I'M AT A LIFE CROSSROADS.

I'm at a little bit of a life crossroads lately. My last day of work at my job is this Friday June 8th, and then... I don't know what to do next!

I've been thinking about going back to school to get my teaching credential. I've thought about moving to Los Angeles to work for a movie studio (granted I need to get hired first). I've thought about trying to really give my Etsy shop Confetti Heart all my energy to make that more lucrative. I've thought about pursuing photography full time on my own. I've thought about starting a cookie/baking business. I've thought about buying land and making my own wedding venue business.

I just have no idea, you guys! I'm at that crucial moment where I just need to decide on something and run with it with all my time and energy, but I just don't know what direction I want to go yet!

If it's going back to school, I need to decide pronto and apply to a program for the Fall semester. I've been looking at CSU Channel Islands and CSU Northridge for the credential. The idea of going back to school sounds so fun to me, but I also only want to do it if I'm sure that's what I want to do, even if just for a few years.

Regardless of what I end up doing, I'm for sure going to take this Summer off! I haven't had a Summer vacation since I was in college so it just sounds so nice to take a little time off for myself. I want to travel. I want to swim. I want to lay out under palm trees in the sand and be a bum. I want to photograph everything I see. I want to roadtrip in my new Honda Fit and sleep in the back. I want to visit family and friends. I want to play, and explore, and be happy! I really just want to slow down to truly enjoy my life.

So although I have no idea what I want to do after my little Summer vacation, I'm so excited for what's to come! It's nerve-wracking, and intimidating, and exciting all at the same time!

Here's to hopefully an enlightening Summer to help me realize what passion to follow next!



My Etsy shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/confettiheart

I GOT LAID OFF. (for the first time)

I've never been fired or laid off from a job before. That was up until last Wednesday. My company decided to lay off all the photographers in Utah including yours truly. It's a weird feeling going into a corporate meeting with 15 other photographers and all be told simultaneously that we don't have a job anymore. 

In order to get my severance package I have to work until June 8th and I'm totally okay with that. I love the people I work with, so although it's weird going back to a job you know you don't technically have anymore, it's easy to hang out my co-workers for a few more weeks.

I weirdly feel at ease with all of this though. Despite everything being so up in the air, I feel a strange calmness about it all. I know I'll figure out what to do next, I know I have savings to float me until my next thing, and I know everything will just be okay ultimately. I've lived a relatively pretty easy life so far, so why would it be any different now?

On the silly side of things, I can now say I've been laid off. That feels like a real 1930s thing to me. 

I really don't know what I will do just quite yet. I'm looking for jobs currently, and trying to interview for an HR type role that just opened up on Friday, but who knows? Maybe I'll just take the Summer off and go travel and bum around for a bit. That sounds so delightful to me. :) That was the original plan anyway, but it's easier to plan it out than to actually quit and make yourself do it. 

Maybe this laying off was just the little push I needed!


 

25 AND A HALF!

Happy half birthday to me!
Yesterday I turned 25 1/2. A quarter of a century and a half. Twenty five and one half.

In celebration of my half birthday, I treated myself to a Mango Madness drink from Thirst, gardening for an hour or so in my garden, going home from work early, a walk around Memory Grove, and dinner at Applebee's! I went back to my roots and ordered only appetizers for dinner and it was the best decision! That's all I really ever crave from Applebee's: the appetizers. Oh man, that spinach artichoke dip is my favorite!

I love celebrating half birthdays! It's a fun celebration of life without the stress of having to do something substantial like a normal birthday. I feel like it was just a month ago I was so scared to turn 25, and before I knew it, it's already been half a year. So crazy! Time really does pass by so quickly, and I'm working on both embracing that and purposely doing things to slow down life a little where I can.

Happy half birthday to me!

DNA RESULTS ARE IN!

So I bought myself an Ancestry DNA kit because how fun is it to find out what you really are! I got my results back on New Year's Eve but realized I never shared the results here!

I grew up my whole life answering the question "what are you?" with the same answer every time. "I'm like half Spanish, half German." I mean my mom's side migrated to the US from Spain hundreds of years ago, and my dad's side has a lot of German, Scottish, etc so it was the easiest answer; especially when you're a kid.

Now that I got my results back, I laugh because despite having the most German last name possible, I'm hardly German at all! Who knew all those little charts I made throughout elementary school were so inaccurate!

It's fun to see the actual percentage break down of everything that makes up my DNA and all the little surprises to it! I never knew I was so Irish/Scottish/British! Or so Native American for that matter.

It's crazy the different results each sibling can get! Granted my brother David has a different dad, but his came back with 55% Great Britain which seems like so much! I can't wait until the rest of my siblings and parents get their results in to compare! 

It's just so fun to finally find out what composes your DNA. Now I know!

LITTLE LIFE UPDATES!

I haven't been the best at blogging lately and that bums me out a little. I think I've just been trying to do too many creative things at once, and by doing so, I'm doing all of them at 30%.

So here's a little life update:
1. First and foremost, I bought a new car and that's been the highlight of the past week for me!

