Hooray, a writing blog!

At the artists' meeting last week, they pointed out to me that I needed to put my writing clips online so that people could read them.

Therefore, wah-lah! Last night and today I went through my clips and blog articles and so on to find my writing samples from newsletters, newspapers and magazines. These articles, along with my writing CV, which took me a long time to compile, can be viewed at http://gabiswork.blogspot.com. There is a link to this site on the upper right hand side of this page.

At first, I thought pdf's would look better on the blog, but then I checked a journalist friend's blog and hers were all added as entries... Given that she's a career journalist, I figured I should take her lead on this.

It's nice to have this organized, and hopefully it will benefit me in the future when I apply to work as a freelancer somewhere.

Yours,

Gabi

It's curtains for me now... and more.

Hi readers,

Welcome to my boodwah. You know, that word that's spelled boudoir. Excuse me if I can never get the French spelling for anything right without a dictionary- so today I decided to just sound the word out. Here it is.

I've made some improvements to my boodwah. Above, you can see the curtain rod and curtains. This only took a year to put together. At first I wanted palm tree print curtains but didn't find any I liked. Then I thought some beige canvas ones would be cool and "match anything," but when you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains really aren't an option unless you want to be bored out of your mind with your curtain choice. So, I decided on sage green. The ones on the outside are thermal and don't let in light. They also insulate the windows and keep the room cooler in summer, warmer in winter- and this will come in VERY handy. I'll just slide the thermals over and scrunch the pretty ones up in the middle and wah-lah! The room will stay toasty this winter.

Yes, wah-lah. I mean, the word that's spelled like viola (but not referring to the musical instrument).

I also bought new drawer pulls for my beurow. You know, that thing you put clothes in. It's really spelled bureau but wouldn't you know it, these French words have me reeling again. You can also see the fan above. Notice I have no trouble spelling "fan." Isn't it pretty? It reminds me a little bit of Key West- but thank goodness this isn't Key West. Key West never gets cold, and how I love to wear clothes with sleeves and pantlegs. Thank goodness I'm far north enough to do that for part of the year!


Finally, we have an overall view of the room, with jammies stashed out of sight and everything matching. It's an event when it all looks like this, so I had to take a picture.


I hope you've all enjoyed my pictures. Enjoy your day, and remember:

When you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains are a "no" unless you're going to tie-dye them. That would be cool.

Love,

Gabi

Photographic Melee

"When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic though I missed it at the time."

- Jamie Cullum, "Photograph"

I decided to update my framed photographs to stuff that's more casual, less stuffy than posed photos. This was inspired by a few things: realizing that I didn't have a picture of two of my best friends up because we never "pose" for pictures together (unless the poses are completely ridiculous and may include a feather boa); a desire to surround myself with something new and positive; and a move away from the ordinary. Please, I'm known as someone who's creative, so why these stuffy posed pictures in my house? I had to make a change.

Now the photographic menagerie includes the following:

- My younger sister and I under the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign
- Cherie, Justyn and I at Cherie's wedding, posing like showgirls on the beach
- All the ladies from our trip to England, with that post-Ewanspotting glow from our trip to the Piccadilly Theatre, where he performed
- Claudia and I at Justine's Halloween party years ago- she is a gypsy and I am cartoon character Daria
- A 5 x 7 of my old dog Buddy, taken with my Minolta
- Fun pictures from a trip to Miami with several great friends
- Mindy, Jen, Kris and I another Halloween when we dressed as slutty fans from various musical genres: Jen took country, Kris took heavy metal, I took punk rock (what else?) and Mindy was the Purveyor of Sin, with a tool belt full of the tools you need to sin: condoms, shot glasses, alcohol of some sort, and I forget what else...
- Niece and Nephew in New York, building a snowman
- A "real" portrait of me and my sisters (a classic, so it can stay). (It gets extra points for being in black and white).

Elsewhere in my house is a picture of my "best friend" from my youngest years: my dog Lance. He had been outsmarted by a ball of yarn and it was wrapped all around his middle when the picture was snapped. Either my mom or dad took the picture because he and I were born the same year and he looks like he still might be a puppy in this picture. Then again, my older sister may have taken it. It's unclear. It's just cool that I get to see him every day, because he died in 1984 and I still remember what the fur on top of his head felt like.

