Saying “Yes!” to All the Adventures…and Afterwards

2017

Freshly divorced, I started off 2017 feeling like the whole world was in front of me.  Since 1999, I hadn’t made many decisions where I put myself first.  Now, forced to move forward solo, I had to be selfish and focus on myself.  In my new one-bedroom apartment, I painted my walls green, pink, and blue.  I hung up all of my colored and twinkly lights.

And I kept myself immersed in my dream job.

Determined to make my living with Sweet Green Photography, every morning, I dove into it.  Day after day, I found myself easily spending 10-12 hours a day working in it.  A few months later, I needed to come up for air.  After also realizing that all of my conversations with other humans involved business, I came up with a solution.

Dating.  I could start dating.

Dating would force me to take small breaks from my business.  In addition, conversing with fellow humans would not focus solely on business!  Although I certainly approached dating like professional networking, once I met people, I was excited to talk about everything else.  Including about myself!

Dating Colorado

It was through dating and talking about myself that I remembered what made me fall in love with Colorado in the first place.  As a child, I was drawn to the atmosphere that surrounded me while camping in Estes Park.  The smell of the trees in the mountains.  The crisp, cool air.  The bright blue sky.  Everything that can be enjoyed by simply standing outside in Colorado.  Even though I had lived in Colorado since 2014, while I was married, I didn’t really get to experience it in the easy way that I dreamed it could be.  Driving into the mountains with no destination in mind, spontaneously camping among the evergreens for the night, hiking for hours with my hot dog.  For most of my life, I’d yearned for this relationship with Colorado.  Now was finally the time.

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Up Through 2018

For the rest of 2017 and all of 2018, I basically dated Colorado.  One main human snuck his way in there, and because of him, I remembered another passion of mine – traveling!  A pilot, he would spend half of his time on the road and the other half in Colorado.  While he was gone, I truly worked on Sweet Green Photography 24/7.  However, when he was back in Colorado, I enjoyed the excuses to walk away from my MacBook and play outside.  Not only did I play outside in Colorado, but I also jumped at any opportunities to travel.  And with a pilot in my life, I had a few of those opportunities.  In a life that had always been so planned, adventures now sprinkled mine.

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When I look back at 2017-2018, I will remember them fondly as the years when I said “yes!” to all of the adventures.  Without those adventures, I wouldn’t have my Fine Art Gallery!  Whenever I’m asked what type of photography I do for fun, this is it.  I love traveling and photographing landscapes.  Colorado, Nevada, Portugal.  I’ve yet to edit my images from Iceland, but capping off 2018 with that trip was perfect.  A last little hurrah.  ‘Cause then, I ran out of money.

No Mo Money

After saying “yes!” to all of the adventures for 2 years, I eventually ran out of money.  Womp womp.  Up until my divorce, this was a situation that I had spent my entire adult life adamantly avoiding!  Importantly, I had made up for some lost time, rekindled my relationship with Colorado, and learned a lot about myself.  However, Sweet Green Photography alone was still not bringing in enough money to allow me to continue to live in Colorado.  I had my dream job in my dream state, but I didn’t know what to do next.  Fortunately for me, at the beginning of 2019 and this dilemma, I met my dream guy.  This dream guy led me to my next adventures.  He convinced me to move out of my one-bedroom apartment and get a job.  Geez…  The things I had to do to snag this stud!  😉

Get a Job!

After moving out of my apartment and in with “a guy I met on Craigslist” (more about that here – 8643 W Mississippi Pl), my next task was to work for someone other than myself.  The last time that I had done that was in 2013.  I was definitely nervous.  Although I hadn’t worked as a server since 2006, I wasn’t nervous about fulfilling that role.  I was almost excited to fall back into that.  I was nervous because, the last time I was employed, I was a manager.  With my recent work history of managing, being a lover of rules, and after creating my own business, I was concerned that I would take too much pride in another person’s business.  Maybe care too much about their branding, their systems, the way their customers are treated.  Managing would not be a role I was seeking to fill, but I feared I would unintentionally become bossy to my peers.

After taking a month to settle into my new place in Lakewood, I started to become more familiar with my surroundings.  First, I researched all of the bars and breweries to which I could drive in less than ten minutes.  Secondly, I ranked them based on their ratings on both Facebook and Google.  Thirdly, I created a resumé highlighting my skills and experience as a server, a photographer and studio manager, and owner of my photography business.  Then, I dropped off that resumé at the drinking establishments rated most highly.  Finally, if I didn’t get to speak with the hiring manager at each place, I followed up with an email.

Lakewood Craft Breweries

When I popped by Great Frontier Brewing Company on a Friday evening, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was handing my resumé directly to the taproom manager.  His name was Beau.  He shared with me that he might actually be able to use my help!  Within a couple of days, he followed up with me via email.  The following week, I interviewed with him in-person, and a couple of weeks later, I started my new job as a beerista!  Even though they weren’t hiring at that moment, a couple of other Lakewood hot spots on my list graciously interviewed me that month.  More excitingly, a few weeks after Great Frontier hired me, so did LandLocked Ales!  They were at the top of my list as well!!  Cheers!

To see some photos that I took of Great Frontier Brewing Company, click here – Great Frontier.

To learn more about me, click here – The Owner.  After viewing the adventure pics on this page, you’ll probably recognize a chunk of them here.  But hey. that’s me, yo.  🙂