This List Should be Shrinking not Growing, Right?

I’ve been pitching for a bunch of different writing gigs lately and this morning THE ideal job posting came across the wires – a travel blog writer. For money. Holy crap! I don’t really have experience writing articles so much but I’m an expert reviewer. Not to mention an expert traveler by car as couples.

So that’s what I based my pitch on. Along with some creative and flowery adjectives describing my own backyard. Hey, travel starts in your own neighborhood right? Especially when you’re an “expat” like me – a Townie in a new land.

But anyway, while I was going back through my blog posts to see what articles I could share as samples of my style, I came across a post from April 16, 2011 titled Something to Do Before I Die. I re-read it and had to laugh. My bucket list that I wrote back then included a bunch of good stuff but the list itself has definitely grown since I wrote that post. But a few things got knocked off and they sure were fun!

Let’s break it down and see where I’m at as of September 2013…

The Bucket List – as originally published on 4/16/2011

• Be on the New York Times best sellers list, “The” list not one of those offshoots

Um, not quite there just yet. Don’t know how soon this one might get crossed off but I’ll keep giving that old college try!

• Travel to Spain, specifically Barcelona

We have some friends with a condo in Rocky Point, Mexico. Their place is right on the beach and only about a 3 or so hour drive from Phoenix. And they go almost every weekend in the summer and keep inviting us to go with them. Why am I telling you this on a point related to Spain? Well, we haven’t even gotten our passports updated to go 3 hours away by car with friends. So looks like Spain is on the back burner for a while, huh?

• Travel back to Amsterdam (with Matt this time)

See above…

• Travel back to Ireland

Someday…

• Travel to Hawaii

We actually have the opportunity to stay with my sister’s BFF and her husband who just recently moved to one of the Hawaiian islands to live permanently. No passport required? Free place to stay? Challenge accepted!

• Travel to Portugal

You know the answer by now.

• Live and make a living in San Diego

Not yet but this is definitely on both mine and Matt’s radar right now. We got home from our anniversary trip and actually seriously started talking about how we could make it happen to get a condo out there that we rent out until we’re ready to “retire” (I use quotes because I’ll be writing until my fingers fall off, the retiring part can be left to Matt).

• See the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway in a game 4 for the sweep and kick their sorry asses right back to the Bronx where they belong (if this season is any indication I’ve got a couple years before this occurs)

As predicted, not so much the past couple seasons. Although this one is looking pretty promising. But I can 100% guarantee I wouldn’t be able to catch the game even if it happened as I laid out here. Too much other travel this fall for weddings. We won’t be able to get back to Boston until next summer unfortunately.

• Settle for seeing the Sox beat the Yanks in any regular season game at Fenway

And because we can’t get back east until 2014 I’d settle for seeing it happen on TV.

• Sit beside my Aunt at the finals when the Bruins win the Cup for the first time in 38+ years (yes, I mean this year damn it!)

I did not get to sit next to Sue when they won the Cup but…

• Settle for seeing them win the cup at all (either in the stands or on my sofa next to my Aunt) and getting to go to the parade

GOAL ACHIEVED!!! (Pun intended). That was THE BEST WAY EVER to wrap up our Boston lives before moving to Arizona! The parade was insanely cool and something I’ll remember the rest of my life. And I’m so glad I got to share that day with Sue, Matt and my Uncle!

• Becoming a millionaire, not through inheritance or anything like that, my own blood, sweat & tears

Still working on this one…

• Graduate college

No longer caring to work on this one…

• Be in a big budget movie (I’ll even take a small part like “Friend’s neighbor” or something but it has to be a speaking role [one line will do] and I must be credited

Not yet but I’ll keep it in the back of my mind. I am so not attractive on camera and I really dislike my recorded voice, but maybe with the right lighting and direction, plus the fact I wouldn’t have to be the “star” would help me be better at those parts?

• Make my living as a published author (book tours, readings/signings, etc included)

I think I should’ve said published Writer, not Author, because that’s more in line with my real life goals. And I’m actually making major headway toward that now doing freelance and publishing books. I love my job!

• Get to see all 50 states & spend time in each of them seeing sights (20 down -- MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, RI, NY, NJ, PA, OH, MD, DE, NC, FL, TX, AZ, CA, DC, LA, GA -- of course the only time I really spent in Delaware was at rest stops but what else is there to see, really? I imagine we’ll knock at least 7 more off the list just driving out to our new home and probably another 5 within the first year we live out there. That only leaves 18 more!)

