Dreams, goals and aspirations

Did you make new years resolutions this January? I'm not a fan of them myself, I find they are so often focused on the negative parts of our lives... loose weight, spend less time working, be a more patient parent.... they can feel a bit like a list of things we beat ourselves up about.
To me that's not such an inspiring start to the year, so instead this January I made a list of goals instead. This list included personal as well as business aspirations, less a fixed 'to do' list and more a guide to start the year with a clear sense of direction. 
A really great part of keeping this blogazine is the recording of this time in my life, a time-capsule of who I am now as an artist, designer and small business owner. I think it will be really interesting to look back on my aspirations in the future so I'm going to share a few of my goals here for posterity.
It's a long list I have to confess, so I will only share part of it! 

• Get engaged.

It may not sound like the most romantic way to go about things, but my boyfriend and I have decided it would be really lovely to get married. It's been something we have talked about since shortly after we met, and just a matter of time until we both felt ready. I'm the luckiest girl ever and can't wait to celebrate our relationship! 

• Work my butt off

I never thought I would say these words but 2013 is the year of work. Generally I think working hard is pretty over-rated but this year I have some business goals I want to achieve and the only way to get there is by hard graft. Every small business owner will tell you it's hard going working for yourself but I'm determined to knuckle down and make this year the most rewarding and fulfilling Red Brick year ever! 
I can only apologise to my darling friends in advance, I love you dearly but I will be thin on the ground this year.

• Make more things

There's nothing new here really, I'm ALWAYS making things it's true, lots of things. But this year I want to make more artwork, design and make more products and get them into other peoples loving hands. 
Running a creative space can be really amazing, but sometimes I can get so busy enabling artists and designers to create and show their work to the world that I run out of time to do my own making. This year I'm making it a priority!

While we are on the subject I thought I would share some of the things I have been working on this summer. These things involve wood, brickies twine, foraged timber and the most wonderful pastel-flouro paint mix I have ever created.... it's ZINGY on the eyes!

Fun wooden goodies aren't the only thing I have been making this summer, I spent most of my Christmas holidays re-building our website and these pretty one-off wooden jewelry designs will be appearing on it soon. I'm really proud of the new site and would love to hear what you think of it too. You can see it here. 
I know I don't always make it easy to respond to my ramblings and rants but I love to get emails from readers so please feel free to get in touch, My email addy is hello@redbrickgallery.com.au you can also say 'hello' on our Facebook page too!
X Steph

4 Simple Goals

I don't do this very often but Elsies post on a Beautiful Mess blog has really rung true with me this month. I'm inspired to 'play along' and make 4 Simple Goals. 
Here's how it works: 

" 1. Choose simple goals that will make your life richer and happier on a daily basis. Choose things you may not otherwise get done, but that are not difficult to accomplish. 

2. Do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals. for example.... instead of "lose 10 pounds", choose something like "eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day". Get what I'm saying? Positive actions instead of just the end result! 

3. Choose goals that are personal that you believe will truly make your life richer just by doing them! They can be daily, weekly or one time experiences. 

4. Choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished! It can be a small or large reward- it's up to you. 

5. Blog about your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year! " (image and text borrowed from Elsie Larson at A Beautiful Mess)

So here I go

Celebrate life and my achievements' of the last 12 months: 

It's been a big year and my business as well as personal life has moved forward in leaps and bounds. As I have written lately I can lose sight of the achievements and only see the future goals. September is also a tricky month for me, it brings the anniversary of the the loss of someone very close to me. This year, instead of mourning in sadness I'm going to focus on celebrating life and my loved ones. This goal is about enjoying the process, not just the end result.

Make a book:

No, I'm not another blogger releasing a book! Haha. I'm taking about making a 'blurb' book filled with images from my recent trip overseas. A kind of celebration of a landmark trip with my lovely man to beautiful places. I'm not great at making photo albums and would love to have something special to remember this time not just files on my hard-drive.

Take more photographs of people:

I'm not sure why but I find it difficult to take pics of people... I'm not sure why... some of my friends are very self conscious about having their photo taken, sometimes I'm worried about spoiling the moment by whipping out the SLR. Either way I want to conquer this issue! My life is full of lovely peeps,so why shouldn't my memory card, and in turn this blog!

Enjoy growing things:

I'm on my way to having this one sorted.... by preparing healthy soil and planting seedlings now I am well on the way to harvesting fresh, home-grown veggies come summer. I also can't wait to enjoy the wonderful feeling a garden full of colourful flowers brings me. Part of this goal is to have fresh flowers on my desk and and snag myself some stylish indoor plants! Any ideas on this one? The indoor section of the garden centre always leaves me cold.... no pun intended!

What might your simple goals be?