Hello Internet Friends (and real-life friends, if you are here too)!

Considering that it has been a little over 2 years since my last blog post (whoops) - I am here with a life update. S0 much change took place I will recap those below, but one thing has remained consistent, is that many of you are still around, still placing orders, still asking about “what’s going on with the art business.”

I appreciate you sticking around - it means so much to me. When you love what you do, particularly when it’s art, it’s heart-warming to see that people genuinely - at the bare minimum, like - what you’ve produced. I am constantly humbled and grateful.

With that being said…

I always believe that life comes in seasons. If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed a slowdown in posts, particularly about this art venture. Some of you have asked when paintings will be available again, if I’ve quit, or if I’ve decided to become a full time gardener now (I wish! Maybe someday?). The short answer is no, I have not quit, but I’ve had to rethink this venture, the direction of my career, and my life priorities. The lucky thing about how this venture began is that it all happened so organically and it’s tied to my identity and the seasons of my life, that adjusting and readjusting it just makes sense to me.

So without further ado, here is a few updates on how it’s going and what’s been happening in my world.

My ACTUAL job

Many of you may know that PfK is not my full time job. At the end of July 2021, I left my old full time job of almost 9 years, and in the following September, I started a new job as a director at a tech startup. It started as a wonderful experience - I worked with some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, made friendships that I hope will last a lifetime, and I actually really enjoyed my work.

That said, as I continue to grow within the company, it left me mentally exhausted. After two years, I realized that the company and I no longer shared the same direction, and I’m better off elsewhere. So, I resigned from my position last month, the day after my 32nd birthday. This was a tough decision - I genuinely loved my team, our clients, and the work I did. At a certain point, though, I had to prioritize my own mental health and actually figure out what I want to do with my life.

So that is where I am now - traditionally unemployed for the first time ever in my adult life. I was absolutely terrified at the thought of it, but my amazing support system, aka, family and friends, reassured me that I will be fine and that this is the right decision. And now that I have been “free” for the last two weeks, I am actually excited. It’s as if I’ve been given a blank canvas and now it’s up to me to figure out what I want to do as opposed to simply following another opportunity.

we got married!

A little over a week before my birthday in October, Keith and I got engaged privately, at home. Last week, we hosted 70ish of our favorite people at our house for our wedding. It rained the day of our wedding, which was a bit unexpected and made things very chaotic, but the silver lining is that in the whole week leading up to the big day, so many people showed up for us to make sure we have the best day. It made us feel so loved - that may be better than our wedding itself! A friend and my mom also told us that it’s usually a sign of luck when it rains on your wedding day.

All that aside - our wedding day was so fun and was probably the best day of our lives so far. After 13 years together, it felt more like an anniversary celebration or a party celebrating our families, the friendships we’ve made over the years, with terrible dancing, a Georgia game streaming in the background, cocktails, and food from our favorite restaurants. We nixed a lot of the traditional stuff (our entire ceremony was 10 minutes long) and just did what made sense for us. One of our oldest and closest friend, Derek, was our officiant (see photo) and he did such an amazing job. My littlest niece was our flower girl. My brother and sister walked me down the aisle. Our friends and family flew from Texas, Chicago, Michigan, and New York to attend and that really touched me more than many other things. I went a little crazy with the flowers and studied floral arranging endlessly through TikTok’s, and thrifted so. many. things.

Honestly - it was pretty close to being perfect. Very us, at the very least.

I’m not sure if anyone even cares about a full detailed post about our day itself - but if you do, let me know below in the comments. At the very least I am totally going to share about our invitations because I had a lot of fun making them, and I think they may be my best work yet!

I turned 32

*Just a few of my fav people and my fav cake!*

As if leaving my job and getting married were not enough of a life change, I turned 32 in mid-October. My birthday was right before I turned in my notice, and around that time I focused almost solely on our wedding.Leading up to it, turning 32 for some reason hit me a little harder than 30 did. Maybe it’s because now I’m 2 years into my 3rd decade? Maybe because so much change was happening in that period that I was just processing? Regardless - I was (still am) pretty excited for this new decade of life.

I spent my 20s in school, learning about friendship, the importance of family, how to build a career and so much more. Thirty, has felt like the decade where I can start to settle down in my home life, continue to build on my career with less pressure, and just enjoy life with my loved ones. I’ve worried less about what people may think, and I’ve grown to really appreciate the small victories that arise everyday; whether it’s the garbage people actually picking up my yard trimmings on time, or that the dinner I made tasted good. I’ve become more forward with doing things that I’ve always wanted to do but were anxious about - like hosting dinner parties, speaking at forums, and sharing my opinions (in the appropriate setting) a little more publicly.

This decade is also where I started to really pay attention to how I am treating myself. A brief health scare really kicked me into making many of the decisions I’ve made so far. I quit my job, started going to yoga and pilates again, established a walking/running habit again, scheduled so many doctor appointments, and upped my skincare game. I feel like it is such a privilege to get older - not many people make it to this age. And I have every intention to live a life where I can feel good and love myself at any age, any shape and any circumstance.

So, maybe I am a Gardener?

With all of the above that’s happened, I found a lot of solace in gardening. I’ve always enjoyed planting and growing at least some of my own herbs and foods. As preparation for our wedding, we also embarked on a major backyard renovation (which is comical since we spent probably 10 minutes in our backyard during our actual wedding). It was probably one of the best decisions we made, and we are in love with the results. It’s been such an enjoyable space and I am so grateful that we have it. I’m looking forward to sharing it with more friends and family soon - now that our wedding’s out of the way, it’ll be a great place for watching football, having s’mores night, al fresco dining, and more celebrations.

After the renovation finished, I was extra excited to plant my vegetable garden and move a few plants and add new ones. I spent a few weekends planting, watching, pruning, and it felt so good to be out there. I developed a habit where almost as soon as I wake up, I go outside to water my plants, particularly in the summer and early fall. It was the best way to start the day. Some days I just sit outside and look at my plants. It’s been such a joy watching things grow, bear fruit, harvesting your own food, and it brings me such peace. It’s been a great way to de-stress and I’m so thankful to the universe for giving us the ability to create a little slice of Eden at home.

If you’re interested in learning more about this whole garden renovation process, comment below.

What about PFK?

And now we’ve arrived at the big question. For brevity’s sake, I’m shifting PfK to primarily a service-based business and secondarily, a goods-based business. That means I will be focused on working on commission projects (ornaments, portraits, architectural renderings), and not so much retail goods production. That does not necessarily mean that all of the retail products will disappear - I am working on finding a fulfillment partner so that I can streamline and automate the process, so I can focus solely on design and less on production. This way, I will be able to offer better pricing, more variety in terms of goods, and focus on taking care of commission clients.

I am going to take the next few months figuring out how I can best serve all of you and hopefully, future customers too. But, worry not! It’s officially ornament season and since I have more time, I’m opening a larger order capacity and a longer ordering window. I have no in-person events scheduled so far, so more than likely, all orders will happen online.

And, in the spirit of the holiday season, from now until next Monday, take 25% off your ornament orders and enjoy free domestic shipping! No code necessary.

in closing,

I am so thrilled to be back in the PfK space for the holidays and for the future of this brand. I am a little extra excited about ornaments this year and I hope you are too. It means so much to me to have you all stick around and continue to support this art venture, particularly as I navigate a lot of change in my personal and professional life.

Happy Holidays,

Patricia

Life Update: Fall 2023