TQ Mountain Home 2014

Posted on March 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

MtnHome2014

Woohoo! The 2014 TQ Mountain Home issue is here and it looks beautiful! I’m a huge fan of our mountain architecture and this issue is my favorite that TQ produces… not only are the pages full of beautiful houses by talented architects, builders and designers, but the stories behind the homes are fascinating. I’ve got a bunch of stories in this issue, including a profile of Barclay Moore, who creates one-of-a-kind “functional art” (or furniture) and the many facets of the Martis Camp home that won the TQ Interior Design award.

Grab a copy from stands around Reno/Tahoe or subscribe here!

 

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Posted in Architecture & Design, Published Work

Reno/Tahoe Brings Home Gold!

Posted on February 27, 2014 | Leave a comment
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David Wise, photo courtesy Northstar California

The Olympics are over and I am very happy to report that the athletes for the Tahoe/Reno region did incredible! Maddie Bowman picked up a gold medal in the ski halfpipe, Julia Mancuso scooped up a bronze (to add to her collection of silver and gold) and David Wise won the gold in the freeski halfpipe. I was lucky enough to interview many of the Tahoe hopefuls in the TQ Winter feature, and profiled David in the 2013 TQ Ski & Ride issue. Here’s my interview with David, pre-gold medal:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Freelancing, Published Work, Writing

Whew!

Posted on February 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

Well, I think I’m finally caught up! My convalescence in January totally threw me off, and I’ve been playing catch up for the past month. I wrote three Home Awards pieces for TQ, one artist profile, I got through all the editing in my inbox, sent out the Star Resort newsletter and just inserted the additional revisions to the erotic novel I’ve been editing. But the surest sign that I’ve finally gotten through my work is that I’ve FINALLY gotten around to doing my invoicing! I love the writing side, not so much the financials… Anyway, on Friday I go into the TQ offices to proof the Mountain Home issue (SO excited to see it laid out!), then one more proof on Wednesday, and then I think I have a break. After the flurry of the past few weeks, it feels well deserved. I have a spa gift certificate I’ve been meaning to use for the past year, so I think I know how I’m going to spend my free time…

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Posted in Freelancing, Writing

Back at it!

Posted on January 11, 2014 | Leave a comment

Back to Tahoe! Traveling solo with children is rough. Doing it with a broken toe is even worse. My one-year-old fell asleep for the first two hours of our five-hour flight, which was great except that it meant that I couldn’t move my foot for all that time, and it definitely did not like being immobilized. My three-year-old dropped the one-year-old on her nose in the airport, and it was a bloodbath. The three-year-old had an “accident” on the second flight, then spilled my wine on herself when she stuck a straw in it thinking it was apple juice. So basically, between the three of us, we landed in Reno covered in a mixture of tears, blood, urine and wine (which is more often how people leave Reno).

Anyway, despite the fact that I barely left the couch during my convalescence, I managed to complete almost no work. So on Monday, the kids go to daycare and I get to put up my bad foot and spend the day writing about art and architecture. Welcome to my happy place!

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Posted in Freelancing, Life

Pennsylvania Convalescence

Posted on January 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

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A belated happy holidays and happy 2014 to you all. My own holidays haven’t been particularly successful: I forgot how stressful it is to travel with a one-year-old, then I broke my pinkie toe and it suddenly became impossible to travel at all.

I had a lot of high hopes for getting work done during my Pennsylvania convalescence, but the crutches, pain pills and babies made it hard. Anyway, the silver lining was I got to spend an extra ten days with my parents being an only child (first time in 29 years). Tomorrow, however, I’m heading back home and to reality. Between the one-year-old, the three-year-old and a bad foot, the day of travel has potential to be pretty rough. Wish me luck!

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Jingle Jangle

Posted on December 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

I’m happily in the midst of holiday chaos! I just finished proofing the Tahoe Forest Hospital System’s Winter issue of its magazine and got out the December newsletter for Star Resort Group. This Friday, I’ll head out on a couple of home tours for houses that I’ll be writing up for the TQ Mountain Home issue. Then, after the holidays, I’ll get to jump back into TQ editing and most likely do another edit of the revised manuscript that I’ve been working on for a client so that she can start to query agents.

Last week, I had a pitch party at TQ with the other writers. So great to be able to put faces to bylines! Anyway, all is good here. Got some invoicing taken care of this morning, I’ll hopefully do some writing this afternoon, then big date with my girls at the mall to meet Santa. I love the holidays!

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Posted in Freelancing

Winter Issue Edit

Posted on November 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Great day yesterday—I got to spend it in the TQ offices with my red pen! We’re proofing the Winter issue and it looks amazing! It is, obviously, the Olympic issue, and I’m proud to report that I wrote one of the cover stories, about local athletes who hope to compete at Sochi. It was so interesting learning about the athletes’ experiences: So many of them have dealt with injuries (some fairly horrific ones), others do charitable deeds with their competition winnings and others are just so excited about their chances to compete on a world stage.

Some other articles that are really great pre-Olympic reads as well as plenty of interesting Tahoe-centric reads. One more proofing day next week, then this magazine is ready to go!

 

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Home Tours!

Posted on November 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Faulkner-designed fireplace.

I’m belated (imagine that!) but I’m very excited because I just got assignments for the Mountain Home issue. The TQ panel toured the finalist homes back in October, though due to a poorly timed trip, I was only able to attend one of the four or five tours. Still, such a wonderful experience! It’s such a privilege to get private tours of these residences by the incredibly talented architects and designers who worked on them. It’s hard to play favorites: I loved the home by interior designer Diana Vincent, the environmentally friendly home for a full-time family in Gray’s Crossing and an amazing, incredibly designed home in Tahoe Donner. Still, I’m partial to a 10,000 square foot residence atop a ridge in Truckee that overlooks Donner Lake. Yes, it sounds monstrously huge, but there is such an amazing story to the home that I won’t give away before the February magazine comes out!

On another note, the 10,000 square foot home is where I took the top photo. I’m pretty sure that I’ve wanted a bookshelf with a ladder ever since 1991, when I first saw the library in Beauty and the Beast. So only 22 years. Maybe someday!

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Posted in Architecture & Design, Freelancing, Journalism Perks

Work Day

Posted on October 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Coffee and M&Ms to get into edit mode. Let the chaos begin!

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Posted in Freelancing, Writing

Parental Procrastination?

Posted on October 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

STFU Parents logo

I just spent the last 30 minutes taking screenshots and compiling my submission to STFU Parents (which is a great blog for anyone fed up with parental overshare on social media). This is what happens when I get on Facebook and see a “friend” write yet another nauseating letter to her toddler son and make it her profile picture. Really, it’s okay to not share intensely personal moments and stories with the rest of the world! Anyway, I would call it procrastination, but people like my “friend” give the rest of us parents a bad name, so I found it incredibly cathartic to submit her to the site rather than writing something snarky on her posting. So, I’m going to consider my submission time well spent. Okay, and NOW time to get working!

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Posted in Life