Slacker Summer

We've been a bit busy for the last 2 months. With JJMIV up at NY Stage & Film again and me producing the upcoming web series Skip Trace there's been little time for blogging & what-not.

To make up for it, here are some silly pictures from this weekend. We each got new cameras; Nikon COOLPIX, mine plum and JJMIV's black. While I was off taking pictures of parties JJMIV was helping Hanners build a computer and snapping pics of her new toy... I'll leave it to him to share them if he sees fit.

One of our close friends here in NYC is moving away - so in her honor, here's two silly pics of B:

We're gana miss her.

What's Past and What's Future?

An unfortunately reality of our move to NYC is that every time I sit down to blog my first inclination is to apologize for the long absences between posts. I'll do what I can to resist the urge.

I'm heading up to SmAlbany on the God Ole Amtrak this morning, and this is relevant for two reasons:

First, a dear, sweet member of our family passed away this week. A man who was a shining example one of my core beliefs in life: that family is not about biology but the people who love and care for you. My step-father Jak's dad Duke died on Tuesday; a month ago he was complaining of a sore throat which turned out to be advanced esophageal cancer. He was diagnosed March 25th, about 2.5 weeks ago. Just a strong reminder to love those around you while you can and let those who try to love you do so.

Duke will be sorely missed.

The second reason my travel state is relevant: Amtrak doesn't have wifi available... I'm using my phone as a router!

If you are of sufficiently questionable intelligence to follow me on Twitter than you know JJMIV & I got Droid phones about two weeks ago. Using the PDANet Free app I have USB tethered my phone to my laptop so I can use that connection as a router. It's going well, the connections only slightly slower than my home; though I will say the phone in my lap is running a bit hot.

There's been a lot of chatter lately about how awesome it is to live in the future. That all the cool gidgets from futuristic sci-fi are now in our hot-little-hands. Yes, JJMIV's got the Tricorder App and has been taking base scans of our apartment and comparing the magnetic fields to when he's riding the subway. I've been using it for more practical nerd-applications: such as using Hoccer to throw inappropriate pictures across the dinner table to my best friend (who, strangely, got a Droid the same day...).

But I have found annoying down sides to all this access; and they're nothing new to those who've had smartphones forever: I'm more impatient, annoyed when I don't get an instant response, and find myself unintentionally IMing before I've even gotten up to go pee in the morning. Those are all things I expected, and that I also believe will diminish as the 'newness' of my toy wears off.

What I didn't expect was how much relief I would feel when removed from that high level of connection. I had anticipated it so much that it never occurred to me that the hour I spend on the subway would be a respite from the green blinking light that tells me I have a notification. That the 5 days we spent off the grid on our vacation would force me to meditate and connect with and think about myself.

As awful and selfish as that sounds, we're becoming disconnected from self-connection. I think our level of connection via technology is making us completely reactive; and we're coming to expect that from those around us. To text, and reply, and IM, and confirm, and send, and send, and send. And so, slipping underground on the N train home in the evening, I feel the cord temporarily cut. Though I am surrounded by noise and annoyance, at least I'm living in a moment around me instead of reacting to a virtual moment.

This has been a week of reaction; to illness, to IMs, to texts and loss. To crying and drinking and trying to sooth a weary family as much as can be done. Ironically; having the connection via my phone has allowed me the opportunity to write this. To connect with myself for a moment, and through my writing with you. Maybe this 'Living in the Future' thing isn't so bad after all.

~DMcC

Purple is Dar's Fav Color

I'm clumsy.

I'm clumsy like a baby figuring out how to walk... except my bones aren't made of rubber. So when I was shooting a short film on Friday where my 'good cop' character chases a bad guy over a roof and I caught my ankle on a big bump, it didn't just fix itself.

And that's right, you guessed it: I kept shooting. For another 2 hours. And then refused to take a cab home because I'm more-than-kind-of a jerk!

