New Year 2013!!!

Well, It's a new year... again! Welcome 2013! I hope, despite the stigma, that this is a lucky year! Sad thing... I haven't written on here since my last New Year's Resolutions! So to be a little more varying, this post will not be my resolutions. However, I do want to look back on the year and say that 2012 has been a very interesting time. Through the good, the bad, and, yes, sometimes the ugly I've made it through another year and I'm still excited for new adventures! I'm not gonna lie, this year has been a challenging one for me. It's one of those years that go by really fast, where you really don't feel like you did much, but a lot of things happen that make it challenging to actually get the things done that you want to accomplish. 

For a quick overview, I'll give 3 example of the good, the bad, and the ugly: 

The Good: my brother had his first little boy this year! Stephen Arthur Svedi, born on February 13th the little guy has made the happiest addition to our family in a long time. However, it was with quite the traumatic entrance, which caused a lot of stress. He was born with some oxygen deprivation, and the doctors didn't know how much it would affect his brain functions. I was so scared for this little guy, but thankfully all is well now, he is completely fine and healthy! And we've all been so excited to have a little one in the family. He's the first grandchild and nephew, and the happiest baby I've ever seen! I love him... So so much!

The Bad/possibly good: my parents moved! They sold their house in Santa Rosa and my Dad is now in Massachusett's working, while my Mom is waiting out the cold MA winter in North Carolina with Shara and Craig so she doesn't freeze! Shaina and Scott moved into their own apartment, which is a great thing for them! Anyway, there have been BIG changes for my family this year! Which is exciting, and happy, but also a bit scary and unknown. 

As for me, The Ugly: (well, not really ugly, this is just to keep up with my theme. (; ) I've been on sort of a hiatus from change. Which could be considered refreshing for me actually! I'm still working at the same place and living in San Francisco in the same place. So I've been here for 2 years! Which is the longest I've stayed anywhere since graduating from high school! So, it's actually been a good thing. But, I don't want to get complacent and stop making goals to progress, which is what I feel has been the case for the last little while. For example, I haven't been doing the things I really LOVE, (that's the ugly part) I haven't been painting, drawing, bookbinding, dancing, excercising. I guess I've gotten pretty busy, and distracted with life and it's not exactly a bad thing. It's not that I haven't been doing good things, just that I haven't made time for things that help me to progress and feel accomplished. And really... that's why New Year's Resolutions are good. (Dang it, I've managed to convince myself, now I can't use any excuses, the other day I joked with my roommate that I wasn't going to make any, lol). I know they really do help to jump start us to be better, to progress and to live our dreams. So I am going to take some time and really think about what I want to accomplish this next year. What dreams I want to start living and write those goals down, maybe one of them might even be to start writing on my blog again. Who knows! They can be anything I want, that's what dreams are for! :) So lets all go make some dreams happen!

New Year's Resolutions!

Well, it's a new year! Welcome 2012! I love new years and new beginnings, they're so refreshing, and exciting. You never know all the amazing adventures awaiting you! I love looking back and becoming amazed at how much my life has changed or how much I've gotten to do! And I love planning and coming up with new goals, that I (finger's crossed) will accomplish. Okay, actually I don't really love planning, but somehow I got really excited about it this year. I think 2012 is going to be a good year.

1. So I've been reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and it has some great advice on how to make people like you. Now I've always been a little wary of this idea of making people like you. I've thought it could be seen as manipulative, if i was to change my actions just to generate a positive reaction in someone else... and that if they aren't sincere you could use this knowledge for you own gain. I've always been one to be honest, sincere, and myself, and I've avoided anything that made me feel like I was changing my natural behavior just in order to get what I want. But... in reading the 6 ways he gives as advice to make people like you, I realized that it isn't about YOU anyway, it's all about THEM! And how can that be selfish. It can't. In fact, I think it would teach me to forget about myself, and to care more deeply about others. Some change can be good. :)

Here are the 6 suggestions:

1. Become genuinely interested in others
2. Smile
3. Remember and use people's names in conversation.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves and their interests.
5. Talk in terms of other people's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important, and do it sincerely.

So, I think I already do some of these things, but I'm am going to make a concerted effort to apply these things in my interactions with others. Not for me, but because I want to work on making others feel comfortable, accepted and important, and in doing so it will also enrich my life and my relationships with my family and current friends, and also people I meet. So why not TRY to make a change like this, right? So that's number 1- Learn to be more selfless and care about others- form better, more open/caring relationships.

