Category Archives: Blogging

Reflecting on 2017

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2017 has come and gone.  Another year that has flown by, the kids are older, a few more gray hairs showing up and trying to stay and few more dreams realized and a few laid by the wayside.  As with every year, there have been ups and downs, but the beginning of the year has me reflecting back on all that 2017 had to offer.

lessons in 2017

I can’t exactly explain why, but I feel like 2017 was a year of real vulnerability for me.  I literally felt like I was walking around with all my nerve endings exposed.  I think I spent a good part of the year, wondering why that was, and then the other portion of the year trying to accept it.   According to one of my favorite authors Brene Brown, “Daring greatly means the courage to BE VULNERABLE.  It means to show up and be seen. To ask for what you need.  To talk about your feelings. To have the hard conversations.”  And, truthfully, these were all things that I tried to do in 2017 and it is something I plan to bring forward into 2018.  I will tell you that no matter the outcome, inserting vulnerability into your life tends to lesson the speculation.  If  you know what you want, go after it and don’t receive it, well then you know you tried.  If you tell someone what is expected of them, and they fail to meet your expectations, there is no more wondering if maybe they aren’t getting it. You know and so do they.

on a personal front

  • I now have a 21 year old and a 13 year old.  Geez… (Ok, maybe don’t tell anyone else that.  They will figure out just how old I am lol.)
  • i jumped head first into learning how to cook more low carb food options for myself and my family.
  • i maintained a great A1C , for the entire year.
  • We redesigned our 13 year old daughter’s room, to make it more fitting for a young lady.
  • Oooh… and I managed to total my car, just three days after it was paid off (head banging).

on a business front

  • Our Etsy Store hit 536 Etsy Sales.
  • Our NOLA poster became our Highest Selling Item.
  • Posters in General were the Highest Selling Category in the Store  for 2017.
  • We Added Physical Invitations to Our Shop.
  • We Made A Lot of Updates to the Blog.
  • Leaned Into Being An “Influencer”  on our Social Media Platforms.  By the way, are following us? (Links Above)

my favorite books from 2017

  • The Monkey On My Back by Debbi Morgan
  • Big Magic Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Remembering Whitney by Cissy Houston
  • Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur  **** (A Must Read)

As we embark upon our next adventure, the year 2018.  Always Remember, “Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.” – John Randolph

Reclaiming My Time

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Reclaiming My Time - August 2017 - stage-presents.com

Unless you somehow managed to stay plugged out while the rest of us are constantly plugged in, then you’ve probably been hearing this phrase a lot lately.  Recently, Representative Maxine Waters said this phrase repeatedly during a House Financial Services Committee hearing when confronted by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.  Of course, my reason for using this phrase is no where as important or noble.  The kids are back in school and I am slowly but surely, reclaiming my time. Seemed like the perfect time to do a Currently Post …
Currently - Reclaiming My Time
Thinking … About Working on More Items for  the Fall Collection in Our Etsy Store and creating a newsletter for subscribers

Enjoying… Peace and Quiet — the kids are at school

Feeling …. Blah .. lazy and not all that productive today

Wearing…  My favorite PJ’s, a messy bun, and my not soo cute specs..

Needing…  A manicure and pedicure

Wanting…  Apple to hurry up with the iPhone 8Splus

Listening… to Scars by My Brothers and I

Making..  Savory Sweet Potato Mash my latest obsession

Eating… Zucchini and Squash Everything..

Drinking…  My Decaf Coffee with Half and Half.. Torani Salted Caramel Sugar Free Syrup and Stevia.

I always enjoy reading everyone’s Currently Posts.  Want to join in?  I’d love to know what you are currently up to?  Share your links in the comment section below.

A Few Tips for Managing Your Business Social Media Pages

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Tips for Managing Your Business Social Media

One of the most valuable pieces of advice that I have ever been given in my life, is that there is NO NEED to recreate the wheel.  After all the wheel has been around for some time now. Now, that is not to say that the way you do things won’t be different or unique or that you won’t put your own classic spin on it.  I’m just saying, there is nothing new under the sun, from motherhood all the way to the position of CEO.  I try to apply this same concept to both my personal and my business/blogging/social media life.  That being said, here are a few simple tips to make managing your Social Media, that much easier.