And then there's the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. I won a contest with a picture I took of them. Although they are so awesome, it's kind of hard to screw up a photo of them. Kind of like Venice, Italy. Is it possible to take a picture there that doesn't look cool, just because it's an awesome place?

Finally, I'm starting my collection of Italian wedding photos- a move inspired by several Italian restaurants. Naturally, these pictures are in my dining area. One was snapped of my grandparents just outside the church where they were married, and you can see their cousins in the background. It's funny how we know exactly who these people are even though they've been together over 60 years. The second one is of my parents, walking down the aisle in 1967. You can see how everyone in the church has their head covered- an old school Catholic thing- and it helps you see how the moment is frozen in time. My mom was a bottle redhead and says that they both had movie-star good looks back then. My dad is about as big around as a paper clip and has his Navy haircut. It's pretty cool.

I have to go get clothes out of the dryer and go interview for a job (!) so I'm going to stop rambling. Hope you are all doing well.

Gabi

Plant a tree already!

Hi everyone. It's your Earth Day reminder from me that you can join the Arbor Day Foundation at www.arborday.org and get 10 free trees for joining! I just re-joined and got my baby trees planted last week. I can't wait until they have teeny green leaves, but for now they are just sticks in dirt that I water.

I applied for a writing/research job at a natural gas company today. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that I'll get a call from them soon! It is hard to hold out for an environmental job but I think it will be most satisfying once I'm working again.

Stay green,

GALA

Gabi's House- Ocala Townhouse

Ironically, I posted a bunch of pictures of my former townhouse for this post, and they've all been replaced by squares with question marks inside. The old pictures are lost.
Much like my memory of the place!

Gabi’s House Ocala- the Move Back to the Swamp

I met a guy one night after my friend Tim’s performance in a show at the Orlando (Christmas 2005) whose dad worked at an environmental firm. I e-mailed his dad and eventually met him, got some advice, and told him I’d be in touch after I finished my economics degree since I was planning to work in the environmental economics field. A year and a half later, I got in touch, pasted my resume onto the bottom of the message, and didn’t think too much of it. I asked him if he knew of any jobs or had any job search advice for me. I was willing to go somewhere in the Southeast (as far southwest as Austin, TX, which I hear is a really cool place) or the Pacific NW but didn’t want to stay in Baltimore/DC. My allergies were out of control, requiring serious meds, and I figured I needed a change now that my relationship was over, so it was a good time to go.

My contact replied to say that his firm happened to be hiring, and he’d already forwarded my resume. Here were the people to call and their numbers. Call them soon. I thought, whoa! I got my first interview e-mailing someone in my jammies. I am off to an excellent start!

This was the day before Memorial Day weekend began. I spent Memorial Day weekend in Boston, called the office Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday had a job offer in an unlikely place- Ocala, FL. Ocala is more or less the same town I grew up in 25 years ago, it just happens to be 100 miles north of my official home town, Lakeland. I went to the prom here in 1991 (and I wish I was still friends with that guy, because it is hard to meet people within 10 years of my age in Ocala). So, I went onto http://www.craigslist.org/ and found a place to stay in Ocala- 8 miles west of I-75, 10 miles away from my job. My roommate, who worked in both Ocala and Orlando, happened to be a realtor- and when I found out that I could actually afford a townhouse here in Ocala, that led to a major purchase of Ocala TownHouse, or OTH for short.

But back to the “country house.” Meg, the roommate, had it all furnished well, with satellite TV and everything- a nice situation to move into when you’re coming into a new town. She also had a record player with all of her records from the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I would play them often- mostly Beatles, Elton John and even ELO. Although the house was spacious and cool, and the woods nearby lovely, I did get lonely… But being *only* 100 miles or so from Tampa, I did get to reconnect with some friends, which has been a real sanity-saver.

Meg's dog is so cute. She looks like my old dog, Buddy, except she's smaller and has slightly different coloring. Still, it was like seeing a familar face when I met her.

