The Year of the Marathon

I remember very clearly one day back in 2008 thinking that if I wanted to remain somewhat in shape for the rest of my life, I better get moving (yes, this thought was just occurring to me at age 27. I was late to the game). 

So I signed up to run a race - the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago. It was an 8K which seemed easy enough. My best friend had run it in the past and I emailed to see if she'd be interested in running it with me that year, too. She was, and so we both started training separately (she was, and still is, living in Chicago). 

My first day of training called for me to run two miles. This seemed HUGE to me at the time. I drove up to a local middle school one January evening (so less people could see me, of course) and ran around the track in the slush until I completed the two miles. 

Pretty soon I had completed the Shamrock Shuffle and decided to train for a half marathon that October.  I enlisted another friend to train with me and we began training using a Hal Higdon training schedule.  After a couple of weeks, we were amazed that we could run several miles without even thinking about it. We would chat and run and it was so great to have her next to me during those long miles. Here we are after we finished our first half marathon.

(It should be noted that my running buddy, Amy, is much faster than me, so after a few miles she ran ahead. This is us finding each other after the race.)

The next year, Amy and I thought we'd try out the half marathon again. Shortly after we started training, Amy found out she was pregnant. She consulted with her doctor to make sure it was safe to continue running (it was) and we started training together for a second time. And this time we actually ran the entire race together, side by side (yes, you read that right...it takes a pregnancy to slow a girl down enough to run with me).

So we completed our second half marathon and then Amy retired from running and had her little girl. This left me with a decision to make the next year - to try out the half marathon by myself or to sit it out.

I decided to give it a go. How hard could it be training without someone?

Turns out, harder than I thought. When Amy and I trained for two half marathons together, it seemed almost easy.  We said a million times during our training that having each other to train with was the best thing we could have done.

Now I was training alone. But even though it was hard, I tried my best to do the training sans running partner.

I failed.

Here is my story.

The race day was quickly approaching and I hadn't finished my training. The weekly runs weren't going that poorly, but my weekend runs (the long ones) were. So while I should have ran up to 10 miles before race day, I had only run eight. I started wondering whether or not I could do this race and I was seriously leaning towards sitting it out.

But then my brother-in-law came home from Brooklyn to run the race with me and my father-in-law. He was staying with my husband and me and was all like, "you should totally do it you can do it blah blah blah."

So against my better judgement, I decided to attempt the race even though I was so incredibly ill-prepared (this is where things start to go downhill, people).

Fast forward a few days, and there I stood at the starting line, in a crowd of people that all looked way more psyched than I was to be running this thing. I resented them.

The race started and there was a lot more cheering and excitement (picture me giving the stink eye to everyone around me). I kept thinking, "what am I doing?", but then would tell myself that 13.1 miles really wasn't that much and I could force myself to do anything for a few hours, right?

So I finally get the starting point and I begin running. My shins start hurting approximately .34 miles into the race. I remember the thoughts in my head like it was yesterday:

"You can do this."
"My shins don't hurt that bad."
"If I keep running the pain will go away."
"Just keep running. Just keep running. Just keep running..."
"WHY ARE PEOPLE STILL SO EXCITED?!"
"Wait...I'm nearing the Canadian border. Uhhhh..."

Here's the thing about the half marathon that I was running. It's an international race. So about 3 miles in, you run across the bridge from Michigan to Canada, run 4 miles or so in Canada, then run through the tunnel back over to Michigan.

With my shins hurting, the international part of the race really started to concern me. What if I can't finish but I don't realize it until I'm in Canada and then one of those emergency cars has to come and get me? Suddenly being in Canada seemed like the worst thing EVER. Like, once I was over there, they might never give me back or something.

At that point, there was only one rational thing to do.

I HAD TO GET OUT OF THE RACE.

I scoped out the scene. I was towards the back of the crowd (naturally), so I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before the end of the crowd would reach me.

So here's what I did:

I ran over to the sidewalk, making sure to do it right around the porta-potties. I acted casual - "NBD, guys. I'm cool. I just have to go to the bathroom a mile and a half into the race. Nothing unusual about that."

I looked around, making sure no one was staring at me (why they would be, I have no clue). Then I slowly turned myself towards a wall where no one could see my next move - taking my bib off.  This was VERY important.

See, in my mind, I could just picture myself walking back to the starting line wearing my bib and runners yelling, "no! you can do it! give it another chance!" And I was not having any of that. I wanted out of the race and no optimistic runner would stop me!

