Here I Am!!

MAN, I didn't mean to stay away from here for so long.  Holidays, and families, and sickness, and craziness, and......life.  It's crazy how time can get away from you so easily.

So instead of doing one of the usual "catch-up" posts, I am just going to say that a lot of crap happened and a lot of said crap was crafty stuff, and just start over with a clean slate for the new year.  But before I go ahead and wipe that slate clean, let's review the goals that I set at the beginning of good ol' 2012 and see how I measured up. And maybe I'll throw in some photos along the way.

Ok!  So here we go.

*I am going to keep being the best mom and wife that I can be.  The kids are still alive, and no matter what my husband says, I haven't poisoned him yet.  So still on the right track with that.

*I would like to try and get out of my comfort zone with my photography.  I don't think that I have really taken steps to be more adventurous with my photography, so I may need to revisit this one.

*Make things for my shop on a more regular basis.  I have to say that I am pretty proud on this one.  I have treated my etsy shop like a normal job and have been trying to keep it steadily stocked.  I recently reached 100 sales!!!  YAY!

*Write my blog posts on a more regular basis also.  heh.  I wasn't as diligent with this as I would have liked to be.  But....It has been over a year since I started this little blog and I definitely plan to keep on going.

*Be better about getting things in the mail on time.  This one comes and goes, but I think I have mostly shaped up on it.

*Try really hard to trust and believe in myself and what I do.  I think that this one will always be a struggle for me.  There were a few times this year when things didn't go exactly how I think they should and I had major doubts and just wanted to call it quits. And if it wasn't for amazing friends to talk me off the ledge, I would have.  (you know who you are, and I heart you)

   BUT on a positive note, I did contribute a tutorial for Sew Mama Sew, so that's something, at least.

*I have at least 1 meet up with an internet friend(s).  This is another one I did really great on!!!  Let's see, in Febuary I had a meet up in Birmingham with some lovely ladies

and also in February I met with Amber from One Shabby Chick when she visited Nashville

Kelly from Kelby Sews moved to the Nashville area so I have had a few visits with her.  Here is a pic from one of our sewing dates we had in July.

And last but most definitely not least, I went to Houston in October to visit my sweet friend, Jacey.  The whole trip was completely amazing and I was sorry when it ended.  It isn't very often that you get to meet a person that you have so much in common with that hanging out with them just feels natural.

Ok, let's see, where does leave us..... oh ya,

*if I happen to lose a few pounds, that would be ok too.  Ummmmm, let's just not talk about this one, ok?

So all-in-all, it was great year!  Lot's of big events happened.  I celebrated my 10 year wedding anniversary, and also my 30th birthday, and I went to DRAGON*CON and I got a new puppy!!  (of course now, he is almost a year old)

  All amazing things.  There was lots of crafting in between those things, and I finished up a lot of projects I had lying around.

So now on to the New Year and with that, new list of resolutions.

*Keep on being the best mom and wife I can be.

*Start releasing some of the patterns and tutorials I have been sitting on because I am a chicken shit.

*Visit with more internet friends and try to get over my social anxiety.

*Keep working on my photography.

*Try to stay on task with my blog and actually document all of the projects that I make as I go instead of just "re-capping" them when I fall behind.

*Keep working on my confidence and individuality, and also try to understand that just because my style of things doesn't work for a certain venue, that it isn't because my the things that I make aren't any good.

*Really, really try and lose some weight

As a side note, I am having a sale in my shop to bring in the New Year!  30% off of everything with the coupon code HappyNewYear2013.  It starts now and will end tomorrow at midnight.

Happy New Year Friends!!  Be happy and stay safe.