A Year in Review

So, today is December 30th 2015 - aka New Year's Eve-Eve, which means 2015 is almost over. It is also special for one other reason. Today also marks 10 years of togetherness with Sam! 10 years ago today he asked me, "Do you wanna like, be my girlfriend?" and I responded, "Sure!" Best decision I ever made. Sam is my best friend and my rock and I can't imagine life without him. Even though these "anniversaries" don't count now that we're married, I'm going to say it anyway - Here's to the next 10! <3

2015 has been a great year overall, of course there are always things that happen that just plain suck, but let's just stick to the positives. This year: Sam got a new job that he LOVES, where he can use his creativity and skills and I'm so super duper happy for him. In addition to that, we had a jam packed summer of visiting friends and family, traveled to Cape Cod, we had breakfast with Marc Maron, bought an iMac, bought a house, went to our 10 year high school reunion, saw lots of live music, met lots of new babies, wait - did I really say bought a house?!

That's right. I did and I still can't believe it. Last year, I wrote a list of things to accomplish in 2015 - here is a refresher:

1. Get better at blogging!!!!! I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes, I just don't know what to write about. Other times, it gets put on the back burner and by the time I go to write a post the topic is no longer relevant. No joke. I still have written on my "to do" list to blog about my camping trip from JULY. Sorry, friends.....guess you'll have to wait for next year's camping trip.

2. Create more designs! This is a give in. There will always be another design to make. My sketchbook is filled with ideas that are just waiting to come to life. 

3. One goal that I'm so, so hopeful to obtain is to reach 100 sales by my first Etsyversary. This is a goal I set when I first opened my shop and it remains. My Etsyversary is April 29th and as of today, I'm at 60 sales. 40 more to go...eek! I still think this is obtainable, but I'm beginning to have my   
doubts.

4. SAVE SAVE SAVE!!!!! Sam and I have been saving to buy a house for years and years. With the mountain of student loan debt we have between the two of us, and things popping up like car repairs and weddings, and amazing trips to California, this is no easy feat. We have decided to really get serious this time (like we haven't said that before) and try to cut back on frivolous spending and just save. Anyone that knows us, knows that we aren't really frivolous spenders to begin with, I freaking LOVE a good bargain, but there is always room for improvement.

5. Did I mention that my 10 year high school reunion is this summer? Maybe I'll finally get those Carrie Underwood legs or maybe improve my volleyball skills, or do something cool like invent something like Romy and Michelle did before their high school reunion. 

6. Read more books! I love to read, but usually I'll read one book as fast as I can and then go weeks before reading the next one. It'd be nice to be a bit more consistent and read a little at a time, all the time, like normal humans do. Also, it'd be nice to up my Jeopardy game a bit.

I thought when I wrote this list that I was overreaching, but turns out that I wasn't at all. Okay, so I didn't read as many books as I wanted or write as many blog posts as I wanted (we all know that) and I will always want to add more designs to the shop. With that said, I did create new designs, I did read some books, and I did get some blog posts out - these are things I'll always want to be better at. Also, it turns out my volleyball skills aren't too bad either because I definitely wasn't the worst one at our reunion. I'll consider that a success. Big things are, I did reach my goal of 100 orders, which is huge for me, and we were able to save enough to buy our first house!

Speaking of the house, in my last post I mentioned how crazy it has been lately...with the actual process of buying a house, then closing on it, packing up the apartment we've lived in for 6 years, then moving and unpacking, in addition to the holiday madness, working full-time, working on orders, and being a cat mom of two. The house is still kind of a mess. Most of our clothes are in garbage bags, while we have been trying to find a new dresser set. Needless to say I've rocked some interesting outfits the past week or two that may or may not have been clean. The to-do list is never ending, but I'm sure it will always be. The important part is that it's OUR house and we're in it together and it's just an amazing thing. Cheers to that!
Now, over the next couple of days I'll work on a new potentially unobtainable list for 2016 and seriously put my clothes away.

Talk to you soon!

-- Alison --