I’m back and here’s what’s new!

Hello there! “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Funny enough, those are the words a Starbucks barista yelled at me when I rolled through the drive-thru on the day I got a hankering for my favorite cold foam cappuccino (the keto version). Apparently I’m the only one in the Alexandria area that orders that drink. I went on to tell her about my adventures overseas and that got me motivated to update my readers/followers on the huge gap between my last Aug 2019 post and the one you’re reading now.

Long story short. COVID and 2020 was a giant poop-show. On top of a worldwide pandemic, a lot of personal issues happened in the last year that wreaked havoc on my business, my personal life and my professional life (yep, still in the Air Force). The good news is, there are positives to every situation and that’s what I’m choosing to focus on in 2021. There’s no time to debut all these changes like a blog post!

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

Most of my followers know that I’ve been serving on active duty in the Air Force for at least 15 years now. Through that time, I’ve had to leave home for extended periods of times on deployments. Well, 2019 was my turn to deploy again, and in October I was shipped to the beautiful middle eastern country of Oman (yes, its a real country/no that’s not sarcasm…it really is a beautiful country).

I was really only expecting to be there for six months, but the pandemic forced many countries in that area into a panic and the response was to shut down tourism, travel, and borders. There was literally no way in/out of the country for months on end. We even went through a few lockdown and curfew periods. When I left Oman, I was 2 weeks shy of being deployed for WHOLE year. Almost 365 days of not seeing my family, not seeing my son, and definitely not being able to reestablish my business.

THE POSITIVES

Even though my time in Oman put a halt to everything back in my US life, a lot of amazing things happened when I was overseas. For one, I got to travel a ton. There was amazing historical architecture and breathtaking landscapes. I have always wanted to live overseas in a foreign country and absorb the culture and traditions and this was an opportunity to do that, even though it was during COVID.

Another positive to being stranded in Oman, was my living accommodations and job. I was basically living in 5-Star hotels with incredible beach views and sunsets. I made lots of local and ex-pat friends and worked with an incredible crew at the embassy. I networked a lot and definitely had time to challenge myself professionally as I was working in a very unique position (can’t really give too many deets).

The most important thing, was being able to focus on myself entirely. Long time followers know my struggle with depression. Most was self-induced by working myself to death, not being able to properly deal with overwhelming situations and residual factors from trauma and major lifestyle changes. Even though I craved the comfort of my unrealistic routine and my family, there in Oman it was just me. I took that as an opportunity to work on my physical and mental fitness. It was difficult at first, but I started with getting out of my box and trying new foods, and going to new places.

Photography has always been an interest for me, so I worked on that. Finding time to read and be a book-nerd was always impossible, so I did that. I became more social which is extremely hard for me as an introvert. And I planned. I realized that I am a terrible planner even though I thrive and cannot live without my to-do checklists. Hours were spent planning the rebrand of my candle line which you can check out HERE. Days were spent reinventing the layout of my website, which I hope you’re enjoying now. And decisions were made that I needed to be more thoughtful on my business practices that make life easy for me so Im not working myself to the bone every night. There are still few tweaks and adjustments to be made, but overall I feel confident that COVID, Oman and my bad habits were there to push me in the direction I needed.

WHERE AM I GOING?

Thats tough to say, but the direction I am headed is up and onwards. When you’ve worked in the military as long as I have, you learn to be flexible and adjust whenever things don’t go as planned. It’s an awesome skillset to have but eventually I’ll work towards a solid and consistent schedule and routine for my sanity. There are a ton of big things in store for The Driftwood Home and a lot of my focus in my 5-year plan will be on making TDH my full time employment when I eventually retire.

You’ll notice quite a bit of changes in TDH content. I’ll be posting more lifestyle content such as home renovation and living (travel, photography, design inspo), but I will definitely be keeping up with the DIY and Tutorial content for furniture. Ultimately my big picture goal is for my blog to be a place for experience, knowledge and inspiration.

Although this post was meant to be informational, I wanted to let my long time readers know I’m still here and planning so much for this year with my blog. I can’t wait to take you all on this journey with me!