·

Trading Cash for Experience: Sugar Loaf, New York

Preface: I’m not a fan of money, spending money, or obtaining material possessions. In my life, I practice minimalism whenever possible.

My opinions about money & possessions are largely shaped by my financial history. Despite the facts that I am frugal & that money is not my favourite thing, there is one thing that I am willing to spend my money on and that is: experience.

I absolutely love to experience new places & things—exotic locations, adventures, art, culture, delicious foods: YES PLEASE! The reality about these things is that (in most cases) they cost money. But I’m okay with that. I’m happy to trade my hard-earned dollars for beautiful experiences.

This series—Trading Cash for Experience—features a few of the occasions where I decide to trade my $ for experience. Enjoy!

On Saturday, Matthew & I took an impromptu trip to the Sugar Loaf, New York Artisans Village. Sugar Loaf is a community of creative craftspeople and artists nestled under Sugar Loaf Mountain in picturesque Warwick Valley, New York. Sugar Loaf is surrounded by apple orchards and horse farms. It has been a crafts community for over 250 years. Today, Sugar Loaf remains true to its heritage as the year round home of over fifty independent business men and women. Many of these artisans live and work in the original barns and buildings which date back to the 1700’s.

When I was a girl, my family lived in the town next to Sugar Loaf village—Warwick, New York. To this day, visiting Sugar Loaf brings back warm memories like pumpkin picking, crafting, and hay rides through the village at Christmastime.

I’d been wanting to visit for awhile now and I was thrilled when Matthew agreed to be my date for the day. We arrived in the village in early afternoon and had a delightful time scouring the artisan shops. I haven’t written too much about it yet, but we have been renovating our home for the past two years. We are finally nearing the end of our renovations and decorating is constantly on my mind.

Sugar Loaf is the perfect place to find one-of-a-kind decor, trinkets, and specialty items. We explored all of the galleries, the magick shoppes, and so on. When our legs got tired we stopped for a break & some grub in one of my absolute favourite restaurants—The Barnsider Tavern.

The Barnsider Tavern
Eagerly awaiting my soup

I had the French onion soup which is absolutely the most delicious soup this side of heaven! It is spiced to perfection & loaded with savory onions & warm bits of bread. The whole thing is topped with a generous helping of delicious, melted cheese.

Heaven in a bowl!

After lunch we headed out for a bit more treasure hunting. We purchased two incredible-smelling candles—french vanilla & homemade sugar cookie; a bag of hazelnut vanilla wax bits for our burner; and a small glass jar full of sea-glass for my soon-to-be new office.

The house has smelled like the most incredible baked goods ever since and I haven’t even had to turn on the oven! 😉

Hope you all had a gorgeous weekend, my loves! Happy Monday.

xo,
Dena

you may also like

  • · · · · · ·

    The Journey

    by Mary Oliver

    One day you finally knew
    what you had to do, and began,
    though the voices around you
    kept shouting
    their bad advice–
    though the whole house
    began to tremble
    and you felt the old tug
    at your ankles.
    “Mend my life!”
    each voice cried.
    But you didn’t stop.
    You knew what you had to do,
    though the wind pried
    with its stiff fingers
    at the very foundations,
    though their melancholy
    was terrible.
    It was already late
    enough, and a wild night,
    and the road full of fallen
    branches and stones.
    But little by little,
    as you left their voices behind,
    the stars began to burn
    through the sheets of clouds,
    and there was a new voice
    which you slowly
    recognized as your own,
    that kept you company
    as you strode deeper and deeper
    into the world,
    determined to do
    the only thing you could do–
    determined to save
    the only life you could save.

    sunset, flower

    Dear Friends,

    Tonight I simply want to remind you that every journey starts with a single step.

    Love,
    Dena

  • · ·

    Is Your Resume a Hallmark Card?

    This is a guest post by David Pinkley, The Resume Sage.

    How do you describe yourself in your resume: team player?…quick learner?…detailed oriented? Do you really believe those self-proclaimed descriptions? Consider this: so does everyone else. That’s the problem. When it comes to describing ourselves we use the same words as everyone else. I know this because in 15 years working as a professional resume writer and executive recruiter I’ve seen nearly 40,000 resumes. Virtually all of them used works like: high energy, results oriented, uniquely qualified, detailed oriented, out-of-the-box thinker…and the list goes on. I call these Hallmark words.

    What is a Hallmark word? Example: You go to the store to buy a greeting card for your Sweetie whose birthday is approaching. You are overwhelmed because there are so many cards to choose from. You select your first one and it says something like: “May you experience all things bright and beautiful on your special day. Happy Birthday.” It’s a nice try but the message is contrived so we put the card back and pick another. The second one says: “Here’s a card just for you. You’ve always been tried and true. Happy Birthday.” Again, nice words but the message isn’t meaningful. (Who writes this stuff!?) You repeat this process numerous times until you find one with a message that resonates: “It just always felt right…and it always will. Happy Birthday.” Found it. You’re done.

    Hallmark words are words that look great on paper but don’t have any real meaning. It’s the same with resumes. Certain words look great on resumes but they are meaningless. If everyone says they’re a quick learner those words become diluted. (Whether it’s true or not is irrelevant.) Using Hallmark words on your resume will make it seem just as contrived as most greeting cards. The reader (i.e. hiring manager) won’t believe your message and will continue reading other resumes in search of one that resonates.

    The reality is we really don’t know how to describe ourselves. So we borrow words from other resumes and convince ourselves that these words really describe us. We don’t realize they have no meaning. Great resumes find authentic ways to communicate familiar themes. How do you do that?

    If you are really honest with yourself – you probably don’t know what you really do anyway. The only way to discover exactly what makes you unique is to look closely at your job. This takes introspection and self examination; a process most people dread because it seems like hard work – hence why most resumes are homogeneous. This is difficult to do for yourself. Self examination is much easier if you do it with someone else. But that’s another post.

    Blow the dust off your resume and take a look at the words you’ve used to describe yourself. Are they Hallmark words? If they are, you need to recognize that you are not saying anything unique. And no matter how true they are, they are not as meaningful or impactful as you think.

    Have questions? Contact David Pinkley at (704) 358-6000 or david@theresumesage.com. To learn more visit: www.TheResumeSage.com

    David Pinkley is the founder of The Resume Sage, a custom resume writing service. The Resume Sage critiques and writes resumes for accomplished professionals and executives. Those who work with The Resume Sage are purposeful about navigating their careers. They need more than just strong writing skills; they are seeking insights about how to differentiate themselves from their peers/competitors.

    David is a sought-after public speaker and has been featured on local news and NBC’s national news. He earned a B.S. degree from the University of Michigan and started his career in Chicago as a CPA at Ernst & Young and at Bank of America. He has lived and worked as an executive recruiter for 15 years in Charlotte, Raleigh, New York and Hong Kong.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *