Personal Highlights:
My nephew married a wonderful women. I think both families were as excited as my nephew that she said yes. We love her. I felt very privileged to be a part of the wedding by making jewelry for the bride as well as gifts for her attendants and the Moms. The wedding was beautiful, they are enjoying starting their life together, and their parents are looking forward to becoming Grandparents, no pressure there, right. :)
Teaching jewelry classes at Michael's produced more than students; I have several friends as a result of the classes. Priceless!!
My husband and I celebrated 43 years of marriage. Good times, hard times, but by God's grace still together and better than ever.
Our dog Butch passed in June. He was 13 years old and had been our companion and best friend for all those years. He traveled with us, "protected" us with his big bark, loved us, entertained us, and broke our hearts when we lost him. If you are familiar with "Marley and Me" you know a little bit about our boy. He wasn't quite as "bad" as Marley; but we have many stories and memories that make us laugh and cry. We will never forget him. Though the loss was painful (still is sometimes) we wouldn't trade those years for anything; so worth it!!
After a few months we adopted Kate. She is 18 months old, full of energy, very loving, and quite hard headed. We are working on convincing her that we are the "alpha" dogs in this pac and she is slowly accepting that fact. We love her and know she is worth the work. Thankfully we are retired and have the time to invest in her. Now if we can just train our friends not to instigate bad behavior we'll be on the right path. She has already won our hearts and we look forward to many years with her. Isn't she beautiful!
On the business front:
I believe I have improved in the area of technique (friends have offered positive feedback in this area, which is very encouraging); I have expanded the styles offered and have included dream catchers in the inventory. Sales for 2015 ended up being at least triple 2014 and I'm hoping for the increase to continue in 2016.
I am getting better at being my own advertisement by wearing pieces I made. This resulted in an invitation to bring product to my doctor's office on an off day; the result was over $250 in sales. More than I expected, very pleased. Home shows and setting up at a business networking meeting also proved to be a good use of time and resources. Still looking for additional face to face options; but also trying to break into the world of internet sales. Will keep you posted on how that goes.
I'm working on improving my time management skills; which in turn should help me keep up with this blog, my Facebook page, and maybe even develop Web design skills. Stay tuned for pictures and updates.
Wishing you all a blessed and productive 2016
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