Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Colorado
Where was I last week? I was in Colorado celebrating the Christmas holiday with my family. My sister lives in Colorado so my parents rented a cabin in the YMCA of the Rockies for our whole family to stay in Estes Park for the week. So while I was away, I ate a lot of food, hiked in the snow in Rocky Mountain National Park, spent time with my nephew, marveled at a full moon over the Rockies, cuddled with my parents golden retriever Stella, and was generally lazy. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the week.
Today it is back to school which is rather rough for me. It is hard to get myself motivated for the rest of the school year. How did you spend your holiday? Are you having a slow start getting back to work?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Sponsor in January
I'm a bit late with this, but I won't apologize (see goal number one). Over the past year my blog has grown and I'd love to share some of the love. If you'd like to sponsor me for the month of January, I would love to have you! Ads come in two sizes and are super, ridiculously affordable because I know how expensive advertising can get when you're sponsoring multiple blogs. If you'd like to join me this month, head over to my sponsor page for all of the details and on my end I'll do my best to promote my butt off on your behalf! :)
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you all! I'm really looking forward to what 2013 has in store and I have a whole new list of goals I want to accomplish. A new year is always so incredibly inspiring, yet it is often hard for me to stick to what I want to get done. I know I'm not alone in this.
Looking back on my goals for 2012, I was able to accomplish most of them. At one point in time I had over 200 items in my shop which was a big one on the list. I'm back down to 190 and would consider that a pretty awesome success. I well surpassed my sales goal of 400 (thank you, thank you, thank you guys!!!!). I didn't design a website, but I started working on a Storenvy shop which is definitely in its infant stages. The studio is still a work in progress, but is mostly set up. I did pretty well with posting more than three time a week on this blog and it has grown much more than I had expected (again, thank you guys!!!). And last but not least I came up with a new packaging concept for my cards and stationery that I love and my customers love.
So what are my goals for 2013? (This is going to be a long one. Just warning you? And no fancy schmancy photos, sorry.)
1. Stop apologizing for not blogging when I just simply haven't had the time. See how I didn't apologize at the beginning of this post for being MIA over the holidays? I have a life sometimes people! We all do!
2. Stop being embarrassed about my Etsy shop and blog. You may not know that I'm embarrassed by it on this blog, but in real life I struggle. Andrew is always trying to promote me and it embarrasses me. Sometimes I think my friends think I'm crazy and that they think what I'm trying to accomplish are just pipe dreams. The reality is that once my student loans are paid off, I will probably quit teaching and do what I do creatively as a full time endeavor. Most of my friends give me that look like, "that's really cool, but I think you're completely nuts and not being realistic." The truth is that I hate working for institutions and don't want to feel stifled like I do now. I am resourceful with money and could easily live on a very small salary-- my parents, both self-employed, taught me well in that regard. They also taught me to do what I do because I love what I do. I'm not sure I love teaching anymore. Bottom line, if I continue to feel embarrassed I'm holding myself back. Ok.... super long, but I'm done now. :)
3. Be healthier. I'm talking about exercise and stress. I eat very healthily and always have. I lack a regular exercise schedule and tend to exercise in spurts. I want to be more consistent. I also need to make it a priority to find ways to deal with stress. Lately stress has been a major problem and has wreaked havoc on my health. That will end. It has to.
4. Double my sales for my shop again this year. If I did it in 2012, I can do it again, right? ;)
5. Design at least 20 new stationery sets. I've been focusing a lot on greeting cards lately because they are so fun to come up with! However, I've missed designing stationery and find that kind of a design to be a completely different challenge.
6. Enjoy Baltimore again. Several years ago, the architecture firm Andrew works for wasn't doing so well due to the recession. Pretty much every architecture firm out there suffered during the recession. Recession meant pay cuts so we stopped doing a lot of things that we did regularly that required money. We used to go to the coffee shop every Saturday morning or go on day trips around the area or in the city. We stopped doing those things because we didn't have the money. The pay cuts were reversed a few years ago, yet we never got back into these routines and we've missed them.
7. Read more. Maybe a book a month? I've already started doing this in the last few months, but I want the trend to continue.
8. Be in my first craft show. This was a goal last year that never happened. Part of it is because of lack of time. Another part of it is fear. I'm kind of scared to take that leap, but it is a leap I need to take in order to take my business to a new level.
9. Travel more. This might mean less impulse buys (think clothes and shoes, especially shoes) and more saving. I'm good at saving money already, but I probably could save even more if I backed off on the shoe addiction. After spending time in Colorado over Christmas, I realized that we could be doing a lot more of that. I seemed quite fine with paying a ridiculous amount of money for the new booties that I desperately wanted when that could have been half of a round trip plane ticket to somewhere awesome.