OK, I’m up to: MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, RI, NY, NJ, PA, OH, MD, DE, NC, SC, VA, FL, TX, AZ, CA, DC, LA, GA, TN, MS, OK, AR, NM

That’s 26 states and one Capital. Only 14 to go, mostly stuff in the middle and northwest.

• Drive a race car around a track at over 125 mph

Not yet!

• Go white water rafting again

Done it once so it isn’t as crucial I get back, just something I’d love to do with Matt.

• Get Matt to Disney World

This will happen for our 15 year anniversary. I’m making the declaration now.

Stuff that should’ve been included (some of which is already crossed off)

Catch a Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau

Get to a game at every NHL arena (2 down, only 28 to go!)

Become a season ticket holder of a professional US sport – Coyotes here we come!

Be in the studio audience at the Maury show when the DNA test results are revealed.

Meet Jason Mraz (preferably not as a fan-girl but maybe at a party or something)

Renovate a home (not in the ghetto) that we intend to live in – Currently in process!

Get a byline in a major market publication (I’ll take magazine or newspaper and online is ok)

Publish something that goes viral

Chase a tornado

Own a second home used only for vacations or rental income

Make enough as a Writer that Matt can quit working Corporate (if he wants to)

Learn to surf (even though I’m terrified of sharks I still can’t shake this one)

Get to Australia & New Zealand

I’m sure there’s more but I just can’t think of them off the top right now. Maybe I’ll have a lot to cross off and more to add in another 2-1/2 years. Until then, it looks like the top item on the list should be ‘Update passport’ huh?

What are your top 3 bucket list items?

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Content Marketing Strategist and Blogger for hire, Jenn has over 12 years of freelancing experience. Read her blog

Days Weeks Months, and the Years Go By

It’s difficult to know where to even start. I’ve been absent for days, weeks, (it feels like months) and so much has happened that it almost feels like too much time has transpired to report back on it. But I’m going to do my best because in the last few weeks life has thrown out a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to go along for the ride.

There have been some good times, some bummer times and some amazing moments that could never be fully captured in words no matter how good a writer I am. Sometimes you really just ‘had to be there’.

And if you were here for any of them I need to say a HUGE thank you!

June marked an entirely new chapter in my life and sharing it with (you know who you are) you was AH-mazing!

Let’s start with the ugly & work our way to the awesome shall we?

Abrupt Ending

By now anyone who’s even a moderate sports fan (or friends with me) knows that the Bruins lost in their quest for the Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a tough fought series and I think the B’s really held their own despite losing four games to two. And they lost on home ice. Which of course stings a little bit.

But as exciting as it was to watch my hometown team play some of their best hockey all the way up to game 6 (and as nice as it would’ve been to watch them lift the Cup) I have to admit that I’m secretly glad hockey is over for this season.

The temperatures were getting a little warm and with the shortened season I think this is the latest into the summer I’ve ever seen the boys in black and gold play. I mean, the season starts again in about two months. Plus watching upwards of four games a week was getting a little tough to manage. But I love hockey and especially hard-hitting hockey like the playoffs. But being in Phoenix means 115+ temps and now I just want to be in my pool for a couple months.

Speaking of hockey, some of the off-season changes have me reeling a little bit:

• Andy Ference, my second favorite player on the Bruins and my number one favorite environmental activist is being let go in favor of cheaper defensemen because of the lowered cap. This sucks in so many ways I can’t even begin to say how much it sucks. A Bruin and Boston community activist for seven years, Andy’s commitment to his team and teammates will be sorely missed next season.
• Nathan Horton didn’t entertain any offers from the Bruins before electing to go with his Free Agency status. Which basically just sucks because if ever there was a line that had chemistry it was the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line. We’ll see what this Friday brings during the free agency deadline.
• Pretty much every single core player with the exception of only a few will need surgery for something or other this off season. Bergeron played the last game with multiple issues (hole in lung, broken rib) and others like Horton, Seidenberg, Chara, all have injuries that probably had them playing at less than their optimal selves. I commend them for a job well done under the circumstances!

In hockey years I’d be about 172

In human years I just turned the big 4-0. Yup, I’ve actually entered the period of life where it’s all uphill from here. Yeah I know most people say downhill but that always felt wrong to me. I mean downhill is easier, you can toss her in neutral and just coast. Uphill seems like much more of a battle.

