Unplugged

One of my wishes for 2013 is to have unplugged days - days without the distractions of a computer. I have realized that the computer consumes way too much of my days, especially my Etsy store and Facebook. I don't really surf very much, but I sure like my social media. Whereas it is nice to connect online I also find it distracting to what I really want to do and achieve. I am very determined to reduce my daily online time, and I decided to have one completely computer-free day a week.

The best day for this is Saturday.

And so I unplugged yesterday for the first time in this year, and I hope to stay with this "resolution" throughout of 2013. I had such an enjoyable day. I spent many hours in my studio, making little Valentine cards for kids that they can take to their classroom parties, and when all that was done I finally started painting again. A vision has been going through my mind for a week and now I finally sat down and started to put this vision on wood. As soon as I can see where it is going to I will blog about it in this space. At the moment I just got the base down, using quite a lot of molding paste.

In the middle of the day, Kaefer and I went to Jamba Juice and had some wonderful juice creations that tasted like summer. I like to spend time with her away from home, just her and I, when she gets funny and very talkative. For several days she has been fighting a cold, especially a rather nasty cough. She has a concert in two weeks and wants to be on top of her voice by then. A little juice and a lot of vitamin C will help her with that.

I also had time to read without feeling guilty. Currently I'm reading "Grow Your Handmade Business" by Kari Chapin which of course serves my word of the year perfectly. She has some exercises included, and I always read that book with my journal close by in order to do those exercises (and not saying "I do that later" which is more to my procrastinating nature). It is quite helpful I have to say, and I was rather surprised what was just flowing out of me while I was writing. I have to be careful not to fall into a whining tone here!

There was time to cook as well. At the end of the year I really had lost my cooking muse and just felt it was a chore I didn't particularly like. I didn't even look into cook books any more, I was not interested in finding and trying new recipes - something I usually like to do. I just got "easy and quick" things to cook at Costco and Trader Joe's which made incredibly dull and boring dinners. But most times I just couldn't find the energy to stand in the kitchen and cook. I am the only one who cooks in this family, the Geek hates cooking and Kaefer has way too many other things to do. So I am the one who cooks day in day out, and honestly, it gets old and boring, especially when no one in the family answers when I ask them what they would like to eat. Sometimes I'm out of my wits to think about what to cook. See, I'm whining again. Anyway, since winter break, when I got more sleep (and a rather bad cold that gave me lots of excuse to lie on the couch and rest), my cooking muse is on her way back, and I rather enjoy this. So I cooked up a storm yesterday evening, had a little wine while cooking (something I thoroughly enjoy) and we had a wonderful dinner, one of our most favorite dishes of all time. I think I need to blog about that one sometime.

In short, this unplugged day was a blessing! There will be way more unplugged Saturdays this year. It just feels good to be away from the computer and not to be seduced by all its distractions.

Do you have unplugged days?? And how do you spend them?

Hello 2013

A new year. I've always liked the first few days of a new year. All the possibilities that lie ahead. A new year reminds me of a snow covered meadow - fresh snow, all whiteness, with no tracks been made by anyone, human or animal.

When I think of the year ahead the first thing that comes to mind is that we're all getting older. Kaefer will be

15 this spring, start 10th grade in the summer which means there are only three more years left until she will leave for college. I already feel bittersweet about it. 

I also think of my health and all the tests and screens I need to get done this year, like a colonoscopy. I really am not looking forward to that but I decided not to procrastinate any longer and finally get it done. The earlier in the year the better.

So many of us chose a word for the year that will give some kind of direction and commitment. The last two years I had the same word, being authentic. While this is something I always strive for, I feel it is time for a different word this year. Since the end of November the word "grow" has wandered through my head, never quite leaving my mind. It stayed foggy first, but then it became much clearer the more I thought about it.

Grow. I want to grow my business, get more serious with it. Somehow I feel I have played with my business more than being completely serious about it. The first time I felt like a business woman was when I paid my sales tax to the state this past summer. It wasn't that much, but somehow I felt rather satisfied afterwards. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Content to pay taxes? So anyway, I want to grow my business, make more sales, create more and have some good amount of inventory. Last year I started out with about 50 - 60 items in my   Etsy store; this year I have 150 items. I would love to reach around 300 items by the end of the year. However, I also want to have more sales - I would actually like to double my current sales number - and if I have those sales I probably won't reach the 300 number that easily. On the other hand, I don't want to be dictated by numbers only, but I also know that numbers is what counts in a business. I still need to find a good balance in my work; at the moment I tend to work many hours for my store and do so on the weekends as well. Which means I need to grow my balance ability (how does that sound?).

I also want to grow my blog. During the past year I have been very negligent of my blog, posted way less than I used to do. Of course this came mainly with the purchase of our home, the move and all the work on the house. However, I do enjoy writing, and creating beautiful blog posts gives me a great sense of accomplishment. I don't want my blog to become an ad space for my work. My work will be part of the blog, but I will not allow it to take up a lot of space. There is so much more to life than work, and I want to see this reflected in my blog as well.

And there are other things I want to grow. Relationships, friendships. Walks, being in nature. Time for reading. Listening to beautiful music. These are all things that I love to do and that were pushed on the backburner over the past year.

All photos in this post were taken along Highway 12 in Utah in December 2010

Have you chosen a word for 2013? What is your wish for this year? 

Let us know in the comments, if you like.