What a cold and dreary week it has been. Last week seems like it was so long ago, but I think it’s just that it feels like that because we’ve gone a week without actual sunshine. But today, Friday, the sun is shining and a new energy seems to here. Ahhh, what a breath of fresh air for this stuffy nose recovering from a slight cold. Let’s review my week, shall we? Is that even interesting to you? If not, then why are you still reading?! Just kidding. I’d love to hear about your week, too. This isn’t just about me, I promise.
1. Three’s company. Last week my youngest sister was here but at the end of the week both sisters stayed over for a night. We had a fun day exploring the science museum and chowing down on some of North Carolina’s famous BBQ before they each headed to their respective homes.
(pictures soon to follow…this blog can’t handle all the awesomeness of all three of us together in one place and is therefore having some difficulty uploading photos)
2. Fly away. Or bike away, rather. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to check out Flywheel, a new cycling studio in town, along with some other local bloggers. To be honest, half the time I thought I was going to pass out, but I loved every second of it. Note: Never eat famous BBQ the same day you are going to go to a spin class for the first time in years, you will regret it. That was just the way the planning worked out, but seriously it was just super fun and a great workout. They have a great space for it and turn the lights down and the music up so you can really get in the zone and push yourself.
3. Tiny desks fit best in tiny kitchens. NPR does a segment called Tiny Desk Concerts where they have musicians play original music behind their desk. Recently, they opened up a contest for unsigned and unknown musicians to submit their own “tiny desk” recording and video. We decided to go ahead and put together a video of a song we wrote together called, “We’ll Be Here”. While we don’t have any plans of winning, we definitely loved the chance to work on a project together and get creative.
When you think about Christmas memories, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the tree or the lights? Setting up the nativity or going to the Christmas Eve service? Eating a favorite holiday dessert or avoiding the eggnog?
For me, I think the music is what always comes to mind first. Of course, with each year you make new Christmas memories so there’s never only one thing that covers all of Christmas, but the music plays a big part for me and it always has. Thank goodness I married a musician.
Our second Christmas as a married couple, we started singing and playing “O Holy Night” on Christmas day when we found ourselves with plenty of time following the busy month leading up to Christmas. We actually created two versions and had a really good time, but suddenly it was the day after Christmas and there was not a strong desire to listen to Christmas music anymore. A year later though, we decided to get a head start on our Christmas song and a new family tradition was born. We released both the song from Christmas of 2011 and the song for the Christmas of 2012 at the same time, along with our Christmas card.
We now have a total of four Christmas songs completely arranged, performed and recorded by me and the hubby (let’s be honest, he does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to these). If you’re feeling in the mood, go ahead and take a listen! Let me know what you think!
Hint: This year our song directly relates to our card…so get excited! We’ll release the latest Christmas song with the card next week!
I’ve not been very secretive about my love of Christmas cards. It’s a pretty well-known fact that I think Christmas cards are great. In fact, I keep the previous year’s cards packed away with our Christmas decorations so that I can enjoy them again. Last week I laid them all out and looked through each photo and note that we were sent, smiling the whole time.
So, while we’re reflecting on Christmas cards, I figured I would share a few of ours from years past. You saw our first Christmasalready, but we’ve kept the tradition every year so far. It’s been an interesting progression to say the least.
Year Two – 2011
The year of the fish. Arthur, the beta fish, graced our card and stole our hearts. We decided to embrace this awkward family fish photo for all of its worth. Photo credit: Justin Salem Meyer, who is likely embarrassed to be associated with such a thing.
Year Three – 2012
Oh yeah, remember that time we decorated the heck out of our bikes and then preceded to use them in lieu of a tree that year? Gather ’round, put your gifts under that decked out bike in the living room! Photo Credit: Us running back and forth from the camera on a tripod.
Year Four – 2013
This was the year we went all over town wassailing. In case you were wondering, yes, we really did sing and play music throughout the entire photo shoot. What did you think it meant to wassail anyway? Photo credit: Cameron Lockey.
Year Five: I am SO excited to add this year’s card to the mix. It’s hard to believe it will be our fifth Christmas card already. I promise to share them soon!