  1.   Plan ahead.  This is one of the reasons that you find so many bloggers and social media managers utilizing editorial calendars.  You will save yourself hours by simply pre-planning.  Ideally, we would all like to pre-plan our years, or maybe even our quarters.  I have not been able to realistically pull that off yet.  But, I do very well, when I try to at least pre-plan my month.
  2.   Research.  The first step to effectively researching is knowing your market. (key demographic).  For example, if you are a Mommy blogger.  You need to know what other Moms are interested in.   Research can be an intimidating word.  But, for me the time I spend on Instagram, Pinterest, Online Shopping, and looking through magazines all qualifies as research. After all, you live in the age of technology, inspiration is literally at your finger tips.
  3.  You are your greatest resource.  So, not only has it been done before but, there is a chance that you’ve done something like it or parallel to it before.  For example, when my husband and I decided to start our own Etsy Store, we literally stepped out on faith with no real retail experience as a point of reference.  However, our over 20+  years of combined customer service, technical and administrative experience proved to be invaluable.  What started out as an idea to sell pillows morphed into something much more.  We did not allow ourselves to get pigeon holed or stuck on our original concept and we were able to expand in ways that we would not have imagined.  In addition to that I was able to use my love for technology and organization to create templates to work within making our day to day processes painless. Work smarter instead of harder.
  4.   The awesome thing about life and business  in general, is that practice makes better.  I won’t say perfect because we tend to shy away from that word these days.  So, I will say practice fosters progression. Which means that hopefully, you are constantly learning and getting better as you go.  If you started a blog,  chances are at the very beginning you probably were not too concerned with SEO, or just didn’t know too much about it.  Maybe your original plan was just to create engaging and meaningful content.  As time goes on you realize that this is not enough, more is needed in order to make blogging profitable.  So you delve further into your craft and learn how to be more efficient, what plugins to use how to get rid of spam etc.
  5. As much as things change, they stay the same.  Valentine’s Day falls on the same date every year, as does Thanksgiving, Christmas and a host of other holidays.  What’s my point? Creating content is a big part of blogging and Social Media on a whole.  But, so is building on what you have already created. Depending on what your niche is, chances are that you find yourself discussing similar subjects during certain months and seasons.  You can use this chance to build on your older posts and update or just share, as is.  One of my favorite tools that helps me utilize past content is the “On This Day” section on the Facebook website.  Can I just say, best thing ever?  Not only do I get to go down memory lane every morning and see how much my little ones have grown through the years.  I also get access to content that I have shared through the years.  It could be a blog post, or Tips for Spring Break, or even an article I found relevant at that time. In addition to that, I  post an Inspirational post at the beginning of every day.  Guess what?  When I am strapped for time and don’t have time to create new content, I can pull from a post that I made the year before.  I can’t say enough about that one.

Tips for Managing Your Business Social Media - On This Day View Page View

As you can see these tips are well within anyone’s wheelhouse.  So jump right in, and wow your followers with worthwhile content.  Do you have a tip or two?  I would love to hear how you manage your Business Social Media Pages?  What are your “go-to” tools?  Share your finds in the comment section below, I can  not wait to read them.

End of Year Review

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2016-a-year-in-review

It is the last day of 2016, and I for one am glad to see it go.  2016 has been the most tumultuous year I have experienced in my 40 years.  It has literally been filled with the lowest lows and the highest highs,  a perpetual roller coaster of emotions, blessings and disappointments.

We entered into 2017 full of hope and vision.  And, as seems to be the norm at this stage of my life the days quickly turn into months and the months into years.  This is something that most Moms tend to be cognizant of as you watch your babies speed through their younger years. And, believe it or not with a business it is not much different.  I sit back a little awe struck at times, as I watch it develop in new ways.  The most minute changes can garner the most significant rewards.

On the Business/Blog Side of Things:

We started off the new year by re-branding.  Even though we loved our original logo, we wanted a new logo that we felt represented where we were going as a company. I assume that this can be a fairly easy project for larger companies who hire out this type of work.  But, we decided to do it ourselves, or I should say my hubby did it.  And, since we both have the perfectionist gene getting on the same wave length was a bit harder than we thought.  But, ultimately we were both pleased with the finished product.

