TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!! Part 1

Yep. That's my goal to donate from my jewelry sales this year. Last year we raised just over $6,000, so I'm trying to almost double my sales. I'm not quite loosing sleep over it yet, but I am shaking in my boots. Although, life is much more interesting if you set your goals high, right?

Why do I do it?! Because I can, I guess. I have been learning to make jewelry for a really long time, and now people are willing to give me money for the things I make (I am still blown away by this!). In the process I have been able to help spread awareness about crappy diseases like Cystic Fibrosis and ALS and raise money for research. I am extra excited about donating money directly to real people for needed medication or equipment.

I love that I get to help other people, but I do it for myself too. Being able to work when I can, and not when I have to is an enormous help-- not only in caring for my daughter, but it also helps my health. I love that I can work with my body and not against it. I don't have to make chronic pain fit into a 8 hour work day anymore, because believe me... it doesn't work well most of the time. I feel so lucky that this crazy idea keeps getting bigger, and I have big plans this year to help reach my goal.

January report... I expected this month to be slow after the holiday rush. I was grateful for the time off, and used it to work on new designs and my new Etsy shop. We have just about reached the $500 mark for January (I need to raise $800 per month to stay on track). That's not bad at all for the second slowest month in the life of an artist (sales are also slow in October as people get ready for the holidays).
So we'll see what February holds. Hopefully lots and lots of Red Heart sales!
(UPDATE!! January = $620... even better!)

I left my heart...

I thought maybe I'd tell the story behind the new title picture.

The husband and I used to live in the Bay Area, so we made frequent trips to San Francisco when we didn't have anything better to do. We would ditch the car and often spent the entire day roaming some part of the city. When we first started these walk-a-paloozas, the pain in my legs got to be such a pain in the ass that I honestly considered my wheelchair options. I figured that I would only use it in place of long distance walking, but damn it I had made it without one this long- (many people with RSD/CRPS are not as lucky). So I stuck it out. Eventually, it got easier.



One of my favorite things to do in the city was chase a flock of wild parrots that lived on Telegraph Hill. The sidewalks get so steep up there that they are actually stairs. I'm assuming this is to prevent calf muscles from detaching altogether, but the endless stairs just hurt in a whole new way. I was walking up said stairs, but also planning to sit down right there on the ground in the very near future when I stumbled upon some public "art."



I now had a slightly more elegant reason to stop hiking while I snapped a picture of the steps. Even with all the gardens, bridges, and other really fancy things I took pictures of in that city, this one remains my favorite, because it was the most unexpected bit of encouragement when a girl really needed it.