Thoughts on #nailedit.

Once I get a (bad) idea in my brain...

I’ve been manifesting a couch all year. I knew that my office needed one, especially when my songwriting club had to sit crisscross applesauce while balancing lunches and laptops. “You should get a couch,” they said.

“I refuse to spend money on a couch when I just got a job that pays my bills!!!” I replied.

There was a lot of standing and floor sitting in my office this past year. August 2025 me wanted everything to be perfect before the first day of school—pictures on the wall, and a fully-furnished room with vibes.

I had to keep telling myself to be patient, to take time building and curating my work, not only in room decor, but in the larger scope of what it means to have a massive career shift. You won’t be actualized on day one (or ever); it takes time.

Still, I really wanted a couch.

Last week, one of my neighbors texted in our book club group chat: “Does anyone want this?”

The clouds parted, the angels sang, and I could barely get my fingers to the keys quick enough: YES!

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The timing was perfect as I’m wrapping up my last week of teaching in my first year as a college professor.

I feel very strongly about the last week of school and about making it memorable for students. I felt this way as a high school teacher, and nothing has changed.

When I taught high school, marking an end to each year felt necessary. We’d write songs for departing seniors, throw parties, write reflections, and I’d spend hours writing notes to my students who were about to graduate.

I had the best intentions for this week. I thought, surely I can write individualized handwritten notes to all 100 (!) of my students, tell them what qualities I admire in them, and give them a pep talk for their years to come.

I even folded tiny, colorful cards and addressed about 30 of them when I realized… this is impossible.

So I pivoted. I gave an in-person speech to all 75 of my freshmen. I told them how grateful I was that we got to start our journey together, how I was so proud of them for being kind (!) and collaborative (!) and pushing outside their comfort zones. I started tearing up like a big softy.

But for the juniors?

I wanted to do something really special. They’re the first group of students to ever take my class, “Progressive Methods,” and all year I’ve been referring to them as “guinea pigs”, inviting feedback and collaboration to chart the direction of the course. Once a student suggested, “We should have a party with food,” I knew I would spend my weekend baking.

Google: Recipe for guinea pig cookies

Result: [images of recipes for special cookies that you FEED your guinea pig. Nope.]

Google: Recipe for guinea pig SHAPED cookies

Result: [buy this cute cookie cutter you can get from etsy in 3-5 business days; look at this amazing cookie influencer that makes guinea pig cookies that you will never be able to come close to recreating and even looking at them makes you feel terrible about the lack of cookie skills you’ve acquired in your 41 years on this earth; scroll; scroll; scroll; look at these guinea pig cookies I made that are kind of ugly but they work. BINGO]

The INSPO

This was a Gulish family effort.

Demi drew a guinea pig form on a piece of paper which we cut out to trace over some sugar cookie dough. My friend Carrie gave me all the royal icing tips and away we went.

The results

I sent this photo to my mom and sis.

They then mentioned that they thought they were created by my children. Nope. Just a grown woman trying to make a freaking guinea pig cookie.

On Monday morning, I brought in a tray of weird, edible rodents and handed them out to my students. For a class centered on exploration, trying new things, and being ok with failure, it was actually quite perfect.

I gave them a heartfelt speech, told them how proud I was of all their hard work, and said I had one final question for them before we wrapped:

“Would any of you be willing to carry a couch up to my office?”

#nailedit

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Inspiration

🎧 I’m reading all of these course reflections and feeling so inspired by the vulnerability and empathy I’m seeing in these students.

🎧 I just finished reading “American Men,” and it was a tearful journey. Hats off to Jordan, who somehow made a non-fiction book feel like literature.

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Creative

🌟 Thank you to everyone who came and supported Ashley and me at our show last week! Here’s a fun photo that Marci snapped.

🌟 I have a BIG idea. This always happens (thanks for staying with me, Brandon) when one thing ends. My brain is on to the next. I sent multiple emails this morning to friends for a massive collaboration on a live event this fall. More to come!

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Thanks for subscribing and reading. I hope you nail it.

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Connect with my work elsewhere:

🎧 listen to my podcast with Kimberly McGlonn

💻 order my children’s book, Rosie Rocks!

📚 visit my fair-pay publishing company, F-flat Books.

🎤 get songwriting support through Songwriting for M.E.