So I did it. I slowly took each pin out of my bib and then tucked it into my pocket. Then I started my walk of shame back to the starting line (picture me sad, with my head hanging low, only not really because I had really wanted to stop running).

There is a silver lining in all of this (I may just be forcing it, but I like to think it's there). Because I was back at the start so early, I was able to see the winners of the marathon come in. It was so very inspirational - in fact, I may have teared up at the first woman to come across the finish line.

And then I got to see my brother-in-law cross, too, which was also cool. He saw me, and a look of sheer confusion came over his face (he later told me that it was a mix of him having had a hard race and him wondering how the heck I beat him).

So I didn't finish the race. In fact, I didn't finish a fourth of the race. Let's call it exactly what it was - a failure to meet a goal.

But here's what I've learned in life (cue the sappy music): one failure doesn't negate everything else. I've run two half marathons in my life, and that's not bad. The third one didn't work out, but I guess I have a somewhat humorous story to tell people (depending on your definition of humorous. to many, it's probably just sad).

Having had a bit of a blow to the ego, I took a break from running for a couple of years and enjoyed other forms of exercise instead. But the marathon - the full marathon - stuck in the back of my mind.  I've just always wanted to do one. To say I was able to run 26.2 miles. To be a part of that group of people.

Well, folks, the time has come. This is the year of the marathon. Whether I run, walk, crawl, or am airlifted to the finish line, I will finish the Detroit Free Press Marathon this October.

I'm not only signed up for the marathon, I've teamed up with World Vision to run for a good cause.  Because as seen in the story I just told, I will need all the motivation I can get to actually finish this race, and I felt like helping people get clean water was a really good start.

So in the spirit of each post being somewhat related to paper goods, I designed this little guy to tell you some information about what World Vision does. I'm not asking for donations (as you can see, my info for donations is not even on there), but I just wanted to share something that has become near and dear to my heart lately.

I'm heading out of town tomorrow for a long weekend, but I'll be back next week with more invitations to show. Enjoy your weekends!

2013 Goals

If you recall, last year I did a little post on my goals for 2012. Specifically goals for this little business of mine. Well, I found out something by doing that - sharing goals publicly is really helpful. 

You see, I only shared two of my goals from last year, even though I always make five. And you know how many I actually accomplished? 

That's right, people. Two. The two that I shared right here on this blog. 

I did so poorly with the other three goals that I gave myself a flat out 0% on two of them. One of them was to do yoga weekly. I literally did not do more than one minute of yoga the entire year. 

So this year I'm publicly declaring all five of my goals for 2013, in hopes that doing so helps me achieve them. Because it's a few months into the year now and I came up with these goals at the end of last year, I was able to look at them again and revise them as needed (which just meant I added another goal and merged two existing goals together). 

So here goes. 2013 goals, declared right here, right now. 

I joined Etsy in October. I was pleasantly surprised by my first few months and I want to continue doing better in 2013.

I'm really still just trying to figure everything out though. There are some things that have surprised me - in both good and bad ways - that I'm still adjusting to. But overall, I think it's worth continuing on for now. 

As far as new designs you can expect to see by the end of the year, here are some specifics:

1. Have 10 pre-designed wedding suites (I have 4 so far)
2. Have 10 pre-designed wall prints
3. Have 10 pre-designed Save the Dates that match the wedding suites

This is primarily a goal for my business, but a little positivity in anyone's life is always good, right? To be honest, it was pretty easy to stay positive last year. I don't know how it happened, but I was constantly receiving the answer "yes!" and I felt like I was being encouraged like crazy in my first year of business. It's not that this year hasn't gone well or I haven't been as encouraged, but 2013 has brought new and different challenges. And the newness of last year is wearing off and now I'm dealing with the actual ups and downs of having your own business. 

In addition, for the last several months I've been dealing with a lot of restlessness. I'm not sure what it is, but even if I have several things I should be doing, there's been this restless feeling in my heart. 

(Side note - my first thought when this happened was naturally MAYBE IT'S TIME TO PROCREATE! After much contemplation and a talk or two with my boo, we realized that it's just not the time for us. For right now, I have to deal with this restlessness without trying to fill it with a huge life-altering change.)

But because of feeling this way, early in the year I found myself dwelling on all of the wrong things. So my thoughts were like this:

Why didn't that bride email back/why did that bride cancel and never reschedule/why does it seem like things are starting off slow? 

instead of 

I have way more projects this year/I started off the year with zero debt/I'm more efficient/brides are saying yes/I still love what I do. 

