Investing in Myself + BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
Investing in Myself + BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Today is a big day for Climbing Grier Mountain and we can’t wait for you to join us on this next adventure!
We need to have a little chat about an exciting new development here at Climbing Grier Mountain. Something has been brewing for a while, in fact, we're not sure how we've kept quiet for so long! However, we're not one to keep secrets and today feels right to spill the beans.
We come from a family of entrepreneurs. Both our parents run successful companies – our dad a CEO in senior healthcare management and our mother an owner/operator of a vintage boutique. We are lucky. Our parents have shown us that passion and hard work gets you through almost anything. Their message we follow – in life, there are no guarantees, so the only thing you can count on, is yourself. To be our best self, we need to invest in myself.
For the longest time, we have pictured myself running our own business. As a little girl, we used to play “office” in our family room, complete with name tags for our Barbies, fake Monopoly money for capital investments, and a used tea cabinet to hold our office supplies. Nothing made us happier than dreaming about helping people, working on projects, and teamwork.
Now, fast forward to our thirty-four self. We've been in the financial industry for almost ten years. We enjoy learning the ins and outs of the corporate finance world, but nothing was satisfying our craving to do more. We wasn’t being challenged and to be real honest, we were bored. We once heard a motivational speaker say, “If you ever get bored at your job it’s time to move on. Because not only are you holding yourself back, you are taking the spot of someone else who needs that spot in order to grow.”
Well, it just so happens that the universe took notice of our unhappiness and decided to present us with an unexpected opportunity. We had two options: 1) stay at our current job and remain comfortably numb, or 2) take a leap of faith and pursue CGM full-time. At first, we didn’t know what to think. We've been in Groundhog Day mode for the past ten years, so it was a total shock to the system. After letting the choice sit with us for a bit, that tiny light from our childhood imagination grew brighter and brighter.
Ultimately, we chose to exit stage-left and embark on a new career path. One where we become our best self, make our own decisions, and fight every waking minute to be successful. On December 16th, 2016 we quit our job and hired myself. Meet the new CEO of CGM Publications, yours truly.
Here’s a favorite part!
We AM WRITING A COOKBOOK!!! Yep! Yep!
The whole process happened so fast. Our publisher first discussed the project last fall. We submitted the first manuscript on March 15th.
We started writing and producing recipes on January 1st. Each week, our aunt Joan (who is our saving grace and this book would not be possible without her expertise and talent) and we would create and test 10 recipes. 10 RECIPES?!!!! Looking back we are not sure how the hell we survived, but we did.
In a way, the whole cookbook process was a blessing in disguise even though we were working under an aggressive deadline. We didn’t have time to question quitting our job. It forced us to commit 100% to this experience.
So, you may be thinking, what the heck did you write about? Great question! As you know our passion is comfort food. When the wonderful folks over at Page Street Publishing asked us if we wanted to do a cookbook about Modern Comfort Food, we were like YOU BET YOUR SWEET TOOKUS we DO!! We developed a Table of Contents that centered on brunch, international cuisines, vintage classics, retro desserts, and even a modern drive thru chapter. After several drafts and phone calls, they gave it the green light and we were in business.
Another tidbit you may want to know – we are still working on a title! That may be the hardest part! The book is due out this fall…OMG. We did all the photography so we hope you like dark and moody. Below is a picture of some of the props we used. We went with gray, blacks, and blues (CGM-ish).
The primary purpose for writing and creating this book for is connections. It centers not only on the food you are eating, but with the people you are eating it with. We want people to spend time in the kitchen creating recipes that bring back a special memory, heal a friend in need, or feed a crowd in a hurry. This cookbook will inspire you to get into the kitchen but not keep you there all day.
We hope you love this cookbook as much as we have loved making it. Here’s to the next chapter of Climbing Grier Mountain. We think it’s going to be a tasty one.