Do you have any favorite Christmas cards that you sent or received? Any ideas for our next card?
Alright, we can agree that since it is December it’s officially acceptable to talk about Christmas, right? I know some of y’all have been decked out for weeks, but in our house we wait until after Thanksgiving to get going on Christmassy things.We bought a tree this past weekend, but it still needs decorating. We also spent some time on our annual Christmas card.
Leading up to our very first Christmas I knew that I wanted to start the tradition of sending out Christmas cards. If you don’t already do so, can I just encourage you to? Sure, it takes time and effort and can add up, but it is so much fun to both send and receive Christmas cards in the mail. Anyway, we talked about what to do for our very first card and tried to think of epic ways to say “Our First Married Christmas” to our friends and family. The bar for family Christmas cards had been set pretty high by his sister, but we knew we wanted it to be a tradition all of our own.
My “brilliant” idea was to wear our wedding attire and decorate the tree. We got married in October and for some reason I thought it might be funny. Thankfully, we never got around to trying that out and in hindsight, I think that might have looked a bit random and awkward. Less than a week before Christmas the hubby just said, do you want to go have a snowball fight and call it good? So we did. He insisted that I aim for his face (but I can’t deny that I had fun doing it).
How fitting that our first Christmas card was in the snow. Have I mentioned that the hubby worked at a church? In case you weren’t aware, Christmas Eve is a pretty big deal when you work at a church, especially within the creative arts and music department. That particular Christmas Eve, there was a snowstorm and we had a large driveway to shovel before he left. After a lazy morning in my sweatshirt and sweatpants, I threw on my coat and boots and helped him clear the driveway. Before long, he had to go but I offered to finish up. Out of habit, he shut and locked the door to the house and drove off.
So there I was, alone, on our first Christmas Eve as a married couple, locked out of the house in a snowstorm with no phone, no keys and not looking my best. Did I mention we had just moved to that house a few months before and didn’t yet know the neighbors? Oh, and that it was CHRISTMAS EVE? Not exactly the introduction I had in mind. Thankfully, I spotted someone smoking on their porch down the street so I trudged through the snow and tried to explain how my husband had accidentally locked me out. I called and he came back as quick as he could, which meant I was locked out for about an hour by the time he returned with the key. Nothing bad happened to me and it was all an accident. He hates that story a little bit, but I love it. I don’t think I will ever forget that first Christmas together in Iowa.
There was a certain innocence to that first Christmas in the snow. I will forever remember it fondly. The moral of the story is not to lock your wife out in the snow, but to cherish the little moments this season.
Oh, how I miss writing fun blog posts and articles. I barely manage to tweet these days without feeling bad for not working on a cover letter instead. Do you know how difficult it is to re-write the same cover letter 50 times within six months? Because I do.
In case you were wondering where all my writing energy has gone lately, that’s where to look. My contract position is ending next week, therefore I am all about the job search. Still. So what do these cover letters say? Oh, you know–that I would love to work there and that I have experience and that I would be a great fit. There’s a bit of resume talk thrown around from time to time, but usually just on accident. Despite all of my many hours of cover letter writing experience, it’s still pretty difficult to muster up the energy and pour my heart into a one-page summary of why a company should pick me out of the masses.
If I were to write an utterly honest cover letter, it would go a little more like this…
Dear Hiring Manager,
Hey! Thanks for posting this job that looks interesting. How many of these letters have you received so far? I’m just curious. Am I number 152 or 291? I’ll be honest and say that I do indeed want this job, but then again, I’m guessing all of the other people who have written you say that, too. I promise you I’m telling you the truth though, and that I actually want to work here. I won’t add an emoticon because that’s unprofessional, but know that I am smiling and am really excited about working here. Yay!
My friend told me about your office and it sounds really neat. I’m not sure how much to let on that I’ve found just about every employee on Linkedin at this point and even found a couple of blog posts from former employees about working here (don’t worry, all good things). This internet searching ability is really an art and could even be an asset to your team. I know that sounds creepy though, so maybe I’ll just instead talk about how it seems like you are doing such great things in the community, because that’s important to me, too.
