I’m crazy about music. It’s a rare time when an addictive personality is a good thing. I once had a neighbor write a note and tuck it nicely into my doorframe; “Maigen, I really like the song you’ve been playing but I can’t stand to hear it another time. Try something else?” Oops. I need to blog tonight just to blog, to purge my brain from the storm of projects I’ve had the past two months. I decided to instate a new policy; The inclusion a song from my musical treasure chest: SoundCloud, in each post. It’s been a year and ten days since I put myself on a plane headed for Lisboa, Portugal. At the time, I had just quit my only “real” job, a four year tenure as a graphic designer/marketer for a printing company. I was on a three week hightail chase. The streets, trains, and airports of foreign cities, and countries whirled by. I wish I would have stopped to breathe for myself more. Coming back to America, I found myself in the middle of a room, in front of a new computer, at a new company, a nice salary for a 27 year old, and cube-living. I hid between my earphones for those thirty days before even that couldn’t keep me in that chair any longer. Putting the lid on my unpacked box of office supplies and books, I walked out on Halloween Day. Never celebrate Halloween, but this year, I’m going to. While executed entirely wrong, it’s still one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Not long after, I enjoyed the project management responsibilities of an SEO agency, and two months later, found myself back on a plane, this time headed for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Southeast Asia. Again, I was on a hightail chase. After recovering from the Asian sickness that had me wobbling around like Yoda for weeks, wedding season hit. Trying to be a full time project manager for this SEO company while photographing 2 straight months of back to back weddings brought me to my knees, among other life happenings. 5 months ago, I made the scary decision to go out on my own, take on design work and photography gigs. All in a year. What… a year. In the last two months, I’ve launched 4 websites and have been designing a beast-sized one in the background. My photography is littered throughout three of the four websites and it makes me feel good. I have some amazing clients and have met so many wonderful people. I just want to take some time to absorb it. It feels weird. As I write, my mind jumps from the good, the bad, and ah… the real ugly. Doors closing. I don’t really have a closing punchline to this post but am ready to write finally. It’s been some time since I felt like I understood myself, or what I was doing, what I want for my own life. I get so busy on other projects, and people. I’m excited about what’s to come. And I can’t wait to start sharing more of my design work along with my incredible photography clients.