Once Upon a Time...

...there was this woman who was having a mid-life awakening and she decided that it was time to stop thinking about her bucket list, and start acting on it.

The bucket had a few holes in it (dear Liza, dear Liza)--namely, the expense of paying for culinary school part time while trying to freelance and make enough ducats to keep a roof over my family's head.

But in October 2009, this mid-life maverick graduated from culinary school and was able to check off one more thing from her bucket list.

That's the end...and the beginning. I am still trying to figure out how to work a full-time job and not lose myself to the corporate world. How do I pursue my dreams without letting the dreams of others interfere? This is not an easy thing to do. Not at all. Not at all.

So I am a bit frustrated. And a bit lost, to be honest. Blessed to be employed, a bit sad that I haven't been able to put my training to in any physical way. I have to change that.

But first, I have to establish myself on the job--and that isn't easy working remotely. I realize I have some serious challenges here. But I keep reminding myself, at least I took the risk.

So, I will forge ahead, as always, to see what's around the next corner. I'm hopeful it's not a scalable wall, but a downhill valley where I can coast my way to the bottom, if only for a little while...