Category: Oddballs

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As the green grass grows.

When my husband and I got our house seven years ago, I was very pregnant with our first born and our minds were elsewhere. After a few years, the front yard started to show the neglect.

A once-green lawn slowly gave way to weeds and crabgrass; the Earth below became brittle and compressed. And that’s when the ants moved in. At one point, we pretty much threw our hands up and mowed the weeds (and dirt) and called it a day. And that’s how things went for a few years. These days, though, I have two wild young boys who love dirt and wide open spaces. I need the front yard to keep my house from becoming a barn.

Last year, we found a roadmap for getting the grass growing again in Family Handyman magazine. I was initially drawn in by the headline: Whip Your Sorry Grass Into Shape. But after we both read the article and choked on an estimate for sodding the front yard, we thought we should give it a shot. What did we have to lose?

I’d venture to say we completed half of the recommended measures, got our centipede grass analyzed by Clemson Extension Center and kept it watered for the most part last year. We did see some improvement, too. This year, we are following the plan again and the changes are pretty dramatic already. Hopefully, we’ll make it through the entire plan, and on Mr. Lawn’s schedule. We’re almost halfway there.

As I was puttering in the yard this morning, I was thinking about where the effort lies in getting grass growing again. It’s not the grass itself; it’s the soil. Grass doesn’t grow well in arid, compacted ground. Beyond a cactus or yucca, what does? With nourishment and attention, crunchy ground gives way to soil that’s soft, rich and more nurturing. Then, nature lends a hand. With stronger roots, grass will flourish, retake ant hills and choke back weeds.

Watching our yard fight its way back to life has been an amazing lesson. You’d think the grass we had wouldn’t stand a chance at being healthy again. But rather than scrape it off and start over, we put efforts toward strengthening the foundation we had. And those efforts are paying off.

This could be the year I have to ask the great Google how to get those pesky grass stains out of my kids clothes.

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For the love of letterpress.

When I was an art director, I fell in love with letterpress printing. Never used it, but loved it. Much like you covet that really sweet car, but you never quite get around to owning it. I finally got it. The letterpress, that is.

When I saw the fantastic logo Crescendo Advertising’s Melissa Ligon dreamed up for my copywriting venture, my first thought was: it’s absolutely perfect! A few seconds later I realized it would look unbelievable in letterpress. That’s how I ended up at Copperdog Press last Friday morning.

Jeff and Donna Neese have two Chandler & Price letterpress printers that must be seen to be believed (if you’re a printing nerd like me). Both printers have been “upgraded” so they are no longer powered by foot petals, but beyond that are much the same as they were a hundred years ago.

Using plates special-ordered from a Syracuse, NY shop, Jeff carefully adjusts the depth of the impression and the thickness of the ink using makeready sheets. Then once everything is just right, the real paper goes on and off by hand with each pass of ink. The gentle clank, clank, clank of the printing process is so soft and solid it could lull you to sleep (if you weren’t so excited).

It’s amazing to see letterpress in action in this day and age. If you’ve ever witnessed a giant Heidelberg churning out sheet after sheet, the presses are fast, loud and take little work from the pressmen once they’re up and running. Letterpress is quiet, hand-fed and takes craftsmanship to reach the perfect imprint depth and ink coverage.

Letterpress is not cheap, but it’s also not unaffordable either. It’s a level of quality not often seen in today’s turn and burn world. At first, printing the cards letterpress was scratching a long-felt itch. But now that they’re in my hands, I see there’s more to it than that.

When I look at this card, it reminds me of what I strive to do each day. Anyone can write, but some people have a knack for shaping words and sentences into stories that engage minds and hearts. When I run my fingers over the soft, dimpled paper, I feel craftsmanship. And that’s what I want to deliver on every project, too.

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Reasons to be grateful.

I posted a Facebook status earlier today about something being one of 100 things I am grateful for today. About that same time, I thought it would be fun to think of the 99 other things I am grateful for. So I did. I thought it would be hard to make it to 100 but it really wasn’t. Give yourself a treat and think of things and someones you’re grateful for. Then tell ’em!

Here are 100 of mine (in no particular order other than the top seven):

