Tag Archives: Austin

HAIKU AUSTIN: The Book

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Hello there!

I’m excited to announce a new venture of mine, grounded in two of my passions: poetry and photography. It’s Haiku Austin — a poetic, pictorial ode to all things ATX — and it’ll be published in late April/early May.

Having recently been “made redundant” at work, I’m happy to take this opportunity to dive into this passion project head first. In a few days, i’m launching a Kickstarter to pay for the printing costs. I hope you’ll check it out and consider backing it. In the meantime, if you like what you see here (you don’t have to be an Austinite to appreciate cool pics & fun poems, after all) then go to the site and get yourself on the email list.

I’m sending out fresh little haiku every now and then, along with updates on the Kickstarter and the book’s printing. Feel free to follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and  Twitter, too. The more the merrier!

I’ll still keep writing my Well-Versed Mom blog, as inspiration strikes.

Go ahead, check out Haiku Austin, and (as always) thank you for your encouragement and support.

-Carlotta

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A Limerick A Day – Day 27/28 – Is Spring Awesome? It’s Snot.

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©2013 CEStankiewicz all rights reserved

Spring in the Texas Hill Country brings balmy weather and bluebonnets, bleary eyes and beet-red noses. It’s allergy time, after all, thanks to the lovely trees and flowers that grace our landscape and produce pollen by the pound. It’s really a shame, because the weather’s just so wonderful right now — but if you’re an allergy sufferer in Austin, it’s anything but enjoyable.

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Wendi Aarons is not allergic to cats.

Wendi Aarons is not allergic to cats.

 

This month’s second guest post/collaboration comes courtesy of the lovely, talented and sniffly Wendi Aarons. She’s a friend, a fellow blogger, a Mouthy Housewife and co-producer of Listen To Your Mother Austin.

Like me, Wendi is an allergy sufferer and none too happy about it. Below you’ll find her latest complaint in verse. (Here’s the NSFW version.)

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There’s a tiny tickle in my nose;
Of allergies I’m in the throes.
Cedar and oak?
Hardly a joke,
When you’re sneezing from head to toes.

So hit me up with nasal spray,
Pills and shots — even Ben-Gay.
I long to breathe
And feel at ease;
It’s a-pollen to live this way.

©2013 Wendi Aarons

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Allergies suck; I’m one who knows
how noses flow and suffer woes.
Like you, I take issue
with needing a tissue
so often — this season just blows.
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©2013 Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz

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A Limerick A Day – Day 18 – Jumping For JOMO

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©2013 CESTankiewicz all rights reserved.

I live in Austin, Texas, which is a very cool town 50 weeks of the year — and even cooler, some might argue, for the two weeks in mid-March when South By Southwest (SXSW) occurs. During this time, all sorts of interesting folks come out of the woodwork and into town to partake of all the latest from the interactive, music, film and comedy worlds.

SXSW always falls on our school district’s Spring Break, and for the past two years my daughters and I have left town during it. As an advertising/marketing professional and a music and film lover, it’s not an easy thing to do. This year, I was acutely aware of everything I was missing — what with my Twitter, Instagram and now Vine feeds just hoppin’ with the sights and sounds of SouthBy.

I’ll admit that I had brief flashes of the modern problem known as FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, when I happened to see a Vine of a band performance I’d have loved to attend or Instagrams from my company’s SXSW party. And while heading out of town meant that I didn’t get to go to any free day parties or have any celebrity sightings or see the cool poster art at Flatstock, I’m happy to report there were plenty of things I did experience — including, but not limited to:

  • my girls and I singing along to The B-52s, Feist, Simon & Garfunkel, the soundtrack from “Wicked,” and other random CDs as we drove and drove and drove and drove across Texas
  • a particularly gorgeous sunset over the dunes of White Sands National Monument
  • not worrying about all the sand in the car because it was a rental
  • the most amazing chile relleno I’ve ever tasted
  • an unbelievably brilliant blue New Mexico sky
  • snow!
  • incredibly delicious mussels and french fries in Denver
  • spotting pelicans and golden eagles at Cherry Creek State Park
  • scoring some major buys for my girls and me at a fabulous thrift store in Aurora, Colorado
  • vandalizing a work of art in Amarillo, Texas
  • sighting bison and riding horses in Caprock Canyons State Park

So, in other words, I didn’t miss out on anything at all.

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Jumping for JOMO

Our “Fear Of Missing Out” keeps us stressed
While “You Only Live Once” is professed.
Between FOMO and YOLO,
Foregoing’s a no-no —
‘Til with “Joy Of Missing Out” we are blessed.

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©2013 Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz

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