What if?

Let's start with a quick review, shall we? I live in Wisconsin now, with my parents and sister. I like to think of this as a detour on my way to California.. an extended vacation, if you will, to get money saved and plans made. I was also supposed to find out the results of the rib contest I had entered, today, only to find I had an email this morning telling me all of the top 10 of us were being mailed the results.. hm. It snowed this morning only to have the sun come out. I recently did some photos for a local restaurant, The Wooden Chair and I'll be posting those once the wireless internet is up and running. So on to the point of this blog. What if?

What if it is never too late?

What if... I could plan on having multiple careers in my lifetime?

What if it IS okay to have many passions in life?

Is it?

I know I will never be able to please everyone.. if not anyone, but I could try to please myself, I suppose. The goal is not to dissapoint, but pleasing is so subjective, therefore a lost cause.

Something I've really known in my mind for some time now, but never really realized is that, I'm in my 20's. My sister alerted me to this fact, just the other day. I know I'm in my 20's, in fact, I'm 24. My point is, these are the game-making years, my only chance to grow up, get smart and make a plan. I know what I love, what I want and a sort have a round-about idea of a way to get there, it's just a matter of, really, getting these things out of my mind and into the real world.

I am a believer in, "it's never too late." It really isn't. But, it's never too early either. I need to be careful, I need to be smart, especially with two daughters whose future depends on my existance. So to make my existance the best I know I can, I will. I will be honest with who I am and not who people think I am. I will be honest with what I know I can do and not what people think I am incapable of. It's a struggle with the thoughts of others and the thoughts of myself and it's hard to get to the point where I feel I can make an informed decision without letting someone make my decision for me. It's not to say that anyone has ever told me what to do, it's that I've taken opions so literally in the past. I will change that for myself, for my girls, for the better. And take my time.

As most anyone reading this, knows, I love photography.. I find the uniqueness and the importance of capturing something through a piece of glass and having it be a record of that instant and symbolic for someone such an honour. It's a miracle of science to me and I love it. I will never stop making photos.

I am also a foodie.. and well if I had money, I'd really be. Cooking is probably the most relaxing thing I know how to do, and I do it moderately well. I compare the sounds of a symphony to the flavours of food. Think of it in layers. You can separate out the different sounds of the instruments and hear them individually but with all of the other sounds, it is amazing, it's extasy for your ears. The same goes for food, you identify a single flavour, each on it's own, but you also taste them together and they, too, sinfully harmonize.

Multiple careers? Yes. Facing myself, I see this timeline of sorts(is there such a thing as a 30 year plan? I've worn out the 5 year plan already):

-Assistant Photographer
-Culinary Student
-Chef
-Pottery Studio/Cafe Owner
-Photographer
-Food Critic

Shocked? Maybe. It's the truth. It's surely not too late, either, perhaps right in time. Yes, this little 105 pound, five foot girl from the Midwest plots to be a chef and a photographer, an entrepreneur and in my age a critic, striking fear.

Well, and you, too, can probably see that I enjoy rambling about life, about things important to me and it helps me to get them written down. My thoughts seem more, real, more solid and justified. Today, this is what's most important to me; planning and plotting the future, making a great life for my girls, finding my sunny beach in life, exploring and validating my passions, all of them, and most of all I'm not going to try so hard to please others anymore, it just doesn't work.

Cheers to you all! Photos to come! -Cassie