Jack of all trades

...but sadly, master of none. Believe it or not, that's exactly the phrase a college career counselor used to describe my aspirations when I refused to turn in a paper laying out, in detail, my career goals for the future. Although he meant it as a deterrent in a last-ditch effort to convince me to make a plan, he inadvertently inspired in me the drive to resist focusing my life, values and career in only one direction and continuously acquire radial knowledge in any area that piqued my interest. "Not bad!" I exclaimed, the excitement of a dawning realization still fresh in my voice, "I will be a jack of all trades - but I will master them all."

Seven years later, I may not be living the wildly adventurous life I'd imagined, but I am trying - really trying - to become a jack of, well... whatever I can get my hands on. I didn't realize it at the time, but my counselor was absolutely right. It's extremely difficult to try to master anything while focusing on nothing. Wizened by years of aimless flounder (inspired by my acute fear of stagnancy and what I like to call "Life ADD"), I've managed to acquire a piecemeal spattering of tidbittal factoids, skills, and learned behavior. Some of this has been quite useful, but I've admittedly become notorious for never finishing a lesson - never completing a project. And what's worse, I've been dragging my husband along for the ride since 2006!

From attempting to learn a foreign language, to concocting edible food, and even to renovating and decorating our home, nothing ever gets finished. Throughout this blog we will be documenting our self and home improvement attempts, including: tiling our bathroom floor; learning how to focus an expensive camera; wheeling and dealing with contracted professionals; creating a website; and understanding how cook something that doesn't come from a box. Often we will use other blogs and online resources as our inspiration for projects and ideas, and we will show how ours pan out compared to theirs. When you look at a project someone does online and ask yourself, "How hard can it be?" We will tell you - we will tell you from the unnaturally-talented, un-crafty, discomfort of our unfinished home. You will be privy to it all, my friends - successes and failures alike.

So that's why I've created this space. It's my - nay our - commitment and record of all that we start. And with any luck and a new-found sense of commitment, hopefully everything we finish.

v/r,
Katie