You’ve been reading her posts for a few weeks now, but you haven’t actually officially been introduced.   Let’s remedy that.  Here is a little more about Erin Lang-Norris who is pitching in here on studio ‘g’ to write about our favorite garden makeovers. I loved her post this morning about the shared side yard space with the green chairs…wouldn’t that be a great cost savings as well as fun social space? Makes me wish I had close neighbors…- Rochelle

I try not to take life too seriously and you can usually find me settling debates and things I don’t want to do with a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors. I’ve only lost a couple times so it’s pretty frequent that I use it to my advantage.

When I’m not trying to get out of cleaning the litter box or calling in the order for take-out, I like to create mixed-media art (you can check out my etsy site, yellowcanoe), listen to music, stalk design and psychology blogs, go canoe-camping down the Wisconsin River, watch hockey, shop at thrift stores and write. I went to Harrington College of Design for a brief stint before moving away from Chicago, and after moving I was still convinced that I was supposed to be a designer. That lasted for about 9 years, and more recently I’ve become interested in the idea of going to school for something in the psychology field. But until the stars align, I’ll continue to work at a canoe and kayak shop, sell my art and write.

Of course, lately I’ve  started to feel that my life was lacking direction and reason, and while I do enjoy the stress-free lifestyle of not having a real “career”, it does start to get a bit dull after awhile. One of my dreams since I was a kid was to be a firefighter, so last spring I finally mustered up the courage to join my local Volunteer Fire Department. Going to that first meeting was pretty nerve wracking, but I’m so glad I did. I’ve met some really great people and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie and I enjoy physical labor, so I think it’s a good fit. Next on my life-goals list is to join a women’s hockey team…we’ll see how it goes.