Today marks August 8th 2019. I'm 27 years old (I can't believe I needed to do math to remember my age - wow) and I'm finally posting my first blogging site. Yay me!!
I've been thinking about building websites for literally 2 years now, and have never actually launched anything. Logs and pre-planned posts created A PLENTY however never gathered enough time or courage (or maybe lack of time was a convenient excuse, ha!) to ever hit the publish button. I think many can relate to this publish-phobia syndrome I'm experiencing (yes - STILL EXPERIENCING). I love being creative, and building websites is kinda like a gigantic art piece that never gets finished (also a lot less messy!) I also love the idea that whatever you put online will forever remain, like some sort of time capsule. I love how no matter what happens to me, a little piece of me will remain alive and vibrant, online. I think I feel even more strongly about this because I've been around death A LOT (I'm a hospice nurse by practice) and I've heard many, many regrets over the years. I refuse to live that way, and I've been making steps forward to live my best life. This is why The Olive Gardens was created - a blend of my favorite things including gardening and being self-sufficient, recipes, DIYs and little bursts of writing....hopefully. Anyway back to what I was talking about. So I'm been dragging my feet a bit getting this website off the ground because I've been focusing my efforts elsewhere (started a business with my husband - it's called VaporTrails (check out www.eVaporTrails.com ! ) and yes, it's a vape shop and yes, that's a shameless, selfish plug-in), I'm still working full time for a large organization (whom I'll keep anonymous), and we just moved to an old century home that needs A LOT of TLC so yeah, there's so much more that I'm not mentioning but you can get the idea on all the buzz and wanting wayyyy more hours in the day! Again, I know many can relate. Why isn't time-travel a thing yet?? Before living in this small but charming house, my husband and I were living in Toronto (which is pretty much Canada's Manhattan) and all we did was work work work and more work. It was fucking exhausting. My first job in Toronto was as a community palliative nurse for about 2 years, then I switched employers and became an office nurse as a Clinical Specialist in the HealthTech industry. I commuted everywhere using public transit. Yes - even during my community nurse days - I'll get into those details in more upcoming posts, because I have A LOT to say and share about those days... I also commuted to my office job when I switched employers, which was a fancy and techy 'out-of-a-magazine' open and modern office. I felt fucking fabulous working there - still working there, but now remotely since I moved 3.5 hours away. When I was in the city at the time, I was taking not one, not two, but THREE transfers to get in the office from my rickety apartment. I was reading inspiring books and creating writing materials on these commutes in anticipation of my blog. I was feeling invigorated and prepared, writing about things that have affected me so deeply, that have caused change in my life. I started writing them on paper until I had enough money to buy a used tablet. Transferred ALL my hand-written notes on to my tablet (it took fucking FOREVER to write those out again) and yesterday I decided to delete a gmail account that happened to hold ALL of the entries I had written, and re-written...So yep, frustration is an understatement to say the least. I decided to take this as a sign. A website will never be fully finished before a launch and so, there is no sense in preparing blog posts before creating a blog. I've decided to dive right in, right from the start, and I will build it up from here, bit by bit, day by day. I hope to connect with like-minded people and build a community along the way. I'm not sure what this page will bring, but I'm going to take it one day at a time. Listen to feedback but most importantly, my heart. (That was too cheesy, right?) Also, I'm not doing subscriptions or advertising new posts. I fucking hate spam emails about new posts and I'm bad at cleaning my inbox, so I'm not about to create any. If you want to read any of my new posts, you can either check the site yourself or follow my Instagram @the.olive.gardens and I'll send updates through there. I'm not trying to force my content down anyone's throat. You're welcome. Maybe we'll connect, and maybe we won't. At the end of the day, anyone is welcome here. Judgement free, raw thoughts and plenty of curse words. Fuck yes. Happy reading! - Liv
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