Category Archives: My life

Mother’s Day

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Remember Mother’s Day? I think it was over a week ago. My family got together and honored my mom by doing the three things she loves best: eating, drinking unnecessarily sweet wine and being outside.

My sister’s husband Mark made all of the food (except the dessert, which was my sister’s contribution). It was delicious and fancy and included ingredients like fontina and proscuitto.

I hope all you moms out there enjoyed your day, especially all of my friends who have become new moms in the past few months -  you’re amazing! (But your birthing stories still scare me.)

90 years ago…

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Will’s grandma was born. That was, like, in 1922. So, wow.

Last weekend, we went to her 90th birthday celebration, and that woman is sharp as a tack! Are we sure she’s not lying about her age??? I hope to be half as with-it when I’m 40. (Yes, that’s 10 years from now but I’ve done a decent amount of drinking and sustained a few concussions in my day…)

Lately

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Lately, my life has involved a lot of work – in the office and at home. That’s right, I’m bringin’ home the bacon! (Well, a portion of the bacon. Will also does his fair share of bacon bringin’.)

But I’m still finding time to enjoy the little things. Like pretty city fog, coffee shop breaks, a shawirma sandwich, new arm candy and playing in the rain. (Like my impression of the Morton Salt girl?)

I also stopped to see Marilyn before they dismantled her yesterday, and over the weekend, Gatsy got tortured a bath.

My to-do list is still long, but you better believe “relaxing” is on it. I always make time for “me time,” and now you know my secret to being a sane person.

Speaking of “me time”… got any book recommendations? I have a trip to Italy on the horizon and a new Kindle on its way to me in the mail – what should I load it up with??

All by myself

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Yesterday, Joanna posted on Cup of Jo about what it’s like to live alone.

Been there. Done that. Loved it. (Talking to yourself is underrated.)

But what about going to a Broadway (aka, “Broadway in Chicago”) musical alone? Would you do it? Should I do it?

The thing is, I really want to see the musical Jersey Boys. I’ve been wanting to see it for four years now. Four years!

And guess what? It’s playing in Chicago right now. But Will won’t see it with me because he’s just not that secure in his manhood (that’s my theory). And all of my friends and family have either already seen it or managed to create some really good excuse why they can’t go.

But I reeeeeaaaallllly want to seeeeee it! And I’m not above whining about it.

So… should I go by myself? Would that be weird? I’ve been to a movie by myself, and it was surprisingly un-weird.

But will I get sympathetic looks from people who think my date stood me up? Or that I’m some sort of Jersey Boys obsessed fangirl who goes to every show by myself and tacks the playbills up on my bedroom wall so I can stare at them as I fall asleep at night?

This is for real – I’m seriously considering going to a musical alone. What do you think I should do? Please advise.

Also, if I know you and haven’t asked you to see this show with me yet, and you want to go – let me know!

(source)

How was my weekend?

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I’m so glad you asked!

It just so happens that I managed to capture all of the highlights on my new favorite toy – Instagram!

We had an excellent dinner at Balena. (Here’s a tip if you ever plan on going there – they have a whole section of the restaurant reserved for walk-ins, so most of the time you don’t need a reservation. We got there a little after 7 pm for dinner and were seated right away!)

I painted my nails (Essie’s Geranium).

We got all gussied up for a super fun wedding (shoes from Zara).

We celebrated Karen’s birthday with a slightly alarming mini pyrotechnic device.

And we happily abused the photo booth.

Sunday was fully devoted to recovery, rehydration and Mad Men watching.

And how was your weekend? (This is not a rhetorical question – I really want to know! I care about you.)

Stay tuned

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So now that I’ve started on new freelance projects and have a new job with new hours, it’s taking me awhile to get adjusted to all of this newness. Sadly, this might mean that my blog gets a bit neglected until I can figure out where posting fits into my schedule. I’m still going to try to post every day, but I can’t promise that will always happen.

Please – stop crying. Your raw emotion is flattering but entirely unnecessary. It’s not that bad. Like I always say: “newness” is just “awesomeness” without the a, w, s, o, m and e. And with an extra n.

Clever right?

To appease all of you loyal readers clamoring for more tidbits of my life (as usual, I think that statement mainly applies to my mother), here are two Instagram photos I took on my way home from work yesterday. It’s not much, but I just wanted to let you know I didn’t forget about you.

Instagram insanity

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Thank you, Instagram, for finally realizing that Android users like to take hipster-y photos too!

I just downloaded the Instagram app yesterday and kind of went nuts with it during a girls’ night out with some of my college friends. We were celebrating Sarah and Jeannine’s 30th birthdays, an occasion that obviously called for tapas and sangria at Cafe Iberico immediately followed by Photo Hunt at Clark Street Ale House.

Nights like these are my favorite.

Follow me on Instagram @carliecrash!

Will write and/or edit for money

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Ch-ch-ch-changes!

That’s how I like to sum up my career right now.

For a long time, I’ve been thinking that I’d like to eventually transition to freelance copywriting and publishing work so I can have a more flexible schedule, occasionally work from home and take on a wider variety of projects.

Last week, the stars aligned and the opportunity to shift my career in this direction practically fell into my lap!

This is code speak for I got laid off, along with most of my co-workers. But no worries, we knew for several months that it was probably going to happen. It was no surprise. Such is life in advertising!

While I will miss some aspects of agency life and all of the fun, creative people I worked with, I’m so ready to dive head-first into freelancing.

On Monday, I start a contract copywriting job at another agency that will last for a couple months. But in addition to that, I’m also taking on freelance copywriting, editing and publishing projects. And I’ll just see where it all goes from there!

So all of this is leading up to the fact that this post is just one big shameless plug.

Have an article or website that needs some editing attention? Some manuscript that needs to be processed? Some copy that annoyingly will not write itself?

If so, I’m your girl!

I’m available for copywriting, editing and any developmental publishing/content development work. I’m working on creating a website portfolio of sorts, but until that’s up, check me out on LinkedIn.

So hire me! You won’t regret it. I’ve been told by several clients that I’m the most creative, talented and driven person they’ve ever worked with.*

*They never actually said that. But I could totally tell they were thinking it.

Hit me up at carbirwin@gmail.com.

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Baby party

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Last weekend, my friend Liz and I hosted a baby party for our friends Serena and Ben who are expecting a little boy in May.

And I’m not calling it a “shower” on purpose. The party was co-ed, involved beer and catering from Chipotle and there were absolutely NO annoying shower games. So it was pretty much just a party! (At least that’s what I had to tell Will to get him to come. And I don’t think he regrets it.)

There were several details that were especially awesome about this party. The red velvet cake was from Magnolia Bakery (of NYC fame) and was delicious! Serena’s mom sent over fun Good News! candy bars from Hawaii (where Serena is from), and the beer was lovingly brewed by Ben and Serena themselves.

As you can see, a good time was had by all, and we can’t wait to welcome a cute baby boy into the world next month!

Sidenote: This week has been crazy busy, so please excuse my lack of posts and also the fact that I wrote this one in about five minutes…