This is a story about a half-painted bathroom. That might sound really dull, ironically much like watching paint dry, as they say, but bear with me because this is also a story of how a half-painted bathroom represented my state of mind.

In October 2002 I took a gargantuan Pleap (Pink Leap of Faith) and left my ten year marriage, packed up a U-Haul with 2 boxes of photo albums, 31 boxes of books, a single stained twin mattress, and drove 1,721 miles across country to Cleveland, Ohio. 

While I was on the road on my 20 city book tour for What’s Up Down There?, fellow author/blogger/entrepreneur Chris Guillebeau reached out because he too is in the midst of a book tour (63 cities for him -- puts my tour to shame!).

Turns out Chris is not only my soul sibling but also the author of The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live The Life You Want, and Change The World. Chris and I have been nearly missing meeting in person in airports and bookstores around the county, and when I was at Inkwood Books in Tampa, our books were sitting right next to each other on the front table, presumably because both of us were doing book tour events there the same week. So I bought it --  and read it obsessively in the next 24 hours.

Okay, I admit it. I am a inspirational/craft blog addict. The good news is that there are benefits of spending endless hours on StumbleUpon searching for the latest art inspiration that will spark my next post or beautiful home creation. Some how I always land on a pile of gold, finding a post or ten that I can share on my personal blog or with all of you lovelies here at Owning Pink. Enjoy this fabulous tale of the Pleaps of all Pleaps from Jen Curran. -- Megan Monique

Next month, it will have been a year since I quit my desk job as an assistant at an entertainment law firm. I didn’t hate the job. In fact, certain aspects of it were pretty great. I was allowed to wear what I wanted, I didn’t have to be in the office until 10am, I got to chat with celebrities, I received a sizable bonus at the end of every year. The perks were undeniable and my position itself was pretty easy.

But I was still totally miserable.

If everyone's Pleap (Pink leap of faith) looks different, how do you know that you've actually done it? And how can you do it without being paralyzed with fear?

These are the questions that used to plague me when I came upon life changes. For me, the issues usually centered around my work, but anytime we take a big risk in life, and open ourselves to changes in who we are and how our lives work, we put our trust in the Universe that things will come out alright on the other side. There's no getting around the fact that this is frightening.