We're still not 100% sure what's wrong; all we know is there are no fractures (thank you Mr. X Ray). It's likely a bad sprain or a few small ligament tares. I thought these pics were both disgusting and interesting - so be sure to enjoy both of those key features.

These first 2 are about three hours after the injury after having walked on it much longer than I should've. Friday afternoon, approx 4pm:




I went to the ER Saturday morning when I woke up and couldn't walk, hence the X-ray. This is Saturday night approx. 8pm. Swelling is way down, but that lovely purple is blossoming nicely.

The ER docs were kind enough to give me a sexy splint & some crutches, which are helping quite a bit. This is Sunday around 4. The bruising's getting pretty nasty, even after 2 days of doing nothing but laying around. Ugh.

News, News, News, and Sunshine

It's been quite awhile, and for that we're both sorry. But we have good reason, I promise.

March has been a month of exciting news, and I've been a bit of a tease about everything. Not because I wanted to toy with your collective emotions; but because I didn't want to announce something awesome and then have it turn out to be made of suck. I'm glad to say that has not been the case.

And now, Good News. In the order it occurred:

* I was offered (and accepted) the lead in a feature length film! I'll be playing a spicy/strong cop in an upcoming slasher flick produced by Yellow Ape Productions. We're keeping a pretty tight lid on most of the details, for good reason, but I'll share as I'm able to.

* I was offered, accepted, and began working with CUNY's School of Professional Studies in concert with the NYC Office of Emergency Management as the Content Manager for customization and development work on Sahana Disaster Management software. To say I'm excited would be a massive understatement. I just wrapped up my first week with them and the project is engaging, the people are awesome, and the work is enough of a challenge that I wont be bored. (And you know how I feel about being bored...)

Those are the big things. The response to Venture has been incredibly positive; so fans of the book will be happy to know I started working on book 2, mostly because my brain wouldn't let me write anything else creative. We're planning to take a much longer creative process this time around; partly because the book will be longer and partly because we had to rush so much last time.

We're getting a bite of spring this week in NYC and I'm going to be out on a rooftop filming all afternoon and enjoying it. I hope you are too.

-D McC

I'm An Author

For a long time it was a secret wish: something I didn't tell others about because it felt like an unachievable dream. I seemed silly and unrealistic (which I realize is ironic coming from an actor and musician); I didn't think I was creative enough or smart enough and that I didn't have the chops to write a book. That no one would want to read it or it wouldn't make sense and I'd be setting myself up for a catastrophic failure.

Last April, after a recharging trip to sunny LA, I was feeling an excess of creative energy but a lack of time for collaboration, so a new friend from that trip and I started an experiment. We both loved the creative writing courses we took in college, but had spent little time writing post graduation. We devised a writing exchange based on our favorite writing exercise: to trade prompts about once a week and write a short story, poem, and once even a song, based on the prompt.

Out of these exchanges came some great stories and some realizations: I'm a better writer than I thought, I have a lot to write about, and I really love doing it. If it weren't for his help, I'd never have considered taking this on. (I doubt he'll read this or that he realizes I feel this way. On the off chance he does see it: Thanks)

And what is 'this'? Why, the release of my first novel, of course.

{In kitschy announcer voice}
Ladies and Gentleman, I'm pleased to announce the release of my first novel: Venture. Available for purchase tomorrow morning!

Thanks to a Kickstarter campaign I was able to pre-sell 40 copies with some great extras for the backers and feel the wonderful support of my family and friends while I was developing the book. I started writing on Oct 14, 2009 - here we are 4 months, 8 days, and 176 pages later. I feel really good about it and the responses I've gotten from the pre-orders have been really positive.

I've also been feeling the creative energy feed itself. From the development of the first book I've begun the planning stages for two more books in a series, at least two other series beyond this one, and I've started writing a series of short stories that I hope to release as podcasts later this year. These will all take place in the same world setting, Aeowal, and all be released under a Creative Commons license to encourage fan fiction, art, expansion, and collaboration (like ya do).

