named.

the etsy shop has a name.

the etsy shop has a twitter.

the etsy shop has a pinterest.

the etsy shop name is named after my blog but does not have the same name as my blog. i'm sticking with a theme of figuring out life and finding my wings so to speak.

this blog is about my life. my life with my husband. my life as a woman. my life as someone who creates. someday i hope to mention a kid on this blog once and awhile (this will not be a baby blog).

i am so excited about this and i cannot wait to share everything here with you.

for now, follow me on pinterest and on twitter to get the latest updates for everything. i will be posting when the shop opens and when i have a sale, but that's about it for the shop promoting on this blog. there will be links on the sidebar so it will be linked to this blog.

this is a huge deal for me. i'm so excited to share this here and hopefully grow my audience.

happy weekend!! i'll hopefully be back to a regular blogging schedule next week. 2012 has the potential to be great.

what's in a name?

so this etsy shop i keep talking about opening.

it's nameless.

i can't for the life of me think of a good name for this thing.

so, instead of a real blog post today i'm going to take all my creative energy to etsy to see what names aren't already taken.

resolutions.

i'm not into resolutions.

i am continuously making goals for my life thinking about where i am headed, where i want to go and what i need to do to get there.

this year i decided to approach things differently. i have goals that i always want to achieve and things i always want to do. these aren't resolutions. but as the new year approached i decided to think about what i wanted the year as a whole to look like and if my goals were going to fit with that or if i needed to make some changes.

ben and i talked about what we wanted for ourselves and our relationship as well as what the year will look like for us in terms of events, vacations, etc. i really liked having a conversation about it, even if i had to twist ben's arm a little to get him to participate!

i also chose a word of the year to remind myself what i need to be focused on.

my word is change. i know there's going to be a lot of change this year and i'm totally on board with it.

this blog will also hopefully change this year. i have a direction i'd like the blog to go in and some ideas for regular posts. this will make it easier for me to blog and more interesting for the 0 people that read this thing ;)

i have talked about opening an etsy shop for over a year. it's really time to get myself in gear and actually do it. i finally have a list of things that i want to sell and feel comfortable enough making to sell to other people. we are moving in february, so once i have a space to create and i'm not packing i will get the shop up and running. the shop will be announced here and hopefully i'll be able to promote it through twitter, and maybe even other blogs. i would like the shop to open up by april. earlier would be great but i am trying to be realistic.

i'm really excited about where this year is going to take me and i am staying positive about all the change that will happen.

getting the ball rolling.

around the beginning of the summer i decided i was going to take all the items i was creating and finally open an etsy shop. at that time i didn't have a job and needed some way to make money and also something to keep me busy.

so, i learned tons of new crafts and practiced sewing even more. i created bags, quilts, paintings, headbands, etc.

now, i'm finally doing it.

well, almost.

i know, 6 months should be long enough, right? wrong.

for months i was too scared. then i decided i didn't like some things and needed to sell better stuff. so i continued to practice. then i decided i hated the name of my original shop so i needed time to brainstorm new ideas. i'm bad with naming things.

now, i have a name. but i am sick of our apartment and cannot create in here anymore. i need windows. our apartment is a cave.

the shop is created and essentially open. however, there are no items.

my goal? jan 2012 will be the grand opening. maybe we'll have moved and i'll have created many more items. i have so many ideas i'm just bursting at the seams waiting to create.

not to worry, the shop will be linked here.

the stupid box.

friends, how much tv do you watch? do you feel like it’s too much? we don’t really watch that much tv (maybe 1 or 2 hours a night), but i noticed that slowly our time in front of the tv is increasing, and my satisfaction with my day is decreasing. i hate feeling like a blob on the couch that has done nothing useful that day.

i have tried persuading ben that we don’t need cable, that we’d be fine without it. i have lost that battle as hard as i have tried, but that doesn’t mean changes can’t be made.  i’ve suggested focused tv-watching. this means that we’ve picked out one thing to watch (or ben has picked something because generally it’s him watching and me half paying attention half on pinterest) and that’s it. we know what show we’re picking and when it’s over we’re done. no scrolling through to find something, we watch and we power off. i know i could simply cut cable and say “oh well, it’s gone!” but i want a happy husband and that means a compromise.

i've also thought of having a day where we're "unplugged". no computers, no tv, nothing. i think it would be really eye-opening for us, and provide a motivation to spend less time with the tv or our laptops. 

so, i’ve been trying to make more of an effort to have less tv time in order to have more productive time together with my husband, as well as apart from him so that i can paint, sew, draw, write, create. by sitting on my couch i’m missing so much of what life has to offer. there is so much going on especially in the summer, why sit inside or at least on the couch? we could be doing so much more. i want to learn new games, new crafts, and make our apartment feel more like home.  we’ll both be happier with more time to read, talk, listen, learn, and see.

consider this my reminder to myself to turn off the tv like my ballet teacher always said to. she hated tv and always called it the stupid-box or something like that. i need to remember her disdain for tv and use it as a reminder to do something more productive.

creating.

i have a need to create. do you?

when i think about my goals and dreams, what makes me happy, i have noticed they all have to do with creating something. whether it’s cooking, sewing, writing, painting, organizing (creating a clean space!) or even desiring to be a mom (creating life, how cool!), i am happiest when i am making something. i find great joy in starting from chaos, from a mess, or from nothing and using my inspiration to create something new and different.

as i’ve become more aware of this fact about myself i try to make sure that i am doing something each day that fills this hunger for creating so i am purposeful in my day. yesterday i sewed something and made dinner. today i am writing, will probably paint and will make dinner again.

i love being in the kitchen, throwing things together and having them work together in a way that creates a delicious meal. i did not make the foods, but i make a meal by allowing them to work together in harmony.  

i love taking my newly acquired sewing skill and putting myself to the test. i take fabric and turn it into something beautiful that i can feel proud of.

i always wanted to paint and with encouragement from my husband, i started. i take the visions in my mind and put them onto canvas. i will admit i’m not very good, but i am happy when i see my work, knowing i put forth the effort, and happy because i created.