Keeping it Real

Hello all my faithful readers!

I know that lately I've been a very bad blogger. In fact, for the past 6 months or so, it's been very hit or miss with blog posts. It's not because I don't love you. Really. I love you all a bunch! I can't express to you how much my WLS family has meant to me during these past 5.5 years that I've been keeping this blog going. You're amazing!

But its time for me to be real and honest with myself and what I'm capable of with my limited time. Things are crazy busy for me -- more so than normal. I don't want to feel guilt for neglecting this blog, so I'm going to take a step back for now and try to focus on what is most pressing in my life. Just a few things going on right now:

• New Job -- I'm just starting my second week of my new job!! Yeah me!! Right after my surgery I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. In September I graduated with an Associate's Degree in graphic communication which then opened up an opportunity for me at work to pursue my dream and become a Graphic Artist. I'm thrilled with the new promotion but I've also been thrown into the deep end of the ocean with a huge project to get me started. 
• New Business -- Just about the time I was graduating from college, an opportunity fell into my lap to join forces with three other amazing graphic designers. Together we formed a design agency called FourEffect and business is booming! We're so excited to be working together and amazed at the awesome things God is doing to help us grow our business so quickly. I'm still working my day job (we WLS folks need insurance, right?!) and putting in around 30 hours a week on client work. But two of the partners are working the business full time already and the third is making plans to transition later this year. So things are going well and I'm excited to see what is in store for us.
• WLS Community -- I'm still active in my local WLS community. I continue to lead the Bay City WLS Support Group and attend two other support meetings each month. My local friends all have my email and phone number and know how to find me. My online friends can hit me up on email or FB. You may not see me online at ObesityHelp.com much anymore, but I'm still around online. Yes, I even visit Facebook once in a while. (And we all know I spend way too much time on Pinterest.) 
• The Book -- I haven't forgotten about my promise to publish my book. Right now I'm a whole year behind schedule based on my original plan. But I still want to finish it. Remember that huge project I mentioned up there with the new job? After that's done, the book is next on my list. Yes, for real!
• Back to School -- I want to continue my schooling. I probably won't go to school for another 3 years to get my Bachelor's Degree in design like I thought a year ago, but there are definitely some classes I want to take - particularly classes in marketing and business and advanced design work to help with the new business venture. That will start again with the Spring term. 
• House Hunting -- For the past 10 years I have endured a 150-mile round trip commute to work. That's nearly 3 hours a day on the road. Do the math. It's crazy! (380,000 miles and what amounts to nearly 1 full year on the road).  It's time to move! So come spring, I'm going to do some serious house shopping. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off and sell my current house and all that goes with it... but it's my goal. 

So it's time to take a break from this blog. I know. I know. I'm sad too. 

I'm too buried with stuff these days and I don't think it's fair to you to just leave you hanging like this. But it's not like I'm leaving forever and moving to Mars. I'll still be here. And you know me... if I have something pressing to say or to share with you, you'll hear from me! There WILL be occasional posts and I will definitely let you know when the book is done and on the market. 

I just want to be fair to you all, my faithful readers. There's nothing that I hate more than an abandoned blog, so I'm trying to avoid that scenario. Everything here will still be here and once in a while I'll be back with something brilliant (ha!) to say. So don't unsubscribe from the email list and don't remove me from your RSS feed and don't delete the bookmarks.... I'm still here, just not "here" here. 

Love you all!

~Pam