One year later

I’ll admit it – I really wanted to buy myself a new bead to celebrate one year of blogging here. What held me back is that I couldn’t decide if I should try to find a bead that was somehow symbolic, or just pick something off my wish list! But, with all the waffling, I left it too late to order anything. And having something arrive after the fact seemed like cheating. So, here I am. Showing up to my blog’s birthday party empty-handed.

It’s the thought that counts, right?

I started this blog as a way to get back into writing on a regular basis. But, in the back of my mind, I wondered whether I’d be able to keep it up. To write regularly meant that I’d need to have something to write about. I wasn’t planning on previewing releases, there’s already great blogs that cover that quite well. So, to give myself enough to write about, I was a bit worried that I’d have to add to my collection a little more regularly than I already did. Which sounds fun in theory …

You may have picked up that I try to control my bead buying. When I talked about an addiction in my first post, I was being somewhat serious. With me, one bead leads to another, which leads to another … I  look for any excuse to buy a bead (it’s my blog’s birthday!) I’ve bought beads because I’ve had a very good day or finished a project and want to celebrate. I’ve bought beads because I’ve had a bad day and need something to perk me up.  I’ve even bought beads because I’ve had a really bad night’s sleep. (Yes, really.) I try not to cave to all of my excuses, but what I didn’t want was for this blog to be one more excuse. And I think I’ve done pretty well. There are months that I’ve been less restrained than others, but my fears that this blog would make my spending spiral out of control were unfounded. The planned/spontaneous deal that I struck with myself recently has been a huge help. Spontaneous beads are actually harder to justify than I thought they would be :D And I get more enjoyment out of my beads when I don’t feel guilt about buying them.

While I worried about what I might be shelling out, I didn’t really anticipate what having a blog would bring me:

• It made me set goals for the year. True, Mars at Curling Stones for Lego People inspired me to set my resolutions, but without this blog, I wouldn’t have written them down. And I probably wouldn’t have stuck to them.
• It has made me loosen up a bit when designing combinations. A year ago, I wouldn’t have done a bracelet arrangement like I did for my anniversary. I wouldn’t have tried a unbalanced arrangement like I did for my bee bead. While I still tend to fall into familiar patterns when designing combinations, at least now I’m trying new things. And when my familiar patterns aren’t giving me a combination that works, I’m more apt to keep trying.
• Writing and taking photographs also made me appreciate the beads that I already have. It’s made me experiment more and try more themes. I’ve always had the best intentions of doing holiday or seasonal themes, but having an outlet really pushed me to do it rather than just letting the moment slip by and then shrugging and saying “I’ll do better next year”.

So, Happy Birthday Black Boots, Long Legs! Sorry about the lack of a gift. I’ll do better next year ;)