Let’s talk about boundaries. I have spent the last month in a state of increased awareness about my absolutely terrible ability to set boundaries. Or, maybe the problem is that I’m really good at setting them, or knowing what they should be if I were to set them, and I have an absolutely terrible time of following through with them. Whichever the case, I am currently hypersensitive to the fact that boundaries are a necessary part of respecting my self-worth, and on a traditional grading scale, I’d over-generously give myself a D+ in this category. Before I expand on this reflection, I feel... Read More

I cried today. Twice. Unbeknownst to the part of me that likes to feel as if I’m always in control. One of my best friends FaceTimed me from Colorado and then one of my best friends called me from Austin for our typical end-of-day recap, and without warning, the flood gates opened. To better illustrate this moment, please imagine me at my usual table in Whole Foods (meaning, my possessions are strewn all over the place) while I inhale an entire bag (yes, bag) of Justin’s mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Meanwhile, Nugget is staring at me from across the table. Sidebar: if you don’t... Read More

Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away, I came across a guy on Bumble who immediately proclaimed in his bio that faith was the number quality that he was looking for in a woman. Okay. He then proceeded to say how much he loved positivity and hated photo filters: “Real is beautiful.” You got it, bud. I second the filter hate train. I mean, I’ll send you a dumbass video of me with cheeseburgers circling around my head, but a hard no on the cat ears for public visibility. In true Stephanie fashion, I led with: “Should I start sending all my Snapchat filter selfies now or later?” (don’t... Read More

It’s 2:01am. And, I want to go to sleep. Truly, I do. But, my mind is mulling over the current state of affairs in the Supreme Court nominations. I spent the better part of this afternoon really listening to the testimonies of both sides. But, let me be clear, this post has nothing to do with politics. No, this story is about a 34-year-old female who is finding herself inside a conversation that is questioning whether or not women are truthful when it comes to explicating their experiences. And, be it good or bad, I am now finding a way to attach conscious thoughts to emotions that I felt two,... Read More

I summited Half Dome last week. And, while I want to sit here and boast about my pride in reflection of that accomplishment, the truth is that it’s been bittersweet. Yosemite National Park had been the number one spot on my bucket list since I started climbing just over a year ago. Unfortunately, traveling solo leaves this rock climber without a perma-belayer, so I chose to enter the daily lottery for the Half Dome hike, a rather stringent process that allows only a select few applicants access to the summit by way of cables. And, well, I won. Stoke was too high. Really, I was itching to get... Read More

Since I moved into my Airstream, I hang out daily at Whole Foods (eating the salad bar and borrowing precious Wi-Fi). As a self-proclaimed blogger (I don’t know how many blogs it takes to clearly own that title), I like to spend most of the time writing. I find that it’s ironically easy for me to focus amongst the lunch crowd chaos. Today, I painfully watched a couple with two kids absolutely annihilate one another with their words. In public. And, my heart was so soft to their experience that I literally wanted to cry. The wife is pushing the two kids in one of those car-shaped shopping carts... Read More

About a month ago, my hometown caught on fire. I exaggerate you not that Basalt, Colorado is beyond blessed to still be standing (and may all the Lake Christine firefighters have a special place in heaven for their tireless efforts). It’s a rather surreal feeling to hear that some of your dearest friends are evacuating their homes in a place that you spent your entire childhood. It’s nearly impossible to not transplant yourself into such a scenario, and it was in this state of empathy that I had a very cathartic realization about my past attachment, and current detachment, from things. For... Read More

One minute you’re riding a motorized bike along the Newport Pier. The sun is kissing your skin and the wind is whipping past your smiling face. The salty air is filling your nostrils and you can feel your entire body let out a sigh of pure unencumbered bliss. The next minute you’re sitting in an autobody shop listening to a mechanic tell you that you’re going to need a new car engine. Your palms get sweaty, and your eyelids flutter subconsciously. A wave of nausea passes over you as you enter into that slightly out-of-body state of being. Okay, this is not a normal day by anyone’s standards.... Read More

I’m scared. There. I said it. I’m leaving Denver this week, and there is a deep part of my soul that is aching to stay in this place. Colorado is home. And, I spent almost a decade away from it, which was about eight years too many. But, I am constantly battling these feelings of staying and going. There is a part of me that feels like my work is in the staying. As a perfectionist, I often want to leave when things become uncomfortable (you can read more about that here). But, I feel like staying is contradictory to the very reason that I bought the Airstream. The point was to live a mobile... Read More

I’m having one of those days. You know. The ones where you wake up a week after making a really big life decision and you think, “Wait, what the fuck did I actually do?” Yep, one of those. In May, I made the decision to buy an Airstream as my place of residence. Technically, this is not a legal move. As you can imagine, the government doesn’t like it, which means the banks don’t like it. They can’t put you in a box when you live on the road. To be an American, you must associate yourself to an address, which on the larger scale, associates you to both a city and state so that you can... Read More