old office, new job, huge to-do list

so i've finally moved to my new job. it's at my old office - i had switched teams to be closer to home - but now that we've moved, the old office is now closer to home. (does that even make sense?) it's my second day, and i'm already swamped with stuff to do. yes, it's nice to be with my old team, with the "old" ways of doing things, but there is probably about 10 times more work involved in my position now. i am busy every second of the day - which i usually LOVE - but i think that i am a little stressed. between the new workload, transitioning to the new team, a new leak in our kitchen, a bout of sleeplessness and a raging eye infection, i'm feeling a little overwhelmed. i'm hoping things will eventually settle. it is the first time that i moved jobs for a reason other than being bored and wanting a change... but having more time to spend with the mini before AND after work makes it all worthwhile. funny how your priorities change when you become a mommy - before, a 1 hour commute was no big deal. now, it's unbearable!

*thanks to the fab redstarINK for making such a wicked "honey-do" notebook!

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labour day... what does it all mean?

(an undated photo of a Toronto Labour Day parade in the 1900's.)

according to wikipedia, Labour Day has been celebrated in canada since the 1880's. with roots reaching back to when the Toronto Typological Union staged a parade to bring attention to their strike demanding a 58 hour work week. as a result, parliament passed the Trade Union Act and soon all unions were in favour of a 58 hour work week. not shockingly, soon the work week was reduced to 40 hours so that the day could be broken up into "8 hours for work, 8 hours for play, and 8 hours for sleep." seriously, i used to work 50+ work weeks... talk about burnout! however, i know that there are many people who would probably work longer than that if there weren't labour laws... and i think that we need to protect our personal lives from interference from work!

as a working mom, with my own jewelry business on the side, i certainly feel like i "work" much more than 40 hours! but i am blessed to have the wonderful life that i have - and hopefully will be continuing to hack away at the work/life balance in my life! so... happy labour day! may there be picnics, sunshine and fireworks for everyone!

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ch... ch... ch... changes...

in the last little while, we've had a lot of changes around our life. we've done half the renovations on our new house, and the mini started to walk (and now run!) .

we've been adjusting to the quirks of the new house and the new neighbourhood. i started running again. we bought a new laptop.

in the next few weeks, there will be even more changes happening for us - i will start my new job at my organization's north office which is closer to home, hopefully enabling me to spend more time with my mini, but also brings a new learning curve - and a little stress and anxiety as i look towards a new set of responsibilities and leaving a team that i love. the second half - and the more intrusive half - of our renovations will hopefully start in late september and then we are DONE with home improvements. we are going to start working on a new household budget to even further work on reducing our debt load (thank goodness, i am definitely employing some retail therapy as all these changes happen. sorry, beb!) we are heading into fall as well - which i am definitely looking forward to (chunky warm sweaters, jeans and the crisp, clean air in the mornings when we go for our runs).

i've also decided to close up my beloved triplestitch shop. i've already closed my destash and my graphics shops. while i love crocheting and making things that aren't metal-related, i just don't have the time or the energy to promote it as much as i do my jewelry. so once the pieces currently in my shop sell/get traded/expire, i'm going to rethink my marketing plan for muffintop, and work on integrating some more metal clay pieces into my fall collection.

change is hard, even when it's GOOD change. but we're are definitely up to the challenge.

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the tradeaholics' august's design challenge!

yup, i'm promoting myself. my clear quartz gemstone stacking ring set is my entry into the tradeaholics' august design challenge! the theme this month is "a diamond in the rough" - and seriously, i found it so inspiring!

you can check out the other entries and the voting here - http://bit.ly/9AV6Uu

and yes, this time around you can vote for one or more entries! i love it when we have these challenges - everyone is so creative and it is inspiring! (not that i want you to vote for me, but you can if you want.)

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