I am so very glad it is a new year with new possibilities, prospects and exciting things to look forward too. The latter part of 2009 was a mixed bag of worries, anxiety and stress with my partner in hospital after a planned surgery which did not exactly go to plan atall! However he is now slowly on the mend and I am ready to leave all those worries behind and leap wholeheartedly into this brand new year.
So far it has been a rather sedate and relaxing first week and even my usual part-time reminiscnece work days have been working from home due to the wonderful weather conditions, but it has been lovely to take some time to rest and gather my thoughts after the last 3 months rollercoaster ride and now I am ready to make some plans and get back to work.
So far I have two big events to look forward to - #1 in April is my very first trade fair which I am so very excited about. Yes, there is a wee glimmer of apprehension there too, but I am looking forward to showing my work to a different audience in the form of buyers for galleries and boutiques. I have alot of planning and preparation for this event which is on a scale that I have not yet experienced but I am ready to take on the challenge!
#2 is our wedding - now some folks may remember that this was actually due to happen last year - well for one reason and another we had to postpone it but this year it is all go! We are looking at Autumn and whilst I am not the type of gal to chat about every detail (infact I think I may be in denial as I often forget it is even so close!) there may be the odd mention here now and again... maybe.
Of course there are lots of other things to look forward to - several exhibiting opportunities, new work, continuing to create our home on a budget, planning our honeymoon (now that I will be more than happy to chat endlessly about!) and all the things that are whirling about in my mind.
I am not one for making resolutions atall but I do hope to keep more up to date with my blog, make more time for myself and get back to creating for the pure enjoyment of it as well as it being a big part of making my living.
A few wee things I have purchased/been gifted, in order to help me along with the creating/'making things for us' plan include.....
1) a breadmaker - hands down the best christmas gift....ever. Gifted to us by my dad and step-mum, this has already been put to good use time and time again since Christmas. Whole-meal loaves, honey and sunflower seed bread, multi-grain bread, the list goes on. Bread is so expensive to buy now and this is helping us save money as well as being really satisfying to use! (I know, I know - kneading bread and making from scratch would be equally, if not more satisfying but from past experience I just know that I can't put the hours aside every couple of days to do this...)
2) a stock pot/slow cooker - bit of a foodie theme going on here - but we love healthy, hearty meals and again it will help us be more thrifty with our cooking. Again we have used this so much already for soups, stews and chilli and I can't wait to find more and more ways of using this!
3) a wee collection of crafty books bought with money gifts - I will hopefully get to posting about these tomorrow as of course they deserve a post all of their own!
(Above is a new character created just before Christmas - unfortunately I had to name her in a hurry due to rushing new work into a gallery and now I can't remember for the life of me what she is called!)
Back soon! x