This third paragraph is usually the same paragraph that I copy and paste into all of my applications. I know, that doesn’t sound very personal, but being number 291 doesn’t seem personal either. I can’t figure out how to tell about my experience much better than all of this stuff about my background in communications, project management and event planning. It seems like a direct match to your job description, so please make the connection. Otherwise I can add, “which is what I would do at your company” to the end of every sentence if that is helpful, but sometimes it feels silly and redundant instead.
I’m going to end this letter now for two reasons: 1. The job description you posted was only a paragraph long so I don’t know what else to say. 2. I hear your cover letter should only be a page long and we’re pushing it here, despite the fact that the font size is 11.5 and the margins are already way slimmer than most. Please call me because I sincerely want to work here and would be an excellent fit for the role. If only you could see me as more than just a cover letter, then I think you would agree. Feel free to contact me at anytime because I will be refreshing my email and checking my phone every five minutes until then.
Sincerely,
Samantha
p.s. I’m a rock star. Not the flaky musician kind of rock star, but the awesome motivated kind. Hire me!
Anybody with me? Got any cover letter wisdom or stories you care to share?
So, I have mentioned how I am really trying to do things with this blog. Sure, I want to have more followers and readers and whatnot. I want to write to a bigger audience about things that matter and make a difference, but also just make connections with readers. I definitely want to continue to improve my writing skills as writing is something I love to do. I’ve found that one thing that often gets overlooked with blogging is the community in the blogging world. People share with each other and get to be friends without ever meeting face-to-face. That sounds a little weird and creepy at first, but there is some real community happening. Although I will always promote community within your neighborhoods and cities first, I think having an online community is awesome. The internet gets a bad reputation for all of the negative things that people say and do online, but there really are some amazing people doing great things online, too.
Recently, I was nominated by a few blogs (Vicki & Livi, Broken with Remedy, Shelby Clarke Blog,The Aussie Osborns, Polka Dots & Pampers) to answer a few questions as a part of the Liebster Award. I didn’t even know what hit me so I did a little online searching to find out that “liebster” is a German word and basically is a sweet little compliment/sentiment. So, with this I have been challenged to answer a few questions and then nominate some more bloggers. Without further ado…
1. How did you decide on the title of your blog?
When we were first really considering moving out-of-state I knew I was ready to write again. I had gone almost a year without blogging consistently are dearly missed it. Moving Peaces was a little bit of a play on words at first but then I grew to really like everything it encompassed. We moved from Iowa to North Carolina and still face some of the outcomes of that, but we are always moving from one thing to the next in life. As that happens though, we’re called to live in peace. Moving Peaces covers what is often a juxtaposition between the stress and busy that comes from moving (in a literal or figurative sense) with the calm and contentment that accompanies peace. 2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
Honesty. I’m the kind of person who calls it like it is. There’s a lot of fluff I can write that might be fun and interesting but the core of who I am, what I’m learning, what I’m struggling with and what I value most will be what you read. 3. What’s your favorite pastime other than blogging?
Too many to count. I really do love writing and often have a few side projects going. I love to bike, read, play music with my husband and spend time with people. Currently though, with the job search in full force I often joke that writing cover letters is my hobby.
4. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
Blogging really helps me to put words to some of the things I’m learning, and hopefully allows others to learn from my own stories and experiences.Writing it down for an audience forces me to really understand what I am thinking through in order to articulate it for someone else. 5. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you most like to try yourself? (What is a post you have liked written by the person who nominated you?)
Okay ladies, you all came at me at once…Vicki & Livi are giving a few date night ideas. Heather is growing a little baby bump, which is not something I’m ready to try but very cute to see. Shelby is growing the cutest little succulent garden. Neive gets creative with cooking, including these delicious sounding chocolate coconut cookies. And Natalie is putting together a fall capsule wardrobe with some cute pieces. 6. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
Usually conversations I’m having with people and generally life stories of others. 7. What is one country in the world you would like to visit? Why?
