Over the past couple of years I've learned a lot on the business front. I've failed, I've succeeded, I've gotten burnout, as well as really pumped about the directions things have gone. And of course I've blogged about it haha! For those who are new to the blog, I figured I would round them up into one post of small business branding heaven. This is advice from my experiences as a freelance designer and small business owner.

Every year our office shuts down for about 2 1/2 weeks coinciding with the schools being closed for Christmas vacation. It's hands down my favorite time of the year. Christmas, no work, food, lazy days, movie marathons... need I say more? We spend lots of times playing with the goodies Santa left and eating way too many Christmas cookies.

 Looking back on 2015 it's been a big year for me with my personal & business endeavors. My business is grown and morphed into something I love with all of my heart and that is insanely exciting. I've worked with some incredible businesses and individuals and watched them flourish. It's so rewarding helping others further their dreams and give them the tools they need to be successful. 

If you follow along here you may remember me mentioning going back to this past semester in pursuit of my masters degree. I just submitted my last assignment for my last class of the semester! Squueeee! I thought it'd be fun to share some of my student work from this past semester.  I wish I could say that most of these assignment's WEREN'T turned in 2 minutes before the deadline or super late but ya know....  It's been a busy semester + work + life

Christmas themed vintage is always guaranteed to either be fabulously chic, or insanely quirky in a mostly good way. Hunting for the best ugly Christmas sweaters and New Year's Eve worthy items is always tough, especially with the popularity of ugly sweater parties now!  Here are few of my favorite items this year to help you celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in vintage greatness.

We are in week 4! This week is titled baby steps because I feel like that's what all major changes and goals are composed of. Lots and lots of baby steps. In case you've missed it, each Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Create a fitness routine. Routine? No. I did buy some weights that I used a couple of times, but sadly that's all I can say about that. I'm going to aim for using weights at least 3 days a week.

-Write In My Journal This was something I enjoyed. I wrote and doodled twice and I always feel so fresh and free afterwards.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions So far I'm doing great in the food department. I'm trying to watch portions and trying not to eat that much bread or pasta. I allowed myself to cheat a bit when I took my mom out to eat for her birthday this weekend but other than that I was good. There is a Christmas candy issue going on but I will allow myself some wiggle room there haha. Also, I've hardly even missed soda! I've been drinking water like a nobody's business. I crave water now as soon as I wake up and all day long actually.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I definitely missed a few days. But we've done a lot of walking and soccer this passed week! 

-Decorate For Christmas We got more done! I love the way the tree looks lit up in a dark house at night. It's so whimsical.

-Try Something New I can't say that I picked up a new hobby but I did start a new book. And starting a new book feeds my soul.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled, I painted, I conquered. Maybe I'll get brave enough to share some soon.

This past week was eh... apart from buying weights I don't feel like I accomplished too much. BUT I did receive comments from several family members that I looked like I had lost weight! That's always super encouraging to hear. It makes you want to get outside and run a marathon to keep it up. (well not QUITE but ya know). So I feel very motivated to keep it up.




- Actually Create a REAL fitness routine. Okay I'm establishing now
Monday: Weights, abs, legs
Tuesday: Walk the dog
Thursday: Weights, abs, legs
Saturday: Weights, abs, legs

Before you think this may be too much or little, I'm going at my own pace and will be pushing myself further each week with this. All those years of school athletics taught me a lot about working out thankfully so I know a lot of great exercises and routines.

-(Begin To) Create A Work Space Where I Can Thrive Don't ask how, but my awesome office somehow became cluttered with shop inventory and future garage sale piles. My computer made its way to the dining room table and I just pretend my office isn't there so I don't have to deal with it. A completed, functioning work space is something I've always wanted.  It'll definitely be a work in progress but I can't wait to start.

-Incorporate More Fruit Maybe I'm weird but I really don't like fruit. I'd rather eat green beans and carrots than fruit. I'll eat bananas and cantaloupe occasionally but that's it. It's mostly the texture I don't like. Maybe I'll try to get more smoothies or force myself to try more.

-Walk The Dog & Look at Christmas Lights Walking the dog is something that I need to do for both her sake and mine. Luckily we live right off of one of the most beautiful streets in my city. It's nothing but old Victorian & early 1900's houses and they go all out at Christmas. So instead of just driving to see the lights this year, we'll walk!

-Try Another Cleanse I really think that the last one I did some good resetting of my body.