I hope you'll jump on the proverbial bandwagon tomorrow and visit my Lulu Store. I'm shooting for it to be available by 9am EST.

Sliding into 2010

I've been meaning to blog for awhile - it's been weeks since the last post and it's a habit that must be inforced or it will shrivel and die - but good excuses kept coming up. Christmas travel, New Years, nothing good to say, and then I didn't want to jump over John's last post. Then, this morning, Wil Wheaton wrote a great nostalgia post and it got me fired up to get back into the blog.

When I say the last month has been hectic I don't mean your annual Dec. 25th until the New Year Blitz. I mean all out social warfare - pegging one holiday party against the next for who will recieve our energy and time. Scheduling in naps to ensure that we can meet our militaristic-like celebration obligations.

I wont bore you with the itinerary - but I can tell you that we ended up in Hartford for the New Year to celebrate the nuptials of Ben and Jen Steinhurts; long time friends and a long time couple. I probably spent over 100 hours crafting Jen's wedding dress in 2009 and so was so happy and beautiful. I believe the final count was Dar: 5, Jen 7 (times we cried that day).



We ended 2009 with a champagne toast and entered 2010 watching fireworks peak over the industrial park on the eastern side of I-91; John holding me up I was so exhausted. We decided to stay an extra night in Hartford to get some more sleep and have the happy couple to ourselves.

But the fun doesn't stop just because it's January. On the 5th I celebrated the successful funding of my Kickstarter campaign and announced the name of my novel: Venture Book 1 in the Orla Series.

Yup. It's a series. Because I enjoy the feeling of overwhelming myself with the need to produce.

John's headed back to school to plan his 2nd semester as Professor McCullough (duh duh duh!).

I think later this week we'll take a look back at 2009 and gaze forward into the fog of the future... 2010! (I realize that everyone else did this last week... but we had some unexpected events that prevented it.)

I'm So Excited

This silliness about sums it up:



There's a metric ton of crazy-awesome that's going down in McCullough-Land these days. I have a few fun announcements to share today and I hope that video puts you in the right mood. Here we go:

• This past weekend I finished the first draft of my novel. To celebrate (and also in celebration of my birthday), I'm having a few promotions on the Kickstarter Campaign. If you back the campaign from 12:01am Friday morning (12/4) to 11:50pm Sunday night (12/6) you'll get some exclusive bonus content with your book: stickers, buttons, and a special surprise! Click on over and hop on the bandwagon.

• We played a sweet game of Cyberpunk this weekend between rounds of turkey dinner ~ and if we ask JJMIV nicely enough maybe we can get him to write a post about it... pllllleeeeaaaase!?!?

• I'd also like to introduce an idea to the interwebs: SEEKER. It's a webseries about two female bounty hunters, the bad guys they chase down, and the trouble they get into. I'm collaborating with my best friend and general co-conspirator, Sarah Croce. I spent a good part of the fall writing season 1 and we've recently joined forces with a wonderful director. The wheels are turning and I'll be sharing this process as we move forward.

• Finally, I want to share one of Sarah's recent projects. I'm one of her True Fans (because she's beautiful, talented, and brilliant!) and it's important to pass on the work of those you love and admire. Episode two of the web series Bleeder (name similarities merely a coincidence) is out and embedded below! Check out episode 1 here.
  

Bleeder - Episode 2 - Common Bonds - SD from Mark Kochanowicz on Vimeo.

We've got a lot of work to do; but also a lot to celebrate. Man, I love December!

~DMcC

The Brain; well, it plays tricks on you. It sees things that aren't there. It tells you that bumps in the night are monsters intent on devouring your toes.

Lately, my brain tells me that I'm not working hard enough. That there's more I could/should be doing. Yesterday (after working alllllll daaaaay on a sewing project and then spending a few more hours on the book) I received some physical proof of my efforts. And I want to share them.

