Happy 2012!!!

Keeping with tradition, it is now time for my year in review in which I assess goals and highlights from last year and the goals for the coming year. You can read my year in review from the last 6 years. I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for so long now.

• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011

I feel like I accomplished so much this past year but when I look at the goals I set for myself I really didn’t do that great. I’m not lamenting this too much because I think the year just got going in a different direction than I anticipated. 2011 was the year of ICE and I don’t regret that at all. I feel proud of what we did in 2011 and excited for what we have planned for 2012.

I did a much better job this year of balancing many things at once. My house was cleaner than in past years during peak moments but I also worked harder than ever. There were moments where my sense of duty was overpowering preventing me from having fun and relaxing. The results were impressive but I hope that in a few years certain things will be running even more efficiently and I won’t have to feel quite so much pressure. At the same time, I sort of fell in love with the tasks I do for ICE and may have become a border-line work-a-holic at times. When I was able to, I let myself rest (I watched a lot of Netflix in bed this year!) and I did a few things that felt extravagant (like taking a whole week off of work to go see my sister in CA). Launching a new show (Wedding Day Hooray) was much harder than I anticipated. Producing the pop-up shop for the 2nd time was way easier.

So to get started I’m going to look at the highlights of 2011. It was a good year.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011
• I went on 8 trips.
-January – Chicago with Shannon to check out an indie wedding show and we got to hang out with AJ and Patrick.
-February – Las Vegas with Davis, my first time there. We ate the Triple 7 burger, which was a momentous occasion for Davis.
-July – Long Boat Key, FL with Ally and crew.
-August – Elijay, GA to celebrate 20 years of friendship with Margaret. San Diego to see my sister, brother-in-law and their 3 adorable children.
September – Chicago with Shannon, Davis, Jessica, Cathy and Jenna for the Renegade Craft Fair.
-October – DC with Shannon, Becky, Cathy and Adrienne for Crafty Bastards. Baltimore with Becky and Shannon for the Summit of Awesome.

• We got snowed in for a few days.

• My love for Chicago grew. I’ve gone to Chicago for Renegade for the last 7 years and every year I have big plans to explore the city but it just never happens and I end spending all my time in Wicker Park, which I love. This year during both visits (2 in one year!) I got to explore downtown. It was so much fun! I got to see Millennium Park, Shedd Aquarium, take an architectural boat tour, have drinks at the top of the John Hancock building and just do some general wandering. What an amazing city.

• I threw Davis a surprise party for his 40th birthday! I’m still in shock that he didn’t suspect a thing until he arrived at Manuel’s Tavern and recognized every car in the parking lot!

• I flew to DC. Every year we drive up for Crafty Bastards. The trip is pleasant, the drive not too long. The second we get to DC we are immediately, horribly lost!!! We are a group of smart ladies who know how to navigate a city. We have technology on our side with GPS, printed out Google Maps and smart phones and yet this tragedy has happened over and over again. This year I decided to fly and it was amazing. Instead of spending the day in the car, I went exploring with Cathy and Adrienne.

• I became much more focused on documenting my city and posted frequently to my Tumblr blog. This was so much fun to me! http://www.abardis.tumblr.com

• Again, I demonstrated screen-printing at the Summit of Awesome and spoke on several panel discussions. I love those Hello Craft girls and I feel so honored to have been involved with this event for the 3rd time.

• We celebrated 9 years of marriage. Still totally in love. Still having so much fun!

• ICE – 2 ICEs, 1 Wedding Day Hooray and Pop-Up Shop. As I said above, this was the year of ICE. In 2011, the Indie Craft Experience produced more events than ever before. We did a summer show and a holiday show, the very first Wedding Day Hooray and our second Pop-Up Shop. Producing Wedding Day Hooray was a bit of a challenge but the Pop-Up Shop was so much easier than last year. We really learned a lot from the first go-round and we had such a great time at Criminal Records. So happy to have teamed-up with them!

REVIEW OF 2011 GOALS
• Focus on the House – I actually took a major break and didn’t do too much. I removed the carpet in the hallway during the last week of the year (does that count?) and did a little rearranging in the basement. It really doesn’t add up to much at all. But I think we needed a break.

• Debt – I didn’t make much headway on this either. A small dent but nothing substantial. There is a definite correlation between how focused I am on saving money and how busy I am.

• Loose Weight – Nope. I did maintain though.

• Write More – Nope. I completely neglected my blog and didn’t work on any other projects. I did buy Microsoft Office though (finally.) and look forward to using it more.

• a bardis – I reached my goal here and participated in Renegade, Crafty Bastards and the Summit of Awesome. I also had a booth at beehive and I made several new products. Some of my happiest moments of the year were making inventory for those shows and being at those events with my awesome crafty friends.

• Indie Craft Experience – Above and beyond. I give myself an A+++ for my work with ICE this year. Shannon and I really kicked it into gear and worked so hard. I’m really proud of both of us.

2012 GOALS
• Loose 10 pounds – I have a plan on how to make this happen and I think declaring the actual number of pounds will help.

• Get floors refinished – Once this happens I anticipate the rest of our home will fall in to place.

• Post to blog 52 times – This is once a week but I’m sure there will be weeks when I don’t post and weeks when I post more than once.

• Indie Craft Experience – This year is the real test. Wedding Day Hooray, Salvage (new vintage show), Summer ICE, Holiday ICE and Pop-Up Shop. This will be the most we’ve ever produced.

• Debt – I have determined a specific number of dollars that I’d like to pay off. If I accomplish this then 2013 will be the year that I finish paying it off (except for the mortgage of course).

• Cook more – eat better, save money. I’ve been challenging myself to try cooking new things lately. I had never cooked beets until 2011 and I’ve become obsessed. And I’ve learned to cook beet greens, barley and turnips. These might not seem like huge accomplishments but when you are married to an AMAZING cook there really isn’t much motivation to try to cook anything on your own. I’ve discovered that I really enjoy it though and have even impressed my husband a couple of times. So I will continue challenging myself.

• Fewer commitments – In preparation for this year, I have let go of a few commitments. I’m learning my limitations and I’m trying to streamline so that I have more flexibility. I’m sad to report that I won’t have a booth at beehive anymore. I’m also going to be really careful not to take on new commitments.

I hope 2012 is an amazing year for you. I hope it is joyous and exciting. And I hope you have time in January to relax and figure out what you want to do with this new year.
Xo, Christy