All of the countries. Okay, fine. I do love traveling when possible and am definitely hoping to take a trip out of the country with the hubby in the near future. Top of the list right now is Argentina. I’ve never been to South America nor have I gotten much use out of my high school Spanish classes yet. I should probably revisit some of the language, but naively I like to think it will all come to me once I am surrounded by Spanish speakers. Mostly, I’m excited for an opportunity to take a trip with my husband, see some of the gorgeous surroundings and get a glimpse at another culture. 8. If you have children, what are their names? If not, what are your favorite boy & girl names?
No children in this house yet. Favorite names? I feel like we’re playing MASH on the playground. I’ll be honest, I have a ridiculously long list (literally) of names that I like. I generally like names that are a bit older sounding and many of them seem to have the letter “L” in them for whatever reason. 9. A long lost relative leaves you a large sum of money. What do you do with it?
I think that will not actually ever happen so I try to not plan ahead too much for such an occasion, but I would definitely do a combination of saving it and traveling with it. 10. In your opinion, what is the best blog post you’ve written so far? (Include the link!)
That’s an interesting question. I don’t really have one in particular that I like the most or think is the best. Each month it seems to change. Most recently, I’ve really enjoyed writing a series about Finding Self over the month of October and among those posts I wrote about Being Enough, which is something I constantly have to remind myself and work through. 11. What is your favorite food?
When the hubby and I first started dating (over seven years ago…whoa!) not everyone understood it. Our close friends thought it made perfect sense as they had watched us become friends and flirt, pursue our dreams and decide to date. They saw how we reacted to different situations, together and apart.
At the time, his family and band lived a few hours away. They didn’t watch this natural progression nor did they have any idea of who I was. So when they met me, they were puzzled. Her?
I got so many questions as they tried to get to know me and understand why he wanted to date me. What instrument did I play? Did I like camping? Did I even like music? Why did I go to school so far away? What were my hobbies? What did I do in my spare time?
All fair questions to ask a person when you’re getting to know someone I suppose. But it didn’t translate. Why would my music-loving, multi-instrumentalist, boy scout, barista boyfriend want to date me? The girl who played no instruments, had never been camping and was an academic overachiever going to school in another state.
When you put it like that…hmm. Well? (Let me also mention that I was a broke college student, so he wasn’t after my money). We were both pressed by these questions of what we had in common and when put on the spot, couldn’t quite come up with an answer. We fought in circles, questioning expectations of each other and searching for answers we didn’t have. Those questions tripped us up because while they ultimately aren’t key factors in a relationship they were being treated as such. We knew we liked each other, but was that enough? Why didn’t we have all of the same hobbies and skills? Should we? Who should change?
It wasn’t until we realized we had the same values that we understood why we made total sense as a couple. Sure, we each have a hobby or two that the other has no interest in. We also both support each other and try to understand one another’s interests. All of that is fine and good, but our interests don’t truly define us.
We both see hospitality as a way of life. We believe creativity is of worth. We are deliberate in our spending habits. We care deeply for our friends. We love the same God.
These values made up who we were as a couple. Likewise, as individuals, our personal values have a greater impact on who we are than our hobbies do.
This post is a part of the Finding Self series for the 31 Days of blogging in October.
To see the all posts in this series, check out the Finding Self page.
There’s a reason I don’t usually blog on Fridays. By the end of the week, the last thing I want is to be tied down to something I have to do or manage. No one needs chores on a Friday. I’d rather sit on the porch to watch the rain or finally catch up on some reading or just have a good long conversation with my husband.
But I thought you loved writing? Oh, I do.
The thing is, we have different priorities and different interests. Just because I love writing doesn’t mean I always want to do it. Sometimes I have to force myself into keeping up with the discipline but other times, it’s worth pursuing another facet of my life.
I think it’s easy to get caught up in thinking “this is my THING!” and therefore pour all of ourselves into it. There’s a time and a place for that…but it’s not all the time and all the places.