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing As silly as it may seem to force yourself to set aside time for a hobby, the struggle is real! I always forget! 

I think this weeks goals are much more simple and specific than the past few weeks. I left myself too much wiggle room with my previous goals. What are your goals? Is there a hobby or routine you use that feeds YOUR soul? Let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

I had the pleasure of taking pictures for a coworker a couple of weekends ago. We barely made it before sweet Riley's birth. She was born just a few days after we took these photos!

I felt inspired this year to throw some retro Christmas spunk into my holiday decorating! We typically are pretty tame and typical with our decorations so I'm stoked to do something a bit different. For me it's mostly all about color. My parent's Christmas tree features a lot of ornaments that my Grandmother passed down from my Dad's childhood! It's complete with a retro Life Saver garland and kitschy elves. Maybe one day they'll be passed down to me. A retro lover can dream right?

It's week 3! Thanksgiving wasn't as overindulgent as it could have been so I'm giving myself big brownie points there. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Sadly, mine was quite lonely. Normally I spend the day with my family but this year my son was with his Dad's side of the family and we didn't do our usual family get together. I had Thanksgiving with my parents the day before but I missed seeing my cousins and grandparents. I spent most of the day watching Game of Thrones and drinking wine. :-\ So while it wasn't a complete failure, it was lonely. This weekend though we did have our annual Friendsgiving and it was great. I love my circle of friends. They feed my soul.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Enjoy Thanksgiving. Even though Thanksgiving day wasn't the best, Friendsgiving more than made up for it!

-Focus On Feeding My Heart & Soul I think friend time and time with Conrad really helped me get through this past week.  It was miserable weather all week long and the cuddling and movie marathons really helped.  We put up our Christmas tree, which always adds a little bit of magic to my day and each time I look at the sparkling lights. Anxiety and depression have been creeping up on my lately so this past week has been really uplifting.

-Cutback On Meat Unconsciously I did really well here. Apart from Turkey I did pretty good.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active This is something I keep forgetting to do daily. Though we did A LOT OF walking, I need to push myself in this department.

 -Cut Out Fast Food I made it through the whole week without fast food! That's quite a victory honestly.

-Get Rid Of The Things We Don't Need I cleaned a lot but didn't declutter or get rid of things like I had hoped. I blame it on the weather.

-Go Somewhere New Again the weather kept us inside most of the time but I did adventure out a little bit on Wednesday to some random thrift stores and pawn shops.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled quite a bit this past week! I didn't get to paint, but there's something so lovely and raw about black ink of paper to me. I love it.

So I did OK this past week. I definitely need to focus more on working out now that I'm somewhat got my eating habits in check. I cave once or twice a week and have a soda but definitely not daily like I used to. I've also been drinking tons of water like a crazy water person. I feel like I can never get enough! I think that blogging each week what I'm struggling with has helped me a lot in feeling accomplished. I'm also continuing to feel more and more confident in myself which is amazing.




- Create a fitness routine. This was something I was hoping I'd be able to avoid, but if I don't, it won't get done. So I'm going to start out with a basic list and see what happens. I want to tone my arms and legs and of course my stomach so maybe I'll pick up some light weights.

-Write In My Journal I've been having a lot of anxiety and depression these past few weeks. It's weird because I haven't had any of these issues since high school but they've been creeping up on me. I'm hoping that putting my thoughts down and doodling in my journal will help.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions This week I'm going to focus on cleaning the carbs out of my life and shrinking my food portions.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I'm going to set an alarm to remind me to do this every evening. Whether its just playing soccer or zumba on the Wii, I have to do something!

-Decorate For Christmas There's something magical about decorating that really lifts the spirits. We put up our tree over the weekend, but I want to decorate the rest of the house.

-Try Something New I want to try out a new hobby or past time this week. Not sure yet what, but I'll find something! Picking up piano again is something I've been wanting to do so maybe I'll do that.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I want to keep this up so I'll leave it here again this week. 

Okay there are week three's goals! I really hope I can accomplish most of these. What struggles have you faced in getting healthy and happy? If you want to join in on this with me or blog along let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

Black Friday is over but you can still save big on vintage today! Get 40% off + a FREE GIFT w/ code CYBERGYPSY15.   Head on over to the shop for one of a kind vintage pieces. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I know I enjoyed my 5 day weekend!

