A Little Introduction

Hello again!

I have previously stated my intention here on Thirty-Five Eleven, but I wanted to tell you a little more about myself.

I have been married for four years to my best friend, Jake.  We met in college at Southern Virginia University where he graduated in Business and I double majored in Business and Studio Art.  We have a beautiful daughter whose name is Berlin.  She is about 14 months and she consumes the bulk of my energy!  We also have two great dogs, Kio, a full bred Chihuahua, and Omi, a Chiweenie or Chihuahua/Dachshund mix.  We live in the Salt Lake City area and really enjoy it here, for the most part.

Jake works full time for a customer experience company and I have the real privilege of working from home to stay with Berlin.  I currently own an Etsy shop called The Sapphire Memories where I sell clear stamps that I have designed and had produced.  It's a really fun business and I absolutely love getting my ideas out into the world in a product form.  As part of my effort to get back to the core of what I love, I have also started painting again.  Painting was my passion in college, but once I graduated and started working in the real world (I worked full time for a few years before we had Berlin), I couldn't prioritize painting into my schedule.  I always felt shame when I would think about it because I knew that I abandoned what I loved doing most, but the resistance was too great.  I am proud to say that I have picked up my paint brushes again and I hope that painting will take a more prominent role in my life.

As an artist, I have so many hobbies!  A few months ago I was feeling overwhelmed by all the things that I like to do and I was trying to get to the core of what I really enjoy doing, but it was so difficult!  I came to the decision that I don't have to cut out things that I love, I just need to embrace them in different capacities.  Two of my biggest hobbies are quilting and scrapbooking.  At some point in the last five years, I thought about making both of those hobbies into a career.  I would be really pumped about the idea and then my motivation would just slowly sizzle out because while I enjoy both of those activities, it's not where my passion is.  My passion is, of course, painting, and I was trying to use either scrapbooking or quilting as a means of filling the hole that was made by not painting.

Since realizing that about myself, I have been liberated by the fact that quilting and scrapbooking are just hobbies.  I don't need someone to notice me and pay me to do it.  I can just do it because I enjoy it.  My scrapbooking pages don't need to be super complicated with the latest products and my quilts don't have to be made from the newest fabric line with the hottest pattern.  I never realized all the restrictions I placed on myself until I had that moment when I was completely honest about what I really wanted to do.

Even though I had that heart-to-heart with myself, my life is still complicated and it's still a battle to prioritize and get things done, but now I have a direction to go and that's made all the difference.

In the coming days I am going to be sharing some of the books and podcasts that have inspired, encouraged, and motivated me.  I will also be working on the website design to make this space more beautiful and make sure that you can find whatever you're looking for easily.  Bear with me as I make these changes and get this website up and running!