Finally Peaceful

Hello All,

I've been told that some of my friends actually read this blog of mine, so I thought I would check in and post some new and happy news.

What's new?

I'm working a ton. This whole month I fly out to Paris each trip I have. No Amsterdam at the moment, but that suits me just fine. More chances to practice my French and more bottles of Vin Rouge to try :)

Other than that, I'm moving to Brooklyn. I know it is a thing with me, if I'm not happy somewhere, I deal for a few months and then pick up and leave. I'm somewhere around 25 moves in the last nine years - but one of these times I'm going to settle down. Some day - but not today :)

I'll post soon about the new place (I'm so excited about it but haven't actually signed anything yet so I don't want to jinx it by writing about it).

NY is good, but not what I expected. Someone said to me "You move to NY not so much to stay there, but to see if you can survive it. And you have, brilliantly." This made me feel a lot better and I think it is somewhat true. I had wanted to live in NYC for years - since I was quite young and though I had tried to be practical about it, still had a somewhat romantic outlook on the place when I moved there in November. Months later I have been through the puppy love phase, moved on to the hating it phase, went through the disappointed and bitter phase and now I've moved on to the "it is what it is, I'll make the best of it, love what I can about it, and eventually move back to NC" phase. Much happier with this last outlook.

Trying to convince myself that NY really was the Bohemian paradise I always dreamed it would be and I wasn't there enough, cool enough, or looking hard enough to find it was exhausting and frustrating in the extreme. Although I might not have found something that is indeed out there and I may not be cool enough to fit into it whatever that IT is - I'm ok with that and have stopped stressing over a lost dream.

Now I've found a few friends, some cool artists and have settled into a more accurate reality of NY I think.

NC - still loving it. Something about this place keeps me coming back. Yes it is safe and I do have tons of friends and family here that I miss when I'm away, but I also find that it has some cultural offerings if you will that so many other places don't.

I've decided that whenever this company is done with me (I'm so not going to be done with them first - I LOVE my job) that I will move back to NC and try my best to do the settling down thing I've been avoiding - or trying desperately to avoid - for years.

It isn't going to happen tomorrow, but I found that once I made the decision to move back here I felt at peace with where I am now and what I'm doing, more so than I had in months.

Other than that - hmmmm. Love life = me and only me. I'm very happy with this and happy to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.

Divorced? No not yet and I've decided once again to let him handle the paperwork and the cost. I'm probably going to change my mind about this again, but for now, I'm ok with it. No need to get divorced this second, I'm not in a terrible hurry. Not yet anyway :)

Travel? Yep I'm going to Greece in June to shoot a wedding with my good friend Danielle and then kick around a few islands for a couple of days.

Then in September I'm off to Bali (hopefully stopping off in Hong Kong for two days) with my good friend Steve. I'm really thrilled about this trip because I've dreamed of going to Bali for years! I would love to just take months to backpack around Bali and Thailand and hit more of China on the way back to the states, but sadly that will have to wait for another time.

All in all, life is good. My friends are amazing, my family as supportive and loving as ever and my dog though not listening to me anymore (my mother has way more treats in her pockets than I ever do) loves me and seems happy to see me when I can get home to hang with her.

Hugs to everyone, and hopefully I'll catch up with all of you in one of the cities I frequent soon! :)