love proofing days enough already, Jen came by the office with a four-pack of beer that Kyle and I split. Really, getting to write and edit and being thanked in beer… I’m pretty happy with my job!

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Posted in Freelancing, Journalism Perks

Interwebs

Posted on February 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

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I’ve been meaning to update my online presence—beyond being awful with my blogging, my LinkedIn profile is from about six years ago and I’ve been needing to update my Google+ profile as part of the Tahoe Quarterly website update. So, I just got on Google+ for the first time in a few years and the above photo popped up! It’s Brad Henry, a Truckee-based potter who I interviewed a few months ago, reading my article (License to Kiln) in his copy of the magazine. Pretty cool to see! Now what else is on the Interwebs that I’ve been missing out on…?

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Posted in Published Work

TQ Collaging

Posted on January 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

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My kids have had a looong winter break—three weeks off from preschool, plus my babysitter and daycare provider were out of town. So it hasn’t been great for productivity, but it has been a lot of fun! Last week, the girls and I went to the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum for kids. I love this place—there is a room for kids five and under, a three-story high “cloud climber,” rooms for science and experiments, a model of the Truckee River. The only bad thing is that, when nap time comes, it’s hard to get my children to leave. Anyway, we were in the art room, where the featured project was to create Salvador Dali-type projects. There were a variety of magazines from which to cut out pictures, including a bunch of old Tahoe Quarterly’s! My daughter loved seeing my name in print, and cut out my byline from an old Arts article to paste onto her collage. Fun day at the museum, and always nice to see where the magazine (sometimes unexpectedly) ends up!

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Posted in Family life, Published Work

TQ Ski & Ride 2014-15

Posted on November 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

TQ Winter cover

Proud to report that the Ski & Ride issue of Tahoe Quarterly is on stands and it looks beautiful! This is a fun issue—some interesting stories, including one about the expansion of the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Center and another exploring Granite Chief Wilderness. For the Arts section, I profiled the concertmaster for the Reno Philharmonic (as well as the Nevada Opera and Reno Chamber Orchestra), Dr. Ruth Lenz. She’s an incredibly talented violinist, who manages to balance her numerous musical organizations, teaching violin and life with two young children, as well as her hobbies, which include hiking and horses. Very impressive!

In other news, I finished proofing the Winter issue of TQ on Wednesday (look for it on stands the first or second week of December!) and spent Thursday interviewing and touring for three of the articles I’m writing for the Mountain Home issue. Some beautiful—and very inspired—homes. I came out of my last tour determined to build a living wall of succulents inside my home. That resolve quickly faded, but it was very cool to see it done well in someone else’s home!

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Posted in Journalism Perks, Published Work, Writing

Morning Affirmation

Posted on September 26, 2014 | Leave a comment

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It’s been a tough couple of weeks–life gets crazy sometimes–but I was working in bed this morning and out my window saw the biggest, most vivid rainbow that I’ve ever seen. It was a beautiful reminder that, despite the chaos, life is wonderful, and there’s beauty even during the storms.

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Posted in Life