2014 | Dragonflight Dreams

Farewell, 2014!

December 31, 2014 No Comments

Most Popular Posts from 2014

Books: Series to Read While Waiting for GRRM’s Next Book • Jane Austen Subculture • Big Blogiversary Book Giveaway
Recipes: Monkey Bread • Purple Velvet Cake • White Wine Marinara Tortellini
Other: My Reverse Bucket List • 10 Lessons Learned from Freelancing • The Story Behind the Paper • 10 Ways to Make Life Easier for Others • 5 Online Tools That Make My Life Easier

Accomplishments & Exciting Things

Got engaged!! And saw the Grand Canyon for the first time.
Branched out with my shop and did some in-person craft shows.
Donated to over 15 charities and causes, from part of my shop proceeds and just on my own.
Read over 100 new-to-me books.
Re-did the front flower beds and back porch pots, and have managed to keep all of the new plants alive so far.
Painted the master bedroom, master bathroom, and loft new colors.
Redesigned my freelance site & relaunched the freelance blog.
Started a newsletter for my shops.
Joined a book club and met a new group of fabulous ladies because of it.

Learning Experiences

While I’m glad I did the craft shows for the new experience, none of them ended up being a good investment of time or money for me.
I did not finish my TBR Pile challenge. In fact, not a single one of the books I picked for it got finished. Guess there’s a reason they’ve languished on the shelf so long; I’m not motivated to read those instead of newer things that catch my fancy.
While I did much better saving money and paying off debt this year than last year, I’m still not where I want to be on either front.
Similarly, while I did better exercising regularly this year, it still wasn’t to the level I aim for. Since I’ll need to fit into a wedding dress nicely sometime this next year, that goal is getting a kick in the pants to get moving!
The Dragonflight Digital shop got put on the back burner with all of the craft show craziness. Hoping to re-energize my efforts there for 2015.

Overall, it’s been a year of growth and pushing myself in new directions and just… striving towards change and betterment. With myself, my blog, and my various businesses. Here’s hoping 2015 continues in the same vein. 🙂

Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone!

What’s your favorite memory from this past year? What do you hope for in 2015?

Tuesday Treasure Trove

December 30, 2014 8 Comments

Video of the week: Dogs Annoying Cats with Friendship. How to name your lit mag. Funny stuff. Content, Forever. An automated algorithm creates meandering nonsense essays. Before Google, Here’s What New Yorkers Asked The NYPL. What It Means To Date A Girl Without A Father. This hit close to home. All The Items Of Clothing Women Have Been Told Not To Wear In 2014. Ridiculous, and not in a good way. Things of Note: Just a short list for you today, as most of last week was spent on Christmas and the Grand Canyon and, you know, getting engaged, rather […]

Life, News, Pretty Things

The Canyon & the Ring

December 29, 2014 6 Comments

This Christmas, we went to visit the boy’s family in Arizona, and got to do a little side trip to see the Grand Canyon at the same time. It was my first time seeing it, and the experience did not disappoint! It was just Ian and me for the side trip. The canyon is about a 4 hour drive from where his parents live. The first afternoon we got there was around 50 degrees, nice and sunny but super windy. We walked around and took in the views before the light died completely. I got to play around with my […]

Life, Thoughts

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2014 No Comments

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah. Season’s Greetings. Happy Kwanzaa. Joyous Holiday Season. However or whichever holiday you’re celebrating, or even if you’re not celebrating at all, best wishes for you and your loved ones. 🙂

Tuesday Treasure Trove

December 23, 2014 2 Comments

Freshpet Holiday Feast – 13 Dogs and 1 Cat Eating with Human Hands. This cracked me up. 18 Things Only Pit Bull Parents Understand. So true!! Especially the talking and the snoring. And the toy choosing. And the cuddles. 🙂 What did ancient Babylonian songs sound like? Something like this. What Every State in the U.S. Is Worst At. Hop on over to my business blog for a Gift Guide for Self-Employed Designers. 5 Ways To Encourage Kids To Grow Up To Be Innovators. In a world where children are discouraged from taking risks, how do we raise the next […]

Book Talk, Thoughts

Book vs. Movie: Wild

December 18, 2014 No Comments

Time for another Book vs. Movie! This time it’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, a memoir by Cheryl Strayed. It was the pick for our book club this month, and last night we all went out to see the movie adaptation in theater together. It’s non-fiction, but doesn’t read like it, thankfully. It tells the story of 20-something Cheryl, whose mother’s death from cancer sends her life into a tailspin. To pull herself out of it, she impulsively decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. She picks out a section over 1,000 miles long and […]

Tuesday Treasure Trove

December 16, 2014 No Comments

Cartoon of the week: Anatomy of Shows. Infographic of the week: Men vs Women – Who spends more at Christmas? The Impossibly Wonderful Trailer For Pixar’s “Inside Out” Drops. I want to see this! We Are All Confident Idiots. “William Feather once wrote that being educated means “being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.” As it turns out, this simple ideal is extremely hard to achieve. Although what we know is often perceptible to us, even the broad outlines of what we don’t know are all too often completely invisible. To a great degree, we […]