Starting Over

Lately, I've been feeling pretty apathetic in regards to just about everything in my life. I'm using today, July first to start over. I'm going to start counting calories and working out, blogging regularly, updating my YarnYarnYarnYarn tumblr, taking regular Instagram photos for a 365 type project, and knitting more frequently.
I haven't been feeling myself lately, and I think adding all these things back into my life will help me get back to what is "normal" for me.
I'm slowly but surely working on my rebrand. I have a friend who is working on the graphic stuff, and I'm working on getting familiar with the new site I will be using to host my shop. No more Etsy for me!
Here is a little peek at what I've been up to lately.

I've been trying to find fun, new, summer friendly projects for my warm weather shows. These tiny flowers are one of them. I'm going to turn them into brooches. I've made a dozen or so, and I want to double that number before my next show. They hardly use any yarn, are quick and easy, and I think they're pretty darn cute, to boot. I still have to put all the pins on them, but that shouldn't take too long. I'm also thinking about turning some into hair pins, so we'll see about that! I've also been looking around on Ravelry for some summer knits, and I've found a few more things I might add to my arsenal.

These tiny pink pearl earrings are going to be gifts with purchases of $15/$20 or more (not sure of the actual minimum just yet). I like having a bonus for my customers, and I think these are going to go over really well. I've already gotten some good feedback about them. Up until now, I was just having people pick a pair of earrings for their free gift, but I've had some complain that they can't get a three pack, or one of the more expensive pairs. I try to calmly explain to them that it's a free gift, and I am doing this as a bonus to them. I don't want to lose money at the end of the day by giving out free gifts.

I always get this genius idea of growing my hair long, and I usually end up hating it. This most recent time, I was considering getting a perm because my hair is naturally so straight. A couple weeks ago, I decided to chop my hair off. I am loving it! I style it a bit differently than this photo shows, but regardless, it's so nice to have all the hair gone. I am probably going to dye it in the near future, but that is all pending on how I feel, and whether or not I have the spare cash. I'm in a cycle of perpetual broke-ness, and I'm trying hard to get out.

Now for the not fun thing that has happened lately. I got new work shoes a little bit ago, and I loved them dearly. Needed to wear steel toe shoes means I get stuck with ugly footwear most of the time. These were actually pretty nice. Sadly, they hated me. I got a blister on my achilles. It got all icky, and the ickiness spread to the rest of my foot/ankle. I couldn't put any weight on it, and used crutches for a couple days. I went to the clinic, and the doctor put me on some crazy antibiotics four times a day, that stink to high heaven. The pain started going away after a few days. It's still slightly swollen and a little tender, but hugely improved from what it was. I'm returning the shoes this week. Which sucks, because I really did like them.

What have you all been up to?