2. I really want to start working on my Bookbinding Business! I've been thinking about this for a long time but haven't really gotten the courage to focus on it, or try marketing my work, but this year, I'm doing it! My goal is to start making more books, and build up my etsy shop online. I already have one started, it's called Book By Design. I have a link to it on this blog and a little widget on the side. Right now I only have about 3 books in there, but I'm going to start making more, and then I'm gonna work on marketing it online. Once I get started I mostly want to start working on commissions. Creating custom journals and rebindings that are designed by the customer. So if you want a Handmade Journal or a Rebound Book- for example an old treasured book, or your scriptures just let me know! I'd love to make one for you! I can do lots of different things, leather, cloth, hardbound - with cute artistic paper, coptic bound books, clam-shell boxes, I even have some wood and copper covers! So, there are tons of options, and that's what's so exciting and fun about it!

Here are some of my books:

I made this as a logo for my etsy shop, I had to trim it down quite a bit though for the header of the shop.

dos e doe flat back- it has 3 text blocks combined in 1 book, and a clamshell box that fits it perfectly. This was in an art show at BYU, yeah, i'm proud of that. :) 

This book has 3 different colors of artisan quality paper.

Another view of this journal

Another view of the dos e doe flat-back

A wood covered coptic bound journal

This is a set of the small military scriptures I combined for a friend and rebound with leather.

A journal I made for a friend.

Outside of the same journal, I used the suede side of the leather, and that green button is vintage- look at me being trendy.

Let me know what you think! :)

So those are my 2 major resolutions for this year. I have a few more, like: be Pro-active, be confidant, write in my journal- (I bought this 5 year Question & Answer journal- you answer a question for every day of the year, and it has space for 5 years of answers. I'm doing good so far!) work out, paint- once a month, figure out my entire life plan!  Just small things, ya know? lol Well wish me luck with all these resolutions, and Happy New Year!

Goodbye Cassie

Some sad news... Our cat Cassie is gone. I will miss her. My family has had her since I was 12. She's been a sweet and adorable cat, and i'm very sad to see her go. Goodbye. Rest in Peace.

Saying "Goodbye" to the Old, "Hello" to the New!

So, It's literally been ages since I've posted on here! And the sad thing is there have been a lot of great things that I've been up to! I traded in my iMac for a MacBook Pro, (good decision), I took some salsa classes, worked, visited Alcatraz, went to the Opera, worked, visited with my amazing sister Shara who came out to California, worked some more, saw A Christmas Carol, worked, and basically had a fun time playing Dance Revolution and watching Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls with my friends. :) The last 6 months have flown by and now a new year is approaching... faster than I care for. But New Years' always mean new goals and new beginnings and I'm excited to see what this new year has in store for me. Now for more reminiscing... This year brought with it a new job, a new home, new roommates, new friends, and new challenges. It's been an adventure, and I've learned a lot. Mostly I've learned that life is not going to be a piece of cake, but it's. It is always surprising you with new twists and turns, but it's what you make from those changes that really counts. Overall it's been an adventurous year! I will now leave you with a sampling of various photos from my many adventures this last year!

Dad with Tristan, what a pair they are!

The new job this year at MyNewPlace!

Valentine's Day Annual San Francisco Pillow Fight!

Post it wars!

At the Chinese New Year's Parade

My new roommate Jessica at Monster Jam

Monster Jam!

1st time with Auto-tune idol here I am with the Winner, Emily Foster!

Stephanie and I, Contestants in the first ever Auto-Tune Idol! I did round 2 this last October!

Powder Puff Football!

They called me Battle-hawk!

Shaina, Alicia, and myself! So glad we could see our awesome cousin!

Dad and Uncle Charlie playing around on the horse's. :)

Shaina at my favorite store, Anthropologie, with this huge Monster book!

San Fran Scavenger Hunt, this is a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright! This was his signature.

Visiting Arizona, with my adorable 2nd cousin Brody.

1st pic with my new iPhone 4s! Loved the Angry Bird hat! 

At the Exploratorium with Kyle

On our trip to Alcatraz!

At Alcatraz

In our box at the Opera! We saw Turandot, beautiful music! 

Mom and I at the Opera!

My Reindeer cupcakes! Filled with Nutella and home-made Nutella buttercream frosting. Yum!

Cable Car Christmas Caroling! This was so much fun!

I grew a mustache for Christmas! :)

Yum! Yum! My Mac smells good enough to eat!

Oh I must say I love the smell of my Mac!

No, this isn't a joke! It really does smell good! It has this slightly sweet, fresh, and clean scent to it. It's really subtle, but I love it! Yum! :)