It's much easier to focus on the negatives than the positives, so here's my action plan when I'm doing that:

When I'm starting to dwell on something negative, I immediately do one of two things:

1. think of something positive that's going on in the business
2. think of something I can do for someone else

This takes a bit of mental training, but it's what I've been doing this year, and it's been working so far. Positivity 2013!

In case you haven't been reading this blog for long, I was so honored this year to be selected by brides as one of the Best of the Knot 2013. I even have the plaque to prove it!

My goal is to be awarded this honor again next year, which means I need to keep focusing on my brides and making sure that their experience with me is the best it can be. 

Specifically, EXERCISE.

I got off track this winter. I need to bring it back around.

This goal is going really well so far. In fact, after nagging my husband for all of January and the better part of February, he joined the gym with me. Nagging works, my friends. Huzzah!

Having my husband go with me to the gym has made a world of difference. My membership started back up at the beginning of February (I put it on hold because I like to be outside as much as possible) and before Luke joined, I went once in a two week period. Since Luke has joined (about 15 days ago), we've gone nine times. It's hard to work it in during the week, but we're trying to be proactive and do the best we can.

I also signed up to run the Detroit Free Press Marathon this October. At this point, I'm just trying to get back into shape by running on the treadmill and lifting some (10 pound...please, hold your applause) weights, but when it gets nice I will start doing an actual training schedule outdoors. I've done two half marathons before, but never a full. I'm scared.

It struck me at the end of last year that I work really hard to make sure that my house is put together nicely, but I don't necessarily do the same for my own appearance. Now, I promise you that I don't go out looking like a frumpy hag all the time, but I could just do a little better when it comes to my fashion sense. This doesn't mean I'm going to go out and spend a ton of money on clothes this year, it just means that I'm going to put a little more thought into what I wear in public (because you know I'm still rocking the sweatpants and oversized t-shirt when I'm at home) and try to buy pieces that go really well together.

So that's it. Hopefully some over-sharing of my goals this year will help me achieve them and it was kind of therapeutic, to tell you the truth. Thanks for listening!

Later this week I have a super cute birthday invitation to share. And weddings are right around the corner...I'll be sharing some awesome invites and save the dates in the near future! :)

Laura and Aaron's Christmas Cards

{All of these cards are now available at Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop. Click here to visit!}

I have to show off this Christmas card.

It's totally one of my pre-made designs (you can get it right here from my Etsy shop) and I previously stated that I would only show custom Christmas designs on the blog.  But this card is a little extra special to me, because of who I made it for.

Meet Laura, and her little girl, Liya.

Laura and I became friends in college. We suited together our senior year, and along with our friends Ruth, Amanda, and Lisanne, we kind of became a little group. After college, we decided that we needed to make sure we kept in touch, so we planned on taking a trip once a year to visit each other.

So in 2005, we all met up in Seattle, where Amanda and her husband, Jason, lived.

In 2006, we met up in D.C., where Ruth was living, and took a quick trip to Annapolis, Maryland, to visit Lisanne's home, too.

In 2007, we met in Charleston, SC, where Laura and her husband, Aaron (a pilot in the air force), were stationed.

In 2008, we came back to D.C. to celebrate Ruth's marriage to her Australian army man, Andrew. I would put a picture here if I had a picture of us from that wedding (sad, I know). Instead, here is a random photo of us that I like.

Our friend Ruth is eating an apple in this photo. For some reason, that gets me every time.

Unfortunately, after Ruth's wedding, we lost her to Andrew (stupid marriage!) and they moved to Australia, where they're still living today.

So in 2009, when we got together in Michigan for my very own wedding, Ruth wasn't with us, but we still managed to have a little fun with help from some more college friends.

And the last time I saw these girls was in 2010, when we got together in Dallas, and took a few days to go up to Altus, Oklahoma, where Laura and Aaron were stationed at the time.

The trouble with asking some random person outside of a saloon to snap a picture of you.

Because of all of our trips together (and emails and phone calls), we knew when Aaron and Laura started trying to have kids. We also knew when they were having trouble trying to have kids. Then we knew when they started undergoing tests to see why they weren't having kids.

And it was really hard to see that happen to our friend. It was hard to know that she was struggling. It was hard to know that some of her other friends were having kids and she wasn't able to be as happy for them as she'd have liked. It was just hard to know that there was something that so many people had no problem doing that she was having such a tough time with.

But then something great happened. Laura and Aaron attended a conference where they found out more about adoption. After years of struggling, they felt like it was time to move forward. It was time to step out of their comfort zone. It was time to start filling out paperwork and getting references and waiting and hoping for a referral to come their way.

I'll never forget when Laura called and said that they had decided adopt. There was a peace and joy in her voice that I hadn't heard before. There was a sense that this was what all of those hardships had led them to.

And I'll definitely never forget the call when Laura told me that they'd received a referral from Ethiopia (after they had waited so long and been so patient). She told me about the little girl, about what she looked like, about her travel plans (Aaron deployed around the same time they had to fly to Ethiopia so Laura ended up bringing her sister-in-law along).

So, after nine and a half years of marriage, a trip to Africa, and a two month stay with a family in Ethiopia, Laura brought her little girl back to the U.S. where Aaron was waiting at home for them. There was something special about knowing that Laura had met her daughter for the first time, but there was really something special about knowing that Aaron, Laura, and Liya were home together, just like they should be.

So here are Laura and Aaron's Christmas cards. She picked the 'Year in Review' design, which I think was perfect, since so many people were invested in her year and I know they would want to read a little recap of it.

I so want to let these cards speak for themselves, but I do just want to say (for you font lovers out there) that the fonts are Cafe Rojo and Antipasto.

I couldn't believe how stunning this picture was when Laura sent it to me. But as beautiful as the photographer's work is (Mallory Krieger, by the way), the most beautiful thing about the picture is the huge grin on that baby girl's face. And let me tell you, she should be grinning, because she hit the jackpot with parents like Laura and Aaron.

We've Moved!!!

It's official. Or maybe I should say it's been official. My husband and I moved into our new house on June 1. And no house should be moved into without a little moving announcement going out so people know where they can find us.

Last week, I sent out these moving announcements and this past weekend we officially had people over for the first time. So it's been a month and I feel like we are making progress. I would call the house "livable" at this point. There's still a lot to do, but since we're sticking around for a while, we'll have plenty of time to do it in.

But back to the moving announcement. Here she is.

We had a pretty sweet place we lived in before. I'll admit that when we first thought about moving, I never thought we would find somewhere that we loved as much as that first place.

I was so wrong.

This house just fits us. It has rooms that are just so practical for our lifestyle. It's cozy and comfortable and has so much character and I just can't get enough. I didn't know how to put that all on a moving announcement, so this was the best I could do.

Three of the four colors in this moving announcement are similar to colors that we painted our walls. I thought that once I moved into a "real house", I might use muted tones. Not so.

I thought I'd throw a little snarky comment in there about Luke doing yard work. He loved it, believe me.

The back of the announcements. I love that little house.

So...I am aware this is not a home improvement blog. However, some people out there have asked to see some before/after pics. And I sort of want to show some.

Here is the living room when we first walked through the house in January.

And now.

A few comments:

1. That lamp on the right side of the room behind the couch is there only because we need light there. It will be replaced ASAP with a much cooler lamp. I am slightly horrified that I forgot to hide it, but too lazy to retake these photos.

2. The basket on the ottoman (on clearance from Target about 3 years ago) usually holds magazines. But we've only had two delivered to us at our new house. So lately it holds a cat instead.

3. Yes, I have more planned for this room. We've only been in here a month, people!

Lava couldn't help himself...he had to get in a picture. 

Yes, we have the smallest TV known to man. And it's not even hooked up yet. So that tiny thing is purely for show.

And yes, magazines should be in the little green magazine holder to the right of the loveseat. But in my crazy purging of everything before we moved, I gave all of our magazines away. So now it's just there. I still think it's kind of cute.

Why didn't I move the laptop cord before taking these photos?

Fun fact - those were the third pair of curtains to go up in our living room. Third time's a charm, though...I love them.

Moving on to the kitchen.

Here it is when we did our first walk-through of the home.

And here it is after.

We have a kitchen nook! I love it love it love it.

I hate that I didn't hide the washcloth over the sink.

The previous owners left this IKEA drawer for us. How excited do you think I was about that? It fits perfectly and I can display my Kitchen Aid mixer so proudly on it (a gift from the grandparents for our wedding). 

Hi, Kitchen Aid mixer. {I love you.}

This photo (which I remembered to move the washcloth from) is for Ms. Heidi Rew, who gave me the sweet little jars from Anthropology for my birthday. Aren't they the cutest?

