...On starting over.

pic credit: http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/2013/04/everyday-i-get-to-wake-up-and-start.html

.... On starting over.

Did you ever plan a party, like in high school?  Your parents were going out of town and it would just be your closest friends coming over, the same ones who always hung out so nothing bad would happen, right?  But then word got out, and some guy your best friend had a crush on showed up, (can't block your bestie finding love!) and more people appeared, and before you knew it was all like this....

Planning something great and having it gain a life of it's own like a roller-coaster with broken brakes pretty much describes my 2015.  

It was great having a handcrafted jewelry business for 5 years, it still is great.  I just had to grab the 'business-entity' by it's short hairs and pound it into a chair, though. Through the business, I've learned a lot about myself in ways I never expected. (and without having to pay a therapist!)  Now going forward it's going to be about what's important and what comes first in our lives before saying 'yes' when I should say 'no.' 

So far this year I've gone back to work at the hospital, finding that I did miss my unit 'besties,' my fellow nurses who can take some guts & gore talk while eating.  I've gotten back to doing yoga with a retreat coming up to Moab, Utah planned in May to get sunburned and red-rock-dirty while glamping for 5 days.  (glamping is glamour camping in a tent with a bed for wimps like me who don't get out much)   That retreat is going to replace teaching at the Bead & Button Show again this year, something that fell into the 'no' category this time.  

I'm also getting back to some things that I really used to enjoy, one of those was blogging.  Writing like this and penning my progress when I first started out was fun.  We all need more things that are fun and not measured against whether it's worth it or going to further us.  I might talk jewelry, I might give a shout out to other businesses, I also might rave about food finds, who knows.  I'm also returning to my jewelry work with a beginners-mind and taking on other artist's lessons and tutorials to refresh my brain.

Another tool to get my wheels turning is participating in the Year of Jewelry Project for 2016.  If you want to eyeball the gorgeous creativity brewing from this challenge to make one thing every week,  you can stalk the images here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/452347441480249/.  My pal Eva has been doing this year long creative dance for a few years now, and I'm inspired by her dedication to it and the cool A-ha! pieces she comes up with.  Here are my week 1 and 2 pieces using Sarah Thompson's wire weaving book and then getting to take a class with her locally.  I was excited to meet her as we both launched Craftsy videos at the same time, and I loved her 5 minutes into talking with her.  The 'interlace bracelet' is to die for, and I hate taking it off.  There's more about her book here -> shameless link  :-)

If you need some more eye candy and inspiration from my favorite chicka's, check out my list of favorite blogs I'm back to following in the sidebar.

So truly this blog is for me, and if you want to hang out too, that's icing on the cake....  just don't invite your slimy "crush" over if he's gonna get wild up in here, 'kay?