A smooth faced, pale fingered leather etcher

1). Have I ever mentioned that I have Raynaud’s Phenomenon? That sounds way more exciting than it is, actually. It means that occasionally and at random times my fingers turn white and go a little numb. Lately, it has been mostly the tip of my middle finger, but occasionally it'll spread through my whole hand. Typically it is brought on by stress or by cold. When I was in California recently, both of my hands went completely white thanks to a perfect storm of panic over riding a roller coaster and the, ahem, brisk, morning temperatures. 

2). I got a new phone a couple of weeks ago, and apparently took a bunch of photos with an auto-beauty setting turned on? It makes you look creepy smooth. Which is cool, but I really don't mind that I have pores, so it really freaked me out until I figured out what was going on. See the hat? Totally normal texture. See the subtle glow of my skin? In no way have I ever looked that smooth in my life.

3). Over Christmas (well, a little before Christmas) I bought a wood burning kit. I used it to make cutting boards for the family, and even practiced a little leather work. Most importantly, I did NOT light myself on fire, much to the surprise of everyone involved. 

2016, Year of the...

I can't believe that its 2016. I don't know why, but something about just looking at the number 2016 sends me into a spiral of panic. Its 2016. It has been 10 years since high school. Its 2016. We're now closer to 2020 than we are to 2010. 2-0-1-6. If I could type those numbers as capitals, I would. Its 2016.

If I think about it too much, I start hyperventilating a little bit, which either has to do with the new year, or the fact that I have neglected to dust since early December. Probably both.

Its 2016.

That's ten years since I graduated high school. And moved to Oklahoma. Little did I know that I wouldn't ever manage to quite escape Oklahoma.

Nine years since I first dated the smartest.

Eight years since I changed my major from English Ed to Graphic Design, despite numerous people informing me that I didn't have the appropriate artistic talent to do so.

Seven years since realizing that I couldn't hack it in the corporate design world. I wasn't good at marketing products. I was good at making people happy.

Six years since I graduated college. And entered the work force while living in a dingy apartment under a guy who had one man raves every night for six months.

Five years since I made the first design that I would sell in the shop. In the midst of planning our wedding, I designed our vows. They would be the bedrock for the shop when it opened.

Four years and four months(ish) since the smartest and I said "I do".
Four years and three months since I opened the shop, at the urging of the people who know me best.

Four years since I quit my job to design full time. How lucky am I? Infinitely lucky.

Three years (well, a little over three years) since the puppy came home with us.

Two years since I listed my first product that would top Google Image search and Pinterest search results.

One year since I decided to give writing a rest

And 6 months since I decided that writing had been rested enough, and I decided to conquer one of the pieces of my bucket list.

Its 2016.

And I've gotta tell you guys... I might be a little panicked when I see those numbers on the calendar that hangs by my desk. But this year feels like it's going to be a good one. Provided that I remember to dust this week, and stop hyperventilating.

10 Ways to Beat the January Blues

Do you guys suffer from post-holiday depression? I have always somewhat fallen victim to the "crud-Christmas-is-over-and-won't-be-back-for-another-year-and-wow-that-was-a-lot-of-money-to-spend-on-gifts" hangover, ever since I was a wee little person. Now, however, with Christmas being one of the busiest times for my business, January offers a whole new sort of emptiness in addition to the normal post-Christmas blues, which is punctuated by a drastic decrease in sales coupled with a dramatic increase in my down time. You know that my having downtime can't be good. Today I am putting my free time to use to ponder 10 ways to keep myself from sliding into a irreversible January depression. One can only hope that I can think of 10 things.

1). Eat something adventurous.
Yesterday, the smartest and I went out to Indian food with some newish friends. I have never eaten Indian food before, and it was quite tasty. I didn't really know what was IN anything I consumed, and I was quite bright enough not to ask, lest that ruin the experience. I did, however, skip the one labelled "goat". Because I'm depressed... but not THAT depressed.

2). Have a movie marathon.
The med student and the tallest suggested we have a Lord of the Rings blu-ray extended edition marathon over a series of weekends. I am a total Lord of the Rings junkie, so this made me pretty excited. We even joked (sort of joked, sort of pondered) about cooking Hobbit-y foods for the next showing.

3). Get a puppy.
Now, to be very upfront, I should tell you that the puppy both alleviates and adds to my January funk, depending on the day. She is an excellent little time-suck, and can be quite diverting (which is the nice way of saying distracting), but can also do weird things like randomly attempt to sever my hand from my arm while I type.

4). Try a new recipe.
I am thinking of trying this one:

5). Get overly excited about an upcoming holiday. 
I generally like Valentines day more in theory than in actual practice, but this could be the year that I get my act together and make all 50 of the heart shaped foods that I pinned last year. Or one. Maybe I should shoot for one. Perhaps this one:

6). Get crafty. 
With all of the post-Christmas sales and quasi-ugly Christmas gifts, I'm sure we can all come up with something that could use a little DIY magic. This mama made hats out of her sweaters for her little munchkin.

7). Celebrate the return of your favorite TV shows. 
I may or may not be joyously welcoming Bunheads and Pretty Little Liars back to my weekday evenings.

8). Organize things. 
I am taking baby-bites out of various organizational projects around the house. So far I have tackled the coat closet, the linen closet, and the guest room.

9). Change your alarm clock ringtone. 
The smartest and I are now waking up to "Wake me up before you Go Go".

10). Read something new. Or old. 
I'm thinking I might make another pass at Alice in Wonderland, now that I am no longer 10 years old and easily distracted. Well- at least one of those things is true.

What are you guys doing to beat the winter blues?

Love,