(Also, do you think I need new dish soap?)

Two words: OPEN SHELVING!!!!!!!!!! I was overly excited about these shelves and they were one of the first things I decorated. I do have plans to paint the backs of them. Eventually.

Magma showing you all her yoga moves.

I just took this because I love the clearance towel I got from Target a week ago. I think it matches the kitchen perfectly.

There you have it. Young House Love - Haddad style. I truly fell in love with the house after about five minutes of our initial walk through. But now that we have made it more of our own, I love it even more and it's feeling more and more like home.

Next week - more weddings!!!!!!!

Errrr...

Remember how I said I was going to post twice this week? Um...easier said than done.

It's 1:39 AM. Luke and I just got in bed after enjoying an evening with friends who are in town and staying with us for the night. And I just remembered that I was going to try to post another blog this week...and it didn't happen.

But between my post on Tuesday and now, the following things did happened:

-I finished assembling invitations for a huge wedding.
-I started/finished/sent three designs to clients for approval.
-I finished up two shower invites.
-I sent off two designs to be printed.
-I did my final tweaks on one of my wedding's extras in preparation to print this weekend.
-I continued to try and get our house together because I'm neurotic and can't stand to have boxes around and want them all to be gone and everything to be done/organized/in place right now! (I may be in need of some help.)

All that to say, it's been a crazy week. I've had to remind myself that everything does not have to be done right away. That every email doesn't have to be responded to right away. That every invitation project does not have to be done immediately after the bride sends her deposit in. That every room in our house doesn't have to be painted right now. That sometimes I can sit and just be. Just relax. Just chill out and not worry about the to-do list. Oh, boy...I'm saying all of this now and I'm not even adding kids into the mix yet. Yikes.

So...consider this the week's second post. It's just easier right now than uploading photos and making comments about them, which I fully intended to do because I have some projects that I've just done that I totally love. Because if I haven't said it before, I love what I do.

Yes, this will have to do for now. This is enough.

Vivian Elle, My Birthday, and a New House

Let's look at some numbers.

31 - number of years I celebrated living a couple of weeks ago.
3 - number of friends that traveled from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia to visit me on my birthday.
1 - number of pictures taken with an Oreo in Wal-mart while those friends were in town.

1 - tiara these friends made me wear when they took me out to breakfast on my birthday.
20 - approximate number of people that stared because of my tiara.

2 - number of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) books by Mindy Kaling I received for my birthday.

7 - number of times I considered not posting the above picture for obvious reasons (but then thought, "ehhh...who cares?").

1 - day it took me to exchange one of these books for Bridesmaids.

8 - days it took me to read my Mindy Kaling book.

20 - times I had to refrain from posting every funny quote I read to Facebook.

25+ - number of videos that my husband compiled for me for my birthday of friends and family from all over wishing me a happy birthday.

100+ - number of times I've talked about how much I loved the videos.

40 - number of Christmas cards I've completed so far this year for Vivian Elle's Christmas Collection.
3 - number of samples I will now reveal.

{All of these cards are now available at Vivian Elle's Etsy Shop. Click here to visit!}

54 - total number of days between first going out and looking for a home and signing on our adorable little bungalow. 

2 - pictures we had taken of ourselves in front of our new home right before closing. 

1 - number of pictures I was able to pull off the internet of our new home. 

Sigh. I love it.

16 - days until we need to be out of our condo.
5 - weddings I am currently working on, attempting to get each done in the 16 days before we move.
30+ - boxes I already have packed.
61 - number of days we have between moving out of our condo and moving into our new home.
61 - days we will be bunking it up with my parents, who have graciously offered their home to us.
99 - percentage of time I spend thinking about how I'm going to decorate our new home.
1 - moving announcement that I already have designed, but will keep secret until I send it. :)

too many to count - number of times Luke and I have said how grateful we are for the support we've had over the last couple of months.

There you have it. These are the numbers that have been floating around in my head lately. In the midst of it all, there has also been a lot of Vivian Elle activity - buying another new printer, having boxes of product left at our front door, printing, assembling, stuffing...I love it all. For the first time in my life I can say that I daily love the work I am doing. And all of my brides make that possible. So to them - and anyone who has used me for any kind of invitation - thank you!

Big Announcement!

So...I acknowledge that we're not the first people to have done this, but to us, it's a big deal. So big that I (obviously) had to whip together a little design to share the good news.