TheStagepresentsBlog got its own Instagram Page. Having another account separate from the one we already had for our Etsy Store allowed me to share more of myself, my family and my daily life with all my Stage Presents friends.  It also gave me a chance to connect with other like minded bloggers.

Our Etsy Store hit 400 + Sales and officially passed the 3 year mark.

Our Back to School Binder Covers went viral.

Increased our Social Media presence and Developed relationships with other bloggers

Collaborated with other bloggers to present the Friday Favorites Linky Party.

We had some amazing Guest Bloggers.

2016-highlights

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery–isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”
― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

On the Personal side of Things:

Life dealt more blows than I would like to remember in 2016.  Only months into the New Year, my toddler niece got very sick and passed away.  It is something that I honestly don’t know if I will ever truly understand. The only thing worst than experiencing that loss, was watching my baby sister go through it.  As a big sister, you never want to think that there is something that you just can not help your younger sister with or through.  But, I had to accept that this was something that we could only call on God to help and heal.   Then some months later, I had a health scare that consisted of  a spider bite and my blood sugar being way too high, that landed me in the hospital.  Though terrifying, it turned out to be exactly what I needed to get my act together as far as eating what I should eat, instead of what I wanted to eat.  This year, I also started subbing at the School System for longer periods of time.  I got a quick refresher course on just what a balancing  act it was to work full time hours and still juggle being Mommy and Wife, Blogger, Etsy Shop Owner, Cook, Taxi…  The flip side to that was being able to do more of the things we wanted to do as a family with more money coming into the household, and having a little more to invest back into our business.

“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.”
― John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

The pain makes us change. The change makes us grow, and finally the growth makes us strong.

FOR WHATEVER REASON, THESE BOOKS HELPED ME OUT THIS YEAR.

Favorite Books:

Why We Can’t Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Fervent by Priscilla Shirer

Make it Happen by Lara Casey

2016 has been a year of growth for the business and for the blog and it is with bated breath that I wait to take in all that 2017 has to offer.  We are humbled by the support of our readers, our customers, and our community.  We acknowledge that without you we couldn’t have come this far.  As we end this year, and venture into the new one keep these words in mind.

THROUGH ADVERSITY, NOT ONLY ARE WE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER OUR INNER STRENGTH, WE ARE ALSO GIVEN THE  GIFT OF FORESIGHT SO WE CAN SHINE A LIGHT FOR OTHERS WHO GO THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE AFTER US. — RACHAEL BERMINGHAM

When Life Forces You To Rest

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When Life Forces You To Rest - Recovering From An Injury - stage-presents.com

So … last week life knocked me square on the as@!  Whatever I had planned and charted was not going to happen….  It started with a spider bite and went all down hill from there.  The bite triggered an abscess, which triggered an infection which landed me in the Emergency Room being prepped for Surgery.  The whole experience was excruciating, uncomfortable and inconvenient.  But, it was also quite humbling for me.

I take a lot of pride in feeling like I have control of this thing called my life, knowing all the while that it is a very fickle thing.  I try my hardest to plan as far in advance as I can.  Considering everything the kids have to do, appointments that need to be made, things that have to be purchased, etc.  But, when something like this happens all of those things get swept by the wayside.  We live by our routines.  So much so that on our way to the Emergency Room, my youngest  was concerned that if Mommy was going to the hospital, “Did that mean that we weren’t going to have our Friday Chicken Wings.?” (LOL, as long as she was worried about me, right?)

So after spending four days in the hospital, and being released to go home under the care of  a Home Health Nurse, I being of unsound mind and body, assumed that with a little rest I would be able to resume life as I knew it.  After all, I think that we never realize how much we do to keep things running smoothly.  Well, I am here to tell you that nothing would be further from the truth.  My body was tired… is tired.  The medication that I am on triggers very ANGRY.. and debilitating Migraines.  Small amounts of activity leave me completely tuckered out and I have to rely on the kindness and generosity of my entire family.  Something which I am not sure that I am loving, but am well aware that I should be. (Shout out to them, especially my darling husband, who has stepped up and taken the reigns.)

They always say, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.  I have never liked that statement, but it couldn’t be more true of this situation.  From a less WOE IS ME point of view, this situation however horrific can be seen as a wake up call for me.  I have mentioned here before that I am a diabetic, and I have not been doing a good job of keeping my numbers under control.  And, now, i have no choice, as it is paramount to me healing quickly and without incident.  You would be surprised what you can do when you have no choice, and when your husband is not playing.

