Brain Dump

I keep going to sit down and blog, but of course I get sidetracked. With my small amount of time, here's a few random thoughts for the day:

• As the days go by, I get more obsessed with my shop- designing, promoting, studying SEO- but then I realized the correct word may be passionate. I guess that's a good thing, right? It started as a hobby, but now something I'd like to take more seriously. I take pride in my work and my customers even more now!
• Micah's getting to the point in his age where I am starting to freak out about making sure he's doing enough "developmental" things. I mostly let him play, explore, cause trouble because I don't want to frustrate or bore him. He still sticks crayons, markers, paintbrushes in his mouth because he knows he shouldn't be! When does this everything in the mouth phase end!?
• I've been doing really well on being aware of wheat and what I'm eating. I haven't had a straight up piece of bread, but it's been long enough that I haven't that when I eat something that may contain a trace amount of wheat my body can tell. And the feeling sucks! I still am trying to prioritize recipe planning and thinking outside the box. 
• I'm starting to get so excited for Spring Training! I drive past the Brewer's training complex every day on my way to work and I get a big smile on my face. Most of all by cousin and her husband will be here so I'm super excited for that. And we're not planning on moving in the middle of when they're here next time.
• Also looking forward to this. No, it didn't fit in with my budget, but it's also been on my Arizona bucket list, so I couldn't pass up the 1/2 off Deal Chicken deal. Sometimes bucket lists outweigh budgets.
• Excited for a weekend of rain! I love overcast skies and having an excuse to lay around and cozy up. 

Have a fantastic weekend!

My Faves on Etsy: Kid Edition

I thought it would be fun to give a shout out to some fellow Etsy shops every now and again. Etsy is just the greatest place to get sucked into and discover such cool things you never knew could exist. Etsy is the perfect place to get baby shower gifts and unique items for your little guy or gal.

This shop has some adorable little hats for the baby sports enthusiast. Now if your little one won't wear hats, they're great photo props. Here's an adorable Brewer's crocheted hat. ADORBS!

I love this personalized wooden bowling ball set from KeepsakeToys. You can purchase them as is or add letters of your child's name to each pin. So cute! Again, great gift idea!

These aprons are super cute and are great for your child to help you in the kitchen or do arts and crafts. Cute! They remind me of dolls for some reason...

I'm in love with these colors together. If we ever have a girl, this is my color scheme (for now, anyway!).

Do you have any favorite Etsy shops that have great kids items? I love new finds on Etsy :)

I'm Back!

Who's happy? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

With my Etsy shop taking off (using that term very loosely) I wanted to have a little bit more of a personal touch to people buying my stuff. Don't you always wonder about the person behind the things you buy? Since I've neglected this blog a bit, it's always here for me. I want to try to add a little bit of this and that and share bits and pieces of things that I love, do, make, and see. 

On that note...

How's 2013 going so far? I'm enjoying it, if I do say so myself. I've made quite a few goals for myself (not resolutions, just goals) as always, and I thought I'd share some.

Personal:

• start saving more money. I've put myself on a cash budget for groceries and "fun" stuff. So far so good. I've started putting more money away automatically every two weeks. Outta sight, outta mind ;) Jonathan and I have separate accounts, which works for us, and everything evens out pretty well. 
• bike more. We've moved to a fantastic area, got new bikes, and a bike trailer. We've had a terrible cold snap but I'm excited for spring and the places our bikes can take us!
• be more cognizant of my diet. I go through phases and my pants can tell! I just started Wheat Belly and I'm excited to learn some great info from this book. I have the knowledge, I have the skills, I just need to have more willpower! 
• get family photos taken. We have a great set of pictures taken by Christina Heaston, who unfortunately does not live here. These pictures are also over a year old. I need to do some research to find an affordable family photographer in the Phoenix area with the "eye" we are looking for. Any offers?! ;)

Professional:

• find a new career. Without getting too much into detail, it's time for me to move on and out of K-12 education. It's a hard place to be. You need a thick skin, among other things, and me not having to power to change things I see going wrong is really frustrating. I'd like to get into higher education and get my feet wet. From there, who knows?
• make more money. Goes with the above. I hope to start out about the same salary, but I need to go somewhere with opportunity for growth. With my degrees, I should be able to make more than I am, or at least be able to make more than $1,000 a year by getting another masters degree! Or perhaps, make more money based on my performance at a job (wait, wha?!).
• have 300 sales this year on my Etsy shop. I think it's possible and I will do everything in my power to make it happen!

So those are my goals, my biggest is probably finding a new job, which I've been pretty active at so far.

What are your goals? Looking forward to a great year!