Sometimes, I truly believe that horrible things happen so that wonderful things can fall into place. As anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows, 2012 has been one (pardon my French) BITCH of a year. It has been one thing after another since January 1st rolled around. I was starting to think that I would drown from all of the stress and worries. But, this morning I woke up with a much different perspective.

If bad things didn’t happen, would we really even be able to appreciate the good? Better yet, if bad things didn’t happen… Would we have the drive, determination, and motivation to accomplish great things? No, no, no, one thousand times no. I honestly believe that.

For a while there I was maintaining my life but not exactly bettering it. Sure, not THAT long ago I began running, (okay wow its been nearly 2 years now.. holy cow) and I’ve been building my strength, health, and distance since. But as far as my career goals, my life goals, the bigger picture… I was simply floating along.

I’ve been over the restaurant industry (in the traditional sense) for awhile now. I love to cook, and working in restaurants is pretty much all I know, and I’m dang good at it. Everything from waiting tables, to tending bar, to running the kitchen.. I’ve done it all at one point or another and I’ve always been highly successful at it. I’m great under pressure so a busy section on a Saturday night was easy-peasy. Running a fast paced kitchen was stressful as hell, but I was good at it. But, to say I “LOVED” it would be a bull-faced lie!

If you asked me what my true PASSIONS in life are, my answers would fly out before you even finished the question. Travel, Music, Running. If I could get paid to listen to music while running in a new city every day.. Well, you just let me know when a job like that opens up. kay? haha, however… I have the travel part down pretty well.. In the last 4 years I have lived in 6 or 7 different cities. (I’m a gypsy..) Some of these cities were close by, some of them were complete different parts of the country…. Running I’m on top of as well, especially because MY COUGH IS FINALLY GOING AWAY *knocks on wood* with my second half a month and a half away, and my first marathon 7 months away.. Running is doing its thaaang! Of course it’d be nice to be paid for either one of these passions but well, I’m no elite runner so I don’t see that happening in my near (or distant) future.

But the stars did align themselves perfectly for me!!!! This week as a lot of you know I’ve been down in Texas for two reasons. One reason was to help my step-mom with the race she’s directing. We’ve been busy tying up all the loose ends and getting things set up tonight, and tomorrow I’ll be helping out all morning before I run the race! But the MAIN reason (it honestly just worked out that I was here this particular weekend. So glad to be able to be a part of the race set up though! What an incredible experience) was to find an apartment in Austin and have an interview for my absolute DREAM JOB.

& I am THRILLED to announce that it all worked out. I fell in absolute love with the first apartment I viewed. I told my realtor to just rip up the rest of her listings because I was SOLD. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the perfect location in South-Central Austin!!! But it gets even better.

I am the new booking agent for this totally friggin AWESOME, adorable, venue in downtown Austin. What is a booking agent, you ask? Well, I will be booking bands/musicians/artists for concerts, gigs and other live music performances. I couldn’t contain myself when I went to my interview yesterday and was offered the position at the end of it! I literally jumped up and hugged the owner of the venue. Thankfully he just laughed and wasn’t weirded out by my ways of thanking him. haha.

Seriously though, this is basically a DREAM JOB for me. You see.. I have always been deeply rooted in the local music scene. Yes, Jamestown NY is a tiny tiny tiny city… But we have some of the best local bands I have ever heard come out of anywhere in this country. I have had the pleasure of meeting, being friends with, dating even… some of the coolest musicians. There is something about music and musicians that just inspires me. I love it ALL. There isn’t a single genre that I’m just like “ew no way”. I love music. Simply put! I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter of my career.

You know what made them decide I was the perfect match for the position? My blog. They loved how passionate I was during the “local flavor” week of PLAYLIST THURSDAY. So, really… if I’m being perfectly honest I owe a big thank you to Pavement Runner for starting Playlist Thursdays and convincing me to join the fun!

Life truly is beautiful if you DARE TO DREAM and GET AFTER IT!!!
xoxoxoxo

when was the last time YOU dared to dream?