Armed & Inspired

Have a little faith! I told you that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I'm not crafting. Expect my blog posts to be like that more often- A big pow at the end of the month of what I've been up to.


Tourist season ended last week...time is back on my hands (though money is fleeing my pocket). I had some goals for the year...not a total win on that front, but progress...so let's recap:

-I have not bought a house and don't really feel comfortable committing to one before the end of the year. So...house FAIL :( On a more positive note, the biggest reason I wanted to leave the house we're in was my obnoxious neighbor (remember he kept mowing over my pumpkins?!?!?). He moved several months ago, life has been much quieter, and I have PUMPKINS!!! so if my house deadline is pushed back a bit more, at least I have a pumpkin WIN! :)
-I got a second job passively related to my degree(retail), I've moved up 1 slot in seniority at my restaurant job, and Bob got promoted. So...work WIN? :)
-I committed to a Pay It Forward Project for the year and will be mailing those out in the next week or two so...project WIN :)
-For those wondering, I did make sweet sticky rice with mango at some point this year- late spring I believe :)
-I tried to streamline the Xarata Project, and ended up taking it in a completely different direction. I'm okay with that. I rediscovered a love for fashion and sewing projects. Technically it's a streamline fail, but I'm declaring it a vision WIN! :] <-not a full smiley cuz I kinda went 50/50 there

Speaking of taking The Xarata Project in a completely different direction...Are you ready for it? I've decided that if I'm going to get truly serious about this, I'm going to have to make it a business- a business with a target clientele, an inventory, and -most of all- marketability. There will always be a special place in my heart for "The Xarata Project". It was a time of discovery, of learning, of building a support network, but let's be honest- almost no one can figure out how to pronounce it! :) And a "project" doesn't really sound very committal does it? It's a rather transient/temporary sounding word. So...it's time for a re-vamp. It's going to take a few weeks to get the new look off the ground, but keep an eye out for

Armed & Inspired

 A new name, a new direction, and probably some new websites (i can't have people going to xarata.etsy.com for Armed&Inspired products now can I?). We'll see how it all pans out. If any of my photographer friends want to help a girl out, I want to design my banners with a photo shoot of me decked out in something frilly accessorized with tools (you know, armed and inspired) that I can use on banners, business cards, etc. This is the rough vision sketch, but definitely NOT what I will be using for my websites as it is really rough:

If/when the blog domain changes, I'll crosspost here for a bit with duplicate posts and the new blog link, and then I intend to completely transition. I hope you'll stay with me. Here we go...