Bare with me, I may not be posting as frequently as I would like, but I will be working my way back.  Have you ever had an injury that forced you to your knees?  What advice would you give for working your way back?  Consider sharing it with us in the comment section below.

 

Beating The Winter Blues

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Beating The Winter Blues

When the New Year starts, I am always filled with so much hope and motivation.  But, as the days go by in January, I sometimes find myself falling into Alice’s Rabbit Hole. For me, I think the reason behind this lies in the fact that I hate to be stuck inside.  It’s called Cabin fever.  I know I have definitely turned into a bit of a home body since becoming a full time stay at home mom.  But, there are still days when I want to get up and venture out into the world, whether it be to grocery shop or hit up the closest Target or Walmart.  Some days I just need to get out and spread my wings.  But, the colder it gets the more those plans tend to exist only in my head or penciled in my planner.  The older I get and the longer I live in Georgia, I fear the cold, which now feels like it chills me to be the bone.  I have never had a strong immune system, an unfortunate trait, I think I passed down to my babies.  I dread being sick!!  So rather than allow myself to turn into a Winter Weather Hermit, I came up with some tips to beat these Winter Blues.

Plan Plan Plan…

It’s easy to simply crawl into bed and pull the cover up around my ears.  And, as divine as that sounds I am pretty sure that I would get NOTHING done, except maybe catching up on the movies on my DVR.  So I plan out my day from Household Duties –  Business Duties ( this Blog/Etsy/Social Media Stuff).  For example, I know that I can get more cleaning and more writing done when the kids are at school.

Stock Pile…

Hoard… If you are going to go into semi- hibernation get the things you need or want to surround you.  For me that is Coffee (the good stuff, and lots of it), Delicious Creamers, Warm Hearty Soups, Comfortable Socks, good reading material and even better music.  Believe it or not these things can serve as inspiration on days when you really need some.

make yourself a priority…

It’s easy to put off getting your hair dyed, or your eyebrows arched when you aren’t going to a job everyday.  But, you just can’t allow yourself to become a recluse.  Set appointments for yourself that you DON”T waffle out of.  It can be as simple as getting a much needed and well deserved pedicure.  Lunch with a friend to catch up on life OUTSIDE THE HOUSE.  A doctor’s appointment that you have been putting off.  Something you know you have to do but don’t necessarily want to do.  Make yourself accountable to you.

find your productivity window…

This can be a time period where you feel the most productive.  It can be a certain spot that gets great light where you can write.  It could be right after you work out.  Just like with anything else, the key here is to know yourself.  You know what colors look best on you or what styles you prefer to wear.  You should also know when you are at your best and capable of your best work.  In a regular 9-5 environment this is not as easy to achieve.  But, when you are at home you have a little bit more flexibility. Work Smarter – Not Harder.

“Wisdom comes with winter.” — oscar wilde

I sure am glad that I live in Georgia now.  I can’t imagine what I would do with more weeks of winter than what we currently have.  What are your tricks to staying both productive and content during the Winter Months?

Read More About My Winter Struggles HERE.

A Year In Review: Building Our Empire Brick by Brick

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2015 A Year In Review - Building Our Empire Brick By Brick - The Stage Presents Story

Every body loves an overnight success story, myself included.  It speaks to our fascination with the Rags to Riches Story.  But, I am sure that you know that those stories are few and far between. What you rarely hear about is the route or the journey that is taken in order to get to where you want to be.  Our 2015 Year In Review, is just a small piece of that story, Our story.

My love affair with blogging has always stemmed from the fact, that I stand in awe, at the transparency of bloggers.  The ability to let people into the deepest recesses of your soul, thoughts, and even your home is still mind blowing to me. I have been blogging since the early 2000’s, long before it was a trendy thing to do. That being said, moving from personal blogging to a blog that was associated with my brand, was a very different experience for me.  I felt like every word that I wrote, every opinion that I gave or every picture that I posted was now up for interpretation.  That was and still is a scary feeling.  So finding my voice in this particular blog is a continuous work in in progress.  While the opinions that I give are as honest and as true to myself as I can possibly be, I make an effort to be politically correct. (If that makes sense.)

Background Story: [For those of you who only joined us in 2015.] After working for the same company for over a decade, I was laid off.  My youngest daughter was only 2 at the time and had more food allergies than I could count on one hand. and my oldest daughter had challenges of her own.  So I opted to stay home and focus on my family for a while.  While that sounds grand, it didn’t feel grand.  It felt like I was drowning.  But, more than anything I was scared.  Out of that fear and  frustration, a dream was born.  We named it Stage Presents.  It was supposed to be a way for me to feel like I was still a financially contributing part of my household.  I would be lying if I told you that either of us expected great things.  We simply had no idea what to expect.  So for the first year (2014), we flew by the seat of our pants.  I read everything that I could on being a small business owner.  Took as many online classes as I could manage and implemented as many changes as I could, on the fly.  And, at the end of the year, we had established a foot hold and made 80 sales and were feeling like maybe we were on to something.  The greatest feeling an entrepreneur can experience is when people see, understand and support your vision, and if that earns you money, even better.

We were determined that 2015 was going to yield an even greater return.  So we started off the year by defining the things that we deemed necessary to keep progressing on this journey.  I won’t bore you with the whole list.  But, these were the main points.

  1. Build an Online Community.  Form Valuable Relationships with Other Bloggers and Small Business Owners.  Network and Collaborate.  Invest in the Visions of Others.  ✓
  2. Increase my Blog Readership and Subscriptions and Monetize My Blog ✓
  3. Develop a Formidable Online and Social Media Presence ✓
  4. Increase Both Views and Sales in Our Etsy Store ✓
  5. Maintain Our 5 Star Review Rating and continue to provide excellent Customer Service ✓

And, guess what, we did all of that this year.  Are we any closer to where we want to be?  Absolutely.  Do we feel like this journey is anywhere close to its completion? Nope, not at all.  But, we are committed to the process and invested in our dream.

Here are some of the Highlights from Our Year:  We offered Exclusive Content to our Subscribers and the List Soared to over 100 Monthly Subscribers.  Our Lake Eufaula poster was purchased and featured in an episode of NCIS – New Orleans.  What an amazing way to start out the year!!  We threw our hats into the ring and began to offer Invitations, Save The Dates, and other Stationery for “Brides to Be”.  Our Digital Library Card Invitations were a big hit with several authors.  Our Restaurant Meat Cut prints were and continue to be a best seller.  We invited you into our home as we decorated for Easter, Fall and eventually Christmas.  We shared some of our favorite recipes.  Helped you get your little ones ready for Back to School and added Printable Posters to Our Shop. Whew!! That was a mouthful.

Highlights of 2015 - The Stage Presents Story

2015 has been an amazing year, both for the business and for the blog and we look forward to what 2016 has to offer.  We are humbled by the support of our readers, our customers, and our community.  We acknowledge that without you we couldn’t have come this far.  As we end this year, and venture into the new one keep these words in mind.

“We are at our very best and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey towards the goal, we’ve established for ourselves.  It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep.     It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.”

-Earl Nightingale

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a Bountiful New Year from your Stage Presents Family!! Adios 2015!!

Three…. Two…. One …..

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Three Blogs Two Faves One Freebie - A Weekly Post on stage-presents.com

Today is the Start of a New Series that we will be featuring every Friday right here.  Three Blogs Two Faves One Freebie.

Three Blogs:

Three Blogs Two Faves One Freebie - A Weekly Post on stage-presents.com

Photo Sources (Associated by Numbers)

1.  The Lettered Cottage

2.  Tiffani Thiessen

3.  Knock Off Decor

Two Faves:
Three Blogs Two Faves One Freebie - A Weekly Post on stage-presents.com

Photo Sources (Associated by Numbers)

KeySmart 2.0

Mochi Things Large Better Together Sailor Pattern Pouch

One Freebie:

Freebie Friday Frog - #freebiefriday #freedownload

The Little Frog – To Download – Follow the Link – Right Click – Save and Print

Have an Awesome Weekend!!

Creating A Space You Love

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Creating A Space You Love - www.stage-presents.com

Are you anything like me?  Do you spend hours pouring over the pages of Home Decor Magazines looking for ideas to make your house a home?  One of the very first magazine subscriptions that I purchased was Real Simple.   I received that magazine for years, before I moved  into a home of my own.  I loved to see how people created spaces that reflected their personalities but that were still livable and inviting.  Once I had a family of my very own, it was very important to me that the home we live in was both comfortable and staged.  To that end, I feel like our home is always a work in progress.

