Life Updates (aka: I'm Still Alive)!

So, I bet you think I died. But I didn't. I just essentially forgot I even had a blog for the last 9 months. ;) Life has been the craziest whirlwind over the last year, I don't even know where to begin! I guess I'll just give you some fun little highlights to keep you up to speed with all that's happening in my crazy little world.

Etsy... Where do I begin?! Not even 11 months ago, I decided to embark on a little adventure by opening up an Etsy shop to sell all sorts of fun, handmade paper goods. Honestly, when I began, I didn't think I would sell anything. I put so much time and energy into researching what makes a shop successful, but I thought, "Who is going to buy from 'lil 'ol me?' It was a shot in the dark, but seriously, the rest is history. From week 1, I've never not had at least one sale per week (minus the 3 weeks I just closed so I could move into a new house - that's the next update;). Mind.blown. I knew I loved my stuff, but I didn't know if anyone else would. And I feel so honored that people find value in what I love to make! Some fun facts and stats as of today in case you're curious:

• Total Etsy Orders: 324 (with 420 items being sold)
• Total Views: 34,744 (this is the total # of times people have clicked on my shop or one of my item listings)
• Total Favorites: 2,038 (this is the # of likes I have on my items and/or my shop)
• Highest revenue month: $1,359.77 (March 2015)

I did my very first big craft show back in April and learned a lot. I am going to do two more so far this fall, and because of that, I've already got Christmas items on the brain. Craziness! One thing I've learned with having an Etsy shop is that you must always be thinking ahead. I no longer bitch about retail stores putting Christmas stuff out early (well, that's a lie, because Hobby Lobby put Christmas stuff out at least a month ago already, ewww) because I understand the need to always be thinking about the next season.

On a somewhat related note, I have a new craft room! And how is that possible? Because L and I got a house. Say what?!?! Literally just a few months ago, we spent a bunch of time researching bigger apartments to figure out where we would move next. We thought a house would come much later; I mean, years later. However, L met this really awesome guy through his job, and we've become really good friends with him and his wife - L even officiated their wedding! They just bought a house in the town where we moved, and we came out to see it. We'd never been to the town and weren't in the  market for a house, but once we were there, we fell in love with the area and scanned the neighborhood for houses that were for sale. While we were sort of joking at the time, we just kept looking at houses and made appointments to see a few. There was one house we weren't going to look at because it was a bit out of our price range. Guess what? That's the house we bought. ;) It was the first one we looked at, and we fell in love. You should have seen my eyes when we walked in! The added bonus is that it's brand new, never been lived in, so we had really no repairs to worry about. We talked appliances into the offer, and we got everything we wanted for the perfect price. How one goes from looking at 2-bedroom apartments to buying a 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath house in the matter of weeks is beyond me, but needless to say, I'm beyond thrilled! We moved into the house in the middle of May and have been slowly but surely getting settled. Because I know you're probably curious, I've included a number of photos that were taken before we moved it. Isn't it AMAZING?!

 Aside from this being the world's most unattractive photo of me, it marks a pretty exciting day!:)

 

 This front room is what you see when you walk in the front door. We weren't sure what to do with it at first because it's too small for the living room, but it's now L's "brandy room." Yes, you read that right. ;) We got some leather chairs and an ottoman to go in here (hopefully some pictures soon), and it really looks amazing! The ottoman is a storage ottoman and holds lots of goodies, including L's liquor;).

This is the view you see when looking at the front door from the start of the livingroom. The door on the left is a half bathroom, the stairs lead up to all the bedrooms, and the door on the right leads to the basement.

 Partial view of the living room and the dining area.

 Another view of the living room.

 Kitchen!!!! I can't even tell you how much I LOVE this kitchen! These photos were taken before the appliances were put in, so imagine a stainless steel stove, microwave, refrigerator, and dishwasher:).

 A walk-in pantry that is to die for!!

 View of the dining area and kitchen from the living room.

 Master bedroom.

 Master bathroom and walk-in closet.

 Walk-in Closet.

 Master bathroom. Love the double sinks! (The shower curtains in these photos were staged, so ours looks a lot different now.)

 One of the guest bedrooms.

 Guest Bathroom. Again, it looks different now that we are living there.

 Another guest bedroom. (The website that hosted these photos didn't include a picture of the last bedroom, so the bedroom you don't see is actually my craft room. It's a bit atrocious right now, so hoping to post some pics once I have it organized a little more effectively;).

 Back on the first floor, this is our laundry room. We have a washer and dryer in there now.

Partial view of the basement. We hope to finish it in a few years!

And so that's that. We have been very busy with house stuff and adjusting to L's new work schedule, so just taking it day by day. Hoping to take some photos that give you a glimpse into the house as we get more settled, but this is what you get for now! :)