Hello 2013.

I spent the last 4 weeks frantically preparing for Christmas, a stellar holiday party, and continuing the long excruciating process of our home remodel. And finally today, I'm able to sit down and take a step back and remember all the awesome-ness that was 2012. It's funny to look back at things I wanted to accomplish in 2012 (as seen here.), and I realized that you'll never know what a year will throw your way and how your resolutions grow and change as each month passes.

CD had a fantastic year, and each year I grow this little company, I'm always handed new surprises. This was the first year that I started to feel like CD was actually work, hard work actually, and was torn by what that meant and how I could fix it. Feeling stuck in a rut is never fun, but I think it's a necessary evil in being an entrepreneur. It forces you to gain the strength to overcome challenges, and grow stronger.

2012 was definitely a learning year. I had the pleasure (and fear) of going outside of my comfort zone and attend Alt Summit, twice! The experience in Salt Lake City and NYC was tremendous, and I spent all year thinking about what I learned and gained from the conference. My experience at Alt pulled me in all different directions, and I'm still trying to organize my thoughts to this day. Even though I was crazy ass nervous about attending both conferences, at the end of the day, it was extremely beneficial, both to Cracked Designs, and personally.

I'm looking forward to 2013 (despite the fact that I'll be turning 30...) and I'm intrigued by what curve balls I'll be thrown this year.

Some highlights of 2012 include:
-The Journey Journal makes it debut on Urban Outfitters online!
-I had the good fortune of traveling a lot this year. (Hawaii, Nashville, Salt Lake City, NYC, Phoenix)
-My son turned 2, and may have went a little overboard on the invites...
-We are finally in the home stretch of finishing our massive home remodel project!
-I had the pleasure to once again display at Indie Wed in Chicago, and Milwaukee too!
-I did my first craft fair in 3 years in Dec. (Urban Garage Sale in MKE), and boy was it nice to get back out there.

Again, thanks to all the CD supporters out there. I couldn't do it without you. Cheers to making 2013 super terrific!