I’m an Arkansas native who really doesn’t have much of an accent, but likes to pretend I do. Born in Little Rock, I grew up an Air Force brat, moved to Germany for a spell and then settled back down in Arkansas.
Years later, I married into the Air Force. My man took me on a tour of some other southern states for a few years, but we decided to make Arkansas home when he retired.
We both love Arkansas. It’s a beautiful state. It’s where we met. It’s home.
My family is a modern day Brady Bunch.
When my man and I met, I was a single mother of one and he was a single father of three. Now, after fifteen years of marriage, we’ve added four more children to our number and become convinced of the necessity of caffeine!
I would describe myself as a passionate person.
I am passionate about my Lord, my husband and my children.
Here are some randomly random things about me . . . .
I homeschool.
I’ve been known to eat chocolate chips straight out of the bag.
I’m slightly obsessed with running.
I listen to classical music.
I like beer. The dark kind.
I love the arts.
I devour good literature.
I’m afraid of the dark.
Which is why I love my night-light.
I’m a Reformed Baptist.
I heart old, B&W movies.
If Jack Bauer were to run for president, he would have my vote. Just sayin’.
My drug of choice is the Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks (Grande, please).
Show tunes make me happy.
I like to hide behind my Nikon.
I dearly love to laugh.
I’ve also been known to snort. Out loud. On occasion.
I’ve been blogging since early 2008. It’s like the chocolate to my peanut butter, the Grande to my Caramel Macchiato ~ it just fits and feels right.
I’ve always loved to write. When I was young I wrote short stories and poems and school reports and angst-ridden diary entries. As I grew older I wrote essays and articles. I freelanced for several magazines and newspapers and wrote two monthly columns when my children were young. One of these columns was about life on our small farm.
I homeschooled my children, worked our small farm, built my craft business and wrote on the side for many years. When my kids were teenagers, I started working full time at the local newspaper. By the time my kids were ready to enroll in the local community college, I was managing editor of a small agricultural publications group on the eastern plains of Colorado. That’s where I met my partner, Shawn. We merged households and found ourselves raising four teenagers together.
In 2002, Colorado experienced the worst drought in tree-ring history. Our farm on the high plains got 2 ¼ inches of rain that year. I experienced the great walls of dust storms that drove early pioneer women crazy. Like those women, I hung wet towels and blankets over my windows and doors to shut out the howling winds and airborne dirt. We had a community well on our farm and water rationing allowed us 8,000 gallons a month – nowhere near enough to keep 2 adults, 4 teens, 10 horses and more than 200 sheep and goats hydrated. We hauled water by truck from the next town over and started making plans to find a new home more suited to the farm life we loved.
We looked all over the US. Growing up as an Army brat, I had lived throughout the country. My dad’s home base was Redstone Arsenal, Alabama and I have a special fondness for the hills of Tennessee. West Virginia caught our attention and we also studied the coast of Oregon. We spent time in Hammond, Louisiana and Heber Springs, Utah. Sometime in there, I started blogging, not regularly, just writing a few things, every once in a while.
In 2005, Joe Jewel, an amazing musician, spent his summer playing hammered dulcimer in front of our booth at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. He told us of a magical land called Mountain View, Arkansas, where water falls out of the sky and wood grows on trees. He also talked about a great place for crafts people, the Ozark Folk Center. That year, we juried into the Bella Vista Craft Show in October and traveled to Arkansas to check it out. At the same time, wonderful lifetime friends of ours, Robin and Summer Woodsong, bought land in Fox, Arkansas, about an hour from Mountain View.
The Bella Vista craft show was wonderful. Dollar-wise, it was our second best show of the year. The people were very nice, both crafters and visitors. The staff was well-organized and helpful. It is one of our favorite craft shows.
Everything came together like some kind of divine plan. Robin and Summer helped us move our entire farm from Colorado to their land. We built barns and fences using the trees on the land. We lived in a camper and tents. The winter of 2006 was rough in Colorado and every trip back to the farm to pick up another load confirmed that we had made the right decision to move.
In 2007, I started working as a contract crafts person at the Ozark Folk Center. I demonstrated soap making, drove Rosie the mule, cooked in the Country Kitchen and helped in the gardens. I saw little things that could be done to help make life easier for the contract craft business people at the park and make the park a better experience for the visitors. In March of 2008 I accepted the position of Craft Director. After three years of commuting the very scenic hour from Fox to Mountain View, we bought our small farm just outside of Mountain View.
My days are full of weaving, spinning, sheep, goats and the delightful, creative people I work with. Countless stories weave their threads through the week. Almost every morning, I wake up with stories and ideas that I want to share with my friends and family. I usually write my blog posts about 5:30 a.m., before going out to do morning milking and feeding. I never have enough time to write all the ideas I’d love to share. I am blessed to have such a wonderful, full life and I hope some of my stories give you a smile.
Jeanette Larson is the craft director at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. She writes about Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns on her blog www.jenonthefarm.com.