10. Take more photos. I've been slacking off with this because I've focused so much on my greeting cards and stationery. I miss photography. I need to get back in the routine of taking my camera with me everywhere and not being afraid to use it! Anyone up for a photo challenge? I'm thinking that may be just the kick in the butt that I need!
These are my main goals for this new year. If you've made it this far, I'm pretty impressed. I hope the rest of my blog posts in 2013 are a fair more entertaining!
What goals or resolutions do you have for 2013?
Looking back on my goals for 2012, I was able to accomplish most of them. At one point in time I had over 200 items in my shop which was a big one on the list. I'm back down to 190 and would consider that a pretty awesome success. I well surpassed my sales goal of 400 (thank you, thank you, thank you guys!!!!). I didn't design a website, but I started working on a Storenvy shop which is definitely in its infant stages. The studio is still a work in progress, but is mostly set up. I did pretty well with posting more than three time a week on this blog and it has grown much more than I had expected (again, thank you guys!!!). And last but not least I came up with a new packaging concept for my cards and stationery that I love and my customers love.
So what are my goals for 2013? (This is going to be a long one. Just warning you? And no fancy schmancy photos, sorry.)
1. Stop apologizing for not blogging when I just simply haven't had the time. See how I didn't apologize at the beginning of this post for being MIA over the holidays? I have a life sometimes people! We all do!
2. Stop being embarrassed about my Etsy shop and blog. You may not know that I'm embarrassed by it on this blog, but in real life I struggle. Andrew is always trying to promote me and it embarrasses me. Sometimes I think my friends think I'm crazy and that they think what I'm trying to accomplish are just pipe dreams. The reality is that once my student loans are paid off, I will probably quit teaching and do what I do creatively as a full time endeavor. Most of my friends give me that look like, "that's really cool, but I think you're completely nuts and not being realistic." The truth is that I hate working for institutions and don't want to feel stifled like I do now. I am resourceful with money and could easily live on a very small salary-- my parents, both self-employed, taught me well in that regard. They also taught me to do what I do because I love what I do. I'm not sure I love teaching anymore. Bottom line, if I continue to feel embarrassed I'm holding myself back. Ok.... super long, but I'm done now. :)
3. Be healthier. I'm talking about exercise and stress. I eat very healthily and always have. I lack a regular exercise schedule and tend to exercise in spurts. I want to be more consistent. I also need to make it a priority to find ways to deal with stress. Lately stress has been a major problem and has wreaked havoc on my health. That will end. It has to.
4. Double my sales for my shop again this year. If I did it in 2012, I can do it again, right? ;)
5. Design at least 20 new stationery sets. I've been focusing a lot on greeting cards lately because they are so fun to come up with! However, I've missed designing stationery and find that kind of a design to be a completely different challenge.
6. Enjoy Baltimore again. Several years ago, the architecture firm Andrew works for wasn't doing so well due to the recession. Pretty much every architecture firm out there suffered during the recession. Recession meant pay cuts so we stopped doing a lot of things that we did regularly that required money. We used to go to the coffee shop every Saturday morning or go on day trips around the area or in the city. We stopped doing those things because we didn't have the money. The pay cuts were reversed a few years ago, yet we never got back into these routines and we've missed them.
7. Read more. Maybe a book a month? I've already started doing this in the last few months, but I want the trend to continue.
8. Be in my first craft show. This was a goal last year that never happened. Part of it is because of lack of time. Another part of it is fear. I'm kind of scared to take that leap, but it is a leap I need to take in order to take my business to a new level.
9. Travel more. This might mean less impulse buys (think clothes and shoes, especially shoes) and more saving. I'm good at saving money already, but I probably could save even more if I backed off on the shoe addiction. After spending time in Colorado over Christmas, I realized that we could be doing a lot more of that. I seemed quite fine with paying a ridiculous amount of money for the new booties that I desperately wanted when that could have been half of a round trip plane ticket to somewhere awesome.
10. Take more photos. I've been slacking off with this because I've focused so much on my greeting cards and stationery. I miss photography. I need to get back in the routine of taking my camera with me everywhere and not being afraid to use it! Anyone up for a photo challenge? I'm thinking that may be just the kick in the butt that I need!
These are my main goals for this new year. If you've made it this far, I'm pretty impressed. I hope the rest of my blog posts in 2013 are a fair more entertaining!
What goals or resolutions do you have for 2013?
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Vacation!
It is officially here, friends! I am on vacation! School is out, the shop is closed up, and I'm enjoying a ginger molasses cookie for breakfast with my coffee. I cannot thank everyone enough for their outstanding support this year and this holiday season. I am pretty much lost for words as the last two months were record breaking months for my little shop. So thank you, thank you, thank you!
