I am passionate about helping geospatial professionals build a life and career that they love. I love doing that through my one-on-one coaching and through Mappy Hours! I write about things in my life because I want to help you think about crafting an entire life that you love, not just the work part!

A year ago I did a month in review post and I thought it was fantastic. Then in September of 2020, we realized that the housing market would allow us to move closer to my husband’s job and live in the community that he serves, which threw things into a tail-spin and I chose that doing these monthly reviews didn’t matter to me in that season. But at least this month it matters to me.

Here are a few things from the month of August that I’m deeply thankful for:

• Disconnecting: For the month of August I stayed (mostly) off of social media except on Fridays. It was good. It gave me space to think and read and grow. Not fully sure what this looks like moving forward.
• Sewing! I grew up sewing but I have not sewed any clothing in a number of years. I had a piece of map fabric with animals on it and I realized it would be perfect for my Society of Conservation GIS Presenation with Eva Reid. So I made an awesom shirt. It wasn’t perfect and it took some trial and error– but we got it!

• Celebrating! One of my life mottos is to “celebrate with gusto.” My birthday was at the end of July and so at the start of August I had a ladies tea party. It was a joy to make delicious foods, drink tea, and spend time (outside) with friends. Hosting is something that I value deeply, but have done very little of since March of 2020.

• 30 Day Community Map Challenge: I have started working on the 30 Day Community Map Challenge! Which is going to be a spin on the traditional November Challenge. The challenge is almost complete, but as we wait you can sign up here to get updates!
• Hiking! At the end of July I realized that I could hike before work. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t realize it before. But in August we went on a number of before work hikes. Due to heat, storms, and then a sholder injury I didn’t hit my milage goal for the month. But I’m just really happy that we started getting outside.

• My office: We moved in December of 2020 and getting my office set has been quite the challenge. I wanted to use as much of what I could that we already had. I’ve made a few things for the office and purchased some more. But the majority of the setup are things that I already had. The office is about 95% done. The big oustanding task is that we need to hang the Lego World Map. (affilate link) The wall we had intended to hang it on has thinner drywall and so is going to require a different solution. My dad is going to help us hang it on labor day.

• Great Conversations: Over the course of the month I have had some really great conversations with members of the geospatial community. I’ve felt seen, encouraged, and supported. I am thankful. It has taken a lot of time to build an awesome community of professionals and this month I’ve just felt so supported. I’m also really thankful for our time each Wednesady on Clubhouse. Find out morea about the Geospatial Connections Club.

• Email: I got my email inbox back to where I want it to be. I spent about an hour putting on email filters and unsubscribing to email lists. I did that early in the month and then later in the month I circled back and made sure everything was working as it should be. I did this across three email accounts– my personal gmail, Tabulae Spatial, and then my 9-5 job.

• SCGIS– I was able to present at the Society for Conservation GIS in early August. They had a stellar online platform and I got a lot of energy through the presenation. My friend Tim Nolan even did a sketch notes of my talk! I am thankful that Eva Reid reached out and asked me to present with her!

What are some things you are grateful for this month?