Ch-ch-ch-changes....

The beautiful thing about life, is that it ebbs and flows like the ocean tides.  If you're willing to move in her waves and let her take you where she so desires... you will find yourself surrounded by new experiences.

In my absense from blogging many things have changed in my life.  Every one for the better.  That last sentence is tough to write, because one of the changes was putting our white cat down.  Mr. Shudders suffered from seizures and we tried a variety of medications to help him.  One worked for a few months, then his suffering returned.  It was sad, indeed, but a relief to know he wasn't suffering anymore.  And a relief on our schedule constraints, as the medication had to be administered every 8 hours.  He is missed, but we know he isn't suffering and that makes it a little easier.

We have also decided to move.  We wanted a less expensive place, so we can start saving for a home of our own one day.  We also wanted a little more privacy, a little space for gardening, and I wanted a shorter commute for work.  We've found all these things and will be moving tomorrow.  Many posts will follow with photos of DIYs I've done around the place, to make it our own.

I have also made the difficult decision to discontinue my non-profit/gift economy project I developed a few years ago.  I had created an online space for people to share their skills with each other.  And when the website didn't seem to attract people, I began hosting skill shares in my community.  The hope was that these skill shares would encourage people to share their skills on a regular basis on the website.  It didn't quite work out that way.  So I decided, although I still think it is a wonderful idea, that it's just not the right time.  Maybe one day in the future, I will work on a project like this again.

A large part of my soul is my vagabond spirit.  After getting married, my husband and I ran into some tough times financially.  Then with having to care for out ill cat, we just didn't have the ability to go very far, for very long.  Last month a dear friend rescued me from that rut.  As it turned out, it was just a few days after we put our cat down, that I had the opportunity to go to Barcelona, Spain.  And so I did.  I left my grieving husband at home (our Mr. Shudders was his very first pet) and I flew from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Barcelona!  I spent 3 days/nights there, mostly exploring solo, and enjoyed every moment of it.  It allowed me to be free again.... free to roam, explore, meet new people, try new foods... it was wonderful.  I will definitely share more in a future post.

And lastly, I had closed my etsy store, temporarily, this past winter.  I was feeling overwhelmed with life and needed a break from the responsibility.  Now that I will have more free time (without working on my non-profit) and feel a sense of renewed energy in creating and crafting, I look forward to re-opening my store in a couple of months with new, handmade goods for the masses!

So... life has offered me some amazing gifts... and I look foward to sharing them with my husband, my family, my friends and my readers!

xo-vz