With little to be said this morning, I thought I'd share two super awesome ladies with you instead. Nees from Monaural Mumbling shares my love of DIY bathroom projects (this looks oh so familiar) and cats. While Kristin from Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte shares my love of beer and teaching. It is good to know that I'm not the only one around these parts that thinks beer and teaching should go hand in hand.
My name is Nees and I am a librarian. I live in a pretty village in the middle of England with my husband, two tabby cats and one large akita dog called Neko. As well as all the excitement of the latest village table top sale where I recently accidentally bought some moose antlers thinking they were Christmas decorations I enjoy DIY, trying to take photographs and documenting my failed attempts at gardening and only marginally more successful attempts at cookery. I also am deaf in one ear which I wrote a post about here which inspired the title of my blog!
With little to be said this morning, I thought I'd share two super awesome ladies with you instead. Nees from Monaural Mumbling shares my love of DIY bathroom projects (this looks oh so familiar) and cats. While Kristin from Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte shares my love of beer and teaching. It is good to know that I'm not the only one around these parts that thinks beer and teaching should go hand in hand.
My name is Nees and I am a librarian. I live in a pretty village in the middle of England with my husband, two tabby cats and one large akita dog called Neko. As well as all the excitement of the latest village table top sale where I recently accidentally bought some moose antlers thinking they were Christmas decorations I enjoy DIY, trying to take photographs and documenting my failed attempts at gardening and only marginally more successful attempts at cookery. I also am deaf in one ear which I wrote a post about here which inspired the title of my blog!
I'm a not-so-newlywed living in North Carolina. A former social worker,
turned preschool teacher who spends my days dreaming of and trying to
travel the world. I'm not that cool, but I pretend to know what I'm
talking about when it comes to fitness, poor attempts at fashion, beer,
and life in general.
My favorite thing to talk about is beer, but good beer! I love calling myself a runner. I'm most proud of the hard work I have put into becoming one. My most recent half! And sometimes I'm crafty!
----------------------------------
Please go visit these awesome ladies, you won't regret it! In fact I'm off to do just that to catch up on their latest blog posts while I have another cup of coffee. Happy vacation to you all (oh wait, you mean you all don't get eleven days off from work? Ooops, my bad for rubbing it in. I'm mean not my bad. I get eleven days off, suckers!) Ok, for reals yo. I'm off to these blogs with my coffee. Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Calendars
It's that time of year again when I sadly say goodbye to another calendar. Oh calendar, you were so full of beautiful photos of national parks. Or, oh calendar, you were so pretty and made me feel like I truly was walking the streets of Paris. It is a sad time. When I was a little girl, I would cut out my favorites of the picture and photos to hang on my bedroom wall, not quite ready to give up our year long relationship. As an adult, I've found I am able to move on much more easily, knowing that another fantastic calendar will soon get some good use. Here are a look at some of my favorites for 2013.
While I really enjoy a beautiful wall calendar, I also really love agenda type calendars. I am a list maker and primarily use agendas to organize my lists of things to be done. They also help me plan for the future.
I love this idea of a notebook a month as a less traditional form of an agenda.
I also love the simple and contemporary design of this agenda.
Are you a calendar kind of person? What are some of your favorites that you have been eying for 2013?
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I love this idea of a notebook a month as a less traditional form of an agenda.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Why They Should Ban Me From Twitter
I was an English teacher. In case I forgot to tell you, they moved me from English to Social Studies because my spelling and grammar was atrocious. Just kidding. I actually love Social Studies to death and had been wanting to teach it for quite some time full time. However, one look at my twitter feed and you might think I had really been telling the truth. I have had some bad ones, I must admit. I partly blame the good old auto-correct.
In all fairness, usually they are common mistakes. My most recent is as follows.
Ooops. So I wrote "show" instead of "shoe". Or actually, auto-correct made it "show" instead of "shoe".
And then there's this classic--
I think I got more tweets that night than I had in the whole week combined that went a little something like this-- What the hell is "taco Xerox"?!?!?!
Taco Xerox, is obviously supposed to be "taco detox," duh!
Thought it couldn't get any worse than that? Think again, my friends. It is me we are talking about after all. The queen of sticking her foot in her mouth. I'm also good about being able to laugh at myself and make fun of myself in embarrassing situations. It's one of those things I learned to do back in the day when I was a radio dj. You make a flub, you laugh at yourself and make fun of yourself. So without further ado, I present to you, the worst twitter auto-correct typo of my entire life.
Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Thankfully Paige could read between the lines and knew that I was actually referring to her "new house." But to be honest, I was embarrassed about this one enough that I banned myself from twitter for the rest of the night.
