Uncategorized « Feeling Full

A New Season

April 11th, 2012 § 2 Comments

I feel like the default start to the first blog post after weeks of no blog posts is always Man, so much has been going on! And, in this instance, it’s been true for me.

The push and pull I’d been feeling to leave behind the world of cupcakes finally solidified in a decision in mid-March and this past Saturday was my last day. My last day of getting up at 4:30 a.m. (hopefully!) when the world is still as dark as when I fell asleep. The last day of whipping cake batters and frostings and making planning lists for the following day of mixing batters and frostings. My last day to walk into a predictably messy kitchen area, having to clean up behind those who “cleaned” the night before. It was also the last day to see some of the coworkers I’ve come to call friends on a daily basis, to interact with the genuinely kind and excited customers just looking for a sugar fix, to sneak dark chocolate chips from the pantry by the handful….oh, and my last day of a earning a steady paycheck.

It was time, and I’m glad I took the plunge. Though not without some nervousness, as I chose to enter again previously charted territory, that of the leaving of one job without another one on the horizon.

Then out of the blue, comes a phone call from one of my friends and former editors looking for project managing help on an extra issue her magazine is producing. And, just like that, I’m back in my old game. As I type this, the table in front of me is strewn with barely legible lists and multiple tabs on Firefox are open. I’m feeling rusty, but up for the challenge. I’ve committed this work to the Lord and have decided I’m going to try not to be a perfectionist just this once. I’ll do the best job I can do and keep the stress at bay as I go. I like to have a project, to feel productive, and about that I’m very excited. The hunt for a rewarding and interesting full-time job does continue and, for today, I have faith that it will happen in its proper time.

Land of Heart’s Desire

March 17th, 2012 § Leave a Comment

I cannot resist an Ireland post on this day when everyone is thinking about the emerald isle. I wax romantic about Ireland and my two blessed visits to that country in my head almost everyday. Sometimes I subject other people to such ruminations. I fell in love on my first trip, in college, on a literary tour with 9 other students. Galway, Sligo, the Aran Islands, Dublin and parts in between were soaked up at a break-neck pace over just two weeks. A return voyage in 2008 with a friend introduced me to the delights of County Cork and tiny Cobh, the delicious food at Cafe Paradiso, and, not least of all, driving in a foreign country!

The rhythm of the music, the way the weather can change in an instant, the irrepressible greenness, the lovely, lilting, throaty language…it captivated me then and still does. I have not been many places in the world, but Ireland is a place I would return to on a whim, at a moment’s notice, if someone handed me a ticket and said “Go!”

Wild Swans not at Coole (I just can't remember where)

View from Dun Aengus off the coast of the Aran Islands

Newgrange Passage Tomb

The stately Kylemore Abbey (I had a Castles of Europe calendar when I was probably 15 that included this beauty and I finally got to see it up close at age 21. Bliss.)