
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Well, here goes. Something I can change is on the horizon, and it only took me 7 years to finally have enough courage to pursue it. I am finishing the current chapter of my book, and about to turn the page. Turn the page to the unknown. The exciting. The somewhat scary. The next adventure.
At the end of December, 2013, I am leaving the safety of my office job, and pursuing full on my entrepreneurial calling.
You see, I received my BM in Music Education and Music Performance in the mid-2000's, and after getting married and working in settings that I didn't mesh with, I gave up on music as a career, thinking that it was a lost cause, and irresponsible of me to pursue something that wasn't 'stable'. So, I rolled up my sleeves and tried to keep a foot in the music door, even though moving out of the town that knew me for my music was going to make that difficult. I took jobs at various area colleges, and they served me well for the time that I needed them. We saved up money, I met with different career mentors that told me to follow my passion (to which I shrugged off because that didn't seem practical), and went on with life.
Then, in the spring of 2012, I got the itch. It was an itch that I couldn't scratch in my current situation. I sat down with my hubby, we looked at our finances, we looked at our house, and we looked at where our LIFE was together. It was time to take a step forward.
The first step toward this next adventure was the (HUGE) decision to move back "into town". We put our house up on the market in October of 2012, and it took until May of 2013 to get it sold. 7 whole months of packing up our belongings, keeping the house in 'showing' condition, rearranging our life to allow for potential buyers to walk through, and apple spice scented BBW wallflowers (yuck). Then, all of a sudden, a buyer liked the house and we accepted their offer. After 7 long months, it was a mad dash to try to find a house that fit "us" before we closed on our previous house with the buyers. We looked at a TON of houses, knowing that we wanted to downsize (relatively speaking), be in an area with a good school system and strong music program, and be close to both of our families. I had other items on my "it would be nice if..." list, like a skylight or two, a finished basement, an upgraded kitchen, etc, but those weren't necessities. Lo and behold, a house came on the market that was perfect for us that fit our most important qualifications (thank you St. Joseph!) and we put an offer down immediately. The offer was accepted, and after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and paperwork), the house was ours! Oh, did I mention that I got my skylight?? <3
And then it became REAL. Step one toward my goal was accomplished. No turning back now, it's full speed ahead. Step two- putting my notice in to my 9-5 office job. I do this with mixed emotions because this job was right for where I was in my life during the time that I worked there. But, like everything, things come to an end and all we can do is look back and appreciate what was, and look forward to what is to come.
Since I am making this life change, I decided to make a change on the bloggie front, too. I am not going to shut down my old blog (http://www.anniessimplelife.blogspot.com), but I felt that it was appropriate to close the book on that one, and start anew. Fresh. Revitalized. Blank slate.
So this is me. Musician. Teacher. Artist. Blogger. Cook. Nature lover. Hippie. Wife. Sister. Daughter.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Here we go.
Well, here goes. Something I can change is on the horizon, and it only took me 7 years to finally have enough courage to pursue it. I am finishing the current chapter of my book, and about to turn the page. Turn the page to the unknown. The exciting. The somewhat scary. The next adventure.
At the end of December, 2013, I am leaving the safety of my office job, and pursuing full on my entrepreneurial calling.
You see, I received my BM in Music Education and Music Performance in the mid-2000's, and after getting married and working in settings that I didn't mesh with, I gave up on music as a career, thinking that it was a lost cause, and irresponsible of me to pursue something that wasn't 'stable'. So, I rolled up my sleeves and tried to keep a foot in the music door, even though moving out of the town that knew me for my music was going to make that difficult. I took jobs at various area colleges, and they served me well for the time that I needed them. We saved up money, I met with different career mentors that told me to follow my passion (to which I shrugged off because that didn't seem practical), and went on with life.
Then, in the spring of 2012, I got the itch. It was an itch that I couldn't scratch in my current situation. I sat down with my hubby, we looked at our finances, we looked at our house, and we looked at where our LIFE was together. It was time to take a step forward.
The first step toward this next adventure was the (HUGE) decision to move back "into town". We put our house up on the market in October of 2012, and it took until May of 2013 to get it sold. 7 whole months of packing up our belongings, keeping the house in 'showing' condition, rearranging our life to allow for potential buyers to walk through, and apple spice scented BBW wallflowers (yuck). Then, all of a sudden, a buyer liked the house and we accepted their offer. After 7 long months, it was a mad dash to try to find a house that fit "us" before we closed on our previous house with the buyers. We looked at a TON of houses, knowing that we wanted to downsize (relatively speaking), be in an area with a good school system and strong music program, and be close to both of our families. I had other items on my "it would be nice if..." list, like a skylight or two, a finished basement, an upgraded kitchen, etc, but those weren't necessities. Lo and behold, a house came on the market that was perfect for us that fit our most important qualifications (thank you St. Joseph!) and we put an offer down immediately. The offer was accepted, and after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and paperwork), the house was ours! Oh, did I mention that I got my skylight?? <3
And then it became REAL. Step one toward my goal was accomplished. No turning back now, it's full speed ahead. Step two- putting my notice in to my 9-5 office job. I do this with mixed emotions because this job was right for where I was in my life during the time that I worked there. But, like everything, things come to an end and all we can do is look back and appreciate what was, and look forward to what is to come.
Since I am making this life change, I decided to make a change on the bloggie front, too. I am not going to shut down my old blog (http://www.anniessimplelife.blogspot.com), but I felt that it was appropriate to close the book on that one, and start anew. Fresh. Revitalized. Blank slate.
So this is me. Musician. Teacher. Artist. Blogger. Cook. Nature lover. Hippie. Wife. Sister. Daughter.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Here we go.