Reflection on 2011

Morning! I can't quite believe this year is nearly over, it seems to have flown by and I am sure I am not the only person saying this.  I wanted to take a few minutes today to reflect on what 2011 has brought and what I have achieved.  So often we make time to moan when something isn't right but rarely take time to celebrate things we have achieved.

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2011 has personally been an interesting and at times a difficult year. Obviously the biggest moment was in September when Kitty started primary school.  For thirteen and a half years I had had a small child at home with me so seeing my youngest head off to school full time was a huge wrench for me.  It also meant that I would have more time to concentrate on more projects and take on more freelancing.  It took a while to get used to not having a little one at home with me and means I relish the weekends and school holidays even more.  My children are the most important thing in my life, alongside my wonderful Drew, and they all will always come first.  With this in mind I have become more determined to ensure I work from home.  This year has also taught me that my chidlren aren't so little anymore and new challenges have been set in our parenting.  I carry in my head an image of Jack when he was about 18 months old, wrapped up in winter coat and cute hat, digging for worms in the garden, that gets me through those moments when he is pushing boundaries we've set, shouts and protests, or is yet again denying losing his sports kit or tearing his school uniform.  This keeps me going, to know that somewhere is still that adorable boy and not this monstrous son heading into his teens.  The best piece of advice I received was from my fab neighbour, as we both chatted about the problems with girls, was that you don't always need to have the last word.  Now when Lucy is screaming and shouting I try and bite my tongue and allow her the last word. 

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So with tumultuous teenage years upon us and our youngest at school full time life has taken a new road in our parenting and I am sincerly hoping the solid groundwork over the past years will reap rewards now as we head into the unknown.

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Professionally 2011 has been fantastic! But not without a few tough decisions along the way.  Whilst I had a mini meltdown in the Summer I decided to stop Inspired Celebration.  There were various reasons for this and looking back I am pleased with my decision and it brings a smile to my face that this blog still gets over 6000 page views a month even though I haven't posted on there since July.  Obviously giving up on a project is never easy and for a while I felt like I'd failed but when you invest so much time in a project you eventually want some kind of reward.  However it also led me to joining up with Katie of Les Enfants and putting my party knowledge and love of good design to use as I became blog editor on her blog in September.  Let's Plan A Party is already a success and I have plans to make it even more so in 2012.  This has also led me to write for some big blogs, including The Party Times and for Boden. 

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Obviously a major part of Summer this year was Riot Raffle.  Wow what an amazing experience that was.  There were moments when I cried at the amount of admin involved in putting together this but more importantly I am still amazed at the support you all offered in donating amazing prizes and buying tickets.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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So what will 2012 hold? Having read my horoscope for 2012 I am going to be very busy from January through to July, which is fantastic news! I know some are sceptical about horoscopes but after them being very right for 2006 I have taken heed a little more.  I have so many ideas all the time and know to be successful I need to narrow these down.  So I am going to be writing more about two things that are very important to me on this blog, which are family and fantastic design. That's all I'm saying for now!

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I am also going to be designing and making alot more, especially now that I won a year's e-shop with Create.  This is such an amazing prize and I am absolutely thrilled to have won. I was planning on building a site with Create in the new year anyway so now I have no excuse not to! For now you will have to wait a few weeks whilst I build it and make lots of beautiful things to sell, but to tease a little the ideas include children, nostalgia and toys!

I have this above my desk

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Well what a year it has been! What are you proud of for 2011, I would love to know.  But for now I want to say a huge thank you to you all for your support and kind words.  I wish you all a very happy new year and know you will all have huge success in 2012.

Take care

Zoe

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