And in case you feel like having a good laugh at my expense, you can always find me on twitter @rowhouse14.
Am I the only one that is atrocious with this?!
P.S. While thanking Paige last night for a conversation that may or may not involved this post and a few other ideas, I did it again...
There is no hope... no hope, people.
In all fairness, usually they are common mistakes. My most recent is as follows.
And then there's this classic--
Taco Xerox, is obviously supposed to be "taco detox," duh!
Thought it couldn't get any worse than that? Think again, my friends. It is me we are talking about after all. The queen of sticking her foot in her mouth. I'm also good about being able to laugh at myself and make fun of myself in embarrassing situations. It's one of those things I learned to do back in the day when I was a radio dj. You make a flub, you laugh at yourself and make fun of yourself. So without further ado, I present to you, the worst twitter auto-correct typo of my entire life.
And in case you feel like having a good laugh at my expense, you can always find me on twitter @rowhouse14.
Am I the only one that is atrocious with this?!
P.S. While thanking Paige last night for a conversation that may or may not involved this post and a few other ideas, I did it again...
Friday, December 7, 2012
A Few Things
I know I've been a bit spontaneous with blogging lately and all of those new followers out there probably think I'm super duper lame. I don't blame you, I kind of think I am too. Things have been incredibly busy in the shop and it has been hard to keep up. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend-- you know, the kind spent in sweats with a cup of coffee in hand and a few fashion magazines and a novel to start your day. And maybe a chocolate lab's head squashing your foot and a cat mashing his paws into your stomach. Lazy can't get any better than that.
We're also planning on finally getting around to decorating the row house for Christmas, and I can assure you, we will not be including anything super tacky in our Christmas decor. We seem to be a little late with this every year, thus we like to leave our tree and decorations up until the end of January.
Anyway, there have been some pretty spectacular things I've been loving this week and here's a peak at a few of those.
I've been getting sick of my jewelry lately and feel like I keep wearing the same pieces over and over again. Lately, I've had my eye of these earrings from Blue Hour Designs...
...and this awesome ring from Lily Emme Jewelry. (Now promise me you won't buy that ring out from under me or I might cry. Seriously, love this one, but just don't quite have the money for it! Great, now all of you are going to race to buy it first.)
And in case you wonder why I don't have the money for that ring, it's because I've had my eye on these. I'd had my eye on them for awhile, but 1) they were too expensive and 2) they didn't have my size. Then yesterday a miracle happened. 1) they went on sale for almost $100 less and 2) the only size they had was my size. I think that's what you call a sign, people. If you're as excited about them as me and you wear an 8.5, I bought the last 10 (yup, tall and big ass feet), but now they apparently also have an 8.5. You're welcome.
And in case the jewelry and shoe shopping just isn't your thing these days, I kind of love these blog posts this week.
I needed a post like this to tell me to get my butt in gear about a few things in my life. This advice is so simple and what I've always told myself, but sometimes I need a good reminder.
I love Leonora's post about copying vs inspiring. I am becoming so disheartened by the number of people I see who are being copied. And having had people copy my designs on several occasions as well, this post hit home.
I'm loving these fun monogram printable gift tags. Let's face it, I'm so busy right now I haven't had the time to make my own Christmas cards or gift tags yet, so I may be swiping these for my use this holiday season.
And finally, Gina's pear cookie pie looks delicious! After one look over the recipe I think this will be a perfect winter recipe to go with a cup of tea.
What are some of your favorite things this week?
We're also planning on finally getting around to decorating the row house for Christmas, and I can assure you, we will not be including anything super tacky in our Christmas decor. We seem to be a little late with this every year, thus we like to leave our tree and decorations up until the end of January.
Anyway, there have been some pretty spectacular things I've been loving this week and here's a peak at a few of those.
I've been getting sick of my jewelry lately and feel like I keep wearing the same pieces over and over again. Lately, I've had my eye of these earrings from Blue Hour Designs...
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| via Nine West |
I needed a post like this to tell me to get my butt in gear about a few things in my life. This advice is so simple and what I've always told myself, but sometimes I need a good reminder.
I love Leonora's post about copying vs inspiring. I am becoming so disheartened by the number of people I see who are being copied. And having had people copy my designs on several occasions as well, this post hit home.
I'm loving these fun monogram printable gift tags. Let's face it, I'm so busy right now I haven't had the time to make my own Christmas cards or gift tags yet, so I may be swiping these for my use this holiday season.
And finally, Gina's pear cookie pie looks delicious! After one look over the recipe I think this will be a perfect winter recipe to go with a cup of tea.
What are some of your favorite things this week?
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