But I digress…

I made a promise to one of my very dear friends, Keith, that I’d write all about the party. Regardless of the fact that I’ve sat down to do just that a few days in a row now, I can’t seem to find any words to do that day any justice. I really think you just had to be here.

Perhaps when I’m looking back in a few years and thinking of the top five parties of my entire life I’ll have the distance from it to write it all out, but not right now. For now I’m going to leave you all with a word cloud that pretty much sums up the overall celebration that started with a big secret Matt concocted months ago, culminates with my crazy party on Saturday June 22, and ends the following weekend when my vacation ended and I finally was able to recover from the enormity of it all.

I love you all!

It’s Official…

I’m finally a paid Writer! I started pursuing my freelance career a few months ago with full force and since then I’ve had five articles published on Yahoo! Voices, three of which I’ve made money from and just last week I was offered a writing position as a blogger for a company that reports on socially responsible companies. Not sure when that starts but I can’t wait!

In the meantime I’m going to finish up my classes and books on how-to write various forms of content and just keep applying for writing gigs as well as submitting articles. My goal is to be self-sustaining from my writing in the next year and I can clearly see that path starting to materialize now.

Cha-ching

At the end of June we refinanced our home into a fifteen year mortgage, something we’ve both been looking forward to doing since we first got the place last year. With the increase in values in Phoenix (it’s a great time to own property here, things are climbing again, steadily but not out of control) we were able to cash-out refi and roll our car payment in plus take a little cash to make some improvements to the efficiency and functionality (plus the beautification) of our home.

In the next couple months we’re planning to replace all of our single-pane aluminum windows with Low-E double (or triple) pane, replace all the exterior doors to prevent gaps where ac sneaks out, spray additional insulation into the attic, replace the pressure valve for our house water, open up the wall from living room to kitchen for an open concept plan and remove the fireplace that takes over the living room, rip out the very poorly installed tile/carpet and put hardwood bamboo throughout, and complete a few other minor things that no one would notice but will make a huge overall impact on efficiency/uniformity (vent covers, doorknobs, etc.).

For the first time in our adult lives we made a good choice when it came to a housing purchase. But it wouldn’t matter if values tanked again tomorrow. We’re not going anywhere and now that we can start personalizing our place I’m even more excited to stay.

Overall June was a pretty kick-ass month around here full of old and new friends and family I wouldn’t have expected to see in my house anytime soon. It really seems like the last three weeks have been a constant party and cause to smile, laugh, and have fun.

And I don’t see any signs of that stopping anytime soon.

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Two U’s Two K’s Two Down Two to Go

Joel Quenneville, head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, said before Finals began between his team and the Boston Bruins that Tuukka Rask, our goaltender, isn’t all that good. And man, I bet he’s chewing on those words this morning. Our ‘not so great’ goalie and the Cup-caliber Boston Bruins team standing tall in front of him pulled off a win in regulation (the first in this series) and…

Wait for it…

A shutout.

That’s right Quenneville, Rask now has 3 shutouts under his playoff belt. How many does Corey Crawford have? Oh, just one? Aw, that’s cute. What’s that you say? Crawford has a 1.74 goals against average and a .936 save percentage?

Wow, that would be so impressive if Rask wasn’t sporting his 1.64 GAA and .946 SV%.

Okay, okay. To be fair it isn’t like Crawford’s numbers are awful or anything. And considering 2 out of the 3 games they’ve played have gone into overtime it is a pretty hard-fought series. With this matchup I would have expected no less than grinding games full of heart and spirit. Neither team has let me down.

The Bruins have lost one game so far in the Stanley Cup Finals. That night Rask played 112:05 minutes as opposed to the usual 60:00. Almost two full games in one night? Impressive all around.

But now with Marian Hossa, leading points man, on the questionable list for Chitown in game 4 and Kaspers Daugavins fitting in just fine on the B’s fourth line with Shawn Thornton and Rich Peverley, The Hawks will have their work cut out if they want to win. Especially with game 4 taking place in Boston.

Call your arena the Madhouse on Madison if you like. The Bruins have the Gahden. Simple and unfussy. Gritty and tough just like the fans, ready to cheer their heads off for their team when they retake the ice on Wednesday night.

