Snapshots

I've recently fallen in love with a book called "A Year of Mornings". It's a photography book done by two women living across the country from each other. One lives in Portland, ME; the other in Portland, OR. Each morning for a year, they took a picture of something, a snapshot, of their daily life. The book is beautiful. They have a blog; you should check it out: 3191 Miles Apart.

The reason why I love it so much is because they don't take pictures of anything spectacular. There's a picture of the corner of a gingham napkin on a worn table, crumbs on a plate, or just a simple window frame. My friend Stephanie, while thumbing through the book, pointed out a picture of an air conditioner...an air conditioner of all things, somehow made beautiful. Every picture is finding beauty in the everyday; the ordinary. I love that idea, and I feel a need to find beauty in the small things in my life as well.

So please forgive my incredible lack of experience, but I would like to occasionally post these photos on my blog. Brian's joining me on this occasionally, so some of the pictures are his. We want to share what we see. 

Here are a few from the last couple of weeks:

For those of you who know me well and are thinking, "Holy crap, Esther painted her toenails!" It's a good thing my toes are under water in this pic, so you can't see the crappy job I did. There's practically more paint on my skin than my nails. It's been well over 10 years since I painted them, so give me a break. I like the orange.

My Quarter-Life Crisis

The past year has been a year of learning and experiment for Brian and I both. We moved to a small town in western NY, and Brian got a position teaching Kindergarten for the year (the regular teacher was out on maternity leave). We remodeled the house we were staying in (see "The Remodel"), which we discovered we like to do.

It didn't take long however, for us to miss Ithaca. We were selling Brian's photography (see link on the right of the page for his website) at a farmer's market in the area, and someone we've known for years approached us and asked us, "Why on earth did you leave Ithaca? That place was perfect for the two of you!" Well, it didn't take us long to realize that they were right. It's the perfect blend of nature, outdoor opportunities, photo ops for Brian, community culture, and beauty. We set our sights on coming back home.

Then, not long into our stay in Canisteo, I had what I call my "quarter-life crisis":

As many of you know, when I left my job last July I was planning on farming for a living. Well, I gave that a small try this past summer, and here's my prognosis:

Firstly: Although I love gardening, I don't want to grow any crops in mass.
Secondly:I'm more of a social carnivore, so raising livestock isn't worth it.
Thirdly: I am neither entrepreneur nor saleswoman. You have to be able to sell what you grow you see, and that would be hard for me.

So to sum it all up, the truth is that I love to garden. I want a good berry patch, orchard, and garden. That's all. It's a hobby; not a living. 

So I went to the drawing board ... for many years I have thought that I would be a great HS Earth Science teacher. Brian suggested though that I sub at the local school so that I could be 100% sure about my decision. I thought this was a good idea, so with the beginning of 2013, I began subbing with all grade levels at the local school. Two things happened: 1) I gained a ton of good experience and learned to work better with little kids. 2) I discovered that I do not want to work exclusively with 14-year-olds for the rest of my life. I'd end up being one of those teachers who hates kids. You've all met one of those, and I just didn't want to be one.

So...back to the drawing board again. I reviewed my past experiences. I loved my undergrad, but who wouldn't? Recreation Management and Youth Leadership is quite possibly the coolest major ever. I loved my job at Ithaca College; especially working with college-aged students. I don't want to sit down all day though, and I didn't want to work full-time; too hard to keep up with housework when we're both working all day. I couldn't come up with a plan until Brian gave me the idea: Go back to school to get a masters, and then teach at one of the schools in Ithaca. There are 4 schools in the Ithaca area, and all 4 of them have a Recreation program. I could adjunct and get an instructor position when I felt I could take on the time-commitment. Perfect.

After that, things kind of fell together:

Brian got a job at Ithaca City School District as a 5th Grade teacher.
I was accepted to SUNY Cortland in their Recreation Management Master's degree program.
We moved back home to Ithaca.
And ...

So we begin a new leg of our journey.