more about winter

Hey March. February just blew by, didn't it?

It's still winter. It snowed again yesterday. I felt oddly peaceful and happy about that. I guess I sort of embraced the winter, and then got sick of it, and then settled into the idea that it was going to keep on keeping on no matter how I felt, and so ta da, snow! It's pretty! It makes everything sparkly! It's fun to play in!

I am very much looking forward to going south in May, though, for a trip to Hilton Head with my mom and sister and some old friends from our childhood in South Carolina.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my newfound free time, and am figuring out a good routine that involves some working from home, some working from the mill. I am very, very appreciative of my flexible schedule and am relishing these next few weeks when I have a decent amount of me time, knowing that come May I'll be booked within an inch of my life.

Michelle and I have been exploring a little bit up the Midcoast area. I always tend to go north, and east, when I explore. Maybe today I'll go south.

gilsland farm

We catered a small public gathering event at the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center tonight (I hear there's great snowshoeing there in the winter, must remember). I arrived early and opted to take a quick stroll through the woods, where I happened upon a little herd of deer and managed to seem non-threatening enough to get pretty close. Watching them hang out while the sun was setting was pretty great. See?

work slash play

Yesterday we did a site visit to Peaks Island to scope out a venue where a 2014 client is getting married. Time scoping out the kitchen? 10 minutes. Time wandering around the island, exploring and waiting for the next ferry? An hour and half. A good way to spend some working hours, I say.

It is also so wonderful to be living in town, where a trip from my apartment to the ferry terminal is a leisurely 30 minute stroll on a super nice (albeit chilly) morning.

on gratitude

The past year and a half has been a rough one, for reasons that I've barely touched in this space. A lot of changes, some out of my control and some in it, left me feeling less than confident, and on shaky ground. In addition (and maybe a little because of it all) I was making poor decisions that negatively affected my health, wellbeing, and general feeling of self-worth.

I am supremely grateful and happy to say that things feel like they are turning around. In the last couple of months I've found a new job that I really love with some wonderful people, that gives me a flexibility and nice work/life balance that I haven't had before. I found a new apartment in a part of town that I adore, and this alone has helped me feel like I have some say-so about what's happening in my life again. I was recently reminded (at the really, really, really fun wedding of two of my dearest friends) that I have a wonderful group of people who love me, some of whom I've known for nearly a decade now, and who have seen me through some truly awful phases of life and have always been there to pick me up or let me wallow, as need be.

I also am constantly surround by beautiful scenery, which doesn't hurt, at all. A few iPhone shots (of supreme blurriness) of the previously mentioned awesome wedding (thanks for the photos, friends!) and from today, from the mill where I work and the river it sits over, and a state park that is just a short detour on my way home.

next

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about job hunting and what I wanted to do and be and all that good existential crisis stuff. Here.

As my very lucky road through the universe tends to go, I've once again stumbled into what I hope and think will be an amazing, exciting next step. My job hunting tactic in the past, and in this go-round, has been mostly to send out emails with letters and resumes to all the cool, amazing, unique, inspiring places where I'd love to work, regardless of if they're hiring or if they've posted a vacancy. The return rate to this kind of approach is higher than you might expect, if you're looking for the kind of job I'm looking for.

I'm not religious, or even spiritual, but I think I believe in the universe and in timing and that through the rough patches you can believe that they'll throw you a bone now and then. Something like that. A catering company that I was particularly excited about responded to my shot-in-the-dark email - turns out they'd been talking about needing someone like me (someone with my experience and goals and strengths and whatnot) right around the time that I found and contacted them. So there's got to be something at work there, right? Universe?

After a great interview and sort of meet-and-greet/trial run event situation last Saturday, I have high hopes for what comes next. I start with them this weekend, and (to be kind of vague) will be coordinating their front of house event operations, in an admin way and an onsite way. The job has a lot of what I loved about touring (new venues, active non-desk work, travel, interacting with new people all the time) and leaves out some of the things I didn't love so much.

Also I probably need to look into getting some better standing-all-day shoes.