Long Lights

Here it is, autumn already! I have been enjoying my morning coffees out on our new back deck and noticing just how long the sunlight has grown.
I’ve been altogether lax in my online presence, save for keeping the shop functioning, and I’ve failed to shed any light on our recent events! We found a cute little home to call our own for a while, and my dear husband is spending his days doing job training for his new position. My first priority was (of course) to unpack all my jewelry equipment and get my shop up and running again as quickly as possible. It was a serious discomfort to find that my business would have to function for a full week without internet service, but I made it through and emerged unscathed (albeit a little wild-eyed).

Somewhere in the tangle of moving, two milestones were celebrated: I turned a whopping 27 years old, and TorchFire Studio celebrated its first birthday on September 9th. We spent my special day frantically ironing out issues with the moving truck rental / moving helpers and packing up every single item in our home. TorchFire got a similar treatment, but I did make note of the date and reflect for a moment on the progress my little business has made (a lot!). It has been an interesting first year and I’m curious to see how much I can learn in the next one! In the meantime, I hope that the 2013 holiday season kicks in soon – I’m ready for a challenge!

Turning over a new leaf.

Finally things are starting to go in the right direction! The job transition has been a slow one, but now we’re slated for a move in the  pretty-much-immediate future.  I’m happy to say that our little family is returning to a town we’ve called home before. We had high hopes for a new start near the ocean, but the job opportunities were lacking, and the cost of living was not going to make the move a smart decision.  I still think we’ll get to the shores someday!

Now comes the fun part – a frenzy of sorting, packing and cleaning ! We’ll be searching for a new place to live, and hopefully our new home will include more space to dedicate to my business efforts. Right now I’m having to juggle TorchFire and all that comes with moving, and my to-do list plagues me as soon as I climb into bed at night.  I just keep reminding myself that in a few weeks, it’ll all be worth it!

But for now? Bring on the to-do list.

Grump.

I had a few minor irritations to deal with this past weekend – very minor. Mostly people just being people. But lately those little irritations can really get under my skin. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself losing patience with people so very quickly, and it’s not a good thing.

I’m not proud to say that sometimes I can be pretty rough on my loved ones. I want things done a certain way and I’m very much an “ugh-just-let-me-do-it” person. Nobody likes that person. I need to develop a little patience and let people do things their way because I’m not helping them, and I just get irritated in the process. Enter Negative Nelly, the party pooper. Some days I have a hard time pulling off my Negative Nelly nametag. One small thing will ruin my mood and leave me mopey or irritated for hours. Not healthy.

I’ve formulated a new goal : Be Patient. Be Positive.

I’m realizing that an important aspect of positivity is staying in the present. This sounds like a new-age platitude, but has real-world implications for a person like me;  it’s a reminder not to worry about things that happened an hour ago, a day ago, a week ago. Those moments are over, can’t be redone, and shouldn’t be fixated on. This means worrisome emails. Misunderstandings with friends. Problems in the shop. These things should be promptly dealt with when they happen, and then I should move on and not worry needlessly.

Staying in the present also means – this is a big one for me – not projecting. When I encounter a small problem I often find myself envisioning huge future ramifications of ridiculous consequence. I take that molehill and, boy, do I add re-bar and concrete. Things really never work out as badly as I had imagined, and the flood of resultant relief is a sharp reminder that oh-my-gosh my projection was out of control. Making an effort to stay in the present would have saved me a lot of worry and stress.

So, a new goal for positivity and patience. I’m going to try to focus only on what is in my present. I’m going to remind myself that things are going to be just fine.  I’m going to let people be themselves and do things their way without interfering. I’m going to keep searching for the silver linings.  Most importantly, I will try to stop being a grump.

Summer Sounds

I was taking Chewie out for his evening constitutional when I spied this little cutie. I managed to wrangle the dog inside and grab my camera for a few shots. Granted, they aren’t the best quality, but I like the cottontail in motion!

It’s been a lovely day, half productive, half relaxing. Ben and I enjoyed a dinner of roasted chicken Provençale and a nice glass of wine while the cicadas lulled us into summer comfort. Their sound is so familiar and relaxing: an audible reminder of countless good times that makes me want to open the windows despite the evening stickiness. Tonight is one of those nights when the southern twilight makes me long for a screened porch. Someday, someday.

Bleargh, It’s Monday Again?

Hey, Folks! It’s hard to believe it’s Monday again.

For us this means… not much. As I’ve mentioned before, we are looking for new jobs so we can make the move to where we want to be. It was a wonderful feeling making the decision to pick up and go, but now things just seem to be on hold. I’m learning that making your mind up to do something is only a small portion of making life changes. The larger portion includes nasty things like burning your retinas in front of the computer all day,  applying 1,000,000 places and waiting. waiting. waiting.  It’s a classic hurry-up-and-wait situation. Meanwhile, I can just feel the summer slipping away.

Thankfully, we will be visiting our future town soon to celebrate special occasions with family and also do a lot of scouting. I am hopeful that we will uncover some good leads. Fingers crossed!

Until then, it’s just a regular Monday here. The days seem to bleed together without much differentiation. Yesterday was a small exception; the incoming storm system graced me with a terrible hair day and a raging headache that lasted for the majority of the day. Like, want-to-twist-my-head-off terrible. There was a tv special on about the Tower of London, and I found myself wondering if a beheading might bring relief… Have I mentioned it was a really bad headache?

This morning brought relief and a little sunshine. On the downside I’m out of coffee, unmotivated, and my furry co-worker is no help.

Bleargh. Might be time to take my own advice.

Rabbit, Rabbit! It’s Going to Be a Lucky Month!

It’s going to be a lucky month, I just know. Because my first words were “rabbit, rabbit!”  The superstition says that saying this on the first day of a new month, before you speak another word, will bring you luck all month long!

Dang, could we use a little luck! It would be great if we suddenly happened upon the greatest jobs in existence, my jewelry shop sales took a sharp upturn, and a gruff but lovable eccentric billionaire decided to adopt us.

… That happens, right?