It’s Friday, and here in San Diego the sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant blue, and the trees are blooming.

White blossoms on a tree against the sky

I’m reminded how lucky I am to have landed in this little corner of the world, a place where my daily quota for sunshine is almost always met, where I see the ocean every day on my commute, and where, if I’m honest, it pains me to think of ever leaving. We may someday–the cost may be too high, the distances from family too great, the opportunities too limited–but for now, I look up into the blue and am glad to be home.

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Making Time, Taking Time

by Ginger on January 25, 2012

in Marriage

A full-time job, a commute, a toddler,a dog, a cat, a freelance business, an upcoming art show, a side business, three blogs, one online store, multiple twitters, facebooks, tumblr, pinterest, etc., etc., etc.

24 hours. Two people.

Something ends up giving, and sadly, what usually gives first is time together. We retreat to our corners, we work weekends, I’m on the computer upstairs, he’s painting in the office downstairs. It’s not always like this, but right now, things are kind of insane in our house, and so we power through with our heads down and grab an hour here, 30 minutes there.

That’s no way to sustain a marriage.

So I got this idea in my head last week–why not take Tuesday off work, take one of my precious precious PTO days, and celebrate my husband’s birthday with a full day, just the two of us? A day of holding hands and talking, a day without wrangling a two year old, a day with no agenda and no goals and no point other than just be together. The kid would be in daycare, so we wouldn’t have to pay for a sitter, and we’d get a full day, just the two of us. I think the last time that happened was our anniversary day in Vegas…last May.

So that’s what we did. We got nine full hours to just hang out together. We went and had a leisurely breakfast. We wandered around some funky little shops. We stopped in a cafe for a pastry and coffee (for N.C.). We went and did a little clothes shopping. We had a long, leisurely lunch complete with mid-afternoon cocktails. We wandered some more. We held hands, and we talked, and we laughed.

It was amazing. It was nothing special, and yet it was one of the best birthday celebrations I’ve ever planned for N.C.

It reminded me so much of our time living in the New York area. We would often spend weekend days just wandering through the city, or through Jersey City where we lived, finding little spots to eat, popping into a new store just because it looked fun to wander through.

 

We would window shop, letting ourselves wander wherever the urge led us. We spent a lot of our limited disposable income on food, and we’d pop into restaurants where we’d split one dish so we could go to the restaurant across the street and have something there too. Or we’d find a small little bar and linger over a drink or two with an appetizer before heading home to eat our “real” meal.

We were excellent linger-ers (but great tippers, so most places didn’t mind).  Talking for hours over a drink–debating, conspiring, planning, daydreaming. And plenty of silliness and laughing.

Always, always laughing.

Yesterday was like those days in New York. It was a day of the two of us, being silly, talking, conspiring, wandering. lingering, laughing, and just being together. It was a day where we weren’t consumed with bills and deadlines, with work and logistics, with the toddler’s needs and the dog’s needs and the cat’s needs and the needs of any other thing…except the need for the two of us to spend time together. The need to make time with each other more important than anything else. The need to take the time to just be together.

 

*For any locals–we went to St. Germain’s Cafe for breakfast, St. Tropez Bakery & Bistro for pastry & coffee, and Solace and The Moonlight Lounge for lunch/drinks. All three in Encinitas and all three were astoundingly good.

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Reads From Around the Web

by Ginger on January 22, 2012

in Blogging & Social Media

Whew! It’s been a fabulous few days to be a blogger here, and I’m so thankful to the SITS ladies for featuring me. I’m (slowly) working my way through each and every comment I got, and checking out a million new blogs, and holy WOW is it fun–but it may take me a bit to fully catch up!

That said, no time for excuses. Instead, it’s time for some more Reads From Around the Web! There’s a lot of really great stuff in the links, as usual, so take your time reading and enjoy!

I’m starting us off with some funny, because it’s Sunday and I feel like some giggles are in order. Over at Craftwhack (ed. note: isn’t that a FABULOUS name??), we’ve got How to Effectively Annoy Your Husband. I’m personally a big fan of #5.

Over at Kludgy Mom, Gigi gives modern students a little hand in case Wikipedia ever goes down again with A Letter To Students On The Day After Wikipedia Went Dark. A travesty we all hope never happens again, to be sure, but some insurance that the world of information isn’t dead if it does.

Over at She Likes Purple, Jennie shares a really personal struggle she faces with Keep Fighting. I hope she doesn’t mind my sharing such a personal post, but I find that her struggle with food really resonates with a lot of people, and I find her call to keep going, to keep fighting whatever fight you have to be really inspiring.(also? The post she links to in the beginning is also amazing. You should read that one too.)

Over at San Diego Momma, Deb shares The Bubble, where she talks about the bubble of safety her kids know…and how to steel them for the inevitable bursting of those bubbles as they grow up and encounter the standard and non-standard challenges of childhood and school and all that comes with that.

Over at Zoot, get a boost if you’ve been struggling (and an idea of maybe taking it easy on others if you haven’t) with You Look Really Nice Today. I personally read this post at the exact moment I needed it this week, and it’s stuck with me all week long. I hope that sharing it with you all spreads a little bit of sunshine your way as well.

Enjoy reading folks! And as always, if you’ve read something awesome, share it with us in the comments!

 

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It’s My SITS Day!

by Ginger on January 19, 2012

in Blogging & Social Media

I’m thrilled today to welcome SITS readers to my humble little abode!

