Dear friends,
We may be halfway through January, but the new year is still fresh in my mind, and I wanted to do a little check-in about what's been happening around here. I mean life is good, and the shop is good, but here's a deeper look at what's been going on.
A look back: 2013 finished with a big huge bang, fondly known as the holiday season. The Lord really blessed Lettered Life Shop beyond what I could have imagined, and it was a JOY to be able to help people make and choose things as gifts for their loved ones. It was a season full of personalized items, so lots of custom address stamps and stationery. My heart was brimming with thankfulness for God's goodness and sweet customers as I packed up orders and headed to the the post office.
You may not know this, but I was sent an elf for the season and I owe him a huge thank you for his packaging and shipping assistance. He was cheerful all the time, and I'm actually also married to him, so basically, I'm the luckiest lady ever. A hundred thousand thank yous for all your help, hubs.
Leading up to Christmas, we paused on the shop to focus on the reason for the season. We bopped all around the midwest filling up on the greatness of the nativity, family time and of course, my aunt's caramel brownies. My sister got engaged (YAY!) and I won some old colored pencils in our family white elephant game----the blessings truly overfloweth. I met up with old friends while back home, and even had besties come for a visit at New Years, with their super-sweet 6 month old in hand. So so good.
We got snowpocalypsed and were pretty much locked inside for a few days as the snow kept coming and the pipes started bursting. (True story.) While all that was happening, I worked on logo projects, read some great books, and used the Nike Training Plus app to burn off all the hot chocolate I was drinking.
Lately I've been doing all sorts of fun work, including some design projects that I can't reveal quite yet and setting up custom calligraphy orders. If you know of anyone that's recently engaged and looking for someone to do calligraphy for their envelopes, placecards, escort cards, etc.... I know a girl that can help you out! I'd be over the moon if you shared my shop link with them!
Looking forward... Last year I set a bunch of goals in January and pushed towards them monthly. I did check-ins which were fantastic because making goals public is scary and gives you a little more reason to chase after them. For the most part, I stuck with them and let them become new normals in my life. Quiet morning time, business growing, and book reading are all in my routine now, and I'm so thankful for that! This year goals are going to change monthly to make sure I'm still stretching myself. The big thing on my list for January: give this blog more love. You should be able to track that one pretty easily, so hold me to it!
Cheers to you! Hope your 2014 is packed with peace and love.
Caitlin