And if playing hockey were anything like battling the Devil these guys sure got it fahkin right, kid.

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Steve Miller Really Knew What He Was Talking About

Time really does seem to be “ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future” at a pretty rapid clip these days. The past few weeks have been super busy learning all this new information on how to start and successfully run my freelance writing career, actually writing and applying to get some freelance writer gigs, chewing on my sequel in the subconscious (yes I’m still going to be writing fiction, no worries there!), and watching lots of exciting, long-winded playoff hockey.

I’ve barely had a minute to put together any kind of comprehendible thought that doesn’t involve SEO, keyword research, content marketing, some other industry specific term, or how many times in a day I can tweet with #BostonBruins.

So some of the stuff I’ve jotted down (because you know I carry a notebook and pen around with me everywhere) or uttered out loud has stuck with me the past couple weeks. In no particular order.

Refinancing your mortgage is kinda like losing your virginity

You wonder if it’s more than you can handle and you know it’ll hurt while it’s happening but it’s such an exciting prospect that you just can’t force yourself to stop moving forward. Especially because you know you’ll come out a different person on the other side. The pressure is off. Things can get back to normal. Maybe. I just hope at the end of it all I’m not left confused and bewildered, wondering if I made the right decision. And the bastard had better call me the next day. And if they can’t get it together to commit forever at least leave my big huge check on the nightstand and get the hell out.

There are at least 83 levels of awesome in “How I Met Your Mother”

Matt and I are TV bingers. When there’s a series that we have interest in watching but didn’t start from the start we add it to our Netflix instant queue and after the series is over we go back to watch all the episodes in one lump sum. Without commercials. “How I Met Your Mother” has been sitting in our queue for about four years and now that they’re coming back in the fall with the last season in the series it seemed like a good time to start watching from the start. I’d seen plenty of disjointed episodes over the years in syndication but something about knowing the full story is legen…wait for it…dary. “The Big Bang Theory” is up next.

Writing with keywords is a pain in the ass on a personal blog

No matter how much I want people to find and read this blog I just can’t make it keyword stuffy. It isn’t what this blog was originally set out to do and I don’t want it to become a chore or I’ll probably stop writing it. I write here to rant and rave and writing for content marketing doesn’t really fit in with that. At least not now. If I figure out how to do it maybe it’ll be so subtle no one will even notice. Until then I always have my website or Green Leaf Reviewer to jam pack with perfectly written keyword articles.

Hockey games should never be five hours long

Don’t get me wrong, I love that the Bruins are in the Stanley Cup Finals and I love that they’re playing the Chicago Blackhawks because having an Original Six matchup for the first time since 1979 is awesome. But there’s a reason I don’t watch much baseball. After the first four hours all I want to do is take a big old nap. So when the Bruins had to play a double overtime game to beat the Penguins and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals I figured that would be the longest game I’d ever seen. I figured wrong. After last night’s game 1 against the Hawks went into triple overtime and the game was within a minute or two of being the longest game ever in NHL history, I slept like a wee baby. All that screaming and excitement can really wear a person out. Please go back to your regularly scheduled two and a half hour running time. My east coast peeps shouldn’t have to be up until 1:00 AM watching these games. Unless the Bruins win of course. Then I don’t care if it takes seven hours. Carry on.

I love the smell of sweat in the morning

I started getting more serious about working out again in the past month or so and it’s all thanks to the stationary bike. That thing was the best $130 investment I’ve ever made. I ride at least five miles every morning, sometimes another five in the afternoon, and I’m already down about four pounds. It isn’t an extreme loss but if I can keep up the pace and intensity I should be up to twenty miles a day in the next few weeks and burning fat regularly. Exercise isn’t on my immediate radar so doing something quick like this really helps me stay motivated to keep doing it. The dancing thing happened a few times but I admit it pretty much fell by the wayside. Oh well.

Still wonky, still have sausage fingers

I found a naturopathic doc who seems pretty cool even though she’s very expensive and not really covered under my insurance. Of course she’s not. She gave me some plant based something-or-another to “completely stop” the wonkiness. It didn’t work. She goaled me to lose ten pounds in the next three months. I’m trying to do more than that. Not sure if I’ll go back or not. None of them seem to have a clue whether trained in east or west. Sometimes I think I’m better left to eating a more natural diet and exercising so I can just work this out on my own.

