Back to Work!

Well, well, well!  Guess who hardly took any photos last week?  That would be moi, so you get a close-up of Lu’s face.  Check out those pretty white whiskers!

The cold front this weekend brought some spectacular weather to Texas.  It was cool and rainy and we all just basked in it.  I went running twice, only to realize how desperately out of running shape I am.  Oh well—it comes back, right?

On a different note, our lives are getting busier here at Feels Like Flying headquarters.  The academic semester is picking up speed; all three of us here in this house have tutoring gigs this week.  I completed 12 billable hours this week, which is only 8 short of my minimum goal of 20 hours.  That might not sound like a lot, but when you’re freelancing and still pretty new to the game, landing billable hours can be really hard.  Or maybe it’s not so much that it’s hard as it’s a game of putting your best stuff out there and waiting patiently to see if anyone wants to work with you.  The waiting is hard.  Being patient is hard.  Doing the work?  That’s a lot easier.

But all of that is to say that we are all feeling hopeful that our house will land on its feet, financially.  I’m writing about some of this stuff over at my other blog in a series called “Budgeting for Freelancers.”  Rather than rehash the boring generic advice that one can find via a simple search, I want to tell our story and what budgeting means for us, real people with hopes and fears and savings and debt and the unknown future, winking at us in secret collaboration.

Because that’s what it’s all about, right?  Our stories.  Generic advice is meant for a generic audience.  But you, my dears, you are the ones to whom I tell my stories.  And even though I’m totally rusty at this writing thing, I’d like to start writing again more regularly.  Why is routine so hard at some points in life?  I’d like my routines back, please.  Or maybe I just want my writing time back.

Things may be getting busier, but they are starting to feel more like a routine.  Slowly, surely, I’ll get back to my running and writing routines, right?  Right.

Happy routine-following, my dears.

Let’s Do This

First some art…

…and now something funny!

Hey, hey!  Happy September!  Even though my last post was on September 3rd, today’s chilly temperatures feel more like September than the close-to-100 temps we’ve had lately.  My friend Emily and I were joking that today is the day to do ALL THE FALL THINGS, like buying a pumpkin, eating an apple pie, and wearing every scarf you own.  We Northerners share a longing for the autumn we once loved.  Texas may win a prize for its spectacular springtime beauty, but autumn here is nothing to invite your friends to see.

My roommate Courtney (whom you can see poking out at the bottom of the semen donor photo) and I have been running around town putting up flyers for our two businesses.  She recently launched The Austin Writing Shop, a coaching and editing business for writers.  And I of course have gone full-time as a biology and chemistry tutor.  Together, we’ve gone out on three field trips to advertise our stuff around Austin; the photos above are from our trip to the University of Texas’s campus, where our first stop was Amy’s Ice Cream.  That was a good choice, as we needed fuel to keep us going for countless blocks of city walking, ducking in and out of shops to see who had bulletin boards and who did not.  Visiting that part of town made me really excited to get back to Spider House, a place I visited once with Matt.  It’s quirky, artsy, humming with a creative vibe.  It’s lovely, really.

On a different note, Paul and I had to abort our Sunday morning bike ride along the river trail after he fell off his bike.  We had just arrived at the trail and were about to start the scenic part of our ride when Paul was trying to mount his bike and it slipped out from underneath him.  He landed so hard on his bike frame that we think he broke a rib; he’s had some pain this week that would be consistent with a hairline fracture, I think.  He had some scrapes and bruises elsewhere too.  So this week he’s been recovering from that.  We probably won’t head out on our bikes tomorrow, which is super sad, but if he needs to heal, then it’s the right decision.

As for me, it was a pretty good fitness week!  I had forgotten that I ran twice, which is really good for me these days.  I’m still feeling really challenged by my lack of running routine; just how DOES one go about starting a new routine?  Between the heat, no consistent work routine, and my love for walking, running feels like something I used to do, not something I actually do now.  I’m kinda thinking about trying a streak for this upcoming week, just to break my own running stasis.  Run EVERY DAY?!?  It’s so crazy, it just might work. 

Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with another update from this current week.  Until then, happy trails to you!

A Slow Finish to August

First, a few photo highlights from last week!

“Go buy some quinoa from Whole Foods,” Paul tells me.  I oblige, only to find that Whole Foods sells six (SIX!) different kinds of quinoa.  I buy the cheapest one because, starting at $4.99/pound, quinoa is much more expensive than rice or tortillas.  Still, the number of options was impressive, so I had to document them.

August has been a really nice balance of working at home and exploring Austin.  The mug above, featuring Austin’s best slogan, is from Book People, a wonderful independent bookstore in downtown Austin.  (The mug belongs to my roommate Courtney.)  I’m pretty sure that I myself am not weird enough for Austin, but I love the mug nonetheless.

Moving on to last week’s work-outs…

It’s still, of course, beastly hot here in Texas, so I finished up August with more walking and a bike ride with Paul.  I promised myself that once September arrived, I’d get back into running, but I’ll save that story for next time.

After a pretty stressful summer of working and moving to Austin, we definitely took advantage of the slower pace of August.  I feel like my walking routine is symbolic of the ease that August gave us.  But now that August is over and we are getting down to business in Austin, I feel ready to run and maybe to even log more than 10 miles in a week!  Hey, that would be novel! 

Finally, here’s Miss Lu, sitting in one of her favorite spots in front of the balcony door.  She loves the sunshine we get in the morning and will even wedge herself between the blinds to sunbathe.

Happy day to you, dear reader!