"I Love You Because..." Dry Erase Message Board

Excited to put this in the mail today!

 

See it on Etsy here!

Handmade Gift Giving

With the start up of my Etsy shop, Today is a Sunny Day, I created two goals for my gift giving. I want to mostly give gifts that are handmade and that are useful. Here are a few things I purchased for friends and family last holiday season.

Onesies
 

For the new additions to our extended family I bought two onesies from Brown Owl Designs. A close friend saw them for sale at a market in Orlando and passed on the contact info to me. The joys of word-of-month advertising!

Desk Calendar

I love this desk calendar from Shannon Blue Photography. There were lots of 2012 calendars to choose from online, but I choose this one because of the neat stand that can be used for display purposes once 2012 is history. The photographs are all taken by the seller I purchased it from.

Soap

This soap was purchased from one of my favorite Etsy shops, Rocky Top Soap Shop. Handmade soaps from a gentleman from the Northeast with a kickin’ beard. I got a variety pack through him and made sure to save one for myself. I got the rooibos tea shampoo and it’s fantastic!

Coasters

Ignore my “fat baby” in the picture. The coasters in the foreground are handmade from Geek Details and inspire by the BBC’s Doctor Who.

Address Labels

I purchased adorable address labels from Moxie Paperie for a present for my mom. I love adding beautiful details to life and stylish address labels definitely dress up a letter and make bill paying glamorous.

Tea

When visiting USF for a random event, I sampled roasted almond tea made by the Kaleisia Tea Lounge. To those of you local to the Tampa Bay area, it’s a tucked away tea lounge on Fletcher Ave. by the Brass Mug. For those of you not from the Bay Area, you can check out and order their selection online at www.thetealounge.com.

What is your favorite homemade, handmade, or locally-made gift?

Bucket List - Rock Climbing Trip

It all started when I was dating my husband. During his high school years, he worked every year for a rock wall vender at the Florida State Fair. I must say, as an impressionable teen, it was a plus that my boyfriend worked as a carnie for the State Fair. Ha!

Now fast forward a *few* years to December 2010. I purchased an online deal through Living Social for a belay class for two and admission at a local rock climbing gym, Vertical Ventures. Little did I know this would be just the beginning of a recreational activity that we would both immensely enjoy for years to come.

Now, for Christmas this year, my husband and I got memberships to Vertical Ventures until May and additional admissions, new climbing shoes, harnesses, new chalk bags, and (thanks to Vertical Ventures!) a crash pad. Turns out when I purchased Corey’s Christmas present, my name was entered to win a crash pad and I got it. I no longer can say that I never win anything.

(For those of you who don’t know, crash pads are portable mats you bring with you for outdoor climbing, mainly bouldering, to break your fall. Bouldering is a type of climbing that is lower to ground than sport or traditional climbing.)

Basically, the crash pad was the missing link for a climbing trip for us. Now we are just a full gas tank and a long drive away from climbing in the great outdoors on some elevation. This year, we are hoping to take a climbing trip and get our hands on some actual rock face. Since we’ve been actively indoor rock climbing in Florida, we both have had limited (and not ideal) opportunities to climb outside.


Here are two places we have on our radar that we would like to visit:


The Crash Pad – Tennessee

I’ve followed this business start-up on Facebook through their building updates. They are branding themselves as an affordable, boutique hostel in Chattanooga, TN. From what I’ve gathered, they pride themselves on three things: loving the outdoors, cheap rates, and clean bathrooms. I absolutely love the style and details. Check out their website to see their ‘superbunks’ and communal atmosphere.

HorsePens 40 – Alabama

Horsepens is known as one of the world’s most concentrated boulder fields! And it’s a mere 9 hours away. Entrance to climb in the park is around $5 and camping is $10 (read: night climbing!). One of the best times to climb is early spring, so I hope a rendezvous to Alabama is in my near future.

For the record, this one is a bit too 'high ball' for me.

See more photos here.


Little Rock City / Stone Fort

From my research, LRC is one of the most diverse places to boulder, with great routes for all skill levels and tastes. There is not camping on the grounds like there is at HorsePens, but since it's near The Crash Pad, we would definitely sleep there. Something interesting is that LRC is located on a golf course. The owner has been gracious enough to allow climbers to invade but just asks that they register online everyday before climbing and park in the designated spots. If you are interested in LRC, you can learn more about specific routes here.


What does this year have in store for your weekends?

Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim . . .

For the past few years, I haven’t put pressure on myself to come up with resolutions. But there’s something different about this year.

While I don’t think we should set ourselves up for failure with resolutions we aren’t motivated to accomplish, I do think there is empowerment in setting goals and defining HOW to accomplish them.

It’s nice to have a goal to get out of debt for example, but unless you look at your monthly bills and watch how many times you visit Starbucks in one month, it’s simply a pipe dream.


So here are my goals for this year. I hope to inspire you not only to dream up some goals, but figure out exactly what it will take to accomplish them.

1) Be (almost) halfway done with my Masters in Biblical Counseling by Dec. 2012.

I have about 2 dozen of classes, plus observation hours, that I need to complete to graduate with my Masters in Biblical Counseling from West Coast Bible College and Seminary. I’m very excited about taking these courses. I actually do not want to become a counselor; I’m simply interested in learning and I believe this knowledge will help me in future opportunities.

I’m planning to tackle at least 10 classes in 2012. I’ll start out with one class a month and for the months I take vacation or there are holidays, I will give myself a break.

2) Read a book a month. Since I’ll be reading a lot of ministry-heavy books for school, I’m planning to even it out with “fun” books for me. Leftovers on this list include: “You Lost Me.” by David Kinnaman, “Entreleadership” by Dave Ramsey, “SuperFreakonomics” by Levitt and Dubner, and “The Visible Man” by Chuck Klosterman. I’m planning to read during my lunch breaks at work to complete this goal.

I own this bills calendar. Super cute and very sturdy.

3) Pay off our credit card and car debt by June 2012. We are crawling out of some of the most financially difficult years of our lives and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last month, my husband and I sat down and hashed out where every last dollar will go until June 2012. Luckily, December was a three pay check month so we “saved” that paycheck to pad out budget for food, entertainment, and other unexpected expenses along the way.

My anchor cutouts on kraft paper.

4) Finally I have a slew of Etsy goals for this year. I already have very specific goals for the first quarter of 2012. I will spare you the details, but my goals include improving my shop photos, increase sales, experiment with Etsy’s Ad Search, increase my product line, and communicate my store’s purpose.


I would love to hear about your goals for 2012! Feel free to comment below.