Hailey Hudson's Blog, page 2

Blogmas 2024 Day 25 (Christmas!)

Merry Christmas!! We had fun opening presents in the living room this morning. I always record on my blog what I gave and what I received to and from immediate family members so that I can remember in future years. So, here’s the breakdown for 2024!

In my stocking, I received:

Cat toys (including a sand piper that moves on its own)Chronic illness awareness stickersA notepad designed by Katie Daisy (one of my favorite artists)Washi tape

For gifts, I received:

The Good Gift of Weakness: God’s Strength Made Perfect in the Story of Redemption, Eric M. SchumacherI Didn’t Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt, Madeleine DoreA Wish in the Dark, Christina SoontornvatStateless, Elizabeth WeinThe Story Girl, Lucy Maud MontgomeryA ton of new tubie pads (with designs including cats, zebras, botanical prints, and ocean-themed prints)These small flower dangle earrings with gemstone petalsMore stationery items: three washi tapes, two little paper packs, one sticker pack, AND a bunch of custom miniature books with covers of books I loveThis shadow curio box for antique trinkets(And money)

I gave:

Mom–a custom embroidery kit of Sophie (joint gift with my dad); sweaters for Sophie to wear on walks in the winter (we have yet to see if Sophie will actually, um, wear these)Dad–Tennessee magnets and post-it notes; a weekly postcard for each week of the upcoming year with an encouraging note (I haven’t actually finished these yet, but the first batch is forthcoming)Joshua–a dice game to play on the disc golf course; Oreo socksGrandma Hudson–two Audible booksGrandpa–a hummingbird collage

Grandpa’s hummingbird collage is the handmade gift I’d been working on the last couple of weekends. I really like how it came out! Here’s what I wrote on social media about it, plus some progress photos:

We Are Here, mixed media collage on canvas for my biology professor grandpa’s Christmas gift, December 2024. I thrifted a copy of Silent Spring and used the pages as the background (ask him about his trip to Rachel Carson’s house — he’s a big fan!). The bird I chose to make is a ruby-throated hummingbird because every year during migration season, Grandpa used to have thousands of hummingbirds pass through his hummingbird feeder (in Mississippi). And the hummingbird is created with teardrop shapes because many species of hummingbirds are endangered.

My cousin Stephen came to eat lunch with us and hang out and visit in the afternoon. I was feeling pretty terrible by the afternoon, and pretty much just laid on the couch for a few hours.

Later tonight I managed to take a shower, go feed my cats, and take a shower, which collectively perked me up some once I got through them all (briefly, until I got super sleepy again and now I’m just making stupid jokes about the dog show). Overall, it was a great Christmas day–and now Blogmas 2024 is over. (Mom: “You should pick another month out of the year to write daily blog posts” Me, before the sentence was fully out of her mouth: “NO.”) Thanks for spending this month with me and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! As usual, I’ll be back next week with a comprehensive breakdown of all the books I read in 2024!

post-Christmas feels

Today I’m grateful for: Chocolate pie.

Check out Blogmas Day 25 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 24 (Christmas Eve service)

When I woke up this afternoon, I started packing: This week I’ll be spending the next few nights at my parents’ house, and then the weekend in Tennessee visiting my other grandpa. The boys “helped” by knocking stuff off the counter, rolling around in the straps of my CPAP case (which they’re inexplicably obsessed with), and generally making themselves a nuisance.

Joshua picked me up and we met the rest of the family at my parents’ church for their 4:00 Christmas Eve service. It was a nice, music-heavy service that presented the entire gospel in a way that was beautiful in its simplicity.

Thank God we have entered the 21st century and no longer have candles with real flames

At home, we had Krystal for dinner, which is our usual Christmas Eve tradition (not my personal favorite, but food traditions don’t really apply to me that much anymore anyway, so).

Tonight, we’ve watched Elf and now The Christmas Story. I’m very sleepy and have mostly been lying on the couch with my eyes closed listening to my grandpa laugh at the movies and my dad and brother quote them. But those are the best parts, anyway (although the quoting is getting a little much… ).

Today I’m grateful for: Unexpectedly seeing old friends at the service.

Check out Blogmas Day 24 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 23

Unfortunately, I had to work today. I usually take two weeks off at Christmas at each year. But I have a lot of work right now (which is a good thing!). And I’ve taken a lot of time off already this year–heck, I took off the entire month of April. So I worked today rather than killing myself trying to finish up last week, and then I’ll be working probably three-ish days next week. Today I was finishing up the podcast blog post for the employee benefits software.

This evening I filled out some reference forms for a friend who’s applying to missions internships; crashed on the couch because I just feel like complete crap; did a few little final Christmas things; and showered/changed my central line dressing. I also went down a rabbit hole trying to find a weekly/daily planner I like, because apparently the 2024 Madison Park planner that I bought at Barnes & Noble in summer 2023 and absolutely LOVE was a unicorn that seems like it never existed at all. I think I’m going to get a Papier one, but it’s still not 100% what I want. I need to look in person but I’ve waited so late.