Blogging Resources for Women

For those of you who don’t know what The SITS Girls is, it’s a community of more than 10,000 bloggers who support one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging & providing a community for growth. You may recall my gushing over Bloggy Bootcamp last year–that’s another awesome piece of the SITS pie. And today, well, today is my day as the featured blogger, which has me both excited and a little nervous. I mean, I’m putting on my best face for company, I hope they like it!

So to the SITS readers…WELCOME! Hi there and hello!

I’m Ginger and this is my little home on the internet. I’m a working mom to a crazy 2.5 year old whirlwind, married to an emerging artist, working in book publishing, living in sunny Southern California, and trying to figure out my life. I blog about..oh, a little of this, and a little of that. I overuse ellipses, and LOVE having conversations with readers. I like to say that Ramble Ramble is my own personal “girls night out,” where I can chat and unwind with girlfriends about motherhood, marriage, myself, work, and everything in between. Come on in, pull up a chair, and let’s chat!

If you want to learn a little bit more about me, check out my About page. I’ve listed a handful of posts where you can get a better sense of who I am. Or, you can read my Love List if you want to know what really makes my heart swell and my brain tick!

Motherhood: Working and otherwise

I write a lot about being a mom–the challenges, the triumphs, the confusion and the love. I also like to write about being a working mom–I have nothing but respect for stay at home parents (I’m married to one!), but it’s also therapeutic and calming to write about my challenges as someone doing the 9-5 before coming home and putting on the mommy hat. Here’s a few of my favorite posts about motherhood, working or otherwise:

Reflections on a Year of Motherhood
Talking About Work, Motherhood, and Marriage
Rocking Chair
A Working Mom Decision

Book Publishing: The 9-5

I work in book publishing, and I’ve been known on occasion to write about the industry. I love sharing what I can about the ins and outs of the book business. This is one of my most popular posts ever, for that reason:

Publishing Myths and Truths for Bloggers
(If you want more on book publishing, you can go to my Inside Book Publishing posts. All my inside publishing thoughts can be found there.)

Blogging & Social Media

I’m a blogging & social media junkie, and I write about it from time to time when I have tips or suggestions–or even just thoughts on it all!
10 Reasons I love blogging
The Weird Idea of Reciprocation
5 Ways to NOT Annoy People on Twitter

All About ME!

And sometimes, I just like to talk about myself. I’m 32 years old, but that doesn’t mean I have anything figured out! I love talking through the thoughts in my head, whether that’s about how to figure myself out, the random worries and fears I have, or the struggles I have to determine where I fit in this grand ole world.

Writing the Story of Me
Writer vs. Blogger

I hope you find something to read that you connect with, something that tickles you, something that makes you go ME TOO! And I really hope you’ll say hi and let me know if you do.

So that’s a little bit about me–now kick off your shoes, make yourself comfortable and tell me about you! And if you’re in a sharing mood, I’d love for you to link up one or two of your favorite posts in the comments; I love to highlight great posts in a regular feature called Reads From Around the Web, and am always on the lookout for more awesome posts to showcase!  (And make sure you come back this weekend to see if you’re featured and check out some great posts!)

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Being Married to an Artist

by Ginger on January 16, 2012

in Marriage

I’ve had people ask me before what it’s like to be married to an artist. I think what people really mean is “what’s it like to live with someone so creative all the time” but the reality is that every artist (like every person) is probably different. My husband, for example, is definitely not the stereotype of the flaky, flighty, head-in-the-clouds artist. In another life, in fact, my husband probably would have been a scientist of some kind, or maybe an engineer.

That said, he IS creative. He looks at the world in a much different way than I look at the world, and that difference can be astounding in how we approach everything from how to paint the living room to what to have for dinner to how we figure out our budget. His creativity is a wonderful thing, but one that I admit I don’t always have ANY idea what to do with.

There’s no way to really encompass what it’s like to live with every artist. There’s no way to really even encompass what it’s like to live with THIS artist. It’s so many wonderful, frustrating, awesome, bizarre, funny things that just…ARE. But there are some hints I can share. Being married to an artist can be:

  • paint flecks in all your sinks
  • pens you aren’t allowed to touch
  • animals who have learned not to walk on the art
  • art supplies in every room in the house
  • another trip to Michael’s/Aaron Brothers/Blick
  • “one minute while I sketch this idea”
  • spending more on paints and paper and other supplies than you spend on clothes
  • “hey, can you pose for me real quick?”
  • more clothes covered in paint than not
  • seeing the point when a person becomes an object when they’re being drawn
  • constant explanations of what font is on a menu/sign/billboard/commercial
  • more images in the “morgue file” on your computer than there are pictures of your kid
  • rewatching title credits on movies to see the animations again
  • hours of DVD extras looking at art/storyboards/how-they-did-thats
  • “no honey, those are daddy’s paints, not yours”
  • doodles on old bills
  • hand-drawn cards and gifts (sometimes)
  • the most awesome nursery ever

…among other things.

Mostly, being married to an artist, for me, has meant that I’ve had years of learning to look at the world differently. I may never see the details and shades my husband does, but I’ve learned to look for more than just the surface. It’s opened my eyes to see angles and curves and colors and shadows I’d never have looked for on my own. The world looks different when I try to view it the way my husband does…and a new perspective is always a good thing (even if the paint in the sink does drive me nuts).

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