I’m a writer. There, I said it. I have been a writer since the first grade, when I wrote my first memorable story, the one about the boy and the bubbles, the one that I illustrated when I still thought I could draw. I have spent years trying to find that story. I know I didn’t throw it away, but I can’t find it. My search for that story is very similar to my search for my writing self. I have written in journals off and on for years and have dabbled with being published in the traditional “write-submit-get published” manner. I had some success, but the path to traditional publication is a long, slow, lonely road.
I got married. My babies were born. We lost one precious family member, then another one. In the middle of all of that, I lost a critical part of myself—the writer part that is as critical to my survival as my heart, lungs, and kidneys. My dreams went dormant. I was caught in the whirlwind of life’s busyness, and I felt disoriented and alone.
Then my brother gave me a Christmas card in 2005. Inside were a URL, username, and password. My blog was born. In its infancy, it was little more than an outlet for funny stories about the kids and short posts about life’s boring details. Approximately 2.7 readers stayed with me during the early years.
My blog, like my children, has grown up. It has taken on a life of its own and has become the way my writing makes its way into the world, for now. Through my blog and social media interaction, I have found my voice, friends I never imagined I would “meet,” and my inner writer. Finally.
Jennifer blogs about faith, family, homeschooling, and having a child with special needs. She enjoys Bible study, reading, writing, spending time with family and friends, and taking field trips with her kids to bring learning to life. She plays Wii, likes pens with blue ink, and roots for the Arkansas Razorbacks (although she was raised a Longhorn).
Grab some sweet tea and dark chocolate, and join Jennifer as she navigates life:
Do you ever find that your kitchen, bathroom, or junk drawers are the cleanest when you’re under a deadline? Me, too. In fact, I just cleaned off my desk and filed a bunch of receipts in the short time between creating this page and crafting that first line. Deadlines are even harder to make when one has to write about one’s self. This particular deadline-a post about myself-is so difficult I’m contemplating cleaning out the refrigerator or alphabetizing soup cans in the pantry.
One would think that having blogged for six years that I’d have plenty to say about me.
I suppose I should start by introducing myself. Hi! I’m Gina, of Desperately Seeking {gina}. I’m a lover of books, pretty photos, owls, really-really good food, and a boy named Thom. By day I crunch numbers {I very much dislike the number five} and by night I stalk the cat and write home about what I had for dinner.
My little space on the web, Desperately Seeking {gina} was originally titled Desperately Seeking Thom. I was looking for someone from my past-someone I desperately wanted one last conversation with. I was seeking…closure. After six months of silence I came to realize that what I was searching for was completely wrong and I started seeking myself instead. And, I’ve been looking ever since. Funny how what “they” say is true: the moment you stop searching for whatever it is you’re longing for, is the moment it will find you. It turns out that Thom was searching for me as well and found me through my blog. It didn’t provide the closure I wanted. Instead, it was just the beginning of a love story that brought me to Arkansas. Weird, huh?
And so, my story continues. Every day a new page is written. Themes are planned out. Characters explored. Plots discovered, uncovered, rewritten, and sometimes wadded up and thrown away. As I discover who I am, who I want to be, and what I want to become, I document it for the world to read. I hope you’ll stop by.
It is quite possible that indeed we have sometime over twitter, facebook, meet-ups, tweet-ups, or the Arkansas Women Bloggers (ARWB) Unplugged conference last summer.
I fondly remember my first meet-up with Beth Stephens and together fervently declaring: “the ARWB website is a goldmine! It could be so much more!”
And more, it is. The goldmine of ARWB is the discovery journey. Simply because of the ARWB resource, I am enjoying getting to know… you.
When the ladies of ARWB approached me about writing a bio for the “Miss January” slot, I thought okay, no problem, I can do that. Then I thought about my ‘about’ page on my blog, nwafoodie, and pondered, well, what else is there to say that I haven’t already said?
Silly me.
We’re bloggers and we love to over-share.
For those of us who haven’t met yet, let me introduce myself…from my refrigerator’s perspective.
15 things my refrigerator reveals about me
1.I am an organizer and a planner. It is a powerful feeling to be one step ahead. Why not have a lemon sliced up and ready-to-go? Or, why not buy Parmesan cheese or nuts in bulk and store the excess?
2.I like adding that extra touch. Why store your cherries in a pre-packaged container? Why not wash them for easy snacking and store them in a beautiful colander?
3.I never stray far from the egg. Quite possibly the most perfect ingredient in the world (we can debate that later). Besides the practicality of the multitude of uses that an egg presents, eggs were the first cooking experiment I conquered as a wee child. Sick of waking up early in the morning to runny scrambled eggs, I quickly learned that if I took over the skillet, I could prepare it any way I would like. I introduce to you master omelet maker, circa age 5.
4.I like being prepared. It doesn’t cost anything to have (reusable) bottled waters waiting for when you need it. It makes me feel, well, pulled-together.
5.I love thinking of others. Me? Red wine drinker, all the way. However, I will always have a bottle of white wine chilled and waiting for my family and friends who don’t see red.
