About carlyklock

My name is Carly. My middle name is Klock (yes, seriously. It's a family name). Welcome to Kansas, a notorious 'flyover state', but one worth visiting!

I'm a twenty-something marketing professional and I live in the suburb of Kansas City with the best school system, but I do not have kids. I'm not married, but the Italian Stallion and I did just buy a house. Many 'round these parts would say we're living in sin. I don't feel sinful. We do things in our own way, on our own schedule. We have two adorable lab puppies, who just turned one - Jade & Cooper. They're brother and sister. And they act like it, too.

**(UPDATE: The Stallion and I are now ENGAGED!)

Now, let's get one thing straight: Kansas City is split between both Missouri and Kansas. Right on the border. One city, two states. I know it's mind-boggling for some of you coastals, but don't forget the fun fact I just taught you.

It's all about perspective, but the US is a bit different than this mental map:



Now, I must disclose that I am the product of some East Coast tree-hugging hippies and I was born in Vermont, where we lived until I was 4. Other than that, I grew up in the Midwest and went to college in Boston. And returned to the Midwest even after all the progressiveness I was exposed to there.

I hope you enjoy my website, carlyklock.com. Here, I write about thriving as a modern, progressive woman living in the midst of conservative America - a place most people dismiss as a 'flyover state'. You may be surprised by the lack of rednecks and farmers in my stories - but that's Kansas City - the perfect mix of metropolitan bustle and Midwestern charm.

For example:
A blend of charity benefits at art galleries (that's the Stallion there on the left),



With coveralls, a farm, and shooting frozen milkjugs. (I totally nailed mine. Of course)


Here's my much younger brother, Matt. He has dredlocks. I think they're dirty. But I still love him. He's going to graduate from high school this December, a semester early. He's doing this so that he can hike the Appalachian Trail with my dad next spring, and still be back in time to start college in August. They have a website to chronicle their journey: http://hikingforwater.org (the Italian Stallion is designing their site, along with some of my colleagues [thank you]).




Here's some great family pictures that my dear friend Meredith Gutshall took last summer. She also has a great blog to follow.



I love cooking and baking. But I only bake when I have an outlet to rid me of the goods anymore (see pic above of damaged fence from when I was eating them all myself). This disappoints the Stallion, but I know he silently thanks me every day when he easily zips up his pants. I'll be sharing my kitchen adventures here as well. And, for the record, I do not eat biscuits and gravy. Ew. I probably would love the taste, but I can't get over the liquid lard factor. And, along those same lines, I'd like to become a vegetarian - due to the lack of ethics in our food industries, but I've got to beef up (no pun intended) my repertoire to convince the Italian Stallion to leave his pork behind (and pig farms are the worst!). Hopefully I can teach myself to make satiating vegetarian meals. Or maybe I can find a dependable local farm? (see, I told you I descended from hippies)

This is the life I live. Thank you for letting me share it with you!

xoxo
ck.