A blog about knitting, front end development, and other assorted things.
Happy Sunday, everyone! I've had a pretty busy week this week with knit night, D&D, and the Analog Tools meetup . I'm always happy to be connecting with people, whether it be in person (knit night), or online (D&D and Analog Tools). I'm grateful to share interests with so many cool people and I'm glad I've found these groups! On to this week's recap! Making I'm still working on the Lillesol…
As I wrote earlier in the month , I've been blogging for over 25 years. Most of my blogging has been through an administrative interface in whatever platform I was using at time, whether it was Wordpress or Drupal or Moveable Type. However, since moving to using a static site generator with no admin interface, I've written posts in a different way. It's taken me a few years to iron down my…
I went to the Tree House Brewery location in Deerfield, MA a couple months ago and it's one of my favorite places. I love the decor of this particular Tree House, with beer cans adorning the hallways from the entrance to the main dining area. (A longer post will come tomorrow. It's been a long week.)
One thing I've realized about blogging every day is that I want to work on my website again too. I came across James's 100 things to do on your personal website (and other posts that he links to that list even more suggestions!) and even though I've been keeping a blog for over 25 years, I still want to add more things to this site, tweak the layout and how content is displayed, and so on. Things…
Welcome to Work in Progress (WIP) Wednesday, where I post progress on my crafty endeavors! I want to get back to tracking my knitting, spinning, cross-stitch, or whatever I'm making at the moment, so I'll be writing about it every Wednesday. I've made a lot of progress on my Lillesol sweater ! I joined the front and back of the sweater so now I'm knitting it in the round, which makes it go much…
Blaugust is getting hard, folks! I've had a busy couple days with barely enough time to sit down and write a blog post, so I'm just now getting around to my post for August 11th at 5:30pm. I knew it would get tougher as the month progressed, but I'm still all in on writing every day! I HAVE been writing in my paper journal more consistently than I have in years, though, so why don't I talk about…
It's Monday and I've been busy so here's a picture of one of my sister's cats. Everyone loves cat pictures, right? I'll be back tomorrow with a longer post.
Hey, it's the end of another week! Let's see what I've been up to. Today I drove across the state to the area in which I grew up, to get my hair re-blue-ified (yes, I drive an hour and a half to get my hair done, why do you ask?) and to get lunch with my mom and her fiancé. Thankfully traffic wasn't bad driving to and from my place and now my hair is nice and vibrant again. I also swung by a…
A couple weekends ago I spent the morning / early afternoon with a couple friends at Mass MoCA , a contemporary art museum in extreme western Massachusetts. I took a few photos of art I enjoyed. I'm trying to take more pictures of my day to day life as I've gotten out of practice with just taking out my phone and snapping what I see. I feel self conscious taking pictures when I'm out in public…
Today is Bandcamp Friday , one of the many days a year where Bandcamp waives revenue fees, ensuring artists get 100% of the cut of any album sales on the platform that day. I'm trying to buy more albums instead of using streaming services (I'm currently on Apple Music because I get it for free through my credit card), so I save up albums to buy on Bandcamp Fridays so the artists get all my money.…
I've been writing online in some form now for almost 30 years (how is 1998 almost 30 years ago?), but I didn't start officially blogging until the beginning of the year 2000. Prior to 2000 I kept an online journal (I online journaled before LiveJournal made it cool), first constructed with hand coded HTML for every single page, then I used a CGI script a friend found online to render text files…
Welcome to my first Work in Progress (WIP) Wednesday, where I post progress on my crafty endeavors! I want to get back to tracking my knitting, spinning, cross-stitch, or whatever I'm making at the moment, so I'll be writing about it every Wednesday. Hey, I'm actually writing about my knitting! I haven't posted about anything I've made in years, mainly because I forget to take pictures of my…
It's August 4th and I haven't yet introduced myself to anyone new who could be reading my blog. Thanks, Wry Writer , for posting your intro to remind me that I should, too! I do have an about page that's sorely in need of an update, so I'll write a few fun facts about me for this post and hopefully update my about page at some point soon. I've been to 44 U.S. states. I only need to go to Hawaii,…
