Now that we’ve moved and my life has changed in fundamental ways, I can’t help but see that there is beauty in stepping off the treadmill of city life and professional expectations and reevaluating what success means to me.
Category Archive: Personal
Surprisingly Interesting in 2020 📒
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. When I was home with my parents for Christmas, an idea started to percolate. Over the last year, my mom’s health prevented her from checking email regularly and she wasn’t able to keep up with my...
Ready for Rain Year in Review 🗓
Ready for Rain at one year. A review of the events in 2019, as shared in the newsletter.
Gettin’ Hygge With Indoor Living 🌧🔥🍷
The Danish people, among the happiest in the world, have a term for the feeling of indoor coziness in the winter: Hygge. We are trying our best to create that feeling here on Orcas Island.
A Return to Herb’s 🚢🎒🚢
Sometimes the reality of living on an island taking ferries becomes very real. This is one of those times.
Making Media for Ready for Rain Newsletter 📹 📄
Ready for Rain is, in part, a media experiment. I love making media and use the newsletter as an opportunity to create videos, gifs, and more. This is a look at my tools and processes.
Everything is Temporary in the Guesthouse 🏡
Moving to a small guesthouse took some getting-used-to. But over time it became home and we learned a number of ways to adjust.
Seafaring with Our Boat, “Short Story” 🌊🛥
Our lives changed for the better when we bought a used Boston Whaler that allowed us to explore the Salish Sea and San Juan Islands.
The Grinch on the Hill 😡👉
You might assume that living on an island creates a sense of community and that’s true for most people. We found one that wasn’t feeling it.
Good Lives Make Bad Stories 🎧🗣
A couple pretending to have fun at a silent disco made me question what I share online and how to make it more authentic.
Sharing a Brain 🧠
Any big project comes down to relationships. This is especially true for couples who are working together on their own house project. It helps if you share a brain.
Getting the Construction Project Started ✅
In the summer of 2019, the biggest project of our lives commenced. We had everything in place to build a custom home on Orcas Island.
Phase Change ➡️
Change has a way of forcing you to reevaluate your life. Leaving Seattle and moving to an island offered me a chance to think about how I could change.
Some People are Born to Move Houses 🏡 📦
Moving is a chore for most people. But there are people like Sachi for whom it is a challenge that comes with great satisfaction. This is why.
Goodbye, Seattle 👋
We made a big decision to sell our home, leave Seattle, and move to a rural island off the coast of Washington. This is what we were thinking.
Finishing the Hunter House 🏠
After a year of renovation, the Hunter House finally became more real and we became more and more excited to see, and live in, the final product.
Living the Half-Life 🏠 🚙 🏡
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. There is something undeniably romantic about having a second place and that romanticism is not lost on us. We dreamt about having a place on Orcas Island and in purchasing the Yurt, we got to see it...
The Inspiration for the Name “Ready for Rain” 🌤🌧
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. Ready for Rain is the title of a popular essay I wrote a few years back (included below). To me, the name relates to the season changes of the Pacific Northwest and a perspective Sachi and I share....
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night 🪓🌧
On a cold and stormy Sunday night, a truck backed up to our house at around midnight. This is the story of what happened next and what it taught us about living on an island.
The Hunter House Renovation Project in Seattle 👷♂️👷♀️
Renovating the Hunter House in Seattle, a whole-house renovation project in that involved adding a story on the top level and rebuilding most of the main level.