Introducing...

www.MilesOfAbbie.com!  I've been working over the past few days to get it ready, and here it is!  I'll be changing the name of this blog it will mainly be my random thoughts (unless I decide to be done with my blogspot days).  My new blog is more professional and much fancier!  Check it out, put it in your reader feed, and let me know what you think!

I also need ideas for a new title for this blog, so leave some suggestions!

sunrise from an airplane

Photo Credit - Abbie Mood

Exciting Changes!

I am sooo excited to pre-announce that I'm launching my new blog on Monday! It's pretty much done, just some minor tweaking and then posting the launch post. I decided to go with godaddy.com to host my new WordPress blog, and I couldn't be happier! The tough part was working through the code stuff, but I've already transferred my blogspot stuff over, so it's thisclose to going live :) I'm going to rename this blogspot blog and keep it as a personal blog for my random thoughts, and the new blog will be for my more "professional" writing... travel, volunteer, community, recaps (race, rock climbing, traveling, etc).

Apparently I'm Kreativ!

Not only have I decided to own the title of "freelance writer" but within weeks, I have had the Kreativ Blogger Award bestowed upon me by nancy.the.gnomette, one of my new MatadorU buds. Thank you so much Nancy! Turns out not only is Nancy *not* a gnomette, but she is pretty much the opposite at 5'11". (Don't feel bad Nancy, I'm 5'10" :) ) Definitely check out her blog - it's quickly become a fave of mine!

7 Random Facts about me:

1. I hail from the tiny town of Smyrna, Delaware.
2. I still remember the name of the kid who knocked over my block castle in preschool (I won't put him on blast here, but let's just say his initials are A.K.)
3. In college, I considered changing my major from education to architecture. ha!
4. My stance on alcohol is that if you are going to consume all of those calories, you might as well get wasted.
5. My boyfriend & I adopted our dog Daisy from a rescue in Texas, and she came to us on her first and only plane ride.
6. I have completed 3 marathons, 3 half marathons, and 3 sprint triathlons.
7. After assessing just how much purple stuff I have, I realized the other day that my favorite color is, in fact, purple.

Now I get to pass the award to 3 other amazing bloggers:

1. miss.adventure - My new writing buddy and another Matador U friend, Carina recently launched this site to blog about her travel adventures!

2. SoCal Runner girl turned Portland runner girl - Jessica used to live in sunny OC and has since moved to rainy Portland, but still blogs about her running successes and those times that aren't so successful! Hopefully she'll be back to Southern California soon, we miss her!

3. Dirtbag Writer - Amiee has been blogging about her switch from a "normal" job to a freelance writer, and everything that goes along with it - an interesting one to follow for budding freelance writers such as myself :)

Just another day... a MatadorU assignment

This is posted for MatadorU, a travel writing program that I am taking part of. The assigment was to write a brief story that mixes the current day, written in present tense, and a day or event that happened in your life.

6 a.m. already? As if the alarm wasn’t enough, Daisy made sure that I knew it was time to wake up with her perfectly timed tongue assaults. Every time I would start to nod off again, she’d be there to lick my face, reminding me to get up. Mumbling to myself about how much I hate getting up in the dark, I stumble into the kitchen only to be blinded by the fluorescent lights. Two bowls of cereal later, I’m putting on my makeup, getting dressed, and getting out the door.

I have quite a bit of time to think during my 30 minute drive to work, usually zoning out and then all of a sudden, I’m turning left and into my elementary school parking lot. I teach preschool Special Ed., so my day wouldn’t be complete without something totally random happening. Today Robert threw up and when we called his mom she asked if she needed to come pick him up. Your son is puking all over the nurse’s office, so yes, Robert’s mom, you do need to come pick him up. Thank you.

After school, I went next door to talk to Alexa, another preschool teacher, and found out that not only is she moving and having a yard sale, but has a brand new Belgian waffle maker and a very nice strainer that are looking for a new home. Coincidentally, Eric and I could really use a nice strainer, and who can say no to a Belgian waffle maker? This conversation occurred just days after I bought pumpkin pancake and waffle mix from Trader Joe’s. It was obviously meant to be.

Since money is tight this month, the dogs are only going to be able to go to doggie day care once a week, which means I’m going to have to step up my dog owner responsibilities and take them for more walks, starting today! The dogs are psyched to be going for a walk, so we got out the door in record time.

We take the usual route down Broadway and stop at the first intersection. The dogs sit and I have them wait. On command, we jog across the road and when I go to switch their black leashes into my other hand, I accidentally drop Sadie’s leash. She turns her jog into a sprint and takes off down the sidewalk. I start chasing her while screaming her name and that’s when the flashback happens. Four years ago we moved to California with a dog named Chilli. We were at the beach, she was off leash playing with our friends’ dog, got scared, and took off. I chased her down the sidewalk, and she just kept running and running. Chilli ran into an intersection and got hit by a car. She didn’t make it, despite getting her to an emergency vet within 10 minutes. I was devastated to say the least, and it was potentially about to happen again.

Every part of me wanted to keep chasing Sadie until I caught her, but my mind told me to do what I have read in every dog training book ever – stop chasing her. So I stopped and squatted down. The second I stopped, she stopped and turned around to look at me. I called her name and after a slight pause Sadie came trotting back to me. I shakily told her “good girl” and from that moment on held both leashes with a white knuckle grip. After I regained my composure, I called Eric. “We need to get Sadie a different colored leash”.

1 in 1,000

I heard about JACK fm's Fourth Show on the radio a couple weeks ago, and thought it sounded awesome - Foreigner, Joan Jett, the B-52s, George Clinton, Eddie Money, Ratt, and Missing Persons. Unfortunately, concert tickets are not currently in "the budget", so it was a no go. Then I heard about them giving away tickets every hour on the radio, and the number was 1-800-931-JACK, but my phone doesn't have the telephone keypad, it has the QWERTY keypad, so I didn't know what numbers JACK was. Then I heard on the radio that they were giving away tickets to the first 1,000 cars to drive through the Honda Center on Oct. 4 (today) at noon . Lucky for me, the Honda Center is a 5 minute drive, so I went over around 10:15 a.m. and by 11 a.m. I had my tickets in hand! Thanks JACK :)

I'm a freelance writer!

That's right folks, it's official. I published my first post with Planet Eye Traveler this afternoon and I'm psyched to be their local expert for Orange County! You can read the post here, and find other city guides as well.

I was also featured in a Matador Network article today by Julie Schwietert Collazo for being one of a few Matador U students who have landed a writing gig. You can read that one here.

Things with my writing are just happening and it's an amazing. I rewrote my goals about a month ago, and my 5 year goal was to get a part-time writing job for an online magazine, which I obviously got, so now I need to rewrite those goals. Just goes to show you should always shoot a little higher than you think you can go!