san francisco bound & conquering my fear of the 'b word'
Last week a very dear friend gave me the gift of three small words:
authenticity
trumps
originality
So simple. But exactly what I needed to put my fears aside and finally START. So let's rewind a minute to see how we got here.
PART 1 . my 'extended maternity leave'
I made a decision to take what I like to call, an 'extended maternity leave'. After five months home with our brand new baby Ava, I was working hard to get in the 'getting-ready-to-return-to-work' headspace; but living an hour from my office and having a hubby traveling and working long hours at his job, left us in a less than desirable situation. Layer on a possible promotion at a job that I really enjoyed, along with coworkers who were like family, and I'm now facing the hardest decision I've ever had to make... but when given the option to have a little more time with my baby girl vs. being away from her 11 hours each day... well, my choice was clear.
So for the first time ever, I was able to see that staying home full-time vs working full-time is not a black and white, all or nothing decision. There is SO much grey area in between. Grey area that would allow me to either take a few more months off, work part time, work from home, run my own business, go back full time in 8 months, 10 months, even a year, and everything in between. And it's all okay. And it's all up to me and my little family. And that is a pretty great thing.
PART 2 . three months of sour dough bread. um, yes please.
So remember that part about my hubby Jordan traveling and working long hours? Let's go back to that. I'm not talking '8am - 7pm' long hours. I'm talking 5am to catch a flight to San Francisco, only to have a delayed return flight, landing and then sitting in traffic for another hour so you can make it home by 8pm, long hours. Did I lose you? That's a solid 15 hour day. And then he would turn around and do it again. Three times a week. Every week. Bless his soul.
So when given the opportunity to stay in San Francisco for three months during Jordan's year-end closings (aka the most chaotic and stressful time of the year in homebuilding), we jumped at the opportunity. And, as if it was designed to work out this way, our family had just become a whole lot more mobile (insert extended maternity leave happy dance). So we found a cute victorian house in the Bernal Heights neighborhood and made plans to move up in October. OH and did I mention how much I love sour dough? Apparently there's a lot of it up there (insert encore happy dance).
PART 3 . the 'b' word
If you know me well or have followed me on social media for a while, you know that I love to make things. I am also that person who LOVES to share information with the people around me. Did I just finish a great book? Then rest assured I will tell you about it, encourage you to read it, and offer up my Audible account info so you can start it today. Like my new shoes? I like them too! Let me tell you where I got them, what I paid, and where you can find a coupon. Think my living room shelves turned out nicely? Let's sit down so I can explain how I made them and then proceed to give you tips on how to properly style a bookshelf.
So starting a blog, where I could share this information should be a no-brainer, right? Well, I have resisted. For years. Why? Because it's been done SO many times before.
Now this is when those three little words come in.
authenticity
trumps
originality
Has someone written a blog post about how to style a bookshelf? Probably 1,000 times. Has someone started a blog about a three-month stay in San Francisco? I'm sure there is one out there.
But I haven't. And I have things I want to say and share and show. From my perspective. So you can guess what happened next, because here you are now, on my shiny new website. I conquered my fear of the 'b' word and for the next three months I'll be taking pictures and blogging about some of the things I love while we adventure in a new city.
So follow along - it should be fun :)
Photos by Francesca Marchese Photography