Today I’m pleased to get to introduce the newest member of the APW staff: Kate Bolen. Kate is joining the team as our copy editor (I’m dyslexic, so to say that I need help on the copy editing front is a tiny bit of an understatement).
Kate and I have been friends since I first moved to San Francisco. She worked at the investment bank where I got a job when we moved, and it quickly became clear that she was one of the only people on staff who was… how shall we put this… a member of my tribe. So Kate and I got really chatty, and then I got engaged and she gushed over my ring. A few weeks later, when I decided to start a blog about wedding planning, I gave Kate the URL, and she became APW’s first ever reader. Literally. (Check out vintage Kate’s comment on my fifth post ever.) When we finally got hitched, Kate was our wedding stage manager (everyone needs a friend like this).
More recently, Kate and I both quit investment bank life (cue massive dance parties of celebration). Kate went back to school and is currently getting her second degree in graphic design at CCA. I started writing a book and hired Kate to be my on-the-ground copy editor.
And now I’m thrilled to welcome Kate onto the APW staff as copy editor. Kate says, “As a longtime member of the APW community, I am so stoked to join the staff. I have to say, I am grateful that we have all found each other, Team Practical. The smart women who compose this group have bolstered me time and time again (first before, and certainly now, a year after my wedding).” Kate also knows all about the em dash, sleeps with The Chicago Manual of Style, and thinks I use sports metaphors too much (“Dive in” “Let’s tackle this”). She finds this amusing, since I’m not really a sports fan. She also wrote a hilarious staff bio, which you should read.
Tomorrow morning we’ll be back with Kate’s wedding, Wordless Wedding style, but till then, I’m leaving you with the above picture of Kate and me at her wedding. Please note that I’m wearing my wedding hair flower (for the second time ever) as a married hair flower, in honor of Kate. We’re that kind of friends.
Picture: Kate & me on her wedding day, by One Love Photo.
“has more interests than she has time”
Love this. Welcome (officially) Kate!
July 25, 2011 9:40 am
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Welcome Kate! Did anyone else just lose 15 minutes on Wikipedia fully absorbed in learning the difference between en dashes and em dashes?? I love this place :)
July 25, 2011 9:41 am
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Yes! Me! It’s like a whole new world of advanced punctuation. I’m now seriously considering buying myself a style manual for my husband’s birthday (what? I can totally buy myself a present for that, right?).
Oh! Almost forgot – welcome, Kate. That picture of the two of you is too lovely for words.
(Damn it that probably should have been some kind of fancy dash, but I forgot to read the bit about how you get the dashes on your keyboard – curses. Oh no, I did it again! This is too hard!)
July 25, 2011 9:44 am
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It’s shift/option/dash—with no spaces on either side of the dash. Thanks book writing for teaching me a new skill!
July 25, 2011 9:54 am
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Organizational tips, Google Docs shout outs, em dashes, AND shortcut keys? Today just keeps getting better and better!
July 25, 2011 10:37 am
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We aim to please.
Hum. We really do cover a *slightly* different subject matter than most wedding blogs, don’t we… achem.
July 25, 2011 2:11 pm
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Yea for Kate! And yes I did lose a significant amount of time to those dashes. I second the loving of this place.
July 25, 2011 9:45 am
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um…did anyone not even know there was an effing difference?!? *raises hand* All I knew was that Word autocorrects that ish all the time and I didn’t know why.
Yay for learning new things!!!!!
July 25, 2011 9:50 am
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Oddly enough, I spent a lot of time reading about em and en dashes two weeks ago when working on my CV…and trying to figure out how to do them on my francophone keyboard. Haha. So nice to see them mentioned here too! :)
And welcome, Kate!
July 25, 2011 11:22 am
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I actually have the pages in Chicago that mention em dashes bookmarked—I tend to over-use them and have to rein myself back in. ;)
(And I don’t have an “Option” button on my Spanish keyboard, how sad!)
July 28, 2011 4:57 am
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Bowties ARE cool. And so is Kate.
Hooray Team Practical!
July 25, 2011 9:45 am
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I love to see APW growing. Yay to Kate, who I’m positive will be a great addition to the site!
July 25, 2011 9:49 am
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That’s what I was thinking! How great that there’s another staff member, and how great that she seems so cool!
Welcome, Kate!
July 28, 2011 5:00 am
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Kate, I love your bio!
July 25, 2011 9:53 am
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YAY KATE!!!
July 25, 2011 10:08 am
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Yay! Welcome, Kate! (As a fellow English B.A., I salute you.) It’s so great to see APW growing by leaps and bounds this year.
July 25, 2011 10:21 am
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This is way cool. Yay for Kate, and yay for growing the APW staff!
July 25, 2011 10:24 am
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Welcome, champion of CMS! I look forward to many, many serial commas.
July 25, 2011 10:29 am
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More APW staff? Love it.
Also can’t wait to see the wedding – I love love love her dress already.
July 25, 2011 10:46 am
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Welcome aboard Kate!
(Meg, full disclaimer: I overuse boating analogies/lingo.)
July 25, 2011 11:25 am
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Ohhhh… BOATING analogies! That’s a whole new area for me to explore!
July 25, 2011 11:47 am
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Em dashes and bow ties?! I <3 you Kate!
July 25, 2011 11:28 am
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20th-ing the YAY KATE! comments! She’s super fun, y’all, and super smart.
July 25, 2011 2:09 pm
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After reading Kate’s staff bio, I think we’re long-lost twins. I love punctuation; my husband is cuddly; my cat is supportive; I am trying to save the world by composting.
Also curious what that delicious beer she’s drinking is.
July 25, 2011 3:03 pm
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I *believe* it was the Drake’s Red Eye Ale, but it was definitely at Drake’s Brewing Barrel House: http://drinkdrakes.com/site/ I generally enjoy beer, and we did a lot of tasting that day!
July 25, 2011 3:42 pm
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!!! I’m very stoked to be on board (thanks FAWMO), and a GIANT virtual hug to all of you fellow grammar, lit and Doctor Who lovers.
July 25, 2011 3:33 pm
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Happy official welcome Kate! Though as APW’s first reader, I feel like you should be welcoming us. Love that photo, looking forward to more tomorrow!
July 25, 2011 5:04 pm
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That’s a good point, maybe she should be welcoming you! We’ll get her a welcome mat.
July 25, 2011 6:01 pm
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YAYYY KATE.
and also, sports analogies are way better than war analogies.
jussayin.
July 25, 2011 6:02 pm
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YOU HAVE THE BEST IDEAS LIZ!
July 26, 2011 1:00 pm
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A friend of mine just introduced me to your blog. (I’m not planning a wedding but I am planning on starting up a wedding photography business.) My friend had such great things to say about your site. I can’t wait to browse around and read more!!
PS – Kate sounds like a pretty awesome friend. :)
July 25, 2011 9:39 pm
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Em dashes for the win!
July 26, 2011 11:20 am
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It’s great to see the way this community keeps growing and especially nice that it gets to welcome as a staff member someone who’s been here from the beginning (not to mention a fellow anglophile with an BA in English).
July 26, 2011 12:24 pm
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Welcome, Kate! Bow ties ARE cool.
As are fezzes.
(I really hope that was a Doctor Who reference in Kate’s bio).
July 26, 2011 11:18 pm
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bowties are VERY cool as are people who quote Doctor Who … I’m also hoping you were quoting Doctor Who otherwise I’ve just outed myself as a sci-fi geek
oops, anyway WELCOME Kate
July 27, 2011 5:25 am
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wow awesome! yay Kate! go team APW! more exclamations!
July 27, 2011 8:48 am
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