hello, 2011.

What's that you say? The party is over? The leftovers are all eaten, and the house is clean? I was certain the invite said "Begin the new year fresh, January 20!"

Oh, my friends. I had such blogging plans for this week. It's exam week at Anytown High, a traditionally easy week sandwiched between two long weekends. Perfect for Achieving Things. He

re's what I achieved: bronchitis. I nailed it, too, thank you very much. I Achieved Bronchitis like a champ. Of course, that meant that all my other plans fell by the wayside while I huddled in bed and called Leslie to bring me sick person supplies (while she felt lousy herself, so she gets champion points). So the several charming and informative blog posts I had planned are hereby shortened to this one list of (still informative) bullet points.

1. Leaves of Glass is 4 years old this week! I opened shop on January 16th, 2007. This year, I celebrated by moving most of the rest of my inventory to the new store on Big Cartel, and I'm having an anniversary sale there through Saturday, January 22nd

. Use the code 4MOREYEARS for 25% throughout the site.

2. I'm working on updating the design of my Lucite necklaces at urban legend to make them more durable. The original is quite sturdy for regular wear, but it won't stand up to tangles or toddlers, and I'd like it to do both. I've finally found a chain that's stronger but still slinky and flexible and narrow enoug

h to fit through the beads, and am testing a couple of designs with new chain and clamps. Look for them on new designs in the shop - all of my necklaces will eventually be made with the new chain, but I'm not going to be able to update all the photographs. Here's what the new stuff will look like:

3. New Year's Resolution: Do Not Buy Any Vintage Glass Beads For As Long As I Can Stand It. I know that sounds dire, but it's not as bad as it sounds. I have boxes and boxes of beads that I've never used, and the purpose of the resolution is twofold: a) I've been feeling stale in the design department, and usually I fix that by shopping. This time I'm going to try to jostle out of it by wrestling with what I have on hand and hoping that redirects my thinking. b) It will lessen the amount of stuff I have to move when I'm finally able to pull up stakes and head out of town. Which brings me to

4. My great project for this year is to prepare to move away from Chicago. Once the last of the bronchitis has disappeared, I'm going to start unpacking my storage space and selling stuff on eBay. This is the year for paring down. Selling it if I don't need it. Packing it for moving if I'm not going to need it for a while. Traveling to Portland to visit Shana and Shawn, and to see if it is indeed the right place for me. I'm writing this here and saying it out loud as much as I can so that I believe it's true, and I keep working like it's true.

5. Last but not least, sneak peeks. I'm trying not to put too much on my to-do list until I'm completely healthy, but starting next week there will be some new designs up in both shops. I wish you a happy and healthy and seriously belated New Year; enjoy the eye candy!