Tag Archives: thank you

Promises Made and Kept – To Others.

I am writing this because I promised Marielle I would. I am writing this because I promised Deb I would.

I’m writing this because I promised myself I would, and then I didn’t. Repeatedly. For months. And I still wouldn’t be, but Marielle and Deb aren’t me. Committing to them is, somehow, more imperative than committing to myself.

This, honestly, is how I’ve functioned for 90% of my life. Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. Commitments to others matter(ed) more, far more, than commitments to myself.

I have been trying to get motivated to update this here MetaCookbook for months. Even before I managed to publish Shafiqah’s wonderful beer origin story, and especially after. I had so many ideas after. I wanted to ask Liz and Russ and so many others.… Continue reading →

All of Me

This little blog has existed for almost seven years now. I’ll be honest, that kind of blows my mind. It’s had numerous lulls (most of 2011 comes to mind, as does one of my most recent posts), but I keep coming back to it and I keep going with it. There aren’t a lot of things in my life that I can say that about.

Lions and science in general, as referenced below. Beer? We’re not that far along yet, but I’m still entranced and I think we’re in it for the long haul. Bill? More than double that in time, at this point (if not romantically for about half of it).

I started this post almost two years ago. I’m not sure why or how it fell off my radar, but in looking through my drafts, I came upon it again.… Continue reading →

A Time for Everything

It’s a snow day here in Portland, Oregon. We got somewhere between six and nine inches of snow last night. Maybe even more, but given how bad I am at estimating sizes of things1, I won’t try harder to be sure.

It’s not the first snow day we’ve had, but somehow it feels more like a snow day than any other. Maybe it’s how damn much snow is out there, or maybe it’s how quiet it is inside. I’m not sure. Nor am I sure if I care to figure out the “why” rather than just experience things as they are. In this case, it’s a snow day kind of day. I have tea. I have an urge to write. My tea is in a new, fabulous mug from the fantastic Deb Cooperman, and it’s encouraging my tea-ing and writing.… Continue reading →

Five Years. Holy Cow, Five Years.

I have been blogging for five years now. It’s kinda overwhelming to consider, honestly. I’ve published (as of this post) 508 posts, so theoretically a rate of 100 posts/year. Not too shabby.

Of course, there’ve been ups and downs. I basically took 2011 off, which wasn’t hot. But Steve from Drinking and Writing Theater once called my blog “the best beer blog in Chicago.” He was talking to someone else, even! He was sober at the time! So that gave me some serious ups.

I love this online space, and I plan to inhabit it a long time. That said, I also want to stretch my wings, so two things will be changing, a little. I’m going to start looking for more places to guest post at and I am launching a new blog, Getting Ready to Go.… Continue reading →