Goodbye to 2009, Hello 2010

Everyone needs a little time to unplug, relax, and recharge. The end of the year/the beginning of the new year seems to be that time for me. Historically, I don't blog much this time of year. There's a lot of recovery time needed from the whirlwind of Christmas+New Year's+Birthday all kind of happening at once.

I like taking this time to clean up messes and make lists and get all my good intentions lined up for the upcoming year.

So goodbye 2009. You were awesome.

Welcome 2010.
This is the year I am going to focus.
- on my relationships.
- on my physical, financial, and mental well-being.
- on improving my communication skills
- on my art (including documentation such as blogging).
- on my career.

It's going to be really good.

I feel like I've really accomplished a lot since the new year started, but not a lot of it is terribly photo friendly for the blog... and you know how I hate to post without photos. 

But, time consuming as it was, during my little offline hiatus I went through my entire scrap stash and organized and cleaned it up. I dumped most of my scraps and some really old gross products that are not my style anymore, and got all my pretty things all in their proper places. I feel good about my stuff, and I also feel that despite my recent MS Crafts punch splurges, my stash is has remained relatively small and manageable, and that the stuff I tossed was not even worth giving away (think scary Jolee's stuff from before I discovered scrapbooking stuff that was not sold at JoAnns). I also was able to donate some other things so that little children could play with them.

The best part of this process was that now I have a very good sense of what I actually have on hand, which will make my goal of shopping mostly from my stash this year much easier. I re-discovered some stuff which I am super excited to work with. Also, when I do decide to drop some bucks on new supplies, I think it really gave me a good sense of what are my needs and wants actually are.

During this process, I took some breaks for creative reading... I went back and re-read my Ali Edwards books and my Dare book. I spent time exploring blogs and going through (and purging) magazines. Feeling really inspired and ready to get crafty again. Crazy excited to do more experimenting with photos this year too.

Right now on the creative front I am still working on getting my December blog posts caught up and getting my December Daily books for both this year and last year finished. So, sorry RSS readers, you still are probably going to see about 7-10 more December-ish posts before I'm done.

I'm a little behind on this whole holiday business, but I am okay with it.

As Shimelle says, there should not be any stress when it comes to scrapbooking (or blogging). This stuff is supposed to be fun. And it is, for me at least...which I why I do it. :)

So peace out for now. Hope you had a great weekend!