I Left Corporate to Find My Life in the Mountains
Everyone needs a happy life.
My Dad was a native of Colorado. He and my Mom got married in Denver. My brother, Grant, was born in Denver. Most of my life, I lived in Kansas where Dad was a professor at a small college. Most summers, we would go to Colorado.
I was lucky enough to be relocated to Colorado when the company I worked for opened a new business unit in downtown Denver. Enter my career. While working my way up the corporate ladder, I would spend as much time in the mountains as I could. That became less and less as work became more and more. I purchased a beautiful 12 acre parcel in the Rocky Mountains. THEN, my company was acquired and I was looking for another role. I found one with a better title and more money. Literally, 7 states away.
My mountain lifestyle was gone. I didn’t care because I was living the American Dream. Until I wasn’t. Corporate work is soul destroying yet addictive. Once you’re in, it’s hard to give it up. Finally, I did.
Now, I’m Mountain Girl. 100%. I actually always was, but I allowed Mountain Girl to be overtaken by Success Girl. My 12 acres sat untouched for over a decade while I moved all around the country building my career and moving further and further from my happiness. Finally, I moved back to this gorgeous 12 acres. This time, I was pulling a camper with my Jeep which held my life: my beautiful 5-year-old child, my 3 dogs and 2 cats.
I quit corporate and built this amazing happy life. You can do it too.
- What I saw in the woods on Easter morning terrified me
It’s been an interesting morning. As Gus and I were coming back from our early walk, we heard something on the upper deck. I quickly got us inside and went up to see what was going on. Nothing was on the deck. As I looked out into the woods, all I could see was a Read more - Our E-Biking Life in the Rocky Mountains
In June of 2020, I bought my lovely child, Sammie, a small e-bike (250W folding e-bike on Amazon) for their 10th birthday. I was hoping to give Sammie more opportunities to be outside with me on my walks with our dog, Gussie. Where we live, it is steep and not fun to ride a conventional Read more - Fresh heirloom tomatoes at 9000 feet in February!
My beautiful child and I have been enjoying fresh homegrown heirloom tomatoes since January. No one has been more shocked than me. From everything I know about gardening, this shouldn’t be working, but it is and we are thrilled. Here’s what happened: In February 2022, I was revisiting my happiness and thinking through things that Read more - Mountain Girls in the Making
I received a booking request from Bella for a “Girls Weekend” in the Artist’s Cabin with her two friends. I explained that they would need to bring a cot/sleeping bag for the third person as well as pay a $15 per night extra person fee. That worked for Bella. All standard. The weekend was anything Read more - My experiences with mountain lions
We live in the woods backing to tens of thousands of acres of national forest and our human neighbors are few and far between. We cannot see another house from our cabin unless we look across to the next mountain which is miles away. There are wild critters. Lots of them. Big and small. My Read more
