Recipes, Baby Socks, and Quite a Bit of Code…

I don’t have to tell any of you that December is the busiest time of year — we’re all feeling the physical strain and mental stretch.

When I launched my Etsy store at the end of last month, I must’ve been experiencing a slight lapse in rational judgement. I knew that December was just around the corner, but I assumed that I would have free time to dedicate to this endeavor.

Wrong.

I decided to launch prior to the Holiday season, knowing that I not only had to think about gifts and events in my own social sphere, but also that I had signed up for a four-part HTML/CSS coding class, I was approaching upcoming projects at work, all of this while keeping in stride with my many regular side projects… It is an understatement to say that my timing was poor.

Despite the busy-ness, I still found the time to work on a few new endeavors. Here are some of my most recent projects:

Honey-Glazed Cinnamon Chickpeas, on Vermoxie.com

– I’ve created my first recipe! Ever! I’m pretty proud of this one (if you couldn’t tell by my previous use of exclamation points). I felt completely out of my comfort zone, but I had my partner (who is a baker) read it over for clarity and understanding, then I had my editors at Vermoxie go at it. It is so great to have a supportive community helping me along. Check out my recipe for Honey-Glazed Cinnamon Chickpeas, they’ll become your new favorite snack!

– I knit a pair of baby socks and a matching hat for a new addition to my extended family. (At this point, I estimate the twelfth new addition to our big family this year. It is true: I’ve become an auntie a billion times over! The sad part is that I am so far away from all of these little bundles of joy…). Well, the tiny pair of socks and matching hat were probably one of the most difficult knit-related undertakings to date — only because they were so tiny, and it was the first time I had ever attempted them. I neglected to take pictures before I gave them as a gift, but I am sure I’ll knit another set soon. They are super fun to knit, and I just couldn’t get over how proud I was of the finished product. I’ll be sure to share some images of the next set.

I’ve also been working on my logo for WildConceptions, my Etsy Shop.

– As I mentioned earlier: this past month I took a course in HTML/CSS coding with a local branch of Girl Develop It. Coding is not entirely out of my comfort zone — back in my MySpace days I loved to customize my layouts with HTML, and I currently use it to tweak the website for the tea company I work for — but writing code from scratch? That was another story, one which I am slowly learning the cues of. It is actually pretty fascinating; simple elements strung together with intuitive attributes yield ridiculously cool designs on a webpage. Let’s just say, I have big plans for what I am learning right now.

Although this was a short list of updates from my hectic life, you can bet your backside that I’ve got more up my sleeve. Actually, one of the most exciting bits of news is that I made my first sale on Etsy this past weekend! I really didn’t anticipate it: I had launched the shop and then buried myself in projects — I had no time to market my products or my shop. I am so excited to see what my first customer thinks of my fingerless mitts!

Stay tuned: I am ironing out the kinks for a buy-one-donate-one hat deal on my Etsy store… I have been donating like crazy because the holiday spirit has taken over my soul (and my wallet), so now I’m working on a way that I can donate time and warm accessories to keep my community members warm this winter (without the strain on my wallet so I can still afford a place to live…)

I have huge plans for 2015, so… stay tuned for details!

As always, create something beautiful today,