I didn’t make any real “resolutions” for 2011, since I’m fairly certain that I was mostly just focused on surviving the second half of my pregnancy and the first 8 months of Evie’s life. It was an adventure, even without any specific resolutions.

Now that we’re in 2012, I feel that it’s time for me to get back to goals. I’ve accomplished a lot of what I had hoped for in my life, but not everything. In my high school yearbook (10 years ago…), I’m pretty sure I said I wanted to have a book published by now. While that hasn’t happened, I do think that’s mostly because I’m not a writer by profession like I thought I would be. That said, I still have it as a goal for “someday.” My “someday” list is getting long, but I’m okay with it. I may be turning 30 this year, but I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, done with “the best years of my life.”

So, here are my goals for 2012:

• Launch our new business website
  We first announced it last year, and then got caught up in the baby stuff. We’re plugging away in our “spare” time to get it done. I’m excited to get it launched!
• Take a business class
  I’ve been running a business for over 5 years now; I think it’s time to see what I can do better.
• Teach Evie to say or sign the names of all immediate family members
  Hearing my nephew say my name is such a blessing to me! I want to hear Evie say Momma, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Devon, Seth, Kirsten, Mom-Mom, Poppy, Kelley, Matt, Lincoln, and Nina (Caryn) by next Christmas… Doable? She’ll be 20 months old, so I hope so!
• Go snowboarding with Joel at least once
  Joel and I got each other snowboarding gear for Christmas in 2010, but I was pregnant last winter, so we couldn’t go. Now, I’m very unmotivated to relearn… But I love Joel, and I want to have stuff to do together, so snowboarding it is!
• Finish a writing project
  I have so many half-finished projects… and only a few finished ones. This is the year to have a project come to conclusion. I had been working pretty steadily on a novel in 2010, but then my compy crashed, I lost 2 hours of work, and I lost motivation to rewrite. Time to get back into it!
• Bike the 35- or 60-mile Bike:MS Cook Forest River Ride in September
  I’m giving myself both options for the River Ride, since I’ll have to see how bike riding goes with Evie. If she likes the bike trailer, I’ll aim for the 60-miler. If she hates it, I’ll be lucky to get to do the 35.
• Raise $5,000 toward our adoption fund
  As for the adoption fund, I know it’s ambitious to try to raise $5k, but it’s only a little over $450/month (since January is almost over and I haven’t raised anything yet). That’s going to be the hardest one, I think. It is going to take some creative thinking and the support of those around us, but I think we can do it. I feel called to adopt, so I know that it will happen if it’s the Lord’s will.

So, we’ll see how this goes…

I’ve been meaning to rave about Lovoso for a long time now, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to give them a shout out today before things get really crazy around here.

Lovoso, which stands for “Love Orphans, Visit Orphans, Serve Orphans,” is an online store (logo and website designed by yours truly and developed by everyone’s favorite Joel Kline) that sells, among other items, Chunky Junk jewelry. All the jewelry for sale on the site was hand made in India, so it is all unique in style and design. All the proceeds from the sales of the jewelry (and all the other items in the store) go directly to support orphanages in India, Haiti, and Ghana. And it’s all fair trade.

Considering the prices of other online jewelry stores I’ve checked out recently (seriously, like $49 for a simple gold chain necklace), this stuff is really competitively priced. Necklaces start at only $6 each, going as high as $12 (which is still a great price). Bracelets are $6-10, rings are $6, and earrings range from $6 to $8 per pair.

They’ve also recently started selling loose beads for anyone who like to make their own jewelry. And these aren’t your everyday craft store beads. Really cool stuff.

They also have some shirts, hair sticks, and music CDs… plus you can always make a direct donation to help out the orphans when you go through checkout.

So there’s my shout out… I have a bunch of this jewelry, so let me know if you want to see some similar stuff in person before you buy. It’s great for gifts, especially since it will help out orphans. Easter might be cutting it close to get it in time, but there’s always Mother’s Day next month! Think about it!