First up are the proofs from a shoot for Citizen Stock. This is my favorite shot. It's especially welcome as I don't have very many nice pics with my guitar.


AND a commercial I worked on also premiered yesterday ~ sorry to say that I was trimmed away, but it was still fun. Here's a production still to play Where's Waldo? in, and the completed video.




Happy Thanksgiving!

~DMcC

Late Bloomer

I'm a late bloomer. Not in the when-I-got-hair-down-there sense, but as a geek.

Not in the greater-world sense. I was always socially awkward and had a Hermione-like need to answer every question a teacher threw at a class. When I was five I gave my 20-something aunt a lecture on the proper pronunciation of counting is Spanish because "I've seen it on Sesame Street!" (which means I know everything. Duh).

But in the nerd-world sense. Unlike my husband, I didn't grow up in a pocket of well-defined nerds with super-humanly-smart parents who watched Star Wars daily (yes, one of our friends did that as a child) who all played D&D together as they grew up. I just wasn't exposed to it. I didn't know what D&D was in high school, and I grew up in a family that still questions its relationship to my Christian upbringing and ties to Satanic worship.

I didn't know Magic or WoW and probably would've thought GURPS was an STD.

I remember very clearly my first D&D game. We played in the penthouse in one of the dorm towers at our college, and with the city sprawled below us I ventured out as the halfling rogue Elizabaum Roseleaf (she'll always be my favorite). JJMIV's friends had stopped in for a few hours during a road trip and in the chatter before the game they were talking about various girlfriends' refusals to play D&D. At all. Ever. I was already the only girl, it was the first time meeting any of JJMIV's friends from high school, and I'd never played before.

I was more nervious than a prize piggy in a bacon factory. And this wasn't helping What if I sucked!? Does it diminish my nerd-cred if I don't know how to play? What if I'm reinforcing the stereotypes of girl gamers and bla, bla, bla...

We've all seen the movie-magic stereotype of what gamers are. The Comic Book Guys of the world. Ready to sass you to prove their Epic Nerd Superiority (or compensate for something, perhaps?).

And I would argue that there's some truth to the myth. If you run in nerdy circles long enough it eventually happens ~ you invite your cute new lady-pal along to a gathering. Your inescapable, socially inept Sheldon-line pal comes too. And he rips her up for confusing Star Wars and Star Trek, even though she has a legit science/math/cool-other-shit degree. But why does his opinion matter in the first place?

Well, because being a nerd isn't just about the gaming. Or the science. Or knowing a lot of cool things that no one else understands. Nerds who found a group as kids grew up in a pocket of like-minded fellows. Sure, they went through all the other crap we all go through, but they had Saturday morning gaming sessions to help them cope.

But Late Bloomers; we had our own set of challanges. Trying to find other people who liked science as much as we did. An outlet to rally around. Doing a ton of activities, but not really feeling like we had a place where it all came together.

I think Jim from American Pie 2 says it really well: "Nadia. I am a band geek. I just never joined band."

Being a nerd is partially about inclusion. I played that first D&D game when I was 20. That winter JJMIV also taught me how to play Magic and Risk. I built my first decks and got my ass handed to me by a bunch of 13 year olds at a few Booster Draft tournaments. You know what? It was awesome. Sure, those 13 year olds looked at me like I was a jerk and I had no clue what I was doing. But I loved it. We bought Carcasson and it seemed like there was always something to do or play or someone to hang out with.

And that first D&D game was awesome too. The guys we played with are now my friends and they didn't mind pausing to show me where to look on my character sheet to tally my bonuses. They liked teaching the game. Though some are Sheldon-esque at times I've realized that SO AM I. Now I'm DMing my own adventures.

Late Bloomers are an important part of our community. They're refreshing, and it's wonderful to see the faces of people who've never gamed before realize how much they love it. Being in theatre it's bonus-exciting because there are so many natural story tellers. People who really get into the background of their characters. (I just wish one of us could DRAW! It makes me jealous of Gabe & Tyko all the time).

