goodbye, twenty fifteen.

Twenty fifteen has been quite the year. There were a lot of ups and downs, but now that the year is wrapping up, I'm feeling really great about where I am and what I've accomplished in the last 365 days. Every year I get excited for January, because it's the time of year I feel the most inspired. It's the time of year I thrive. That's not because of resolutions — at least not in the traditional sense — but because I've gotten into the habit of reflecting on what I've done at the end of a year, which helps me to make new goals and figure out what I want in the next year. So here we go:

// I started a new job as an assistant editor at the most awesome place to work, POPSUGAR.
// I went to California three times — twice for work, once with my chickens — and now more than ever can imagine myself settling there when the time is right.
// I went to England to visit my best friend, and even though it was the first time I'd been since my breakup last June, it still felt like a home away from home.
// I got to spend three months with my nuggets in between jobs, which meant some time with little Sky.
// I finally moved out of my parents' house and into one with my two best friends, Meagan and Katherine (with their boyfriends, Mathew and Quinn, as honorary roommates) and it's been the most amazing seven months.
// I met Shaq, and even though I never knew I wanted to meet Shaq, it was probably the coolest thing I did all year.
// My friends and I started a book club, which helped me to crush my reading goal of the year.
// I took a random trip to Portland, ME, with two of my friends, and we had the best four days in a city we knew nothing about.
// I saw Taking Back Sunday in concert twice in a week with my friend Laura and remembered how much I love that music scene.
// I overcame my forever fear of lipstick through a work project, #12LipsOfChristmas.
// I continued with project life this year, and even though I'm behind (more behind than I got last year, whoops) I still love it as a way to document the every day. That being said, I'm not sure what 2016 will look like, but the weekly spread may get abandoned in favor of a less structured album.

I feel awesome about the things I did this year, and even though I feel like there are a few pieces of the puzzle still missing, I think keeping that in mind in 2016 will get me to where I want to be. As usual, we'll see how it goes — bring it on, twenty sixteen.

etsy/blog business cards.

It's been on my list of things to do — and my 26 things list — to reopen my etsy shop. Well, I think it's finally going to happen, people. My friend Alyssa asked me to make mugs (like the ones I used to sell) for her coworkers, and it's the second year in a row she asked me if I'd mind, since I don't sell them anymore. As soon as she asked, I knew I wanted to do it, because it had been so long. Because of this eagerness, I decided that the ideas I have for my Etsy shop seriously need to be executed asap, so I jumped onto overnight prints to make some business cards.I know that seems backwards, but that's kind of the way I operate. In my head I thought, if I have super cool, official looking business cards, I'll be inspired to want to get my ass into gear with the Etsy shop and start creating again. So, that's what I did.I designed a business card using a bunch of photos of my custom mugs and a few of the stamps out of the ones I've made for myself that I think will be good sellers online. With the pictures on one side, I took to the other side to add some of my info (because, duh) and used a red color as a base because it matched the flowers in one of the photos on the backside. I typed in the details that I wanted on the card — it was important for me to include my blog address as well as my shop link — and added my name to the top in my own handwriting.

And that's that. Overnight prints took about three weeks to deliver my cards, but seeing as I was in no rush (I didn't want to reopen my shop before Christmas because I didn't have the time to work on mugs or ordering stamps during the month of December) it all worked out fine. I'm looking forward to slipping these into orders when I officially reopen my shop in the new year.

the easiest diy ornaments.

Since this is the first Christmas in mine and my roommates' house, we didn't have all that many ornaments for our Christmas tree. I wanted to make something personalized for all of us, so I bought some simple white ornaments from Michael's, and broke out my gold paint marker (because let's be honest, when am I not breaking that thing out?).I made an ornament for each of the five of us with our names on them, one for the house with our house nickname, "East MAK Inn," and one with a 2015 on it. This was literally the easiest diy project I've ever done, but they're probably my favorite ornaments on our tree this year, so win.