News Archives - Audrey JoAnn | Content and Copy Writer

NOVEMBER 2

November 2, 2016

This month is so special to me–it’s a month of thankfulness and seasons changing, leaves falling, and of course, it’s my birthday month, which makes it extra special. This day is special, too. Last year on November 2, I launched this blog that’s been sorely neglected for the last few months. But, looking at my Timehop app this morning and seeing my promotion for my new blog from this day last year, I remembered all my excitement and nerves and vision for this website, which I started as an encompassment of all things I love and am inspired by, a place to be creative and write about topics that fascinate and compel me to do and be better.

As I’ve talked about on here, over the last year, I’ve gotten caught up in the comparison game and in life itself, letting non-priorities get in the way of my original idea behind starting Freckles and Figs. Between leaving my job and home in Dallas and moving to Nashville, into a home with John and our dog, Piper, I’ve allowed myself to get distracted. But I see distraction as a good thing, sometimes. In this case, I believe it has been. A break from creating–writing, blogging, planning–has allowed me to study something I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time.

With my schedule, I get much more free time than I’ve had at previous jobs. I nanny Monday through Friday for a family who has the sweetest little nine-month-old, which means, at his age and stage, he’s taking a couple naps a day. During his naps, I’m usually doing one of three things: working out, working on my freelance writing/copyediting, or reading. Reading! I love to read, and I forgot all about it.

I used to hate getting home from a long day at work and cracking open a book, because at that point, I felt emotionally and mentally exhausted, completely drained. Back then (meaning: a few months ago), all I wanted after work was some wine, all of the chips and salsa, and some Bravo shows. (Hint: I now know if you feel that way after work every day, you might just be in the wrong job. Hindsight, y’all.)

Vance Joy, Elle King, + Jamie Lawson in Dallas on Friday (Win Tickets!)

March 9, 2016

Some of my very favorite memories in life are the simplest moments.

I look so fondly back on times when I get to curl up in bed reading a good book with dim candle- and lamp-light illuminating my bedroom in golden flickers, soft music playing through speakers in the background. I cherish also the quiet road trips I’ve taken with my sweet man, Piper curled up in the backseat, through Texas Hill Country with the sun dropping toward the horizon and tunes crooning through the radio.

Others are the times — rare, but precious — when John unhitches his guitar from its wall mount to surprise me with a rendition of one of my favorite songs that he’s taught himself to strum.

Not to get too mushy (or is it too late?), but when he played Vance Joy’s “Mess is Mine,” I literally cried. OK, maybe I didn’t bawl, but I did well up. Instances when my heart is so touched that tears come to my eyes are few and far between. But seeing the man I love playing the melody to a song that I feel so adequately sums up me and him brought me such indescribable joy, really, that all I could do was cry.

Music plays such a deep and visceral part in my most adored memories, and I think that’s true for everyone. A song can put you right back in a place you were at years ago, can’t it? Live music especially brings lasting memories with those you enjoy it with, and that’s why I’m so enthralled to be able to give away the gift of an amazing concert here in Dallas on Friday.

Vance Joy is headlining, preceded by Elle King and Jamie Lawson. Vance, obviously, holds a dear spot in my heart, and I know and enjoy some of Elle’s mainstream songs. Jamie, though, I didn’t know until I YouTubed some of his songs yesterday. His voice, as expected as an opener for Vance Joy, is heavenly. All of their sounds are, to me, magical and uplifting, and I’m excited to bring someone the experience of seeing them live!

Here are the details to win TWO tickets to the show:

Follow ME (@frecklesandfigs) on Instagram.
Like my post on Instagram of the photo above (posted this morning).
Tag 3 friends who live in the Dallas area who love live music (especially Vance, Elle, or Jamie)!
BONUS! Repost my photo on Instagram for TWO additional entries!

Contest closes Thursday at midnight; winner will be announced first thing Friday morning.

The concert is Friday night, March 11, at 8 p.m. at the Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie. Thank you to AEG Live SW for sponsoring this giveaway!

My Eight Favorite Podcasts

March 8, 2016

My job right now is heavy in the spreadsheet, data, and analytics realms. It’s a lot of Excel, and a lot of boring on some days (we won’t tell my boss). While I’m staring at columns and rows for hours on end, I need something to occupy my mind. If I don’t, I would actually go a little mental. I don’t think I’m exaggerating. It would be scary. When you’re doing work that needs to be done but doesn’t take many brain cells, I feel like your brain could easily turn to mush after several months.

So a few months in to my job, I started listening to podcasts while working on my less intense projects. I had thought podcasts were dorky and assumed they would be just as boring as many days at my nine-to-five, but I was 100-percent wrong. And now I’m an admitted podcast junkie. I live for the days when I know I have mostly menial tasks on my to-do list and a few new episodes of my favorite ‘casts to catch up on. (Obviously, if I have more important responsibilities that require more concentration, I won’t tune in to a podcast, and I love those times too! (Must clarify in case my boss actually does read this. Hi, Tim.) But for the most part, I love me a good podcast binge.)

I have a really strange range of what I enjoy, but I guess that’s just my personality. I listen to some of my favorite reality stars’ podcasts, and I also like journalistic storytelling podcasts. It’s bizarre, but fun and always entertaining. Let’s unravel some of my favorites! Trust me, with this odds-and-ends mix, there’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy. And while I mostly listen to my podcasts at work, they’re also great to occupy time during long drives and commutes or a long cardio workout!

Bitch Bible: Jackie Schimmel is maybe the funniest person I’ve ever encountered. She doesn’t care about being politically correct, she doesn’t care about cursing, she doesn’t care about telling it how it is, and, probably most importantly, she’s as self-deprecating as she is a shit-talker on everyone else in pop culture. If you can’t make fun of yourself, you have no right to call others out, but this girl can do both with ease. And I’m too often crying/snorting at my desk trying not to burst out in laughter. It’s a real good time.

Millennial: Anyone who’s in the young adult, post-grad stage, especially creatives, will relate to this podcast. Megan Tan just graduated college and doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do. How familiar does that sound? Except, instead of floundering on her own between career paths and being fulfilled, she’s welcomed the world to go through her roller coaster ride-experiences with her, one by one. She explores the imperfections of millennialness (new word?) in an openly and honest way, and also self-deprecatingly (a theme I’m seeing I enjoy in my podcast listening ventures).

Straight Up With Stassi: I love me a Vanderpump Rules marathon, and Stassi has always been my favorite. She’s blunt, she’s blonde, she’s (to some people) a b*tch, and she’s my spirit animal (pretty sure). And she loves a good glass of pinot grigio — SAME. Even if you don’t watch the show, trust me that you’ll love listening to this witty and sassy chick gossip with her equally funny friends about pop culture, The Bachelor, life, and most importantly, her fellow cast-mates.

StartUp: A podcast about a guy who wants to start a media company for podcasts, this is probably the dorkiest on my list. BUT IT’S SO GOOD. Alex Blumberg, the host, immediately becomes your best friend as he goes through the motions — the insecurities, the successes, the sadnesses, the unexpected triumphs — of starting a business from nothing. He brings his family along for the ride, including the voice of reason that is his wife (and also one of my favorite people on the podcast). Step by step, you’ll hear the trials and victories that take place from an entrepreneur’s point of view when you start something from nada. It’s good. (So is the second season, FYI.)

This Is Why You’re Single: I’m not single, but it doesn’t matter. These two ladies, Laura Lane and Angela Spera, are so funny that you can be single, married, relationship-ed, divorced, whatever. You’ll crack up regardless. Sure, the outline of the show goes through reasons why someone may be single (“i.e., “First Dates Are Awkward” or “You Need A Good Wingman”), but their guests and their overall approach to relationships and life are hysterical. Plus, you know when you can just tell that two people have good chemistry? These two have it. They bounce off each other’s ideas and jokes so well that I’m — again — trying to hold back my laughter at the office. It’s real awkward, but real fun.

Who? Weekly: If you enjoy reading Jezebel, you know Bobby Finger. He’s one of the voices behind this podcast (along with Lindsey Weber) who discusses the “whos” in our society: people who are somehow in the public eye for no knowable or specific reason. Or for reasons that are kind of pointless. They’re the people on the verge of celebrity-dom who we can all acknowledge are a little thirsty, and Bobby and Lindsey dissect the situation of each Who to a hilarious T.

Heather Dubrow’s World: I’m embarrassed by my Bravo TV infatuation, but it’s real and I’m embracing it. For those who don’t know and don’t watch Bravo every day, Heather is one of the Real Housewives of Orange County and she is a bougie delight. People either love or hate her (I love her; my sister hates her) because she’s openly opinionated and has loads of money and doesn’t really give many flying Fs. I just love to listen to her talk about what it could possibly be like to build a eight-bedroom home. She also gives beauty and health tips that are nice.

Serial (Season One ONLY!): Serial is the podcast that turned me on to podcasts, but I need to be clear: Season One is where it’s at. I’ve tried giving the second season a shot, but I can’t get in to it. I loved the twists and turns of a convicted murderer that may not actually be guilty from the first season (true story, by the way, in case you haven’t heard about it). And Season Two has some of that suspense, but it’s entirely different for me. Start with the first, and if you love it (you will), don’t bother with the second.

Please Stop Telling Women To Smile

December 16, 2015

The other morning, I was walking the three blocks from where I park in downtown Dallas to my office when a man walking toward me on the sidewalk shouted,”Try a smile,” at me. I hadn’t even noticed him until he commanded this facial expression from me, and after a quick glance to find I was the only person in his vicinity, in automatic response, I gave him a tight-lipped grin that couldn’t have looked at all like a happy smile.

“There you go,” he told me encouragingly, returning a wide beam, and I walked on past him without a word, mad at myself for acknowledging this stranger’s bossiness with even a half-smile. Why is it that I need to be smiling as I walk my daily five-minute stroll to the office building? Why would anyone feel the need to tell me to do so as I mind my own business during my usual route to work?

The sage 14-year-old actress Rowan Blanchard is just as aggravated with strangers telling her to smile more, except instead of approaching her on the street, they’re commenting en masse on her Instagram page. “If I want to smile I will,” she Tweeted on Nov. 29. “Nothing more than that.”

But there is more than that. People inherently think women are sad or upset or, as Blanchard explained in another Tweet, depressed if they aren’t smiling in every picture or as they walk in public, which is plain ignorant and frankly stupid. People assuming automatically that non-smiling women are depressed is a serious thing, because depression is serious and should not be tossed around just because someone’s face doesn’t look like what society defines as joy.

Not smiling can mean someone is being thoughtful, creative, meditational, pensive, inspired, artful, tired, or a million other things that aren’t feelings of depression or being upset, whereas people who do decide to be open about depression are oftentimes told they’re being overreactive (another point made by Blanchard). Smiling, or not smiling, is an individual choice, just like any other action and reaction — so why do some people insist on demanding it so casually and so often, specifically from women?

Historically, women have been made to be creatures who please others, and while a facial expression seems like not a big deal in relation to other gender issues, it is. Human emotion is a right to be expressed individually whenever a person feels like expressing it — it is not something to be dictated by another person who would feel a little better if I slapped on a happier face because he asked me to do so. So, please, don’t tell me to smile. I will when I feel like it. And if I look depressed or have “resting bitch face,” I don’t really care if that hurts your feelings.

Bye, Felicia.

Poncho: Old Navy (Sold out: similar here and here) // Jeans: Target // Booties: Dolce by Mojo Moxy via Francesca’s // Sunglasses: Target // Necklace: Tribe Alive (Old, but all their jewelry is stunning and hand-crafted, and supports an amazing cause.) // Lipstick: L’Oreal “Divine Wine”

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