This year we've taught 2 more people D&D who never played before. My friend Hannah (whose SWEET Dragon-born Paladin saves my Shaman Human's butt every week) said to me last week "I can't believe I never played D&D in high school. You guys must thing I'm so behind."

Nope. You know why? Because I'm a Late Bloomer too. And being a geek takes all kinds. Welcome to the fold.

Write Write, Bloody Well Right

When presented with endless free time I'm a fan of quickly filling it with projects and I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that I often over-extend myself. This fall seems to have become no exception.

I currently do not have a full-time "job". I quote it because I'm not currently getting paid or what I've been up to; but I might some day (I hope). I've applied for a few, but nothing seems to be biting. In all honesty I'm not looking all that hard. So what have I been up to?

First: Auditions! Every week I'm running around the city popping in and out of overly-bright rooms and blurting out a few pages just to run to the next one. Even one audition that takes five minutes easily becomes an all day affair. I get up early to work the sides and set my curly hair just right and then ride in on the subway for an hour or more, have my five minutes of glory, and then ride back.

The result of these efforts are 2 commercials I hope to come out in the next week. They're hilarious and I can't wait to post them.

But beyond the acting and the occasional make-out session with my guitar (admit it, you thought that would end in TMI), I've been writing. Like there's no tomorrow. Songs. Blog posts. But most importantly: novels.

As a kid I loved the idea of writing a novel, and even planned how I would do it someday, but couldn't "find the time" to actually write it (even as a kid, I overstretched myself). So in the first week of October I got the brilliant idea that I should start working on one. And I did. And I'm really proud of how it's turning out. So proud that I've decided to self-publish it.

Here's the catch. I know I can use Lulu and I know what I want to do, but how to launch it all? And then I found Kickstarter. Kickstarter helps artists/creators/collaborators launch their visions by asking for backers. They choose an amount and a timeframe and shoot for it. As I believe in doing scary/crazy/exciting things, I launched my project this past Sunday. YOU SHOULD FUND IT!! You get cool stuff in return for funding and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. (A side note: if you pledge now you're not charged until Jan 5 when it ends, so don't worry about waiting for pay-day)

As if that wasn't enough, I've decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo ~ National Novel Writing Month ~ and do another novel for that. Oh, and we got a director for the webseries I wrote, Seeker. I'm collaborating with Sarah Croce and we're bringing in Mark Kochanowicz to direct. (We'll probably use Kickstarter to raise the money for that project too.) More on Seeker in the next few months. It's going to be huge!

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby!

Whoo!

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been for both of us. D&D, opening the Haunted Hotel,Sam & Andrew's wedding (good friends from Yale) and my first commercial!

We've been playing Keep On The Shadowfell and John is DMing. We've had a few great sessions and one 10 HOUR MARATHON and we're finally getting to the meat of it all. I have to commend our friend Brian, he's playing an evil avenger of Bahamut (I still haven't figured it out either) and did some of the best RP I've ever seen last session. He convinced a Hobgoblin War Chief to hire us, and then we killed him. And took over the clan. And sent them somewhere else. It was brilliant.





I've included a pic of Brian so you can see the amazing shirt he was wearing during these shenanigans.

The Haunted Hotel has been equally satisfying. It's at City Tech (where J teaches) and they brought me in to work with the actors. It was an interesting challenge to bring a room full of Tech students who have never acted up to speed in an hour. There were bumps, but we opened last weekend and from all I can tell everyone is having a lot of fun with it.

This weekend I filmed my first commercial spot. It should be up on the interwebs in a few weeks, and you can bet your sweet pinky toe nail that I'll be posting it everywhere possible, so stay tuned.

Finally; on Sunday we went to the wedding of our friends Samantha and Andrew and it was wonderful. Quite possibly the funnest wedding I've ever been to, including our own. They have wonderful taste and every detail was perfect ~ it was really wonderful to be a part of it. Below are some of my favorite pics from the afternoon.