One thing that's kept me from blogging recently is how I come across on this blog. I've been working as a web developer professionally for over 20 years, so I should write about cool tech things on my site, right? Shouldn't I be talking about all my side projects, the apps I write in my spare time, the ideas I create and post on Github? Nope. I've never been someone who's been big on side projects…
Since I'm doing Blaugust this month, I'm going to attempt to use Sundays as my 'week in review' days. I think of Monday as the start of my week, so Sunday's a good day to wrap things up. Let's get to it. Making I started the Lillesol sweater by Isabell Kraemer (I love all her patterns!) using Sea Change Fibers Fjord Tweed Fingering weight yarn in the Driftwood colorway, which is a night light…
It's 5:00pm on August 1st and I read Jedda's post and hexephre's post about Blaugust, a yearly event where participants blog every day for a month, and decided to join in on the fun and kickstart writing in this blog again. What will I write about? I'm trying to figure this out both for this month and in general, because I've allowed myself to get in my head about not blogging about professional…
March 30 - April 5 Well, so much for writing more in 2026! I haven't written since January and here it is, the beginning of April and I'm sitting down to write more week notes. I need to start somewhere again, at least. Last week I went to Chicago for a conference , but my favorite part of the trip was going to Atlas Stationers and treating myself to an Esterbrook Funky Town hot pink, glow in the…
January 12 - January 18 Well, it's the third week of January and I've already missed a week note. I'm giving myself a break because I'm writing this week, and that's what matters, right? I picked up a book from the local library for the first time in a year! I haven't been going because the library's located downtown and you have to pay to park, but I sucked it up and paid the 27 cents to park. 15…
December 29 - January 4 I'm going to try to keep week notes again so that I write something every week, at least. I'm not sure what they'll look like this time around, but I want to stick with writing these every week so I can start being more consistent with blogging. Here we go! I spent New Year's Eve... knitting, watching a documentary on the Dust Bowl , and going to bed at 10:30. I know how to…
I've given a lot of thought as to how I want to write this year in review. 2025 was a really, really , REALLY hard year for me, one of the hardest years in my life, but I don't want to fill my review with only doom and gloom. I'll start with the big hard thing that has most affected me in 2025, but then I'll finish with the good things because even though this year was awful, I did experience joy.…
Today, B wrote a post called "Trying to Blog More Often" and I really, really identified with it. I haven't been writing because I feel like I need to have a 'topic' like B says, but I'm trying to write little things that come to mind as well, like the posts I wrote last weekend . Casual blogging sounds pretty appealing to me right now because it's how I live my life--I knit, write in my journal,…
Let me tell you something: I haven't been writing in this blog because I feel like my writing isn't sophisticated and grown up enough to post on the internet. (This looks ridiculous even as I'm typing it). I see people my age post well thought out takes on events in the tech world and I'm sitting here wanting to write about my knitting or the tasty food I ate in Boston last weekend or how in the…
Today I've decided to take a break from Discord and Mastodon over the weekend, as I'm finding myself checking them mindlessly every day and comparing myself to everyone I see on the internet. So, I'm going to take some time this weekend to write some blog posts, even if they're short and (hopefully) sweet like this one. I used to take regular breaks from social media 10-15 years ago, so it's time…
It's August 23rd and I'm just now getting around to writing about A Small Web July and how it went for me. I think it went pretty well, keeping established routines going in July, but there are a few things I want to work on for the rest of August and beyond. Let's get to it. Actually blog again. Sadly, I failed at this. I wrote two week notes posts and then realized I did not like recapping my…
July 7 - 13 It's my second week of writing week notes, and... I'm already scrambling to get this written before the end of the day on Monday. I'm blaming the fact that I was at a conference the last part of the week and my schedule's been thrown off. Still, I committed to posting my week notes on Mondays, so here I am. I attended a conference, Drupal Camp Asheville , from Thursday to Sunday,…
