when the universe conspires for you

So today is day 1 of the rest of my life. I got up this morning, said goodbye to one of my bestest friends who spent the weekend with me (and what fun we had!) and headed to a doctor's appointment to get stocked up on various prescriptions and antibiotics (one set for a sinus infection I've just come down with, and one to have on hand for my trip, per state department recommendations :). Really mundane stuff but all done with a total spring to my step. I got a call from work around 11:15 to answer a few quick questions and then I got to tell them my fun news - I'm going to be filming a mini how-to segment for a new product my cousin has developed at a major craft convention taking place nearby tomorrow.

Here's how it happened - I went to the convention yesterday with my friend and met another cousin there who is doing some PR for these craft kits my other cousin has developed. We stumbled upon a booth that was doing demos of silver clay (this stuff is the absolute COOLEST - if I hadn't just dropped off my memory card to hopefully be recovered I'd show you a picture of the necklace I made!) and in the middle of making this little pendant a t.v. crew that was covering the show for a division of HGTV came by with their host. They sat him down right next to me and gave him my work materials so he could look like he was doing something while they filmed the sign-off for his segment. This left me just sitting there, which made me feel more or less useless in the shot, so I got up and let the representative for the silver clay sit down so she could instruct him.

In the meantime, this led me to be standing back next to the producer and the camera people - and it occurred to me I should ask them if they were still looking for products to feature, because I happened to have a "museable" there in my bag. They were, I gave them the kit - one thing led to another and we'll be filming a how-to create a museable segment tomorrow at 3:00! Now it's not as if I have any aspirations to be on t.v. - I just think it's neat that the very fact I no longer have a job is allowing me to follow through on this for my cousin - and hopefully give her product more exposure to the world (it will air in May and we'll keep our fingers crossed that our super cool product which includes film that disappears instantly in water - seriously cool - will make it on the show).

On top of that, I finally have a few days to focus on some materials for a business idea I've had for a long time and have a friend who is actually excited about working on it with me. Oh the absolute joy of being able to focus your attention on the things that matter to you! I'm not trying to gloat - I'm really just trying to embrace these moments (hopefully the first of many) for what they are - glimses of life as I'd like to live it - where opportunities can be embraced as they come up, and ideas followed through on.

So that's that - your comments were starting to make me thing that I'd sent the message I was taking off - I'm not! Just rearranging my life a bit and of course this is one of my favorite spaces to reflect on that. I'm so thankful for the people that read this and share their own thoughts, encouragement and places that they're at along the way - seriously, thank you guys!