2014

Oh 2014, you were certainly...a year. You were a year of surgery and recovery. A year of baseball, best friends, and a birthday road trip. A year of Chuy's, and parties, and getting a little tipsy. A year of Taylor Swift and loving pop music. A year of feelings and heartache.  A year of goodbyes...to best friends, and a job of 6 years.  A year of rejection, and confusion, and starting to find myself again.  A year of putting myself out there. A year of yarn and knitting and sharing my gift.  And most of all, a year of family. There were so many ups, and so many downs.  It took a lot to get through this year. But I did, and I can't deny I'm stronger because of it. 2015, I am so ready for you.

Shop Sale

I'm going to be having a sale in my Etsy shop!  I'm really proud of the items that I have listed right now, and all of the work I've been putting into my shop.  Sales are starting to roll in, and I've even had some custom orders!  It is a wonderful feeling knowing that somebody appreciates what you can create, and so I wanted to share the love. The sale will run Friday 11/28- Monday 12/1.

Wednesday Beauty

Anyone who knows me well could tell you that I am more than a little addicted to makeup and beauty products.  I just have this compulsion to try new things...all the time.  Above is an order I received from Ulta today, and I'm pretty excited about it.  Once or twice a year they send out a coupon for 20% off your purchase, and it doesn't have their usual exclusions.  It was the perfect opportunity to get some things I've had my eye on. I'm really happy I was able to snag the limited edition OPI MLB set, on sale, plus the coupon.  Baseball is one of my other obsessions, so it was a must-have.  I will be trying out the other sets, and let you know my thoughts next week.  Wednesday will be beauty day on here, going foward.

A Snapshot of Unemployment

This is a snapshot of what unemployment has been for me so far.  Lots of time with my pets, crafts, organizing things, and shopping.  I got my hair done, but it's already time to dye it again.  To be perfectly honest, it has been really boring. I've stayed up all night filling out tons of job applications, and then heard nothing back.  There has also been a lot of rejection, and it has been hard.  Unemployment is hard.

Life is funny.  It tends to happen while you are busy trying to make something else happen.  You don't always notice what is going on, and suddenly you look around and you find yourself living a life that is different from what you intended.  This can be good.  This can be bad.  Sometimes it just is.

Somehow it has been almost 3 years since the last time I wrote here.  That kind of blows my mind.  I was really enjoying the direction I was heading here, but life happened.  I found myself working all the time at my crazy retail job, and then I got a promotion, and all of this just fell by the way-side.  I don't want to say that I gave up on my dreams, but I definitely didn't make them a priority.

Now, life has thrown me another plot twist.  I finally left my job as a merchandiser for Old Navy.  It wasn't something I was totally ready for, but it happened.  Now I get to figure out what to do next.  In the meantime I get some time to just do "me".  While not knowing what's next is a little scary, I'm really excited about this.

Expect lots of things to be listed on Etsy soon.  I have 3 years of knitting piled up.  Things are going to be different this time.  I can feel it.

Vintage Christmas

Today I had some much needed retail therapy.  I needed a break from studying and having mild panic attacks.  First, I hit up the mall.  Armed with my coupons, I got free stuff from Bath and Body Works, Sephora, Victoria's Secret, and Bare Escentuals.  I also got free stuff at Target, CVS, and Walgreens.  Yay coupons!


Now, for the good part...After all of that I went to my favorite place in Knoxville, Nostalgia.  Christmas is my absolute favorite time to visit because it just doesn't get any bettter than vintage Christmas.  When you first walk in they have an amazing display of glitter houses.  There were at least a couple dozen, and I wanted to take them all home with me, but they were pricy so I settled for a picture.

I saw lots of Shiny Brites ornaments, but I knew that getting them home safely would be difficult, and they seemed more expensive this year, so I passed.  I did, however, find these adorable kitty ornaments.  They are going to be perfect on my kitty themed Christmas Tree.  Yes, I have a kitty themed tree...it is one of several themed trees I put up.

 

I also snagged some cute vintage buttons, and a little felt tree ornament.

As I was checking out at Nostalgia, they told me to go check out another store, Four Seasons Cottage.  I don't know how long this store has been open, or how I didn't know about it, but it was pretty awesome.  They had the best selection of clothes, shoes, and jewelry I've seen in Knoxville.  I was looking for Christmas stuff though.  Lots of things caught my eye, but I ended up with this package of vintage wrapping paper, and these adorable gift tags.

I love that these two look like mini felt wall hangings.

Unfortunately I have no new Etsy sales to report.  I have listed quite a few new things, and people are looking....they just aren't buying.  Maybe things will pick up soon?

Success

I did it! I just sold my first scarf on Etsy, and it took less than a week!  Considering I didn't do any sort of promotion, and it wasn't anybody I know, I am considering this a success.  I feel validated knowing that someone out there is willing to pay money for something I made.

In other news, I spent 20 hours of a 36 hour period at Old Navy yesterday and today.  My feet have never hurt this bad.  However, I did survive Black Friday, so I am also considering that a success.  I've gone from having no sources of income to 2 this week. 

Now I need to try and sneak in a few hours of sleep before my next 9hr shift.