~DMcC

D&D Anyone?

Just wanted to share my favorite shot from a photo shoot I did last week with Nathan Blaney. The nerds in the audience will appreciate it in a big way!

Nathan was a lot of fun to work with and was willing to experiment with my gaming concepts a little. This is John's favorite too.

We're sharing the couch at the moment and prepping for a game on Saturday with our friends Ben & Jen (BJen, as you may know them). It'll be my second round of DMing and I'm trying to keep my conscious mind occupied while I come up with schemes of the best way to meddle in the lives of these "helpless" player characters. Muahahaha.

DMing for Dummies

First, to answer your obvious question: Yes, there is such a thing. No, I don't have it nor did I consult it for DMing.

From the last few posts you can gather that I DMed for the first time a few weekends ago and John's thoughts on the subject. I haven't given it much reflection; though I'm about to begin my next campaign. It's about time I paid it a little thought.

It was a LOT of fun. Honestly. I really enjoyed watching them try to work their way through my puzzles or manipulate the NPCs and chase down leads that weren't really there. It held the game up a little and also taught me a lot about thinking like my players do.

You know what else they did? Tested my ability to think on my feet. No matter how much you read about Use what your players give you! Don't negate them! it's really hard that first time not to get defensive of the hours of work you've put into your campaign the first time it happens.

"Amanda, why is Gnell going to Nenlast?"
"To visit his uncle Gniven who runs the inn."

Internal monologue: But I've already made someone who runs the inn. His name is Will and he's going to tell you all about why you should help them. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

This is luckly the moment when the years of hearing "Yes, And" from my improv coach at No Laugh Track Required kicked in and I said "Great!" and decided that Will ran the pub instead. No problem! This trend continued as they decided to try and be sneaky with the locals and then talk to/berate/insult the head of the local "militia" (which is really just a bunch of farmers). When John's character Brevan nearly had a screaming match with this NPC, it was obvious that maybe it was time to move on... (Side note: it was a choice that this NPC was a jerk. It was also a choice for John that his PC be a jerk and insegate him. Hehehe)

I dont want to go too much farther into the encounter as I dont want to potentially spoil a few things that John and Amanda haven't figured out yet. What I will say is that I mis-read some of the rules and the combat was too easy! I'd been so concerned that I would kill them if only two people were playing and they totally plowed through most of the combat. By the end I was adding extra guys so they weren't yawning. I was a little disappointed in the puzzle I'd made, because instead of solving it they just tried every combination until it was completed. Next time I'll be sure to provide some negative consiquences (hee hee).

It may be awile before Gnell is able to join us again so John has asked me to run a different campaign with the local peeps. That's what I'm starting to brainstorm now.

More to come...

Do you have suggestions on how you DM that you think would help?! Take a page out of Ben's book and send them to me. I'll post them up for all to enjoy! (This means you Adam & Eric)

Lame Little Video

One reason we came to New York? So I could focus on acting and music. It's been good so far; I started auditioning and playing at open mics... both of which are wonderful and terrifying.

I wrote a new song a few weeks ago and recorded this video on Friday night when I was way too tired to be allowed near the camera.

Enjoy:

Simple Folk (Spoiler)

After writing my blog post last night I started looking through the setting maps in the 4.0 DMG and reading through the descriptions. I'm already familiar with some of the areas from the campaigns that JJMIV has been running, so I wanted to working in an area that we haven't already been playing in his world.

As I browsed the book I came upon the humble fishing village of Nenlast. It's nestled in the northeast corner of the map, a few days from Hammerfast.

Text fromthe DMG:

This tiny human village lies at the east end of Lake Nen. The folk here make a meager living by trading smoked fish to the dwarfs of Hammerfast. They also deal with the Tigerclaw barbarians of the Winderbole Forest. When the wild fold choose to trade, they come to Nenlast to barter their pelts and amber for good dwarven metalwork.

