Cookbook Challenge

For the past couple months I have been cooking my way through the newest SkinnyTaste cookbook "SkinnyTaste: Fast and Slow". I kind of made up my own challenge to make every recipe in the entire book. I thought it would be cool to check in along the way and update you guys on how it is going.

My New Year Started In February

On January 1st, I was getting so jealous of everyone's posts about their resolutions and goals for the new year. I was still buried in etsy orders from the holiday season for the entire month of January. As of last week, I am DONE with holiday orders. I am very excited to talk about my super fun plans for 2017. But, before we do that, let's review the highlights of 2016.

Remember when I'm supposed to be blogging?

I talked about in my goals post how I wanted to be doing a blog post 3 times a month. I thought this was a challenging goal, yet achievable with some effort. Little did I know the next several months would be my most successful (read: busy) for my Etsy Shop and I would have zero minutes to spare. Or at least that's how it felt.

CaiterbugCoast2Coast: What did I do? What did I draw?

Hey Guys! I'm back from my trip!

Gosh. Two weeks is long time to be away from home. At least for me. I love my day-to-day life in Seattle.  I missed my husband, my puppy, my friends, and my business.  However, I did get to see some pretty great people while I was gone, so that made it worthwhile. 

A Print for Bri

You may have seen my posts on Facebook several weeks ago when I found out my friend Brittany was in a paragliding accident. It happened while she was vacationing in South Africa with her two best friends, Lauren and Ashley. 

2016 Shop Goals and Personal Goals

Hello all! It's been a while. I feel like last time I wrote a real post was when I had just listed some of my first Etsy products. One year and 288 sales later, we have some catching up to do. MrsCaiterBug's Etsy Shop has gotten more business than I ever expected. Now that I have some e-commerce experience, I really want to push my shop even further and create goals for the next year. 

My 2016 Planner!

I'm writing this post for 3 reasons:

1. It has forced my to put my goals into words, and therefore they are more thought out.
2. Sharing my goals with you all will keep my accountable.
3. It fulfills one of my goals of blogging more - Is that cheating? haha.

What am I doing with my life?

Great question.  

I've been searching for an answer for almost two years now.

Most of you know I don't have a "real job" out here in Seattle. I've been pretty hard core with the job search for a little over a year now. I've sent out countless applications, had some great feedback, been on several interviews, but nothing has come out positive. I've tried to be pretty "whatever, that's life" about the whole thing, but it has been hard on me. I have times where I'll get down on myself for thinking I am a waste of my (2) college degree(s).

I celebrated my 24th birthday this month. Which reminded me that the window is closing between now ----> and when Tom and I want to start a family in a year or two or three.  Maybe a job in my field isn't in the cards for me, and I am okay with that. My conversations about this with God go something like, "That's fine. I don't need a real job. But, if that's not what I am supposed to do, what is? Give me something I can pour 100% into."

He is answering me in a way I wasn't expecting. (Isn't that always how it goes?)

I have a lot to be thankful for, and lately God has been reminding me of people he has placed in life to help me through this weird time. 

ThrowBack Thursday

Tom and I went to California this past November to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Grandparents and extended family that live in San Jose. When visiting my grandparents, it is a tradition to look through old photos from our visits over the years and from my mom's childhood.

Our First Year of Marriage - In Review

Tom and I just celebrated our first anniversary! Can I get a woohoo?

Being a lover of all things crafty, I wanted to make something special to celebrate our first year of marriage. 

Apartment Tour

 Welcome to my apartment! This post may seem a little lengthy, but I thought it too silly to make multiple posts of my 700sqft apartment. I know not all of you will have the chance to come visit me, so I made sure to include as many details as I could. I have made commentary on all the photos below. Some of them point out some DIY projects you may see here in the future. 

Our apartment is an urban loft space downtown. We have polished concrete flooring, as well as concrete ceilings. The urban feel is accentuated with industrial handrails and finishings (including a garage door as a wall). 

A. This photo is taken looking over the banister of our loft space. The door and garage door open up to street level, where we have a small patio. We got our couch, arm chair, and ottoman at Macy's (similar) during their Fall furniture sale. Rug: Ikea. B. Coffee table: garage sale/DIY.  C. The Super Power poster: ModCloth (similar)

Lets Start At The Very Beginning

According to Maria, it is a very good place to start.

For this first post, I want to establish some content you readers can except and what I see for the future of this blog. Disclaimer: I am not a strong writer. However, I love sharing my creative ideas and thoughts with others. After making a move across the country, away from many friends and family, I've found it difficult to find a creative outlet where I can be in community with other people (You can only do so much through FaceBook and Instagram). This blog will be a place of all things creative, and also serve as way for my (oh-so-far-away-and-much-missed) friends and family to keep up with my daily adventures (and Star Wars references). Below are some topics I plan on blogging about: