I’m Going to Florida (and You Can too.)

Admittedly, I don’t know if you can go to Florida, but you are 100% invited. Let me start with the link, and then I’ll follow with the story. I’ll be attending the 2019 Historic Homes Workshop in Brooksville, Florida (near Tampa), February 8-10. There is space still available.

I have been thinking a lot about what kind of work makes me happy. It is a true privilege to get to choose the type of work I want to do or to factor in happiness at all. That luxury is not lost on me.

The past 18 months or so, I’ve been throwing a whole lot of darts at the board in hopes that some of them would stick. Well, something interesting happened; I filled up the dartboard. While that sounds like good news, all of those figurative projectiles were somewhat unrelated, which means I’ve been doing a whole lot of hustling in too many different directions. Current self-help books (and Instagram) often equate the hustle with success. Me? Not so much. I’d rather hit a bullseye than fill a dartboard.

That brings me back to the work that fulfills me. As it relates to the blog and BHH, I am at my most content when I am serving others. I enjoy solving problems, troubleshooting solutions, and teaching an engaged audience. Advocating for the restoration of original features and encouraging people to look at old houses instead of new builds is important to me.

That might be why I love recording the podcast so much. Sure the learning curve for editing was brutal, but that’s in the past. The True Tales From Old Houses podcast gives me a platform to do most of my favorite tasks all at one time. I get out of bed excited about working on an episode, helping people, and talking about old houses. My friend Rebecca once jokingly described me as the “most extroverted person who ever extroverted,” and it’s true. No part of me is a #homebody. The podcast is a good fit. A giant party filled with owners of old homes would be even better. I’ll host.

Well, that’s weird, you say. If you like it so much, where are all the episodes?

You ask good questions.

The answer to the question that I totally pretended you asked me brings me back to that dartboard, and the Florida part is coming again around too. I promise. During the past couple of months, I have been streamlining the work I do, automating the boring stuff, and taking a hard look at what one person can honestly accomplish in one day. In other words, I’m throwing fewer darts. I have made room for the podcast.

During all of that time rearranging, one thing became clear. Without a full production team, the original format of the podcast needs to change, and it will. I’ll clarify all of that soon, but let me steer the conversation back to what has already been recorded.

Late last fall, I had an opportunity to interview Steve Quillian from Wood Window Makeover in Tampa, Florida. We connected sometime after I talked to Ty McBride in episode #2. Like Ty, Steve restores windows as a business, but his other passion is teaching people how to do this work via something he calls an Artisan Army. He is working tirelessly to promote the preservation trades, and one of the ways he is doing that is by hosting regular workshops in the Tampa area. These workshops are for everyone whether you have experience or not. The largest event he puts together is the Historic Homes Workshop, now in its tenth year.

The interview with Steve inspired me so much that before it was over, I was thinking to myself, There has to be a way for me to get to Florida for this workshop. And it’s happening. Pinch me.

I am editing Steve’s episode of the podcast right now. It will be available before I leave. During that episode, I will explain in-depth more about his mission and his work. Based on what I learn at the workshop, I’ll be sharing a start-to-finish window restoration here on the blog. I cannot wait.

In the meantime, I invite you to watch this short video about Steve and his mission. It gives me all the feelings about preservation and old windows. Let me know if it inspires you too.

If you are near Tampa, Florida or able to travel, please consider signing up for the workshop. Let’s meet and learn together. If that’s not in the cards for you, follow me on Instagram where I’ll be sharing the entire weekend in stories and on my feed. Steve has also invited me to work on the podcast while I am there, so I plan to have some bonus content to share when I get home.

Until then, there’s work to be done around here, and I need to figure out if I even own a pair of flip-flops anymore. Maybe? Probably not.

-Stacy

PS: I wanted to say a word about transcription. The comments about the need for the transcription of podcasts for the hearing impaired are important. I am currently pursuing ways to make it possible for True Tales From Old Houses. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.