A New Blog?

Yes, I’m moving! This will be the new home address where you can find me!  For six years I’ve been at PatinaGeneral.com, but back in May, Cheryl and I closed Patina General, the store. Since then, our lives have been taking different directions, and it’s just trickier to coordinate posts etc.  Instead of re-working the whole PG site, we decided it was best to retire it, and each find our own way on the world-wide-web.

Besides, my word for 2016 is “New”, and I knew at the beginning of the year that changes were on the horizon for me. There was that little voice inside me that said, “It’s time; you need to do something different with your (work)life.”

I honestly didn’t think I’d ever not want to be in the junk business, because it’s been my passion and a big part of my identity for a long time. But maybe I was just tired, or maybe I’d gotten my fill, or maybe it was just time for a “new” challenge.

I thought long and hard about the parts of the business that I was tired of and what I still loved to do. And truthfully, even though I’d spent hours, days, weeks of my time blogging and never got a dime out of it, it didn’t feel like wasted time to me. I still love blogging.

Because telling stories, styling photos and weaving them together in an encouraging, inspirational way is very integral to who I am. I love vintage furniture, but somehow spending a ton of time sanding, scrubbing, painting, finishing and styling a piece, only to be sold to one customer felt like hitting rewind on my life.

On the blog, I can spend time creating beautiful, and inspire many more, with, hopefully, more impact. And since my next career step is still unclear and I’m needed for a family medical issue currently, I might as well have fun with something “New” here!

I played first doubles on the tennis team when I was in high school with my good friend as my partner. My very competitive brother always said, “You should play first singles; you could totally do it.” I would always tell him, “Doubles are more fun, and there’s more strategy involved.” Which is true, but I think there was always an element of facing the opponent alone, being the only one on my side of the net that was scary to me.

Having Cheryl as my junk partner for the last 18 years has been a blast, but it’s time for both of us to play singles. And it feels a little scary. But I’m a big girl now, and Cheryl and I still talk about once a week about what’s going on with our homes, our families, and our work pursuits.

I hope you enjoy this “New” blog, hopefully representing more of me than just the junky side. I want to share what’s going on not only with my hands, but also inside my head and my heart.

Thanks for finding me here, and thanks for reading!