Today is a big day in our house. It’s Aaron’s last day as a full-time employee of someone else. Starting tomorrow, Aaron works for Aaron.

Yikes.

He’s always talked about doing his own thing someday. What that thing would be has changed as his career has progressed. If you had told us five years ago that he would be starting a company like this, we would have had no idea what you were talking about.

The company is called Early Morning Music. It has two parts: management and online marketing. Online marketing is what he’s been doing for Word and Gotee for the last few years. I would tell you what it entails but I don’t really understand it all. He’ll be doing the same type of work he’s been doing, just on a consultant basis instead of as an employee. This is exciting for a few reasons, but the main one is this: he gets to pick the projects he works on. He doesn’t have to market lame bands because they’re on his label. He doesn’t have to try to push mediocre stuff for placement. These are very good things. His clients are mainly indie labels and artists, and he’ll still do some work for Gotee as well.

The management part is all about one band. Remedy Drive. Aaron met them a few years ago when they won a battle of the bands he judged in Omaha. They stayed in touch and he has helped them out on a variety of things, from industry questions to connecting them with a producer to helping them sign to Word. Now he’s going to manage them, and I could not be more excited. They are great guys, really hardworking, and already very successful as an indie. I feel good about what is to come for them.

So. After today, Aaron works from home. This should be very interesting. It’s scary for a lot of reasons, but I could not be more proud of him. The timing is right. The opportunity is there. It’s definitely a risk, but it’s a calculated one. I have full confidence in him. I can’t wait to see what happens.

We had a big storm last night, the kind that wakes you up with thunder in the middle of the night. I love storms like that. I think one of the best feelings in the world is waking up, looking at the clock, and realizing you still have multiple hours to sleep.

When I woke up this morning it was still grey and rainy outside. No wind or thunder, just steady rain. Right straight down, as my mom would say. I had initially planned to go into the office this morning, but the rain kept me in. I was looking forward to a morning of working from home and looking out at the rain through our big living room window.

And then the sun came out.

Am I the only one who is sometimes disappointed in a sunny day? Sometimes you’re just in the mood for rain. A rainy day allows you to take your time and move a little more slowly. I don’t feel like I have to go go go when it’s raining. I feel let down by the sun today, moving in on my lazy day and making me feel guilty for sitting on the sofa.

Welcome to Things That Are Awesome Tuesday!

Two weeks ago, I posted a Things That Are Awesome list. Since then I have had several more awesome things I want to tell y’all about, so I’ve decided to start a new category. Each Tuesday (more or less), I will tell you about a few awesome things that you need in your business.

Five Awesome Things - Food and Drink Edition

1. Alice White Lexia. This wine is excellent for two reasons: it tastes good and it comes in giant bottles for cheap.

2. Special K Frozen Waffles. I love waffles. These only have 40 calories a piece and they taste excellent. I like them with cool whip and strawberries.

3. Vitamin Water. I am fine with regular water, but Aaron gets tired of it fast. We were wandering around Wild Oats one day when we saw this stuff and decided to try it out. I realize that it’s more “healthy” than healthy, but man, it tastes good. It’s loaded up with vitamins and I prefer it very much over soda or Gatorade. I still drink water more than anything else, but this is a nice alternative. The lemonade and green tea flavors are my favorites.

4. Snackimals. Another Wild Oats find. These are animal cookies that come in chocolate chip. They also come in other flavors, but chocolate chip is the only one you need to know about. They are sweet and crispy, and you can eat a lot of them for very few calories. I have a serious sweet tooth, and these are a great way to satisfy it. They are fabulous.

5. Gouda. Mmmm… gouda. It is very good-a. (Sorry.) I love it so much. Sliced gouda on crackers with olives is what we will be eating in heaven. It’s also why I have to eat Snackimals for dessert.

I don’t read as much as I’d like to these days.

Last year I read 50 books, roughly one per week. That was a good schedule for me. I felt like I was accomplishing something. If I was reading something I didn’t love, no big deal. There’d be something new next week.

Back in April when I started my new job, I also started an ordination track. Every Wednesday morning for two hours I meet with the whole ministry staff and a few others to go though whatever book we’re reading that month. So far we’ve talked about church theory, comparative religion, church history and the origin of the Bible. Week after next we start Old Testament survey. It’s been really interesting… my brain is being stretched like crazy and I enjoy hearing everyone’s take on the reading.

But the reading? It’s hard work.

I’ve always been a big reader. But the reading for this class is pretty daunting. So much so that I spent the first five months afraid to read anything else for fear of knocking something out of my head that I would need on Wednesday. I think between April and August I read maybe three non-class books. And that’s just sad.

