Its Been Too Long ...

 

The Element of Water 

Well, here we are-  SIX Months after that last post! Crazy!!

A brief catch up from that post; I found a winter job- or so I had thought. I answered an ad and was hired at a gift shop in Petoskey. Actually, the company owned 2 shops (now 3 since I've left) but I worked at the larger of the 2. I had briefly entertained opening my own retail and had the location and everything but got scared that it wasn't 'practical' and not 'planned' so I chose instead to be an employee. I liked it there and really liked the people I worked with. The owner is quite visionary and very 'hands on' - lots of good energy. Unfortunately, once the winter holiday season was over I was told that I would be scheduled when they needed some extra help :-( I was terribly hurt. When I had interviewed I said very specifically that I needed a job throughout the winter-not just as temporary help for Christmas. They smiled and agreed and then kept me on as temp help anyway. The kicker was that when my hours weren't sent in by email I went to the online calendar only to see that I wasn't scheduled at all. Nada. Zip. I had to call and received in return an 'oh! ooops! meant to tell you...' type of text.  I am now kicking myself for not jumping at the opportunity for my own retail space when it was basically handed to me. But-live and learn right?

  From there we had a nice Winter Holiday with family and Jack and I did go to New Orleans for a week in January to catch up with family/friends. Having returned home to no job I got busy painting and have had fun with some great little landscapes, one of which has sold.

Birches

Steps To Lake Michigan

Spring Orchard

As Above So Below

Lake Michigan Beach

I'm pleased with these and the process helped me to ground and not feel quite so free-flowing -exactly how I was feeling back in Sept. when I last wrote here! I also finished a second book, a handbook on what to do if you feel your house is haunted, and it has been well-received by my very small audience so far :-) 

  Jack and I have been able to spend a lot of time with Aurora who has a clean bill of health after her rocky beginning into this world. At just about 15 months old she is jabbering, crawling, standing and beginning to walk on her own. (If you're reading this and not sure what I'm talking about go back about a year in this blog)

  So where I am at NOW? Well, There's a ton going on in my head that is not yet part of the physical-- its peculating so to speak lol :

~I am working on another book- this one a novel. It is based on a few years of very unique experiences that are difficult to write about so I'm just kind of pecking away at it.  

~ The Beach House has changed its name and has a brand new logo too

There is a similarly named 'Beach House' one town over that caused some confusion with on-line reviews. I wanted a name that reflected the area as well as something that could move with the company if / when I'm able to have a year-round location.  As of last summer I am no longer running all 3 of the city's concessions choosing to focus solely on the Michigan Beach location and extending the hours to dinner along with lunch. That means that the hunt for another cook is on. I think the most difficult part of that will be ME learning to share my kitchen lol. I'm particular and territorial and I need to work on some of that so that whomever comes in as a cook feels welcomed.  

Opening day is May 25, meaning lots of ideas and planning but nothing to do physically just yet.

~ I've decided to put away money this summer and open a retail space. I began kicking myself immediately upon turning down the space last fall and the mistake was hammered home when I was laid off unexpectedly from the 'safe' winter job. It would seem that the only way to remain employed is to be self-employed lol. With that in mind I will plan on opening a bricks and mortar retail space of my online store Persephone's Folly. It will have Spiritual and Metaphysical supplies and gifts, my original art, jewelry, herbals, and soaps. Mentally I've been decorating and planning for a month lol but again- without the cash I can't do anything physically yet so its all in the mental realm for now. I'm shooting for a November 2018 opening....  

~ Family-wise my son has returned to school and my daughter is continuing her pharmaceutical job and I am grateful that they are both basically where they want to be for the moment , are healthy, safe, and happy. Jack and I will be going down to Florida in a few weeks to see my father who is not doing well and I am grateful to be able to go and see him. We will be there for about 10 days. Once back most of these plans that are skittering around in my head will be able to be physically worked on and I really cannot wait! Until then there are a few more landscapes I would like to get onto canvas and a table top for the restaurant's patio that will get painted...

  

I had not kept up with this blog because I had been busy completing the last book. Ironically though, letting this writing stall out made any additional writing more difficult so I will be making an extra effort to stay on top of this . 

 Its still wintery here in the north so there is time to do this :-) 

Until next time--

Annie