We did our final walk through. We signed all of the papers. It's been a crazy two and a half months, and we can't say enough how amazingly fortunate we feel to have the support that we've had. The best part is that even with a very short amount of time to do it, we bought a house that we both absolutely adore. We didn't settle. We love it and can't wait to actually move in.

Also, I'm currently working on getting all of my spring weddings done, which I cannot wait to show you! I am working with some very creative brides. :)

Until then...we bought a house!

Goals

At midnight on New Year's Eve 2005, my best friend, Amy, and I sat outside of a mutual friend's house in her parent's Trailblazer. We had lost interest in what was going on inside the house (to this day neither of us remembers exactly what that was) and decided that we'd retreat to the car and talk.

(Because I like blogs better when they have pictures, I've strategically placed old photos of Amy and myself in between paragraphs of this story.)

Amy and I in high school - please note the sweet scrunchie on Amy's wrist.

In the car, we talked about the year 2005. I was finishing up getting my teaching certification and about to start student teaching. I had just started dating my future husband a few weeks into December, so you could say I had several new things going on as I started 2006 that were exciting but a little scary (I tend to over-analyze everything, making it all much more scary than it ever needs to be).

Chicago 2007 - one of my many trips there throughout the years.

Amy had had a very different 2005. She had graduated years prior with a degree in journalism and moved to Chicago to pursue a job. However, she was at one of those super annoying in between jobs and was really unhappy. She was ready to be done with it. Overall, she was ready for a fresh start.

Morocco 2008 - we took a two week trip with a group of women from Amy's office.

At some point in our conversation, we decided that this new year needed to be awesome for both of us - Amy especially - and we decided to do something about it. We vowed right then and there that we would each come up with 5 goals for the New Year that we would share with each other. Then, at the end of the year, we'd look back on them and see how we did.

Amy and I repelling in West Virginia circa 1998.

So after we both returned home, we emailed each other our 2006 goals. (For the life of me, I can't find the email that details what they were.) Then, at the end of 2006, we emailed again to see how we did.  If I remember correctly, Amy accomplished most - if not all - of hers that year. I, on the other hand, only accomplished one or two. But we kept it up. Every year for the past seven years, about a week before New Year's Eve, we email and remind each other to work on our goals. A few days later, we send another email, critiquing how we did with our own goals and declaring our goals for the coming year. Some years Amy does really well and some years I do really well (brag - this year I blew my goals out of the water). But no matter how the year went, we keep sending our goals to each other, just like we did back in the beginning of 2006.

Amy and me singing what appears to be a powerful duet in someone's basement in high school.

So here we are and it's 2012. A lot has changed since the first year we made our goals. Amy met her now fiancé. I got married. Amy served as my MOH. Amy asked me to be her MOH. Amy started her own photography business. I started this custom invitation business.

So this is kind of a different blog post. I just wanted to start off the year publicly declaring a few of the goals I have for this business in 2012. It has been extremely helpful to have Amy to share my goals with, and I find that sharing things on the blog gives me that extra push to get things done, too.

I have five goals this year, as per usual, and two of the five are Vivian Elle related. Last year, my goal was just to get this business up and running. Check and check. If all goes well, the following will happen by the end of 2012.

1. I will be marketing in two new places and participating in a bridal show.

Right now brides will find me on The Knot and Wedding Wire. I'd like to find at least two additional locations to post my business cards or even advertise with a local newspaper. I am also starting to scout out bridal shows (this would be the biggest overcoming of my fears move ever) to see what I would need to do to get in one of those.

2. I will have a part of my website that is dedicated to Christmas cards.

So far, my time has been taken up with wedding stuff, which I absolutely love. But I realized this past year that I really enjoy doing Christmas cards and I want to work on getting some designs up on my website that people could just pick from and order however many they need, just like you can from Minted or Kodak Gallery or Wal-mart. I plan to start working on those designs next week and have them up by September or October.

So that's it. I'm starting out 2012 with very specific goals and I even have an action plan for each of them. The problem is that life always gets in the way and a goal that should take a week or two to accomplish (if I really dedicate time to it) will end up taking months and months. But I'm going to make my best effort and I have Amy (and now my blog readers!) to hold me accountable, which has always worked on pretty well in the past.

So here's to a happy new year, (hopefully) accomplished goals, and really great friends.

Amy giving her maid of honor speech at our wedding in 2009.