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Something new!

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If you follow me on Twitter (which you should, I promise I’m really fun,) you might have noticed a slight change in the last few weeks – I changed my username to @desidoesthings from @anortherngirls.

When I started this blog over five years ago, I couldn’t pick a name. This isn’t unique, and I think every blogger knows the pressure of picking the right name right out of the gate. I have to say – I feel like I failed at that. I’ve never loved A Northern Girl – sure, it’s who and what I am, but it doesn’t have a nice ring to it. It’s not catchy like Making Sense of Cents or Helene In Between or Venus Trapped In Mars. I never even really made a proper logo for it (though I do love the clean lines of Futura Medium that has served as the header all these years.)

A few weeks ago, a stroke of genius finally grabbed me. You probably know that I launched a food blog earlier this year (come join us at Desi Does Pizza!) and I recently registered a domain name that would serve as a landing page for all my projects. But I loved that name so much, and I love this blog so much, that it finally occurred to me: www.desidoes.com is what this blog was destined to be all along.

Desi Does feels much more personal – it’s about me, and a better reflection of what this blog is. Whether I’m sharing my blogging and remote work experiences, trying new products or experiences, or traveling, it’s all what I love to do – and what I love to write about.

What does this mean for content?

I’ll still be following the same posting format and content: lifestyle Mondays, blogging Wednesdays, and travel/location independent Fridays. I’ll just be doing it under a new name – one that feels more like me.

I do hope you’ll stick around and consider signing up for the mailing list! If you have a moment, I’d also love your feedback on this reader survey as well. It will help me make sure I’m providing the content you’re looking for!

How did you come up with your blog name? Did you go through several before landing on one you love?

July 8, 2017
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tune tuesday: only time

Posted in Music, Personal by

tune tuesday

Well well well. Here we are again. Funny how time slips away, no?

The last few months have been faster and faster. There’s an episode of ER (and I know it’s a popular saying, but ER is where I heard it, and you know I have to be able to sandwich in a reference where I can) where Mark’s dad says that the older he gets, the faster the years go.

“You know some years seem to pass faster than others? This year’s been the fastest.”

 

Time is definitely flying by right now – most days, I’m thankful for it. I’d be lying if I said that days weren’t still a struggle and I’m happy about quickly passing 12-hour workdays. But then I call my grandpa on his birthday and cry because I miss him and swear I’ll call more, but wake up three weeks later and I haven’t called since. Or I say I’m going to start running again and here I am, three months later, and I’ve not taken another step. I say I’m going to be a good blogger again and same thing – here I am.

I’m working on getting my head right. I’m working on getting my body right again. The precious little time I have to myself needs to be put to better use – here’s a Tune Tuesday to making it count.


Imagine Dragons – It’s Time


Green Day – Good Riddance


New Radicals –

Elton John – Rocket Man

November 18, 2014
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High Anxiety & the Power of Staying Positive

Posted in Mental Health, Personal by

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It has been truly another whirlwind month. After thinking that I had finished the transition process (and trust me, there’s no part of this summer that was NOT a transition) I was proven wrong again. I am typically a glass-half-empty kind of person. It’s just my nature, and I work very hard to overcome it and be the happy, bubbly girl you see here 😉

Earlier this month it felt like my world was falling apart and that I had no way to control it. I won’t go into the gritty details yet. But it’s been a crazy, chaotic, stressful month. It’s no secret that I have pretty severe panic disorder, so coupling that with the pessimism that lives in my head made it really tough to keep on keepin’ on.

I heard this amazing story from The Moth by Peter Sagal, one of my favorite NPR hosts, that really helped me feel like I could get through. He talks about his divorce and running Boston as a guide for a blind runner during the 2013 Marathon.

There were nights that I literally could not sleep and I just kept saying to myself “relaxrelaxrelax” in my head, over and over and over, in order to keep other thoughts out of my head. And then I’d wake up two hours later, still panicked into a frenzy, and have to repeat that “relaxrelaxrelax” mantra.

It’s funny to look back on when Sixx and I first met – he was really uptight, followed the rules to the letter, was totally the opposite of me. It took us years to get him to go with the flow. He teases me about this now when he tells me over and over to “let it go” and just breathe.

But it’s funny, because since this life-altering thing and getting through the initial few weeks of terror, I feel this sort of peace now. For once, I really believe when people say that things will be okay. (Basically because at this point if anything else goes wrong, I’m going to be just checked into the hospital :)) But there came a point where I made a decision to take charge and override the doubt and take a page from the book of The Hold Steady and stay positive.

Since I decided to do that, things have improved greatly. This girlfriend of mine has a saying she liked to trot out in college: “it’s all about the bounce back.” I’m hoping to bounce a little higher than I have before, and I think my attitude change is going to help me get there. And I have a lot of things to be happy about – Sixx comes home in a few weeks, I’m seeing my family this weekend. My mom bought me a really nice set of headphones. TV season is back in full effect.

It’s tough because my life doesn’t look like I thought it would look right now, but in a way, it looks the way I always thought it would.

And here – if that wasn’t enough positivity for your day, check out this cute little interview from a high school football player.

September 25, 2014
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PHEW.

Posted in Living, Personal by

The sound you just heard from somewhere near Nashville is the exhale of someone who has been sprinting for two months straight, trying desperately to catch her breath. Let’s examine:

Previously, on ANG: That drive back north after the deer incident. That first drive to Nashville. Quitting my job and moving eight hours west. Ya know, I was prepared for all of that.

The last day at my job was July 29, and that evening I cleaned out my desk and drove on over to sleep on my friend’s couch for a few days before I could move in to my own place. August 1, I finally got the keys, and solo, I emptied carloads into my third-floor walkup. Obviously I was prepared for that too, since it was my choice to live on the third floor alone and all that. I did not really expect, though, that after living there for three days, someone would try to break in to the office (um, SCARY!) or that my internet/cable installation would be delayed by a week (and it’s actually been installed now for 9 days and I still don’t have cable), or that while my internet was down and I was away on vacation, that my blog would crash. (And that I’d have no idea until I got back from vacation, late at night, before the first day at the new job.)

While that was happening, a friend passed away pretty tragically (it’s always tragic though, I suppose) and the death of Robin Williams is effecting me deeply as well which makes me feel pretty stupid, but it is what it is.

So anyway. Things have been just CRAZY. But now that my blog is mostly restored, I’ll be pushing out the scheduled posts that were missed, and I can’t wait to start writing about my new life here in Nashville!

August 14, 2014
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