about me

I am not where I thought I would be at this stage of life.

In my mid-twenties, the rubber hit the road and I had to choose a livelihood.  After a few years of starving artist life, I signed up to study accounting and get a good day job, so that I could be creative in my free time. I had studied music seriously and I had also loved drawing, painting, reading, writing and sewing in my youth. Events and circumstances outside my control eventually brought me to that moment of truth; that moment when the artist gives up and turns toward the safe path. I did it and it was hard but today, I have no regrets.

For some time, I did not play music at all, focusing on learning the ways of life in a CPA firm. I had a young family and I was determined to conform to society's idea of the good life. Just take a WAG what happened next. A WAG is a term I learned as an accountant; it's a wild ass guess.  (Accountants get a bad rap - there are plenty of great accountants who make the workplace fun).

Yes, you are correct when you predict that my latent creative side boiled beneath the surface and erupted within a decade. I got back into playing my violin, this time adding jazz to the repertoire. I even stopped accounting for a while and went back to college to add credits for a music education degree. I was determined to swerve into another lane on the highway of life and do something more creative. Events outside my control happened again and I returned to the accounting field for a much needed paycheck and it was good. I was glad I could support myself and my daughter and her father stayed a very supportive person in our lives, too.

In time, my daughter and I took to things like guitar lessons and pottery classes. I started playing violin and I started sewing again. She was always so supportive of my crafty side! She grew up and she takes care of herself now and she is a great comfort to me. So yeah, I'm glad I did that family thing.

Within the last decade, something magical started taking over. I was able to move from accounting over into IT, where I enjoy computer puzzles and the other people drawn to computer puzzles. I met Howie and got married again. I had the time to be creative on the side. The day job pays the bills and my creative mojo keeps me active in the sewing room. I have hit the lottery! That painful decision to chose a "real job", made decades ago, panned out. I am creative in my free time and my interesting job supports it. I have complete and utter control over my sewing, my writing and blogging and this satisfies me to the bone.

It took a detour into a "creative" job (I was the editor of a sewing magazine for 1.5 months in the summer of 2012) to help me fully appreciate what it means to have a real job and a splendid hobby.  Not unlike Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, I was able to come home and pick up where I left off.  No, I am not a magazine editor in New York (oh, how sexy that sounded!) but I have my profession, close family and friends, my blog and my sewing room.

This is who I am.  When I am at work, I am engaged and happy.  When I am with family, they warm my heart.  But when I am sewing, I am alive with creativity. My inner artist thrives.

There are clothes involved, too, so what could be better? Fingernail polish? Well alright then, the manicure is on the schedule.

Welcome to my blog and thank you for reading.  I so appreciate that we can share our love of textiles, needle arts and personal style!

PS You might enjoy reading what Paul Graham has to say in his post: How to Do What You Love.

17 comments:

  1. Very thoughtful, and very well-said, Robin!

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  2. When I read this, I wanted to invite you around for coffee.

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  3. Thank you for letting us into your life. It's nice to know the real you.......and I like what I see.

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  4. Thouroughly enjoyed learning "about you". It confirms the depth I always thought you carried in your heart.

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  5. Sounds like you've reached that wonderful stage in life where the insides and the outsides match. That's my definition of joy.

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  6. Yep, you're a pretty good writer, too, Robin. :)

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  7. As you might guess, I can identify! Except I am currently chafing at the day job part of my life that I've been doing for the past 20 years and scheming on ways to do my creative stuff for more of my time; part-time music is not enough anymore, it seems. I'm trying to do it all right now and it's tiring. Wish I had time for those sewing lessons with you that we talked about a long time ago.

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    1. honestly, I do a lot of scheming, too.
      :)
      Keep your creative life alive!

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  8. I can identify too. Even the IT part with puzzles. While it is an okay job, it sucks my soul dry. The creativity puts it right. But the soul-sucker is reliable and pays for so much that I can't quit, and retirement is quite some time out. I try to keep in mind that it pays for all the fun stuff.

    I love your blog, and missed you when you left. You are quite inspiring. :)

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    1. Leigh, I know, I know. It's all about balance and it's not easy. But keep up the creative stuff!! Never let that go!

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  9. In our CPA firm, it was SWAG: Scientific wild ass guess. Hey, we're licensed, after all. :-)

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  10. Your writing is beautiful and your journey resonates with mine. I had a career as a nurse, but have been creative on the side. Working part time and having a hat shop for four years helped me to appreciate the pay check and the nursing career that I returned to full time after the shop closed. It was a difficult business, but I learned so much, and have no regrets.

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  11. I love this! Such a thoughtful expression of gratitude for being alive. Thank you for an evocative introduction to you and your blog. Your warmth fairly leaps off the digital page.

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  12. I'm so glad I found your blog! I appreciate all that you express about the journeys in your sewing room. I feel that I share some of your history and experience. I too loved to sew when I was a child... clothing; in early adulthood most of my sewing was in interiors such as drapes and accessories... all very straight stitching, but rewarding too. And only in the last two years (15 years later) have I returned to sewing... full steam with lessons, pattern adjusting, serging, and many hours shopping and acquiring quite a 'stash'. Though I've more projects ahead of me than I have hanging in my closet. I can't imagine all the hours you put into your blog on top of the sewing hours but PLEASE keep doing it! I will be returning to your site to enjoy what new projects you bring to us - thank you!

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