  1. My wonderful, wonderful husband who gets too many to-do lists and not enough thank you’s.
  2. My two healthy kids who make me laugh deeply and often.
  3. My parents, parents-in-law and grandparents who took (and still take) great care of me even though they don’t have to.
  4. My sister and absolute favorite brother-in-law ever (this is a provable fact)
  5. The many friends we have who are more like family
  6. That I work in very close proximity to my mentor and one of my favorite people on the planet
  7. The Unfortunates
  8. Snoring dogs
  9. That I can end a sentence with the word for
  10. The Chrysler building
  11. My neighbor who got me gardening and introduced me to Pinckney’s Produce
  12. The Arts, in general
  13. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Amstutz, in particular
  14. Bookmobiles
  15. The WECO building sign
  16. Atomic Ranch magazine
  17. Bacon
  18. Smart tennis instructors
  19. Facebook
  20. Midcentury Modern anything
  21. My iPhone 4
  22. My dirigible computer case from Brokesy
  23. That I get to do something I love every day
  24. Breakfast for dinner
  25. Kids’ artwork
  26. Crayons and coloring books
  27. The smell of brand new tennis balls and shower curtains
  28. A gas range
  29. A “cool” station wagon
  30. That we got an accountant
  31. Augusta National
  32. Star Wars action figures
  33. Etsy
  34. That locally grown food is as cool as it is good
  35. Books
  36. Camping
  37. My new tennis racquet
  38. Fair food
  39. Ladies’ quad
  40. Freedom, infrastructure and the many things my taxes afford me
  41. People who like to make decisions
  42. Calendars, list and organizers
  43. Forest Lake Garden Center
  44. My time as a bartender at The Village Tavern
  45. The Kingsman’s cheese steak on Texas Toast
  46. Texas Toast
  47. Birthday cake
  48. The Tour de France
  49. Vanity Fair magazine
  50. The children’s book, The Little House by Virginia Burton
  51. The right to vote
  52. Forsythia, which blooms just when winter’s gone on long enough
  53. Artists
  54. People who support the arts
  55. When people get the giggles
  56. Harmony School
  57. Corn on the cob (in season)
  58. My garden
  59. Birdfeeders
  60. Good fonts and paper
  61. Hot dogs and cheeseburgers especially when both are on my plate at a picnic
  62. My Wednesday Weight Watchers group
  63. Books and libraries
  64. Cool hilarious people like Stacey and Joey Leroy
  65. That I met Chris Daly in summer school in 1986
  66. Kids’ birthday parties
  67. #gamecocks
  68. The coffee cup college graduation gift from the Riley’s that I have used almost every day at work since 1992
  69. Steve Spurrier quotes
  70. Folding baby laundry
  71. Bourbon
  72. The sound of laugher from anyone, especially if they’re laughing so hard there is no noise
  73. Divided plates
  74. College football
  75. Keyboard shortcuts
  76. The statue of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney holding hands
  77. Farmer’s Markets
  78. That I can read and write
  79. Create-A-thon
  80. Coffee
  81. My 1957 ranch house
  82. Fair Haikus
  83. Avocados
  84. Guster
  85. That there’s a developer trying to bring Richland Mall back to life
  86. Taco trucks
  87. The original Tick cartoon show
  88. Fallingwater
  89. Legos
  90. Optimists
  91. Simple, ultra-smart logos
  92. For people who can read and play sheet music
  93. Inspiration
  94. My Star Wars car sunshade
  95. For anyone still reading this
  96. People who “save” old houses
  97. Fragment sentences
  98. Cheese
  99. That I actually enjoy running
  100. For the hundreds of other things I don’t know I love … yet!
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Bridge Run Playlist

Thanks for all the cheers again this year as I hurtled through downtown Charleston at the Cooper River Bridge Run. I did not beat my time from last year but there are some years when finishing is a huge accomplishment. This was one of them.

For those few of you who asked, here’s my playlist in all its embarrassing glory.

Spare me your ridicule…especially if you were still lounging in bed at 7am on a Saturday!

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On My Nightstand

My reading habits have steered into the business-ish aisle lately.

In January, I subjected my Book Club to this business gem: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior. I found it fascinating and many of them were actually interested enough to read it. Which is an accomplishment!

In February, a friend and I were chattering over lunch one day and she shared Gretchen Rubin’s year-long study of happiness, The Happiness Project. Dug it, too. I’d recommend this one to any woman out there who finds herself juggling wifedom, motherhood and a career. With all that going on, it’s easy to lose perspective.

Now I’m on Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. I stumbled across this one at the library last week. Just a few chapters in but liking it a lot. It’s converging a bunch of topics that I never really thought were linked: rented building,  once-robust parts of town and people’s need to amass large amounts of stuff. I am interested to see where all this goes.

If you have a book or two you’ve enjoyed lately, please share them in the comments. Always on the lookout for good reads!

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Welcome!

Day Three in the freelance writing business seems like a great day to set up a blog. It’s already been a great day for securing health insurance and a bona fide business license. It’s also going to be a great day to start writing an annual report and to “leave work early” to start training for the Bridge Run later this month.

If you’ve randomly stumbled upon my blog, here’s the backstory.

I’ve worked in advertising for more than 20 years. Most of those years in ad agencies. As of a few days ago, I got a new boss: me. I live and work in Columbia, SC. Wordsmith is me offering you great copywriting, content and creative services. If you need help while I’m getting my act together, call or e-mail. Or, tweet.

To all my friends who have supported, goaded and poked me in the side these past few weeks, thank you.

This is going to be a delicious adventure! Thanks for visiting!