I’m wearing my hair up until it stops looking like Darth Vader’s helmet

You get what you pay for when you go to the cheapest possible place to get a trim. But really, she went a little too short and blunt this time. I asked her to do a small stack in the back so it would fall more naturally toward my neck instead of fluffing out like it does when it’s all one length. She said no and cut the way she wanted to. In turn I tipped her what I wanted to. Good thing it’s long enough for a ponytail and that I’m okay with my hair being up every day.

I need a new saying because “oh my god it’s a hundred out!” is actually low balling it

Mother fucker it’s blazing hot here. I mean I knew what I was getting into by moving to the desert but its only mid-June and we’ve already had twenty-four days at or above 100 this year according to the National Weather Service. With at least two more months of this on tap I’m just happy to have a pool and central air.

“No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air.”

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

The Boston Bruins are on a Roll but Not Out of the Woods Yet

You knew it was coming eventually. I held out as long as I could for all of you readers who have no interest in sports, hockey in particular. But after last night’s four hour long, double overtime, game three between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended in such dramatic fashion I’d be remiss if I didn’t write at least something.

Plus, this is the semi-finals and with the Stanley Cup Finals just mere games away for two lucky, hard-working teams it feels right to talk about the fact that the Bruins are up 3-0 on this last series before they could theoretically get to the big game for the second time in as many years.

But they aren’t there yet and as any professional sports player knows – it ain’t over ‘til the final goal horn sounds. Or something like that. So more now than ever is the time for the Bruins to bring their A++ game because the Penguins will not be put down without a fight.

And that fight will no doubt result in more bloody and bruised faces like this one:



Image Courtesy CBSBoston



So let’s just say I’m looking into where I can buy a broom but I’m not saying out loud just what can be done with one.

There are a few Bruins from last night’s game that I feel deserve a high five. Let’s start where no one else is and give a huge debt of gratitude to Jaromir Jagr.

Boston was iffy on Jagr becoming a Bruin and with good reason. In hockey years the guy is about a million and one. As my uncle said “he looks older with every shift out on the ice.” True dat.

But with age comes experience and as the (unquestionably biased) announcers happened to mention during last night’s game he’s been spending some time with David Krejci lately to help him improve his game. And centerman Krejci is leading the team in goals scored this post season with nine.

Which brings me to my other point about Jagr, can someone just give the poor guy a goal for goodness sake? He’s played all 15 post season games, has 7 assists, a +/- of +1, and 45 shots on goal (third after Tyler Seguin at 50 and Patrice Bergeron at 48) and the guy just cannot seem to put the puck in the back of the net.

Not to mention he’s working his old ass off every single night and last night was no exception. It was his play along the boards at the line that created the puck freeing to Brad Marchand who passed to Bergeron for the game winner.

Clearly Jagr’s the team muse because whatever he’s feeding Krejci and the rest of the guys is working.

But Jagr isn’t the only one who battled it out last night. You want to hear about some extreme toughness? Talk to Gregory Campbell who was out there during a Pens power play in the second period. He laid out to block a shot and ended up with a 100 mph slapshot to the leg resulting in a broken fibula.

Ouch.

But that’s not the tough part. The puck remained in the Boston zone so Campbell had no choice but to get up and play for almost a full minute on that broken leg until the puck was cleared down the ice. And what happened during that minute? The guy pushed his stick out to poke the puck away and broke up another play that could have resulted in a Pens goal. On a broken leg.

No pansy-ass players on this team.

Campbell is out for the remainder of the post season regardless of how long it goes but hopefully prognosis will be good for him to return next season all healed. He’s a key member of the roster and his presence on the ice will definitely be missed.

Everyone played a hard fought game, and I’ll even say that the Pens looked pretty good too for most of the contest but they were not getting more than the one goal through the brick wall in goal known as Tuukka Rask. He stopped 53 of 54 shots and in quite dramatic fashion at times. The man was a machine.

Overall the Boston Bruins exerted a solid effort that went until after midnight on the east coast and they left the Pittsburgh Penguins with quite a mountain to climb if they want to stay alive or take the series away from Boston. But coming back from being down three games is rare and I’m sure the spirits of the Pens were quite crushed at the end of the very long game.

And in hockey playoffs, because it’s the Cup, momentum and spirit can count for almost as much as effort when players take the ice. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Bruins can get it done on Friday night to advance into the Cup finals.

Oh, and as a side note…

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon