I'm really bad at blogging. Lesson learned.

Hello all!  Sorry I've been gone so long.  Pretty much forever in internet time!  I've been busy, but not all beading (unfortunately for my bead mat)

I have started to exercise more, so I've been out of the house a lot more often (hence the blog absence).  I've managed to drop some pounds already and I can feel the difference.  I've also recently started my part-time school year job again, working for the local elementary school in the cafeteria and kitchen.  I love working with kids, I always have, my first job was working at a daycare and I've worked at a few since then.  The school definitely makes sense for me, even though it cuts into beading time.

I've been doing a lot of thinking this summer about what I want to do with my beads.  Where their future is headed and what I want to get out of it.  I would definitely love some input from fellow beaders out there.  It's never been my intention/goal to write tutorials (although I am working on one - slowly - just to give it a shot) as I much prefer the actual beading.  I can crank out pieces pretty quickly and that's just what I want to do.  With all of the debate in the bead community about copyright, I've started to go through the pieces I've made and take out the ones from designers that will allow me to sell the pieces I've made from their pattern.  These will still go to craft shows with me, the others will end up as gifts to relatives and friends someday.

I'm not sure I really have the motivation and will power to put into making jewelry a full time business for me and I really enjoy when it is closer to a hobby for me.  I got way more stressed out than I ever thought when I was trying a more full time approach and it really affected me.  I didn't like what it was doing, so I want to stop (being stressed.)

I know this isn't everyone's option or preference and to those that CAN do this full time (like my beading idols - Jill, Mikki, Marcia, Rachel, Laura, etc)  I applaud you.  I am extremely grateful that I have my Hubby to fall back on when I'm indecisive, but I almost don't feel like this is that.  I know I don't want to go full steam with jewelry, I'd much rather spend half my time jewelry and half my time working with children (which is why I love my job)  So the situation I have right now is the perfect one.

I wanted this blog to be about my beading journey (and it still will be) but that's also not all there is to me, and maybe the reason I've been so terrible at keeping up with it is because of that.  So I will still post all of my beady treasures and the books I'm working through, but I'll also include things that happen at work, home or just in my regular life.

I will definitely still be beading, there will still be pieces for sale, I'll still do craft shows (but I'm going to only do local shows), I'll absolutely still be at Bead & Button next June, so I'm not leaving the bead community, just changing how I participate!

Thanks for letting me ramble this time around. :)