What’s especially sad about it is that I never read for class until Tuesday. I am a procrastinator to the nth degree. I would think about reading something for fun, but then decide against it because “I really need to read for class.” Then I would spent Thursday-Monday thinking about how badly I needed to sit and read and Tuesday night cramming it in for Wednesday morning.

But not anymore! Well, not all of it, anyway. I still only read on Tuesdays. But I have decided to be more honest with myself. I know that I am not going to read for class before Tuesday. So now I am allowing myself to read for fun between Thursday and Monday.

So far it’s working pretty well for me. The problem now is that I feel like my fun reading days are few and far between, even though they’re not. So I am finding book choice to be especially challenging. I don’t want to waste my precious fun days on books I don’t like! I’ve been playing it safe so far, reading Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. But eventually I will run out of Jane Austen novels. Where will I go from there? I have no idea.

When I first started thinking about taking the job at the church, I asked around to people I know who work in ministry full-time. I wanted to know the good and the bad, what’s awesome and what sucks. I got a lot of helpful advice - take a day off, separate work time from home time, make sure you look after your own spiritual health.

But I don’t think I was prepared for how… on my own I feel. I thought being on staff at church and everyone knowing who I am would make me feel more a part of the community. As much as I love my job and love those kids and feel beyond lucky that I get paid to work with them every day, I didn’t know how hard it would be to be in charge all the time.

I feel like I spend all day every day looking after people, but no one is really looking after me.

I don’t know what I expect, exactly, or what could change that would help. It makes sense that people assume that I am always doing okay. Why wouldn’t I be? Every time they see me I am running around or talking to kids or teaching a class. I work hard to foster community within our youth group. And while I am definitely a part of that group, I don’t know that it’s so great that the bulk of the people I know well at our church are 18 and under.

We’ve been asked to start a care group for the young adult set - college students and singles and adults in thier twenties. On one hand we are really excited about it. It’s a hole that needs filling in our church. It will be good to have a church connection that isn’t kid-based. We really want to meet new people and build community with people our own age. On the other hand… it’s something else to plan and run. I’m not sure I want to be the leader. It might be nice to just go and hang out and go home.

I think we’re going to do it. It’s something we’ve talked about for a long time, and I think Aaron is especially well-suited for it. I really am exited about being a part of something that isn’t specifically youth related. I am hoping it will help me feel less like a worker bee and more like a person. We’ll see.

Five Awesome Things That Have Recently Become A Part Of My Life

1. The IKEA chairs we bought for our reading room. I would post a picture and/or attach a link, but IKEA refuses to do more than one good thing for me without simultaneously making me crazy, so the chair is not on their website. But trust me when I say that it is fantastic. Brown tweed, no arms, perfectly reclined for reading or watching TV. Pair it with the matching footstool and it is chair heaven.

2. The little light on the ice and water dispenser on our fridge. I have never had a side-by-side fridge before, and therefore have never had an ice and water dispenser. It is a genius invention in and of itself, but its crowning acheivement is the fact that a little light turns on when you put your glass under it, letting you get a drink in the middle of the night without turning on the giant flourescent kitchen light and blinding yourself.

3. CoverGirl Lipslick in “hipster”. I bought this solely on the reccommendation of Holly at Nothing But Bonfires. I needed a lip product that had some color to it but wasn’t too lipstick-y. I had no idea if I would like the texture or the color, but it was $3, so I went for it. It. Is Perfect. The color is subtle but definitely there, which is great for me and my track record of buying lip stuff that is the EXACT SAME COLOR as my lips. I can put it on without a mirror and it stays put for a long time. Excellent.

4. Orbitz Mint Mojito Gum. I have always been an Orbitz fan, but I can’t do super minty stuff because it makes me feel sick. I tried this one because the box said “exotic new flavor” and that sounded good to me, plus I am a sucker for marketing. It is limey and minty and delicious. But it doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth like some fruity gums do - it still very much leaves you with a fresh feeling mouth. Two thumbs up.

5. Guitar Hero. Oh my gosh, y’all. I am such a dork. Aaron played it at a party a couple of weeks ago and wouldn’t shut up about it, so when I saw it on sale at Target I picked it up. He has been playing pretty much nonstop for a week. I finally picked it up on Saturday. IT IS SO MUCH FUN. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you guys this, but I have mad Dance Dance Revolution skills. Apparently the part of the brain that provides me with those skills also hooks me up with Guitar Hero skills, because I am awesome at it. (I have yet to try anything above Easy, but I rock at Easy.)