My mentor insisted I charge at least $75 for a corrective color, and that first client who agreed changed my whole pricing structure.

I was scared to quote that high in my home salon, but she booked the appointment anyway and tipped me $20, so has anyone else had a mentor give advice that felt risky but paid off?

My 4 year old niece asked why my sourdough starter is a pet

I was feeding my starter, Frank, and she saw me. She said, 'You feed it, you keep it warm, you talk to it... that's a pet.' I laughed, but then I thought about it. I do treat that jar of goo like a living thing. It made me realize how much we get attached to our bakes, even the weird ones. Anyone else have a starter with a name and a backstory?

Thinking about that vinyl fence I put up in Cedar Rapids three years ago...

Everyone says vinyl is the best for low upkeep, but I'm starting to think it was a bad call. Last month, a big storm came through and a whole section of that fence just... popped out. The posts were set in concrete, but the whole thing flexed so much it pulled right up. I had to go back and basically redo the whole line. Last week, I saw the same thing happen to a neighbor's new vinyl fence after some high winds. It just feels too light, like it doesn't have the weight to hold its ground. I know wood needs more care, but a good pressure-treated pine post set deep feels solid, you know? It has some heft to it. Maybe for a small yard it's fine, but out here where the weather gets rough, I'm not sold anymore. Has anyone else had vinyl fences fail on them like that?

DAE still use paper for daily logs or have you fully switched to an app?

I kept a paper logbook for my crew on a Denver site until last fall, when a rainstorm soaked it and I lost a full day's notes. Now I use a daily log app that syncs to the cloud instantly. Do you think the old paper method still has any real use on site, or is digital just better now?

Tried a weird brush setting in Procreate and got a cool texture

I was messing with the 'wet acrylic' brush and turned the grain scale down to 10%. It made this awesome, gritty paper-like texture I've never seen before. Anyone know other brush tweaks for unexpected results?

I was about to show my portfolio at a gallery opening when my tablet crashed...

My Cintiq 22 froze on the main piece right as the curator walked over, so I had to quickly pull up the backup files on my phone and talk through the sketches instead, which actually led to a better conversation about my process.

The crawl space in that old house on Elm Street was a total nightmare

Last week I had to run wire through a space that was maybe 18 inches high and full of cobwebs and old pipes. The homeowner swore it was 'easy access' but I was on my stomach for two hours. Anyone have a go-to method for tight spaces that doesn't wreck your back?

Heard a guy at the record store say 'everyone knows the first album, but the second one is the ghost' and it made me dig out my copy of 'The Great Escape' by Blur.

After listening again, I think that 1995 album gets completely overshadowed by 'Parklife', even though the song 'The Universal' is maybe their best track, so what's another 'ghost' second album from a band that hit big?

My old sewing machine finally gave out last week... the motor just quit halfway through a skirt project.

Can we talk about adding a single accent color?

My portfolio site looked flat for months. Added a bright teal just for buttons and links last week. Now people say it 'pops' way more. What's your go-to accent shade?