well hello, 2012...I have plans for you!

It has been a fantastic couple of weeks around here! I hope all of you had wonderful Holidays! I have some blog reading to catch up on so I can get up to speed on what you have been up to! 

First of all, I have to start by sayingTHANK YOU for making 2011 so incredible for me! Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to stop by my little corner of the blog world and for all your support of my Etsy shop and my booth at the flea market. You are what make it possible for me to do what I love and be able to make a living doing it. To hunt, to gather, to create. It truly fills my soul to be able to spend my life exploring nooks and crannys...all in the hope of bringing a little piece of happiness into your home.

 {HUGS to all of you!}

I don't usually get into all the "New Year" hubbub, but for some reason this year I am feeling refreshed and renewed! 2012 already has some AMAZING things on the horizon for me, both professionally and personally. I don't really do 'resolutions' but there are a few things that I am so stinkin' excited to change around here! There is something about turing that first page on a new calendar makes all things seem possible!

One BIG thing for me that is going to change...my business. I am sooooo excited to revamp things a little  so I can improve on aspects of it I have let take a backseat for too long! Yes, that means blogging. I really need to be better about posting more often. I just have an insane amount of furniture to paint for clients, everything else just seems to fall to the wayside when I have deadlines. But, I am going to change that this year.  I am not saying I am going to do a daily post, because quite frankly, that is just unrealistic for me. But there are going to be more project posts, more business information posts (I get so many emails about that, I think a post once in a while is the best way to answer everyones questions) and I swear I will actually take time out of the craziness to show you inside my home. I know, I know...I have been so bad about that, because I have been all work and no play for so many years now. It is time to bust out of my old ways...and do things a little differently! Do what I want to do...not what I feel obligated to do. 

And for my Chicagoland friends that shop my space at the flea market in St. Charles...my 2012 schedule is now on my sidebar. I have will still have my regular space with the sea of white furniture you love so much...but this spring I will be rolling out a new line of custom made pieces. Everything will be made from salvaged bits from old barns and farmhouses. Just think old chippy paint and naturally weathered wood. Farm tables, locker-inspired cabinets...I am soooo excited about it! I have had this in the works for so long, I am over-the-moon I could finally make it happen!

I am considering offering some of my furniture for sale on my blog, too. A special piece here and there, just for fun.

(all photos are via my Pinterest board 'words to live by')

And while we are on the subject of new things...before Christmas, I had a fabulous Saturday spent with 3 new blog friends and it was such a great time! Stacey, from A Sort of Fairytale and I went to the Tattered Tiques sale in Lake Barrington, IL (their next sale is Jan. 13-15th...if you live around Chicagoland, you MUST go!). Two sisters, Anne & Julie, have an incredible space and they are HILARIOUS! Just my kind of girls! Isn't it AMAZING when you meet someone you have only known through their writing and there is an instant 'click'? So rare and so awesome when it happens!

{sigh...}


Happy New Year, friends!

I am off to eat a little dinner and cozy up by the fire with my hubs. It was a nippy 20 degrees here and really windy today. Brrrrr!