I became emboldened by the local real estate (watch out for falling prices!) and went a-shopping with Meg. We found a place that was out of my price range, but we couldn't leave the office because they assigned this cute guy to show us around and, well, we are only human. Long story short... the price fell drastically, we made a deal, and then it was time to move again! First January, then June, then September was when the moving dates took place. Needless to say, I do not plan to move again for a while- AT LEAST 2 years.

Oh, and did I mention that the second I got back into Florida, the ex called me and was upset, asking me if this meant our relationship was *really* over. I replied, and I quote, "Whaaaat?" Then, being so darn amusing, I added that if he happened to realize that if his glamorous stint as a special agent police officer in DC doesn't work out, he can always move to Ocala and be a sheriff. And then I laughed. Here I was thinking that I had made some logical decision based on his behavior- you know, when you break up with someone and don't call them for 4 months, they ARE allowed to make independent decisions and move away from you- but apparently he was waiting in the wings all the time. Ay, carumba.

Gabi's House North

The story of 2007 begins with a move up north. It was an awkward time, as so many of my times have been in the past 34 years, but a growing and learning experience nevertheless. My scheme to move to Baltimore began innocently enough. I had planned to go work in the DC area as an environmental economist, or something similar, or whatever my strengths in the workplace would get me as far as a job. It was on my list of places to check out and then I started dating someone who wound up working in DC, so I figured, OK, this is where the Fates are pointing me to go.

By last September, it was pretty clear that my relationship with said boyfriend was swirling around at about toilet level. To summarize, we had some serious communication issues. We hadn’t lived in the same state since Jan. 2006. I won’t go into details but it’s enough to say, I wanted to see if there was a chance that we could make it through a tough time and the only way I’d find out is by going up there.

Of course, I had “Friend Insurance.” Hello, I’ve been single most of my life. I wouldn’t dare let my friendships fall by the wayside or move to a place with no friends in the vicinity when I suspect my love relationship might crumble like a year-old moldy cookie. I moved to a place where there were friends from my old job- namely Liz, Tina, Cooper, Lenny, and then the ones I met once I got there: Jason & Allison, Mike, Scott, Craig, Wayne, and his brother Glen- the last 3 on that list ran the neighborhood liquor store, which was a fine place to visit and convenient as there was no need to name a designated driver since we’d walk home. Conveniently, Liz lived 5 miles from the school I’d be attending (I was completing a bachelor’s in economics with an emphasis on environmental science) and let me live with her.
Therefore, without further ado, allow me to introduce Gabi’s House Baltimore, which I only inhabited for 5 months, but still, if we’re going to document 2007 we have to cover 3 houses and this is the first. In June all the trees were covered with leaves, flowers growing everywhere, and a screen on the front door.

At Liz’s house we had Codie the cat. I had a few names for him- specifically, Codie the Cowboy (because he kind of ambled instead of walked) and Codie Bear (because he always wanted to snuggle). Codie was there for me when my ex was being difficult and when we broke up- about 3 weeks after I arrived, and just before Valentine’s Day (of course). When the weather was cold and I was sad, Codie would come sit with me and be adorable and comfort me. What a sweet cat. He also had a sister, Dorrie, who was not really into snuggling. Every day, Liz would pick her up and she would struggle to get away. Liz would tell her, “But Dorrie, you love being held!” but it never seemed to convince her.

I was so lucky to have Liz around with all the excitement of the breakup and moving to a new place. She’d draw maps for me to help me get around town and even fixed my computer a few times! Also, there was the emotional support. We both had the goal of eventually leaving the area- she because she had a chance to move to the mountains, and hello! Of course she wanted to do that, and me because what was I going to be hanging around for? I could get a job anywhere now that the Ex-B had exited the stage, and I wasn’t wild about snow- so it was time to think about going south for the summer, or to the Pacific Northwest, where I’d tolerate snow just to be there, depending on who hired me. So we were both coming up with a Baltimore Exit Strategy, and it was good to have each other to talk things over with. Mine took about a week, as you’ll learn in the next installment of Gabi’s House- the Move Back to the Swamp.