June 30 - July 6 At long last, I'm sitting down and writing some week notes after spending a couple weeks starting them and never finishing it before the next week began. This time, I'm committed to posting them on Mondays, so here's my first post! Making Knitting : Yet another pair of ankle socks. This is pretty much all I've been knitting all year, but I'm ready to change it up. Spinning : Tour…
While catching up on Mastodon yesterday, I came across a post from Annie about a Small Web July , started by small cypress . I absolutely loved the idea and wanted come up with my own ideas for what a small web looks like to me, and to embody these ideals both in July and going forward. Here's what I plan to do this month: Actually blog again . I have had a pretty tough year so far and that's…
2024 was a year full of ups and downs for me. I traveled a lot, spoke at some conferences, and made a bunch of things. I also dealt with the worst bout of mental health issues I’ve ever had in my life, and that made the last part of the year really, really hard. I already gave an update on the first part of the year in my last blog post , but here's an overview of the good and not so good things…
It’s been over 6 months and I have not written in my blog since January when I posted my 2023 year in review . I blogged a LOT (for me) last year, and I haven’t kept up at all this year. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, but I fell out of the habit and it’s hard to get back into it. So, here I am, getting back to it! What I’ve been up to this year: I’ve given my 2024 talk, “ Color in CSS: using…
Joshua Tree National Park was amazing . 2023 was definitely a year , that's for sure, full of ups and downs as I fully embraced my phrase for the year, "challenge accepted" . I did so many fantastic things in 2023 and hit some of the goals I've made, but it wasn't without its hard parts. Let's dive in! The good! I ran a half marathon! I ran my last half marathon back in 2014 and I enjoyed it so…
Another year, another New England Drupal Camp (better known as NEDCamp ) in the books! This has been one of my favorite camps and not only because it’s local, but also because of the quality sessions. I’ve been attending this camp since 2016 and have even written a couple posts about previous camps. It was a whirlwind trip for me as I spent only a little over 24 hours in Providence, but I had such…
I love this mix. This is one of the most honest mixtapes I’ve ever made, recording this a month after the end of my first serious relationship and right when I started casually seeing someone new (and having that end a few weeks later, oh college). Yeah, typical early 20s shenanigans, but this mix captures both the endings and beginnings I experienced at this time of my life. My very early 20s…
I’ve been writing many blog posts about albums I was too cool for in the mid-00s , so let’s change it up for a second. What was I actually listening to in that time frame? What did I deem to be cool enough for mid-20s me? Do I still even listen to some of this stuff? Let’s find out! I created many a mix tape in the late 90s and early 2000s. I received a boom box with two cassette players and a CD…
I must have heard some Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs in 2003 when Fever to Tell was released, but I can’t really remember. They must have been mentioned in the many music magazines I bought and read back then (who else remembers Magnet?). If anything, I must have heard Maps, but Maps doesn’t stick out in my mind until I heard it again in 2009. Then again, maybe I’m mixing it up with Heads will Roll, which…
Photo by helioha on Flickr A couple weeks ago I attended DrupalCon Pittsburgh, a conference I look forward to every year. I had never been to Pittsburgh before this conference and I dug the bridges and rivers and hills! I only wish I had explored the city more than I did. This year’s DrupalCon felt different than last year’s due to sessions occurring only on Monday and Tuesday, with contribution…
I have never really liked The Postal Service, based solely on the fact that I did not like “Such Great Heights” when it came out 20 years ago. I don’t know why—I love electronic music plus, cringe, I did like a couple Owl City songs, who everyone compared to the Postal Service. Since I’m on a kick of revisiting albums I ignored in the 90s and early 00s, plus I’m actually seeing The Postal Service…
Before this year, the closest I came to listening to a Neutral Milk Hotel song was the Apples in Stereo’s cover of “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Three” (which, after learning that Neutral Milk Hotel and the Apples in Stereo shared band members, is not surprising). Then I heard “Holland, 1945” for the first time at the start of 2023 and immediately started to cry, looking out the window at night, and…
I’m trying to remember why I didn’t listen to Arcade Fire when they burst on the scene in 2004 with their first album, Funeral. I probably read a pretentious review of the album on Pitchfork or something and decided to write them off, or I was a contrary 23 year old who didn’t want to listen to an album because everyone else* was. Or both! I don’t know. Either way, at 42 years old, I decided to…
