This week has been a series of highs and lows.  I felt a surge of energy to tackle new projects and goals.  Then I crashed and burned.  A warm thank you to all of you who gave me encouragement this week!  I truly appreciate it.

I am looking forward to a weekend with very few commitments which will enable me to sew and knit.  My college daughter is home for another week so she has been busy organizing things.  It’s so refreshing to have another person help with this because she has removed tons of extraneous stuff from the office/studio.  She organized all the bookshelves and drawers on the office side.  She even thinned out my husband’s books (no easy task!)  She has gone through all the CDs and DVDs, pitched duplicates, labeled and stored them.  She is going to tackle finishing up the home movies where I left off.  (What year was that????)  Today we will finish the sewing/craft side.  When you start organizing you create a temporary mess, so I haven’t been able to sew much this week beyond my little felt bag.

Next week you will see some new coffee sack aprons like this one. 

One of my goals this year is to get a better handle on my inventory and bookkeeping, so I purchased this spreadsheet from Handmadeology Business.

I ordered new labels from Jennifers Jewels and new business cards.

I have a new website I’m working on, but I’ll share information on that another time.  I’m also working on some newer, more professional photos for my bios and avatars, thanks to my nephew-in-law-to-be.  Here’s a few:

I am wearing my new Twillypop necklace that you can especially see in the last photo (along with all my wrinkles….).

I LOVE my Twillypop necklace!!!  I wore it everywhere during the holidays! I love Twillypop the shop and the person.  (And, Sara has a really nice neck….something I realize I will never have again.)

I have made a renewed effort to take advantage of Spark People.  It’s a great website for tracking nutrition and fitness goals and, well, don’t we all start out with grand plans of improving those areas of our lives?

That’s a little of what’s new in my life.  I can’t wait to share some of the amazing presents I received, especially Annie’s handmade creations and some of the many Etsy gifts my daughter and I bought to give!  I welcome 2012 with all its potential and, yes, even the inevitable lows.  With friends and family along for the ride, I know I will survive the journey.