2011...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

...recycling last year's New Year's post...

My wish for you

is a new year full of

blessings

good health

wise choices

& much much happiness.

For myself, I wish the same.

Still looking for that balance that I've mentioned the past three January 1sts, but life IS so good.

2010 was another fantastic year of growth & exposure... many firsts w/ much excitement & emotion. Great times w/ friends & family... travel, tattoos, celebrations, etc. 

2011 is going to be another year w/ many possibilities... my resolution, again, is to take full advantage of these possibilities & make great things happen!!

Happy New Year, all!

Till next time...

~ Julie

2010...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My wish for you

is a new year full of

blessings

good health

wise choices

& much much happiness.

For myself, I wish the same.

Still looking for that balance that I've mentioned the past two January 1sts, but life IS so good.

2009 was a wonderful year of many firsts for me & glass. It was a year of fantastic growth & exposure. It was a year of new friendships & new connections. I so enjoyed 2009.

2010 is going to be a year w/ many possibilities... my resolution is to take full advantage of these possibilities & make something happen!!

Happy New Year, all!

Till next time...

~ Julie

HAPPY 2009...

Happy New Year!

2009, huh? Wow. Where did 2008 go?

It was a crazy year... fun & fulfilling as far as glass goes, I'm loving how I've grown as a glass artist... I still enjoy feedback from others (duh!)... showing me that I'm on the right track. I had some really successful shows this year, even after bigger signs of US financial troubles started stressing people out, which is amazing to me (I think it's an emotional thing for people.... jewelry, beads, etc... being able to spend a little something on themselves maybe makes it a little easier to cope w/ stress???)... so I'm just really thrilled w/ how things are going from that point...

...but I'm still looking for balance in my life. Is balance possible? LOL. I'm praying that it is & that somehow this ADD brain of mine will allow me to figure it out.

Anyway... that's not where I was going to go here... ;o)

2009 is already shaping up to be an awesome & busy year! One of my biggest wishes this year was to somehow get into the BEAD & BUTTON SHOW in Milwaukee in early June. I put the word out in a few places that I was looking for someone who wanted to share their existing booth because I heard it through the grapevine that there was a long waiting list to get your own booth & I hadn't even started that process yet. Well... my wish came true!! Kristi Evenson of Coliebug Beads has done B&B for years & found out that she was going to have a conflict w/ another big show here in Minneapolis the same weekend (for at least the next 2 years!). My friend Jennifer Ionta told her that I was wanting to find someone to share a booth with & Kristi contacted me!! She was so happy that she didn't have to lose her perfect B&B booth space & I was thrilled to get the chance to do B&B for the first time w/out having to wait on a waiting list forever. :o) She had to get it okay'd w/ the B&B people, but no problem. So... I'll be bringing her fantastic copper & sterling stamped charms & pendants so she at least has some of her items there & I'll get my own 8' space for my stuff!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! :o)

Check out my SCHEDULE on my website to see what else I'm up to so far this year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, all!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR...

Happy 2008, all!!

2008??? Holy crap...weren't we just stressing out over Y2K??? :o) Where does time go?

Do you make New Year's resolutions??? I used to. I think about it... but I'm so good at not following my own advice, or even advice of others, LOL, so I pretty much just continue to "think" about it. :o)

But really...what do I want to accomplish, or at least DO BETTER in 2008? (2008??? Holy crap!) Well...other than continuing to grow as a glass artist, I REALLY need to figure out how to balance that w/ my life. I know, I've mentioned that already, haven't I?? I really DO need to figure it out. I'm definitely an ALL or NOTHING kind of person. I get those blinders on tight & don't dare veer off course. I'm really good at focusing on what I'm passionate about, but everything else seems to fall by the wayside.

#1 on my list of needing to re-balance is nutrition & activity. SERIOUSLY. I lost a serious amount of weight in 2003-2004 & up until 2007 I had managed to maintain that loss, give or take 10 lbs or so. I still had about 35 lbs to go. That was then. Close to a year hyper-focused on lampworking knocked me off balance... no time (in my head!) for the gym, no desire to work out @ home & a lower priority to balance nutrition didn't do anything positive for my weight. Good nutritional habits helped for a bit, but even those fall by the wayside when your attention is elsewhere. So I've taken some steps backwards that I now need to correct before it gets too far out of hand. I've GOT TO start re-focusing on this NOW. I can't continue to let this go. I've done enough damage.

So here's my January committment: MINIMUM of 10 MINUTES of exercise per day...MINIMUM. I think it's a time issue, LOL, but I KNOW that I CAN do at least 10 minutes each day. There's no excuse. TEN MINUTES.

Now back to talking about glass, LOL. (yeah, right!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm finally taking a break from the craziness to spend some nice time w/ my family for the holidays. No website, no selling, etc... just chillin' out w/ the kids & hubby. Nice.

We were supposed to go to Colorado for Christmas, that's where my family is & we haven't been there for Christmas day since 1993 or so. My kids have never had a Colorado Christmas, sad. :o( We had been planning on this since probably the spring, we didn't go home for the summer, which we would normally do, since we knew we were going for Christmas instead. The first week of December we had to choose between a new computer, new tires for my car & a new dryer or Christmas in Colorado. What a sucky choice, huh?

It worked out okay, as sad as it was to not be home, I was so super crazy busy up til the day we were supposed to leave, no downtime whatsoever, so I can't imagine having to add the stress of packing & getting ready to go on top of all of that. Not fun. PLUS, major snow & ice storms between here & there, the drive would've sucked. :o) We'll head out there for Spring Break because the summer has already gotten busy w/ trips & such & Colorado isn't on that list.

Hope you had a nice & relaxing Christmas... or whatever you might celebrate... & a fabulous, but safe, New Year!