Today I’m grateful for: An Amazon gift card from a client.

Check out Blogmas Day 23 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 22 (Shadow Nativity)

Today at church was our kids’ Shadow Nativity play that the kids have been working on for months. We’ve never done anything of this scale (small church things) and a lot of people worked very hard on it. When I arrived this morning, I helped with costume and props prep as well as getting footage of everything that was happening.

I had not yet actually seen a full run-through of the play. I figured it would be good. But I was truly, seriously blown away. It was just a ten-minute show with no dialogue except for narration, but it was incredibly powerful and moving in telling the entire gospel story (not stopping with just Jesus’ birth), and the kids all did an amazing job!! It was so, so well-done.

You can watch a recording of the full performance on our church’s YouTube channel, and I highly recommend that you do. Also, you can see one final short, fun, behind-the-scenes video that I made from today on our church Facebook or Instagram.

After the kids’ play, Russell also preached a short message and we took communion. The service was packed. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many people at church on a single Sunday–we had to add more rows of chairs!! It was so exciting!

I stayed late afterward to help gather and put away all of the costumes and props. When I finally left, I went to my parents’ house because Grandpa came into town yesterday! I hung out and visited with everyone for a while, and then fell asleep on the couch.

Eventually I roused myself enough to come home and sleep for real, in my cozy, quiet bed with my kitties (except then I slept from something like 5:30-10, whoops). I woke up just as exhausted, but laid in bed with my phone working on church social media stuff for the rest of the night.

we are going to miss each other so much this week

Today I’m grateful for: That I can finally transfer all of the promo videos/photos about the kids’ musical from the past two months to Google Drive so I can DELETE THEM OFF OF MY PHONE and free up some storage… lol.

Check out Blogmas Day 22 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 21 (Christmas lights)

I was out of one of my sleep meds last night, had a crappy night of sleep, and felt like death today. But my big goal was to finish making the homemade Christmas gift that I was working on last weekend. And I did! I’m so excited about it and wish I could share all about the process, but I’m pretty sure the recipient reads my blog every day, so I’ll have to wait to talk about the gift until Christmas Day. For now, I’ll just say that I listened to The Nutcracker 2.5 times through and did a lot of gluing my fingers together.

Ramble looking disgruntled that I wouldn’t let him onto the part of the counter where I was working

Tonight, my dad and I went out to drive around for a couple of hours and look at Christmas lights. It was an enjoyable evening.

When I got home I pushed myself to do the dishes, wrap a few presents, and wash my hair before collapsing in bed.

Today I’m grateful for: A fun, unexpected Christmas gift in the mail from Emma.

Check out Blogmas Day 21 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 20 (engagement?!)

This afternoon I worked on the podcast-turned-blog piece for the employee benefits software. I’m doing two of those pieces for them this month, so I started the second one, too.

I was casually scrolling through the transcript of the second podcast as I thought about how I was going to structure the article, when one line suddenly jumped out at me: “In the age of the death of the transferable skill, what’s transferable is your ability to tell your story.” THAT!!! That, that, that! To everyone who is fearmongering about freelance writing (or any type of writing or marketing) no longer being a viable career path–read that line and read it again. I know the most recent wave of Q4 layoffs, in particular, have everyone spooked, and I really feel for my connections at places like Pillar4, Dotdash, Conde Nast, Vox, and Hearst who have been affected. The Google algorithm changes this year have certainly hit websites and companies in this industry (and also have a lot of companies confused about what to do with their content, but that’s a conversation for another day). But I’ve been saying it for a long time and I’ll say it again: At the end of the day, what will keep your career afloat is not your ability to pound out an SEO-optimized product roundup that any writer worth their salt can do given a couple of hours with a Google Doc and an Internet search, but your ability to tell a story. The way forward is in thought leadership articles, in journalistic features, in anything and everything that is more narrative-driven–in taking words and making people feel with them. Story is such a big part of what makes us human. And it’s not just about telling stories in general, but also about figuring your personal USP and how to tell yours. Anyway, this turned into a whole thing, but basically I loved that line from the podcast and I absolutely agree. It’s an encouraging thought to take into 2025 with us.

Later this afternoon, I got ready to go out to a coffee shop to hear several of my friends play.

Yes, I wanted to hear everyone’s music… but I also really wanted to see Ari, because she got ENGAGED this week and I needed to hear all about it in person! Several months ago, I remember sitting in this same coffee shop, looking at engagement rings on Pinterest… and now here we are. He did good And now it’s time to plan a wedding!!

It was fun to be out doing something festive on a Friday night (although it was FREEZING cold and windy).