The vast majority of the time, I feel good about my life and the progress I’ve made in the past couple years in regards to my mental health, my impostor syndrome, and my day to day feelings. However, sometimes, a perfect storm of events occur that cause a bit of an imbalance in my life — a combination of work stress, personal stress, and apartment stress have been my reality this week and on…
I know, it’s March and I’m just now writing about things I want to do this year! I don’t like calling them ‘goals’ so they are ‘things I want to do’ instead. If I do them, great, and if not, that’s fine too! Here’s my little list. Run a half marathon. I consider the day I ran my half marathon one of the best days of my life, so I’d love to run another. At this point I can run about 30 minutes…
A couple weeks ago I finally attended Florida DrupalCamp , a camp I had wanted to attend for years! Not only was it the first time I attended, but it was my first time speaking at this conference and my first time speaking at any conference since New England Drupal Camp in 2019 ! It was such a fun camp and I got to see some of my favorite people in the Drupal community. Thursday: Arrival I flew in…
Note: I posted about this on Mastodon a couple days ago, only because I couldn’t make myself sit down and write a blog post about this due to getting in my own head about my writing. Well, tonight I decided to just sit down and write, perfection be damned! I haven’t ever picked a yearly word or phrase, but this year, one popped into my head: challenge accepted . I don’t know how I came up with…
This took me a million and a half years to write, but finally, here's my 2022 in review! The good! I started running again. Yes, I've started running in both 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, I stuck with it and completed Couch to 5k over the summer! I even ran two 5ks this year and I'm happy to be back at it. I danced in a recital! Yes, my sister and I signed up for adult hip hop classes at my niece's…
For the last three years, I've compiled a list of good things that happened in the past year. Well, this year, it's been much harder for me to want to write about the good things because of, well, everything . Ending a long-term relationship during a global pandemic a month before turning 40? Yeah, 2020 was awful. Still, a few good things did happen this year, so I'll note them here. I started…
I FINALLY went to the Grand Canyon and it was amazing. 2019, for lack of a better term, sucked . It was a hard year full of loss and grief, plus I dealt with my anxiety a lot and that certainly wasn't easy. I spent some of this year in tears, feeling down about myself and the world in general, but I'm trying to stay positive. I'm trying to remember the good things that did happen this year, and a…
This past weekend, I attended NEDCamp , a camp I've been attending for the past 4 years. As always, I enjoyed the camp and all the fantastic sessions. This year I presented a session of my own , and I think it went pretty well! NEDCamp was held in Providence, RI again this year, so that worked out well for Adam and I! A couple of our friends drove us down from Boston and we got stuck in some not…
A few weeks ago, Adam and I rode a bus, a subway, and a train to attend DrupalCamp New Jersey, my first time attending this camp at Princeton University. It's an excellent , excellent camp, and I hope to attend for many years to come. We arrived on Friday evening after a day of travel. Who knew that taking a bus to New York City, taking a brief subway ride to Penn Station, then hopping on the NJ…
I ate sushi in Japan this year. Naturally, it was fantastic. Last year, I started compiling a list of good things that happened throughout the year . I enjoyed coming up with good things last year, so I'm doing it again for 2018. Here are some good things from the year: I traveled a bunch -- Portland, Oregon for the Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit ; Fort Lauderdale for work; New Orleans for…
NEDCamp 2018 group photo! Can you spot my blue-haired self? Last month I attended NEDCamp , one of my favorite local Drupal camps, and I had a fantastic time! I look forward to this conference every year so I can catch up with all my Drupal-ey friends and to learn new things. I'm fortunate to be in close proximity to such a great camp. Camp Overview NEDCamp's been around since 2014, when the…
Yes, I went to Paris! So, 2017's almost over. The year's been a huge shitshow, politically, but this has been one of the best years of my life, personally. After many years of near constant suckitude, I'm so happy to have enjoyed a year full of personal growth and progress. Here are some of the good things that have happened to me this year: I met someone. I never know what else to say here when…