Summer Hours

The job I moved to Boston for ended just about a year ago. And then the fall of 2012 was long and drawn out and, well, pretty light on the employment front. I was lucky to have a steady part time teaching job and enough small freelance projects to keep me afloat. Plus serving as a volunteer courier for Be the Match provided a welcome diversion. But there were plenty of long dark days spent applying for positions that I never ever heard back from.

Life started to change when I received a call at home (in Ohio) in late December. I had interviewed at a Boston brewery for a tour guide/bartender/server weekend position and they were calling to let me know that I got the job (!)

Brewery training started in early January, and coincided with the start of the spring semester (teaching 8 hours/week), a long-term contract design position (16-24 hours/week), and a long-term design project with friends (4 hours/week.) Suddenly my mellow schedule was packed to-the-gills. And it stayed that way straight through the spring.

Now that summer is really truly here (it takes awhile in New England), things are finally a little more under control. Commitments are slightly less and I finally feel OK asking for some time off.

Last weekend I took a Saturday off from my brewery job to go to Newport, RI with three dear friends. We had planned the trip since May and truly made a day of it. Pastries at Clear Flour lead to good tunes in the car and eventually the Newport Cliff Walk, lobster rolls at The Port, and swimming in the ocean. The night ended with an awesome bike-centric poster show back in Boston.

After getting used to the constant push of 60+ hour work weeks, it's easy to feel like not working is somehow wrong. But it also serves as great motivation to make the most of every single second of a day off. Plus anyone who lives in the Northeast will tell you that the warm weather comes and goes before you can even finish a small iced coffee. Best to take advantage of it while it's here!

My point? There's a definite ebb and flow to life, to freelance work, to the seasons. It can be hard if not impossible to balance, but it's important to temper the busy-ness with some quiet and the snow with some sunshine. And friends, I'm here to tell you that stacking a schedule with multiple part time jobs can be crazy. But it can also be a whole lot of fun.

More photos from Newport here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlyhag/sets/72157634770921275/