Bold Steps

I have a confession to make. My name is Liz, and I'm a habitual crafter.

I love crafts. I love craft stores. Homemade things make me squeal. A friend recently told me that as a baby gift she would crochet a blanket for me, and I was absolutely delighted at that. I love my home being filled with things about which I can say "That was made by so-and-so, it was a wedding present", or "Yeah, I made that 'cause it looked cool". That being said, until last year, my crafting prowess was relatively limited. I learned to cross stitch from my mom as a kid, and I can kind of sew clothing, but other than that and kid's crafts I was pretty limited.

All that changed last year. I decided I wanted my wedding to be personal. I didn't want a bunch of material "stuff" that meant nothing to me. Part of this was fueled by wanting to be on the frugal side for the wedding (it's a party...yeah, the biggest party of my life, but still just a party), and part of that was fueled by just wanting to do things my own way. So I bought a book on floral arrangements. I found out that I really like it, and I'm relatively good at it. With the exception of about three arrangements, the bouquets, butonnieres, and corsages (which my brother and sister-in-law did because I had gotten too sick), I did all of the flowers myself. I did the invitations myself, from a package I found in the wedding aisle of my favorite craft store (of course, because I was doing them myself, when I was proofreading them I missed that I'd gotten the date wrong and had to notify everyone on my guest list, but that's a different story). I even took up beading, so that I could hand-make my bridesmaid's jewelry, and found out that I'm good at that too. Also, unrelated to the wedding, I got more serious about my crochet. I'd learned the basic stitches, but never really tried anything with any sort of pattern, but I started a baby afghan that was still classified as easy, but more than basics easy, and I really enjoyed it. It's a little frustrating when I mess it up and have to take out a row or two, but it's a lesson in patience. And finally, I picked up the most complicated cross stitch pattern I've ever tried. It's still very much a work in progress, but it's looking good so far. All of these things I plan on continuing to learn at and cultivate in myself in the coming year.

On a less craft-related note, I've also decided to start a patio garden. I've wanted to grow my own veggies for a long time; my grandpa used to grow his own tomatoes, carrots, and other stuff, my uncle grew his own tomatoes and peppers, and there's just nothing that can compare to freshly picked, home-grown veggies. I'm starting small, with some lettuce, peas, and cucumbers, but I'm totally excited about having my own crop in a few weeks.

Overall, I'm super-excited about what new domestic paths I'm about to embark on this year. Wish me luck!