I love a lot of things. My family most of all of course, I am a mother of 2 and a wife of 1. My educational background and passion is marine biology. I worked in a number of research labs while at my University, and as a scuba diver in the Keys during a short stint in graduate school. I was also co-author of research published in the Journal of Marine Chemistry. I then came down with a rare disorder, and had to cut back on the manual labor and stress, so I went into teaching. That ended up increasing the manual, emotional, and mental labor and stress, and I had to leave after a few years when my illness flared up dramatically.
I then figured I'd pursue my other passion - art and design - and opened a floral design business (Bella Flora). Once again, I thought this would decrease my stress level and be relaxing and therapeutic, "Ohhhhh, arranging flowers must be so fun and relaxing" is all I have heard for years. Well - WRONG. Owning a business is stressful in itself, then factor in dealing with brides, the hell that is Valentine's Day, and crazy work hours because the product you're selling dies quite quickly, and you have STRESS. And lots of it. Don't get me wrong, I love (and am pretty good at) floral design and design in general, it's just a lot of work and stress.
Then, in an attempt to get into a business where we could work smarter, not harder...I was in the process of opening an event venue for weddings, events, music, art shows, etc... with a partner, and we had an incredible investor, a great location, and had booked about 20 weddings - when it all crashed because of a slime ball landlord that lied to us about permits. So that equals STRESS. This overlapped with me being hospitalized for most of 2011 and having to close the aforementioned businesses, almost dying, and almost losing my daughter during a crazy pregnancy (thankfully she made it through unscathed). More stress. So basically I subconsciously love stress.
All joking aside, this blog used to be dedicated to my business Bella Flora, with some overlap into the newly opening business The Madison Loft and Terrace. I'm keeping the name and design because I love it and poured my heart and soul into both businesses, and am still mourning the loss of them. I've decided to turn this blog into a personal one, starting with the description of my journey through the closing of these businesses and the illness that I have, and what occurred over the last year or so. I also plan to write about my loves: sci-fi stuff, politics, art, music, gardening, my kids, maybe my husband if he'll let me, and things in day to day life that I feel like ranting about. I hope you enjoy my ranting, and feel free to comment at will.
This blog used to be dedicated to my event floral design business, Bella Flora. From scuba diving marine biologist to floral designer, I and my business are now shut down due to POTS and Dysautonomia rearing their ugly heads. I have transitioned into a chronic illness and ocean conservation advocate of sorts. This is my personal blog, you'll find info and posts on POTS, Dysautonomia, parenting with chronic illness, marine biology (sigh), women's rights issues, and science fiction geekiness.
