Can you even believe it?!?!

I am so incredibly excited to be joining this amazing group of women on the Feed Your Craft creative team. I have been a huge fan of Feed Your Craft for years now, so it is truly an honor to get to design for them. You can learn more about the other incredibly talented women on the team here, and be sure to check out the Feed Your Craft shop (affiliate link).

So this happened...

Eeeeek! I'm so excited and absolutely honored to be a member of the Hip Kit Club Design Team. I can't wait to start creating!

My 2018 Plans

I know, it's already April, but I finally got my 2018 plans sorted, and I feel ready to take on the year! Better late than never, right?

So, if you're interested, you can see what the future holds in the short video below.

Happy Crafting!

Hello, 2017

I don't do resolutions. I don't make big sweeping statements about radical changes I intend to make just because I flipped a page on the calendar. It's not realistic. And I know myself well enough to know that I will buck against any rules I try to set for myself.

But I do believe in the power of goal-setting. I set goals for myself all the time. Some of those goals are well thought out and have a support system in place to help me keep them. Some of the goals I set are more like wishful thinking. Clearly one method works better than the other.

So for the start of 2017, in an effort to put last year behind me and focus on the coming months, I have set some goals. Goals that I have been thinking about for quite some time. Goals that I have done the work of creating support for. Goals that I am invested in enough to not simply blow-off in a week or two.

I'm excited about the changes these goals will effect, both physical and mental, and I hope to share more about them over the next several weeks.

What goals have you made for yourself for 2017?

2016 In Review

Let's be real here. 2016 was a total shit show.

All of my plans went to crap, and I spent the year living in a house without a kitchen or most of a bathroom. It was stressful and depressing, and I'm pretty sure it took a good five years off my life.

...And that's not even mentioning the things that happened outside of my personal life. Ugh.

To say that I'm glad 2016 is over is an understatement. If I could have kicked 2016 is the ass as it headed out the door, I totally would have.

So here's to hoping 2017 is a better year. And just to start the year on a positive note, let me recap the handful of good things that happened in 2016.

J had the opportunity to spend two weeks in India. While that doesn't sound like a good thing to me, he had been looking forward to it and hoping it would happen in 2016. He met some great people, had some interesting experiences, and brought back presents, so it was a win-win.

We had the chance to spend lots of time with friends, including camping for a week and attending the John Hartford Memorial Festival in Bean Blossom for the fourth year.

J and I also got the chance to get away, just us and the dogs. We spent a week in Michigan on Glen Lake, and I will never get over how beautiful it us up there. 

We added a new member to our family. Nacho kitty has been great for Scrunchy the demon cat. Scrunch has completely given up attacking us and now saves all of her pent up frustrations for Nacho. Plus Nacho is the sweetest, cuddliest kitty I have ever known.

Abi completed her therapy dog training, and she was a rock star. All that's left is for her to take the final test, and then she'll be a certified therapy dog. Not bad for an old girl.

My mom and I drove to Kansas to spend the weekend with family at the Whatever Craft House. It was amazing. We had so much fun (maybe a little too much, eh mom?), and the house was gorgeous. I'm so glad we were able to make it happen.

And that about covers the positives for the year. So adios 2016. Here's to a better year ahead!

Happy 2016!

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2015 in Review

2015 was a crazy year for me. When the year began, I had just signed a lease for a new apartment 2.5 hours away from my family and was three months into my first year as a library director. Now, as the year comes to a close, I'm living in a different house in a different town over an hour away from the library and contemplating even more career changes. 2015 was a whirlwind, and at the same time it seemed like the longest year ever.

I was noticeably absent from this blog for most of the year. I thought about you all often, and longed to be back here sharing with you on more than one occasion. But living life always seemed to get in the way of documenting it. No posts were written, no project life pages were completed, and very few journal entries were made.

As I look forward to 2016 and all the potential changes that year will bring, I know that I will need a place to come to, to share the ups and downs, the successes and the failures, to help make sense of it all somehow. I can't wait to share that journey with all of you here. There is no better support system I know of than a community of creative-minded individuals like those I have found through blogging. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

But before the year is over, I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments from 2015 as a way of filling all of you in on what you missed.

January

January's cold days were best spent cuddling on the couch with the dogs whenever possible. The rest of the time I had to make do with comfort foods, like this gluten-free pot pie (my first attempt!). 