2. I also have been struggling a little with the lack of sunshine. Seasonal Affective Disorder is real, my friends, and it's rough! On Monday, I laid in front of the Happy Light to try to trick my brain into thinking it was a beautiful sunshiney day but it didn't work super well. There's a super funny episode on Broad City where Ilana keeps ditching away from work to a supply closet to use her Happy Light like it's a drug, and I cracked up the whole episode!

3. I've been trying to figure out what my next big game plan is. I think it's now between hitting the road in June to travel around the US for a couple months, and moving to LA. Clearly I have a very fickle heart. My plan is always changing by the day!

4. I decided to start Vlogging! 2018 seems to be the year that everyone decided to start vlogging though huh? I've seen so many new little family vlogs pop up on Facebook and Instagram, and I think "Oh no! I'm doing the same thing!". But I'm okay with that. I want video memories to look back on from my twenties so that's just what I'll do! Photos only go so far before you wish you just recorded the moment.
VLOG link:  www.youtube.com/channel/oliviaschultz

5. I started making candles! I made my first batch yesterday and I'm so excited to make more! I made a yummy citrus batch, and eventually I would love to start selling them at markets around Salt Lake City and on Etsy! I want it to be it's own brand away from Confetti Heart so I've been brainstorming name ideas the past few days! I have a notebook where I keep writing different words I like to come up with a name. I'm close, I can feel it, but I have to sleep on it a few more nights I think.

 
6. I haven't been doing the best at eating healthy. I figured out a new game plan last night though so hopefully I can stick to it! Summer is quickly approaching and I have to keep reminding myself that I can't keep eating like a winter bear. :)

7. I'm wearing pink and red all week for Valentine's Day and it makes me feel so feminine and lovely! I love Valentine's Day, and I love how lovely I feel in pink.

8. I've been looking at real estate in Los Angeles and I made the mistake of trying to get more information about a particular property and now I have a million realtors and loan pre-approval people calling me. It's the worst! Luckily, they're all so friendly so I can't get too mad. I just don't love all the unwelcomed phone calls at all hours of the day.

9. I'm trying to sell my old car so if any of you know someone who wants to buy a super clean, super great 2010 Toyota Corolla let me know! I'm asking $7,785, but I'd be willing to sell it cheaper to someone I know.

10. I just bought MoviePass and I'm so excited to use it! Have you heard of MoviePass? You essentially pay $9.99 a month and you can see as many movies as you want in the theater with your pass! (Well, one 2D movie per day.) And right now, Costco has the memberships on sale for $89.99 for the year so it ends up coming out to $7.50 a month for unlimited movies at the theater! It sounds super scammy and questionable on how they can actually make money with that business plan, but it's real and I just bought mine! 

I BOUGHT A NEW CAR!

YOU GUYS. I BOUGHT A NEW CAR!

I couldn't be more excited about it! I got a dark grey Honda Fit and I absolutely love it! You don't realize just how outdated* your car is until you get a new one and it has a sunroof, a backup camera, a side camera that turns on when you signal to show your blindspots, doors that unlock when your key is near the car, bluetooth, and that little option that lets me make phone calls through the car speakers! (I don't know what that's called, but it's so cool!) It seriously just feels so fun! I feel like it has everything I wanted and things I didn't even know I wanted until I had them! 

*My other car really wasn't outdated. It was a 2010 and drove amazing. It honestly was so good to me! I just wanted a Fit. :)

Step 1 is complete for Operation Travel the U.S!
Best of all, the back seats lie flat so I can travel around and sleep in the back when I quit my job! 

Lately when I test drove cars, one of the first things I did was put the back seats down to see if I could fit in the back laying down. This car is so roomy and I can't wait until I can build myself a little bed in the back!

Testing out the back on my test drive.

I don't consider myself a super materialistic person, but oh man is it fun to have a new car! I get so excited now every time I need to go somewhere just because I know I get to drive it again. It may be winter, but that hasn't stopped me from opening the sunroof every time I go out! I've seriously always wanted a car with a sunroof and now that I have one, it's safe to say it's brought me every ounce of happiness I thought it would! A little sunshine on my face and wind in my hair is all I really need.

A new vlog is on it's way of the whole day! You can keep an eye out for it here:
www.youtube.com/channel/oliviaschultz

BIG LIFE CHANGES ARE HAPPENING!

The other day I sat on the porch swing and talked to Mamabear for over an hour on the phone. This used to be a much more of a frequent thing in the past, but we haven't had as long of conversations recently.

We chit chatted about plans for the summer, possible trips we might go on, and life plans for the next couple of years, and I realized everything might be shifting rather drastically in the next year or so. Forrest might be moving to Southern California in the next year to be closer to his business partner for their company. Mama is planning on retiring and possibly moving into the Salt Lake City house, and I've been flirting with the idea of moving to New York City next Spring/early Summer. New York City ...or LA. One of the two!

It's all very exciting but also a lot of changes in such a short amount of time! It was weird to realize that within a year, Forrest, Mama, and I might all be living in not just new cities, but new states. 

Here's to bigger and better things, and not letting life get too stagnant!