Giving

As the news from Haiti keeps pouring out of our radios and televisions, I doubt that it's just me that has felt the pang to do something. Giving to our community, nation and world is something we all say is a good thing to do, but unfortunately it gets shuffled down to the bottom of the to-do list until there's a real crisis that we can see right in front of us. One of my New Year's resolutions was to give more but I'm very sorry that it had to be under these circumstances.
There's lot of ways we can give, not just with money but with our time also. I have a couple things here locally that I give my time too but I wanted to be able to give a monetary gift (however small) to an organization that works more on a national or global scale. We've all had a tough year and when it comes down to another expense, I know the daunting task of trying to cover it. But if I start adding up all I do have and expenses I manage to cover, I realize how darn lucky I am!
Then I thought, what if I trick myself a little to set aside money to give? My bank rounds up every purchase I make to the next dollar and puts the change in my savings account. It's not a lot of money but regardless of what I feel I'm able to put away, at least there's always a few dollars going there every week. I've been lucky enough to be able to sell a few of the products of my hobby, the thing that makes me happy and keeps me sane when I come home from my real life job. What if I took a little of that and donated it? Then I thought - wait! What if I take $1 from every pendant I sell this year and give that to charity? What about $1 from every item I sell this year? So that's what I'm going to do.
A non-profit that I'm very excited about is Heifer International. Instead of giving money to communities and family in need, they give livestock. Check out the link for the whole amazing process! This organization helps people all over the world (they were in Haiti before, during and since the earthquake), including the U.S.. Based on my records for 2009, I should be able to give some honeybees, some chicks, and a llama. But I'm shooting for the heifer!

Happy New Year!

I said I was ready to put 2009 to bed and start the new year but looking back, 2009 wasn't a bad year at all. We started it with a great trip to Savannah, filled it with farm tours, beach trips, great times with family and friends. I made lots of new friends and rediscovered old ones. I turned a hobby into a part time venture and dove into raising chickens, even successfully performed chicken first aid last month. I planted seeds and trees. I finally got my tattoo. We survived the recession and the snow storm of 2009 with little discomfort and even with some new perspectives of what is really important. I accomplished a lot of my goals, rewrote some, and let some go without sweating it. I conquered some fears. It was a good year.
But it's hard for me not to get caught up in the spirit of New Year's, making plans and resolutions. I mean if last year was good, now we get to start again and make this year great! I think this attitude works for me as I find that every year that goes by gets better and better and leaves me lots of happy memories to look back on. New Year's is a holiday custom made for people like me, people who are committed to grow and learn, people who are optimists, people who believe that life is what we make of it. 2010 is going to be a great year!
What's on the plate for the new year? More seeds and trees definitely - I'm already thinking about my seed order and what parts of the garden need the most work. More craftiness and hopefully more shows and opportunities. More attention paid to my health (more yoga and vegetables!). More new friends and more time spent with dear ones. More good times!
Of course, beginnings also bring more questions too which can be a little scary. Adam is still job hunting but this will be his last year of school (for now anyway). There's lots of work to be done and things to learn if I'm going to let my little venture grow. There's 363 days left in which anything could happen. But it's the questions that bring the opportunities. 2010 is going to be a great year!
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend starting out and more fabulous days ahead!

December First Friday Indie Market!

The last one of 2009!!! And it should be a blast! The Festival of Lights will also be going on downtown. Lights, trees, music, Santa and all kinds of local, handmade goodies for the good boys and girls on your list! Go to the Indie Market blog for more info!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I packed up for the Indie Market last night so I could play and relax a little tonight. These earrings are what I did with my time. Aren't they fun? They are vintage Christmas trees lights that I found last year. I'm planning on making a few more pairs of earrings in different colors plus a necklace or two. I love vintage and I love holidays!
I actually saw them starting to put up the wreaths on the lamp posts in downtown Winston-Salem today. I see you rolling your eyes! It's too early, right? But remember when you were a kid and you wished that Christmas could be all year long? The lights, the decorations, the food, the friends and family... Now that we're grown up I think we focus too much on the stress of the holidays. Relax. Shop online in your pajamas instead going to the mall. Go do something special just for fun (Like going to the Indie Market under the excuse of "Christmas shopping"). Bake your favorite cookies. Look at some twinkle lights. Make it a priority to enjoy yourself!

Tooting My Own Horn

I now have pendants at Sister's Jewelry & Gifts on Tate Street! If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. They have fantastic jewelry. Adam goes there every Christmas (yes, I have a man that's good with the jewelry). They are starting to stock more local handmade items and I'm flattered that mine were some that they chose. Go have a look! In order to celebrate, I bought myself this cute little bracelet there that I found within five seconds of entering the store. I'm big on the Beatles.

Another First Friday!!!

Who's coming? There will be all kinds of arts and crafts! A great way to get excited about holiday shopping and to support your local crafters and artisans! For more info go to the Indie Market Blog. See you there!

Can I Have a Do-Over?

Okay, so my goal to post once a week has been severely neglected. Here's to renewing it! I've been busy, busy, busy....keeping products coming for the First Friday Indie Markets, trips to the mountains, fall gardening season, and oh yeah, my day job. Somehow in the chaos I've finally managed to finish this baby quilt! It's the Crazy Eights pattern by Julia Hale. I really love the fabrics I found at JoAnn's too (sorry Mama).
Speaking of babies, we have a few new ones of our own around here. Baby chicks that is. Our one hens decided she wanted to be a sitter so we got some fertilized eggs from our friends who have roosters. Eventually the other hen joined in and they passed the eggs back and forth until the day they hatched. They are both such good mamas! It is such a blast to watch these crazy birds teach the babies all the ins and outs of the backyard.