February

February brought a visit from my mom, sister, and little niece, Brilli. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them, just us girls.

March

By March I was finding it pretty hard to be away from J and the dogs so much. Living apart has been very difficult for me. So I soaked up the puppy cuddles when I could...and Foster is always happy to comply.

April

April brought the chance to spend time with old friends and enjoy some great music together. Better weather meant more time outdoors with the pups. 

May

May was a slow month at the library as we did some last minute prep for Summer Reading. This gave me time to attend a conference in New Harmony, Indiana, and take in the beauty of that place. We also managed a quick getaway to Lake Michigan for a weekend. I can never get enough of that place!

June

June was full of library work and the Summer Reading Program. But I did manage to take time to visit my family in Kentucky and see my niece again. She had grown so much!

July

July brought more changes. One of my best friends got married (and had a fabulously fun bachelorette party). And Jesse started a new job...but not before taking a few weeks to travel with the dogs.

August

The summer craziness was finally over at the library, and I managed to take a whole week off to travel to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with J, the dogs, and some good friends. There's nothing like sunset beach campfires to calm the soul. 

September

September brought a move (and the beginning of a never-ending DIY saga) for me, and a new member of our little family.

October 

J had to travel to Denver for work over Halloween, and we decided I should join him for a mini vacation. We spent the first day downtown, then traveled to Breckenridge, Vale, and Avon the next day. Our final day was spent in Boulder, before heading back to the airport for our flight home. We saw some beautiful sights, ate some fabulous food (those are duck fat fries in the picture below), and even managed to take in some good music. Overall it was a very successful trip!

November

Most of November was spent in the throws of the aforementioned DIY saga (plenty more on that to come), but thanks to another conference I was able to join J and the dogs in Noblesville for a few days where we enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and plenty of time playing in the fallen leaves (it's Abi's favorite).

December

 
 December was spent with family, mine in Kentucky and J's here in Indiana. We had a wonderful Christmas together in Noblesville, and even managed to make it to the Star Wars premiere. :)

And that's 2015 in a long, very picture-heavy nutshell. We had some great times, but I can't say I'm sorry to see it go. 

Until next year!

Currently

Loving this quote and illustrations from Modcloth and trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my Project Life album.

Listening to the new album from Shovels and Rope on NPR's First Listen (only available for a couple more days before the album releases on the 26th).

Reading #GIRLBOSS and thinking it might be the best book I've read all year. It's brutally honest and inspiring in a very realistic way (as opposed to the books that just spout inspiring phrases and leave you without any way of using that inspiration to promote action). 

Missing this blog and wishing I could find the room in my schedule to spend more time here...(sad face).

Running...yeah, that's right. Running...me! I started interval training two weeks ago. Believe me, I needed to do something, and at the time this seemed like the best option. Here's hoping I actually keep it up.

Wanting to spend more time crafting and seriously needing a trip to Ikea for organizational supplies. I moved my craft room a couple months back and everything is chaos. Must purchase Kallax soon!

Looking forward to this weekend's festivities, which include a house concert with our good friends and favorite local band Brandon Whyde and The Devil's Keep, a stop at the Gluten Free Allergy Fest, and a trip to the outlet mall for some retail therapy. 

And finally...

...hoping you have a fun and inspiring weekend as well!

Big News!

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I've got big news! You may have noticed a small "congratulations" note on Wednesday's post, which was the tiniest of tiny sneak peeks. Well, it's official now, so I can finally share with all of you - I got a full-time job!!

I know that this may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but for me it's been a loooong time coming. I haven't been officially employed since December of 2008 ...yeah, that's over 5 years! Don't get me wrong; I haven't been sitting at home trolling job sites that entire time. Part of it was spent in grad school. And part of it was spent developing and starting my own business, Kinship Genealogy. But at no time during the last five years have I had a steady paycheck or benefits.

Needless to say, I am very excited. I'm also more than a little bit scared. Like I said, it's been a long time, and it's going to be a huge adjustment. But it's a change that I need so very badly.

And while this position isn't exactly my dream job, it is a step in the right direction, a step that will hopefully put me on the path to that dream job.

So please forgive me if things are a little chaotic around here while I adjust to my new life. I'm going to do my very best to stick with my blogging schedule, but I'm sure there will be times that it just doesn't happen. I apologize in advance.

And if you have any advice for someone getting back into the workforce after a long hiatus, I'm all ears!