Where we blog from: Hither and Thither

I first became acquainted with Ashley and Aron's blog, Hither and Thither, when Aron e-mailed me many months ago. He was struck by my book title and, upon visiting his blog, I was delighted to see that their many travels included a trip to my homeland. Since then, I've watched Hither and Thither thrive into a beautiful and inspiring catalogue of life lived to the full. This is where Ashley and Aron blog from and what they have to say about it...

Thank you, Jane, for having us as part of this series! Both Aron and I are excited to be in the company of so many interesting bloggers.

When Aron and I lived in Los Angeles, we shared a 1400-square-foot apartment, where the square footage included an office. It’s hard to imagine now: we each had our own very roomy, very heavy desk, and there was a wall of bookcases and a comfy chair. The funny thing is that, even then, we usually ended up in the living room, laptops on our, well, laps. In that regard, moving to a 550-square-foot studio wasn’t such a change—at least as concerned our workspace.


As ever, we tend to—employing the worst of postures (no doubt)—work from the couch. This is Aron’s computer; mine has a less-than-ideal (cracked) screen and, besides, we download all of our photos to his. Rarely is it this serene, however: the television might be on, playing a movie or Office reruns; and we’re usually eating dinner or snacking, or interrupting the other to point out something from an email. And blogging is generally something that happens late at night.

The sofa was one of our biggest purchases after we sold all of our Los Angeles furniture and got settled in New York. We picked it out at Jonathan Adler and justified the color because it’s a we-don't-have-kids-or-pets couch. Unfortunately, we’ve learned that we’re probably just as prone to mess-making.

The coffee table and rug are two of the few furniture pieces we did bring from LA. Aron and I found the coffee table at a flea market and stripped it and re-stained it. My dad teases us that we re-stained it back the same color. The rug is actually two rugs: sheepskins from Aron’s and his sister’s childhood-rooms, pushed together.


Aron tends to set up all of the photos for the blog; for that reason, and because he’s much more bothered by how hot one’s legs can become from the laptop motor (probably because I tend to steal the pillow), he is usually the first to move to desk #2: the dining table.

We try to keep this area clean, as it forms the first impression of our space when you come in the door. I love walking in when it’s clear, allowing the afternoon light to reflect off its polished surface. But I’m afraid it has a tendency to be a bit of a catch-all.

Those sideboards open to the closest thing we have to an office. Boxes of stationary, novels and travel books, magazine files packed full, office supplies, board games and dvds fill every available inch.


Only occasionally will I blog from desk #3, the bed. And when I do, I realize how much I love being able to see the Williamsburg bridge from our windows. You can only see it from that angle. You would never catch Aron blogging from the bed (unless he were pretend blogging). His hours are much longer than mine (he's a surgical resident)--there's no way he'd stay awake if he were there! Come to think of it, that's a risk at desks 1 and 2, too.


Perhaps the best thing about where we blog from is our view. We try to spend as much time as possible outside of the apartment, in the city that inspires us rather than reflecting on it; but having a nice view makes those other times pretty special, too.

Thanks Aron and Ashley!