Big believer that matcha is a year-round drink–shown here, mint matcha with cranberry cold foam

When I got home, I FaceTimed Michelle to open the Christmas presents she’d sent me–she was really inside my brain with these. And now I’m going to bed to continue my reread of The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse.

Today I’m grateful for: Rest.

Check out Blogmas Day 20 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 19 (voice lessons)

I managed to get a little bit of sleepy work done today before I had my Zoom voice lesson at 2:00 (my last voice lesson of the year). We worked hard: first on Times Are Hard For Dreamers from Amelie (which is hard on your voice technically), and then on learning the melody to The Beauty Is from The Light in the Piazza (which is hard on your brain musically). But I felt very accomplished at the end!

Ramble not knowing or caring that I needed to get up

Next I headed to my music studio for my songwriting lesson (did I practice or prepare at all for either one of these lessons over the past week, no I did not… whoops). We talked about secondary dominant chords. I was feeling really out of it, though; not so much physically, but my brain just not functioning at all? I went straight home because I honestly didn’t know if I was about to have a migraine or a seizure or what. I ended up spending the rest of the evening pretty much just lying on my couch. At one point I fell asleep while sitting upright, holding Ramble. So… nothing exciting happening tonight around here.

Today I’m grateful for: The flock of birds I saw flying around the sunset while driving home.

Check out Blogmas Day 19 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 18 (Christmas tree farm)

This morning I got up early (early for me) and drove to a neighboring town to meet Andrea and Charlotte at a Christmas tree farm. Over the years, Andrea and I have had an on-and-off tradition of going to a Christmas tree farm together–and this year, we decided it was time for Charlotte (who is almost two!) to join in the tradition!

We went to a different place than usual because it was more convenient for today. However, it ended up basically just being a horse barn that happened to have a field with some Christmas trees. There was no one working there so early in the day and most of the trees had already been cut. But Charlotte cared more about the horses, anyway, so it all worked out. We walked around for a while and then just sat and hung out, watched cars drive by on the road, and exchanged Christmas gifts. It was a nice morning!

Once home, I sat on my balcony for a while (it was 70 degrees and sunny for much of today) to do some emails and edits. Weirdly, later in the afternoon it started storming–but by then I needed to go in and take a nap, anyway.

After sleeping for a few hours, this evening I did an SEO draft on resource management tools.

Today I’m grateful for: Exciting news from a friend!!

Check out Blogmas Day 18 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 17

Last night I finished reading The Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy. Of course it was brilliant and incredible and made me sob, because that’s what Kate O’Shaughnessy books do.

I slept until well into the afternoon today, but was still very drowsy all day. I couldn’t stop yawning and my brain was not functioning very well. But I managed to write an article about a recent mental health conference, sharing takeaways from six attendees whom I interviewed via email. I’ve enjoyed getting to know these six impressive young people this fall. (Side note: Isn’t it funny how a certain word count can feel sooo long and take forever to hit when you’re writing something like an SEO buying guide… but when you’re writing a more narrative-driven, feature article–something from an interview–it flies by and you find yourself having to cut a ton from the first draft?)

This evening I sent some emails trying to find sources for early January articles, edited another church social media video, washed my hair, and changed my sheets. And searched the house for Rocco’s current favorite soccer ball before we could go to bed. (He carries it from room to room in his mouth–while simultaneously yelling around it–sets it down, kicks it around for a few minutes, and then picks it up and takes it to another room to repeat. All at 2 AM. It’s great.)

Subscribe to the Tuesday Letters!

Today I’m grateful for: That I didn’t have a migraine today.

Check out Blogmas Day 17 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2024 Day 16

I got a slow start today doing the weekly prep things I normally do on Sunday evenings, like planning out my work week. Then I eventually tried to marshal my sleepy brain into doing some actual work. I poked around with the piece I started Friday–the podcast-into-a-blog for the employee benefits software company. I asked for extensions to the 31st on some other pieces that were due this week, so I’m no longer stressed about work this month… buuut, now I’m also no longer particularly motivated to hurry up and be efficient with work.

I was really missing Windy today/tonight. I don’t know why (maybe because my friend posted that her dog died?). I watched some videos of her and cried, and read this blog post for the first time since I wrote it and it made me fully sob. I felt sad and depressed thinking about her all evening. As much as I love my new cats, they aren’t her. And for some reason, tonight I just really missed her so much.

I wrote some cards tonight and also made a junk journal spread.

Practically vintage stickers from The Paper Studio circa 2008, courtesy of me being an anxious child who always wanted to “save” stationery items for something better and couldn’t bear to use them or throw them away… lol, glad I’ve gotten over that (at least, I think I have, anyway)

Overall, today I just felt kind of blue emotionally, and it made me not want to do much of anything.

Today I’m grateful for: Laughing hysterically watching Rocco and Ramble discover cat TV (via YouTube on my phone) for the first time tonight.

Check out Blogmas Day 16 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. What did you do today?