A New Chapter

It's official...I'm moving! It's been a little up in the air up until a few weeks ago but my lovely little home that I rent is being sold and I have to be out in the next couple weeks. It's been a hard adjustment as this house has truly come to feel like home to me.

I was here while it was being built and had the opportunity to hand pick almost everything about it...exterior and interior colors, front door, kitchen cabinets, hardware, flooring, lighting fixtures, bathroom layout, fireplace surround and on and on. I became very attached to every little nook and cranny of this place.

I was so excited when I first moved in and started decorating. It was a little sparse and the walls looked so bare but it was the first month...

...and I was in love with everything about my new space. Funny though I don't see a single item in those pictures that I still own. lol! My style choices have obviously been upgraded and refined since then.

Alright enough of my reminiscing. So what's next?

Well the situation's not ideal, especially with running a business from home and the space being much smaller, but all the same I am very grateful for the generous offer my parents made of me moving back in with them for the time being. The whole upper floor is not being used and really is a charming space in their 1910 Dutch Colonial home. Granted living in the same house as my parents again may be a bit of an adjustment (for them as well as me) but I guess it's a good thing that we get along really well and for a while at least I will take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy it for what it is.

So after a number of shed tears and at least a few "Why God?" prayers I'm learning to accept the reality of the move and am trying to look forward to this new chapter in life. I don't know why some things happen the way they do. It is too hard to make sense of life sometimes. But I do know that God is leading and I will follow...even if that leads me home.

'But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD;

I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in Your hand...'

'Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart,

All you who hope in the LORD.'

Psalm 34: 14-15, 24

Phase 2 - The Purge

Well it has taken me two long evenings to dig my way through the mess in my soon to be studio/office. After removing most everything from the room I was glad to see it was much bigger then I remembered and believe it or not I had a small desk, chair and rug underneath it all.

I was suprised at a lot of the little things I found along the way and said to myself many times "so that's where this has been hiding", "hmmm...what does this belong to?","I kept this why?" Needless to say I had a number of things to throw out, many neat items to add to my annual spring garage sale and a lot of organizing to begin. I am resisiting the urge to start decorating so instead I now begin what is to me the most difficult part: Phase 3 - A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place.

Phase 1 - Admit Weakness

It is now 24 days in to the new year and it's about time I started putting some of my 2009 goals into action. Near the top of my list was tackling my overwhelmingly cluttered spare room. When I first stepped out to try running my own business I had high aspirations of turning my second bedroom into an insprational space full of the things I loved, projects I was working on and a very organized space to get things done. Ha ha ha! How quickly necessity of everyday life turned this dream into the dumping grounds for everything I wanted to hide when friends or family were stopping by. They say that admitting weakness is half the battle so in an attempt to start off on the right foot here is my confession:

So it wasn't quite a verbal confession but if a picture is truly worth a thousand words...need I say more? Seriously it's such a disaster!!! Tons of amazingly cool vintage things, fabrics, projects, etc are floating around in this mess but who would know?! And who knew someone who could be so super organized at her former places of employment could let her own office look this way...goes to show how much discipline it takes to work for yourself!

Be sure to check back later for Phase 2 - "The Purge."

Doing a New Thing

Well after a few months of testing the waters of what self employment might look like I've discovered a number of things I do not want to do and a number of things I enjoy. While I do have fun finding cool vintage things at garage sales, thrift stores and the like I really want to focus more of my efforts into bringing some of my own ideas into reality. Fear has held me back quite a bit in making this happen but I've decided that the new year is going to be about taking risks and trusting God to take care of the little things. This blog is where I will share some of my ideas, new things I am working on and vintage items I have discovered as well as the experiences in this adventure they call self employment. Taking the leap ~ kt

Ecclesiastes 11:4-6