And so it Begins.

Page one of Drift>>>>>done.
Christmas shopping>>>>>done.
Scrimping and saving to quit my job in June>>>>>pending.
Rewrite resume and submit to zoos and stables>>>>>pending.
Research everything about Golden Colorado and budget to see how long I could make it if I moved there now>>>>>done.
Faith that everything will turn out alright>>>>>done.

Been spending the last few months in varying stages of excitement and worry about the future. I've never made a drastic life change like this...heck I've never even really moved more than 30 miles from home. So sometimes the idea of quitting my job where I make decent money and finding part time work to make more time for art while possibly doing it all in Colorado instead of Texas seems incredibly stressful. Especially since it's voluntary and relatively unprovoked from a financial standpoint. I feel like I could almost handle it better if it were a sudden, forced life change. But for the most part everyone in my life has been really supportive with the singular exception of one of my highly money-oriented brothers, but that was expected.

Lately I've come to a more peaceful place about it. I feel really good about quitting and moving on, it's definitely time for that. Teaching at a public elementary school does not afford me much time to make art. While I will miss free access to a kiln, I am so busy I never have time to use it for myself anyway, not to mention being mentally and emotionally drained at the end of every day from having to parent 550 kids and maneuver my way through multiple daily power struggles. It's just time. If I don't leave now I may never do it, and that thought alone is scary enough to motivate me to quit.

I am still only about 70%-80% sure about Colorado. I want it to happen, just not sure if I can make it happen. I have very few connections up there and so my safety net would be considerably smaller if something did happen and I needed help. And since I have no one to network through, finding a job will be a lot harder. Still, time will tell. A big part of me just wants to take a leap of faith and move up there. I'm battling my practical side on that one...but there are still 6 months to go and my sense of adventure has always been pretty strong...time will tell.

Til then, I am off until the 5th of January and hope to get some art done. Starting page two of Drift now, we'll see if I can't get a backlog of pages going. Should also probably work on the title page...I am just excited to be working on something again. <3 I haven't felt so artistically productive since 2011...if I can get back to 2007 productivity, however, that would be swell.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

_{For those interested, you can Follow updates/concept art for Drift on Tumblr as well.}