Without the funds to just walk into Haverty’s and have their stylist design rooms for us, we literally have taken our time and piece by piece have watched our vision come together.  I am always on the hunt for something that looks like this, at that price.  Treasure hunting on a budget, I guess. Some mornings I walk down the stairs and I’m tickled pink at just how things are working out. Some mornings, I wish I could scrap the whole thing and start over.  But, it has definitely become a passion project for me.  Friends and Family that pop by are always telling us how they love the way we decorate our home, and inquire as to where we got this piece or that piece.  And, I have to laugh because I know how many hidden treasures we have stashed in closets that we thought were the way to go and then turned out they weren’t.  I think we could probably style a small apartment with some of the things we have stored away.

I was blessed to find a hubby who seems to love this kind of thing as much as I do, or maybe he is just humoring his high brow wife.  (I hope that isn’t the case.)  But, I dare say that he has come home with just as many finds as me, if not more.  We don’t always see each others visions, but we agree that we both have to love it, for it to find a permanent place in our home.

Apparently, even the Pro’s take this approach when designing their own homes or homes for their clients. Check out this post by three of my favorite blogs Life on Virginia Street Effortless Style and The Blissful Bee titled From the Magazine to the Pages of Your Home.

Looking for More Inspiration that literally springs from the pages of a Magazine?  Elements of Style shows us how she pulled inspiration from House Beautiful to come up with A Boathouse of One’s Own.

Lastly, Destiny from Just Destiny Mag, lays down the law on how she Creates a Meaningful Home in this awesome blog featured on Jenna Burger’s Blog.

It’s definitely easy to get overwhelmed with the process, as with anything else but the rules for us are pretty simple, fill your home with things that you love and things that make you happy.

Stage Presents: Creating A Space You Love

For a Glimpse Into Our World, Check Out Our Fall Home Tour here or Our Spring Mini Home Tour here.

Update on my Summer Goals

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Summer Goals Update As expected keeping up with my blogging while the kids are at home can prove to be challenging.  But, so far I have managed to maintain.  So, I thought I would drop in to let you know how I am doing with my Summer Goals that I wrote about here.

1.  Reading for Fun.  Well, I actually checked out two physical books from the Library.  It has been forever since I read a physical book.  I figured that the real book would keep me from being distracted by all the buzzing, and beeping going on while reading on the iPad.  That hasn’t really gone too well.  I have already had to renew the books once, and I am literally on page 89 of the first book.  Hmmm…. I am honestly struggling with just giving up on that one and moving on to the other book.  Blah!! Once I get through these two I am going o start on this Reading List.  Maybe it will be a little easier.

2.  Handwritten Cards & Letters.  I still have not done this one yet.  But… I did order Personalized Photo Father’s Day Cards for the girls to give to Hubby, does that count?  Interested in doing this too, check out the Card Store.

3.  Connect with Family & Friends.  I did good on this one.  One of my oldest friends and her Mom came into town, and I was able to go and hang out with them for a couple of hours, without the kids.  That is major!!

4.  Romantic and Mushy TV – I watched the Fault in Our Stars which I loved.  Still working my way down the list…  Anyone have any suggestions for me?

5.  Trying new Recipes with the Kids – Check Us Out Making Memories in the Kitchen.

6.  DIY Projects – During the winter I bought an old Lazy Suzan, it was wood adjacent, lol, well I thought it was real wood when I bought it.  Once I started sanding it, I realized that wasn’t the case.  But, after applying several coats of paint, it almost looks usable.  I plan to put it on my kitchen table, to hold napkins, etc. etc. (Pics to Follows)

7.  In preparation for the Fairs we plan to attend in the Fall, we have been stocking our Etsy Store with Printables.  Right now they are digital, but we plan to offer the Physical Prints when selling in person, and hope to add this to the Etsy Store as well.  I am still hunting for a good printer in the Metro Atlanta Area.

Stage Presents Printables

Even though it really feels like it has been a while.  We are really only in the second week of Summer Break.  What are your Summer Goals for this year, consider leaving it in the comment section below?