Appreciating the small things.

Just taking a moment from today to reflect on how thankful I am for some little things in life.  More often than not, it's those still, small moments that bring the most joy.  Despite my ongoing physical discomforts, I feel like my life is full of so many good things.  I don't have the words to express my feelings but the feelings themselves are abundant.

A basket full of root vegetables, squash & plantains...

I really loved how our neighbors dead tree became surrounded by flowers.... unexpected and lovely!

Getting lost in the process of hanging art & redesigning/relocating furniture at the office.

Small but good things.

goals.

Over the past few weeks I've written down a lot of goals.  It's not my normal tendency to list out my goals, but it's been a tough year and a lot of my unwritten intentions from last year never came to fruition.  It's disappointing to think of some of last year's unaccomplished goals and frustrating to not even remember others.

At this point, I can't be certain about how the year is going to shape up, health-wise and whatnot, but jotting some ideas down on a scrap of paper helped me to feel like I have things to look forward to this year.  Some of my goals are personal.  Some are home-related (we've decided to stay in our apartment for a fifth year, so I'm consoling myself with make-over/upgrade ideas).  The most important goals are related to my piano studio.  There are a lot of things that I would like to accomplish with my business this year, the biggest being that I would like to return to being solely self-employed again, and no longer working an "extra job" for extra income.  I want my business to grow this year.

I'm ready to do the work.  God willing.

work. and flower excitement.

I just don't talk about my work-life on this blog very much.  If ever.   But, I'm very fortunate.  I've been blessed with two completely different types of jobs... and I actually enjoy both of them.

I've been teaching private piano lessons in the evening hours for years now.  It's what I consider to be my "real" job--the thing that I am most passionate about--and it's always my first answer when asked the question "What do you do for a living?"  For a while, teaching piano lessons was my only job.  However, last year, I decided to take on a part-time office job to give us some extra wiggle-room in our finances.  The office job fills up my morning hours and then I go home and teach piano lessons for the remainder of the evening.  Sometimes it's tiring and sometimes I wish that I could just go back to solely teaching... but I actually do enjoy the office work.  It's teaching me to take joy in being a servant and taking care of the needs of others.  It's very fulfilling work.

A few months ago, our office moved locations.  As "Office Manager," I was in charge of packing up the whole office (quite the feat) and figuring out a portion of the logistics.  The move was right smack dab in the midst of my recent health problems.  It was difficult, but I made it through!  And now, we have a brand new, shiny office space.

For the past few weeks, our "Community Manager" Allison has been planning an Open House party for our company.  She did all the party planning (and she did such a great job), but she asked me to take care of the flowers.  I think they turned out so beautifully!!   (The front desk is my desk!)