Happy May! And Some Goals For Spring

Today is the first day of May and it has really started to feel nice and springlike in Maine. This past week has been beautiful, which has inspired me to get outside more to enjoy the weather and walk to town to do errands instead of driving the 2 minutes to get there. I decided that it being the first day of May, it would be a good time to set some goals for myself to stay motivated with my work and personal life.

My first goal is to keep being active and to continue walking around town or going hiking whenever I get the chance. I have also started doing yoga again which I love. I have been pretty inactive this past winter because I have been unemployed, and starting my business has led me to quite a lot of sitting, whether at my craft table or in front of my computer screen. So, I discovered a great yoga site, Yoga Today, which offers free streaming classes that are pretty easy to follow, and have started doing a class each day. I'm not nearly as flexible as I would like to be, but after doing a yoga class I feel really good about my body and feel strong and healthy. I want to keep being active and maybe drop a few pounds in the process.

My second goal is to stay motivated with my jewelry business. This winter has been really slow... selling a pair of earrings one week, a bracelet a month later...and it's easy to get discouraged, as much as I have enjoyed being creative. Lately I have been working really hard on promoting my shop through blog and Facebook giveaways, starting my own blog and promoting my sales on Twitter, which has helped. I'm still fairly new to Etsy, having started my shop in December, 2008, and I think my shop is finally getting out there a little more. My goal is to keep making jewelry and promoting my shop, and to make a few more sales than I did in April, which with 7 sales is by far my best month so far. So I want to stay motivated with making jewelry, promoting my business and developing my blog (perhaps with a giveaway!)

Another goal is to keep saving money for my big move this fall. I am moving from Maine to Portland, Oregon with my fiancee to be closer to his family, but mostly in the hopes that there will be more job opportunities in the restaurant industry out there. We have both been unemployed since January, working only one or two days a week at the restaurant where we are both cooks, so saving money has been tough. My goal is to start saving more once work picks up and be able to take off for Oregon in the fall.

So I guess those are the 3 big goals I have right now. Feel free to share some goals you have for the coming months. I always find it very inspiring to hear what others are working towards.