Having a “thing” we do, whether it’s running a business or writing a book or playing music or climbing the corporate ladder or chasing a dream is not bad. But when it becomes our only thing, other areas in our life suffers. I’ve met so many incredibly talented musicians and painters and start-up company owners and otherwise who are crazy successful in their respective fields. But past that one thing, maybe their relationships with others are severely strained–be it in their marriage, with their children or with former friends. Or they find themselves with incredible debt because they became so focused or infatuated with a dream that they neglected to realize its cost. Or their health and mental/spiritual/physical well-being were simply out of control. Life was too far off balance.
They felt justified because someone was saying, follow your dreams with all your heart. But they misunderstood and followed only one dream without stopping to consider the consequences that one dream would have on all of the other ones.
So if you find yourself buried too deep into one thing, stop for a minute. Take a breath and take a look around. Is this really where you want to be going? Where is this ultimately going?
I’m constantly having to check myself to see where I’m actually putting my time, energy and resources to see where it leads. Sometimes it seems to be in the right direction and other times, it’s clear that it is completely out of line with who I want to be.
This post is a part of the Finding Self series for the 31 Days of blogging in October.
To see the all posts in this series, check out the Finding Self page.
It’s strange to think that you live your whole life as you but then sometimes have a hard time knowing just what that means.
When I was little, video cameras were an odd concept to me. My six-year-old self had some strange notion that the video was almost like a time capsule of life to show to the future world. Strangers would be watching it and wonder who this cute little girl on the screen was. Because of this, every time I was on camera I would always start with, “Hi, I’m Samantha!”
Right then and there I was saying, “Hi, I’m me” and it was as simple as could be. I was introducing myself to the world and that’s what they needed to know.
Since then, it’s as if the more we “do” the less we understand who we are. We go to networking events and struggle to explain to people who we are and immediately turn to what we do at work. We try to find more things that “add up” to who we are. If I do this, plus this, plus a hobby or two and the way I wear my hair, that equals me.
I want to know when that changed. Why growing up took away our self-assurance in who we were.
My theory? We knew who we were as kids because we weren’t as focused on what we were not. We didn’t question ourselves as much or compare our individuality with our playground friends. We didn’t say, “Well, I’m not a real (writer, musician, artist, inventor, entrepreneur, athlete fill in the blank here) until I do this. We may have been jealous of a toy someone else owned, but we didn’t worry about who we were. We just knew. I’m me.
This week, y’all…this week has been so much fun. It’s had its ups and downs like any week, but something about this week has had a fresh air about it. Maybe I’ve had too much pumpkin flavored everything, or I have just found some good people in the world. Either way, glad to have had such a great week.
1. Weddings are some of my favorite pastimes. This past weekend both the hubby and I were in a wedding on the beach, and it was AMAZING. The year we got married we somehow managed to attend something like 13 other weddings the same year and that got a little exhausting. But this year, we’ve only been to three and each have been so much fun that I wish I had another one in the books. Invite me to your wedding, people! No but really, this weekend we had the most wonderful time as bridesmaid and groomsman. I think we both just love the opportunity to really serve our friends at such a monumental time in their lives. Plus, we got to hang out with a few great people and always seem to make friends with the photographer (who was adorable, by the way…can’t wait to see her pictures from the day but until then, here’s a few others).
Photo by Molly StillmanPhoto by Marc Killian
2. The blog is growing. Like a total nerd I sat and watched google analytics realtime tracking on Monday night. Every couple of minutes I would yell out the current number of readers and their locations to the hubby while he worked on a song. I’m learning a lot in a short time but also feeling like I have SO much to learn and catch up on. That said, thank you so much for reading along with me so far as I try different things and tweak different sections of the blog. Any and all feedback is most appreciated!
3. It’s a good thing my voice is back because it’s been all over the microphone. This week the hubby decided we were doing an open mic night. While not new to him, it was a first for me. After months of working on songs together we went ahead and shared them with the world. While I didn’t really tell anyone we were doing it beforehand, please allow these poorly lit phone pictures to say it all. It was really great, and I ended up being more comfortable than I thought I would be. I’m ready for our next gig! In addition to my singing debut, I got to do some voiceovers this week for some freelance work which was really fun and completely new to me. Apparently they loved it! So, moral of the story…prepare to hear me on the radio some day, one way or another.