I feel a little lame. I wanted to build a great campaign with crazy monsters that made my PCs go "WHAT!?"; but alas, I've disappointed myself. I've written a straight-up brigand campaign.

From my notes last night, here's my concept:

The simple people of Nenlast have recently fallen to despair; the Tigerclaw barbarians have been praying on their simple lives, but who can help them? The local militia are simple fishermen and can do little to stop the wild woodsmen.

While there are a few surprises on the way, our adventurers will mostly be taking on the bad boys in the woods. I'm fleshing out the details of the role playing and encounters, and then it's go time! Still have to work out the treasure.

One thing that drove me crazy was the Monster Creator from Wizards of the Coast. "Why?" You ask. Well, I put together all my baddies and though I had everything ready to print... only to realize that it wouldn't print out neat little cards like the Character Creator does for your PC! Why not!? AND - if you've put something in your "clip board" you can't pull it back up to print it. Lame. Meh, it's beta.

Time to get my peeps to roll up characters. Here we go!

-D Mc C

Dungeon Mastery

One thing about New York: because we were apart all summer we've been spending a lot of time together. It's also the first time since we've been together that neither of us is going to school. The trick is finding something to do with that time. So? We've been playing a bunch of D&D.

And it got me thinking about what goes into a game. I've watched John pull together dozens of games since we've been together, but I've never helped; I always felt like I didn't know enough. Well, a person has to start somewhere, right?

So I'm taking on the mantle. I'm slipping behind the screen. I'm going to DM my very first adventure.

Obviously, JJMIV is going to help (how could he not?). We've been listening a lot to the D&D podcasts of the gents from Penny Arcade, Scott from PVP, and (sigh) Wil Wheaton. John and I thought it would be fun for me to blog my DM journey.

(For those playing, I'll warn you when there's a spoiler coming)

I've read the Monster Manual and DMG to start with, though it seems my first major road block is not what I expected: I can't find where to start! The thing I'm having most trouble with is inspiration for a story, a plot. Just that drop that starts the creative juices a-flowin'. Nothing. I've tried having JJMIV tell me about a character he wants to play. I've looked at fan fiction and artwork on-line. I've even tried Wiki-How.

Nada.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and force it. (Insert "last night" joke about your mom here)

-D Mc C

Our New Home

We've done it.

We live in NYC.

I've spent the last few days looking around our box filled apartment thinking "we're actually here!"




For anyone whose thinking "huh?" (maybe you've been under a rock?), John & I moved to Brooklyn this past Sunday. As of right now we've only really unpacked the kitchen and most of the bedroom. We're painting the bedroom and office (bedroom is DONE!) before unpacking anything into them.

The 2nd picture is the main room on Sunday afternoon after all our things were brought in - intense to say the least. We've both been fighting the urge to feel overwhelmed ~ but with some time and some elbow grease this is going to be home. Our home. :)

Pack it up, Pack it in.

We're almost there - in 3 days all our belongings will be on a truck winding its way down I-95 South. Back to my favorite state; on to new and exciting things.

It's been a great summer at the beach house. We've had parties and sunsets; and I'm reasonably sad at the good-byes.

People here have been joking with me about the stops on my "Farewell Tour". Almost every night for the last week I've had somewhere to go or something to do. It's been intense; and John's had his own version of it in Poughkeepsie.

So this afternoon I have lunch with two of my favorite people at Miya's and tonight I have a dinner party to go to; John's playing pool after his final day of notes in the shop.

Tomorrow is lunch with my former boss and happy hour at Sage (mmm...); John's climbing with our friend Amanda and saying bye to his close proximity to the Gunks.

Saturday John will be home. The moving fan shows up Sunday morning... 3 days from right now.

Today is my final packing push. My hope is that I can finish it all and spend tomorrow on the beach one last time. Here's hoping...


NYC... here we come...