Do What You Love

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All my life, I just knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  My dad was an art teacher, and after my mom was a stay-at-home mom for a while, she ended up becoming a teacher, too.  I remember spending so much time in their classrooms, and simultaneously wishing for a classroom of my own someday.  After school, my brother and I would be in my mom's room, and I would try to teach him lessons of math and science...all the things I had learned that day.  He was your typical antsy younger brother, squirming in his seat, yet listening attentively.  It was sweet.

Although I loved the idea of being a teacher, I was developing a side of myself that I never really realized existed until I was much older -- my inner decorator.  I would spend countless hours in my room, arranging "displays" with my toys, much like early-childhood vignettes.  I would set up ten-or-so animals on my bed in different ways each morning, perfecting and zhushing while my mom tried to get me out the door for school.

As I grew older, I enjoyed playing with my mom's candlesticks and creating table settings.  She always let me help her decorate for parties and I loved that about her -- how willing she was for me to make things the way I wanted, the way I thought things looked nice.  She was facilitating a creativity and passion that I didn't even know that I had yet.

When I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband) a few years ago, we were living in an apartment that had formerly been a bachelor-pad of sorts.  I used what little decor I had at that point, and just started nesting most days when I came home from work.  I realized that I loved this process so much, and having my own home where I could do what I always had been doing on a much greater scale really gave me such joy.  

I have gone back and forth over the years in terms of my career path.  But I think it is safe to say that these past several months, my mind has been made up -- interior decorating and design are things that are important to me, and it's what I love.  Interior design is the only thing I can see myself doing in the future, and I am just so happy to finally have made up my mind, and to have come upon this decision by listening to God and following Him as He has lead me here.  

And to think it all began with Barbies and candlesticks...

xo,

maria