6.I believe that quality counts (sometimes quantity, too)! My husband and I love chicken tortilla soup. This time of the year it is a repeat visitor several times a week. There is nothing easier than SmartChicken™ chicken pieces slow-cooked during the day and then stripped and ready for several meals. It’s inexpensive and the flavor will blow you away. How easy is that?
7.I wasn’t born a chef. Eating out is one of the extreme joys of life. I relish in what a chef can do. If there are leftovers, score!
8.I like to splurge. Ingredients like horseradish and olives are everyday. But what about oil-brined olives from France? Or, plum sauce from the Asian supermarket, or Indian green-curry sauce? You may not use these everyday, but they are there, waiting. I know that I am just fingertips away from an amazing food event.
9.I am impressed when an ingredient serves double-duty. Remember that slow-cooker chicken? Guess what happens when you strip the meat off the bones? Put the bones back in the cooker and add water and make broth. Viola! Store them in reusable spaghetti sauce jars.
10.I know how to seduce with food. Our house is currently for sale. When a potential buyer is scheduled for a showing, I heat up apple cider vinegar to scent the air. As we head out the door, we have a tasty treat.
11.I am always on the lookout for the unexpected. See that Gerbers™ pear juice? It is not for a baby, it is for me. Besides its tastiness, it has health benefits (new-year/new-you tip, you’re welcome).
12. I love to make the ordinary less ordinary. Glass containers rock. You can take something ordinary that comes in a plastic shrink-wrap package and transform it. Each time I open my crisper, it is extra special to pull out a block of parmesan cheese or gruyere that is in a pretty container. It makes me feel like I’m on a Food Network television set. Like Giadia.
13.I am constantly on the search for long-term healthy improvements. Several months ago my doctor informed me that I had high levels of styrene (aka plastic) in my body. One of the first improvements was to replace the plastic produce bags with breathable and reusable vegetable bags for storage. Just like glass containers, each time I open my vegetable crisper, it is an extra special (and healthier) event.
14.There are essentials, as a foodie that I will always have on hand. Buttermilk? Check. Olive tapenade? Check. Capers? Check. Heavy cream? Check. Balsamic glaze? Check.
15.There are essentials, like everyone else that I will always have on hand. Mustard? Check. Mayo? Check. Lemon juice? Check. Simple syrup? Check. The moral of this point? Being a foodie does not mean snobby gourmand. It just means you have a love of all things food related: ingredients, gadgets, dinnerware, spices, restaurants, and an overwhelming urge to talk about it.
So there you have it.
I’m a foodie who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. It’s a gem of a place, overflowing with the proverbial milk-and-honey abundance that is begging me to share what I have learned. Pop on over and check out my blog, nwafoodie, and drop by.
My name is Stephanie Hamling. Originally from Wonderview, Arkansas, I now live in our state’s capitol, Little Rock. A freelance graphic artist, I also work as a social media liaison and webmaster for a local grocery market. My joys include gardening, cooking, photography, spending time with family, and blogging. Proactive Bridesmaid, my blog, started in 2005 as a way to keep my friends entertained and updated on my life. Like many bloggers, I had no thought that it would reach a wider audience. If I had, I might have chosen a more easily explained title.
Why Proactive Bridesmaid? When you come from a big Catholic family, two things that are a given — you are going to be attending a lot of weddings and a lot of funerals. When I started blogging, I was between my sixth and seventh times being a bridesmaid. I topped out at eight. Acting as a bridesmaid can be a good metaphor for life. Sometimes you do things you wouldn’t normally do for people you love, but sometime you have to speak up and let people know if you think they are making a bad decision. (Wood-grained satin and silver pantyhose, I’m looking at you.) And then you keep loving them and stand beside them, no matter what. So, that’s the why of Proactive Bridesmaid; stand up and speak up. Where better than a blog to do that?
On Proactive Bridesmaid’s Facebook page, I describe myself as “blogging about grace, grits, and everything in between.” I like to write about topics, usually everyday things, that inspire awe. I also like to write about cooking. The two collide more than you might imagine. I still feel a sense of wonder at kitchen alchemy and was blessed that many of my cooking skills and implements came steeped in family tradition. Dough that raises and egg whites that whip into snowy peaks still amaze me. Don’t even get me started on my Grandma Gangluff’s iron skillet. I’m a Southern girl through and though. When I was about thirteen, my daddy opened the car door for me and said, “I want you to know what it’s like to be treated like a lady, and, the first guy who doesn’t, I’ll kick his butt.” Moments like that shaped the way I ask to be treated in relationships. My parents also shaped the way I treat others. They expected more from me than they knew the rest of the world would, and I do my best to live up to that.
My blog has become my family anthology, photo journal, and go-to cookbook — a modern Book of Days. It’s a welcome mat to my life. Sometimes, it’s my therapy. My style has changed radically since that first post. That’s appropriate, because so have I. When I was in the midst of my honors college entrance interview at eighteen, the interviewer said, “You can write.” It took close to a decade for me to believe him. I finally realized that I didn’t have to write to change the world, I had to write to change me.
Are you interested in nominating a fellow blogger for Blogger of the Month? Contact julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with your nomination. Click here to read about past recipients of the Blogger of the Month honor.