Gypsy Beard is having a 50% OFF EVERYTHING SALE! Swing over to THE SHOP and check it out! Must use code "BLKFRDY15" at checkout to receive your discount! Happy shopping everyone!

Last week I decided to start a new featured called Fit & Happy Tuesday geared towards motivating myself to get healthy mentally and physically and for tracking my progress and goals. Last month I laid out my long term goals as well as goals for this past week. It's helped having these goals in the back of my mind as I go throughout my day to day life.

So here's how it went this past week with my week one goals.

- Limit TV/Computer time to only 1 hour a night. I definitely cut back on TV a LOT this past week. I don't know if it was exactly an hour but it was definitely a lot less time. Baby steps! haha

-Begin Yoga This did not happen. I thought about it but I let procrastination and laziness get in the way. It was a busy week but that's no excuse. There's a new yoga place in town that I think might actually want to join but we'll see....

 -Cut Out Fast Food I caved twice. I'm going to have to plan meals better and grocery shop more strategically, otherwise fast food is going to be a huge problem for me. On the plus side though I didn't get fast food several days for lunch at work like I usually do.

-Spend At Least 30 Minutes A Day Doing Something Cardiofied This past week I was definitely more active. I didn't get in any jogging or soccer, but we did take a few walks and did a lot of shopping. Walking around a mall for 3 hours surely has to count as exercise because I'm always exhausted after that. I had a market last weekend so spent a lot of time heavy lifting and on my feet standing for several hours at a time. We also went indoor skydiving and I was brutally sore in my arms the next few days after that.

-Begin Cutting Out As Much Sugar & Caffein As Possible I did great knocking out energy drinks and Dr.Pepper this past week. Coffee will always be my friend though I think. Again, baby steps! 

-Clean Out The Pantry & Fridge Luckily all of the sweets were gone before I wrote last weeks post. We aren't big chip eaters either so that helps. Aside from Christmas cookies I don't think we'll keep anything sweet around for quite awhile. 

-Begin A Cleanse I made it three days haha. Better than nothing though!

-Declutter Mentally & Physically I can already say that once I set my mind on being more positive and happy that I've noticed a difference in my attitude. I'm feeling more confident in myself and realizing my self worth. I'm standing up for myself and loving others more. Decluttering the house will have to wait for this week haha.

-Trying Something & Go Somewhere New We went indoor sky diving and it was awesome! We went to iFly Dallas in Frisco and it was a blast. My parents paid for it as my birthday present this year. It was definitely the most daring thing I've ever done. I can't wait to do it again or to try something else new. Our instructor was an awesome dude and really made the experience memorable. He even let my son walk out and check the "tunnel out and explained it all to him even though he didn't participate.






- Enjoy Thanksgiving. So it's really hard thinking about being healthy and all that Thanksgiving week. Regardless, I think its important to not over do it. I plan on enjoying Thanksgiving. I probably won't eat a piece of every pie though.

-Feed On Feeding My Heart & Soul I plan to focus on spending time with family and friends this week and really soaking in their love and company. I'll be attending a Friendsgiving this weekend too and I cannot wait. Great food and great people is what its all about.

-Cutback On Meat So I don't think I'll ever be able to be a vegetarian, but I really like the idea of cutting back how much meat we consume. My son could live off fruit and vegetables but not me. I think we could do 3 days a week without meat.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I think I'll keep this goal permanently. Now if I could just get my treadmill fixed.....

 -Cut Out Fast Food I'm going to keep at this one too.

-Get Rid Of The Things We Don't Need I've got a 5 day weekend! This week I'm going to focus on creating a peaceful home. (As peaceful as a place can be that in inhabited by a boston terrier and a 7 year old boy). I plan to clean out closets and get rid of unneeded things. This is the perfect time to donate old clothes and toys. This will also get rid of the stress I experience with clutter and looking for things last minute!

-Go Somewhere New This week I think I'll focus on going somewhere new. Surely my 5 day weekend will allow for exploring somewhere new. New places always inspire me and get my brain turning. 

-Spend an hour drawing / painting There is something so relaxing and therapeutic about getting into my artistic zone. It's been too long.

That is it for week two. What struggles have you faced in getting healthy and happy? If you want to join in on this with me or blog along let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

I wanted to squeeze in these last two markets before the end of 2015! The Deep Ellum Outdoor Market is something I've been wanting to be a part of for quite some time so I'm very excited! You can come see us November 21st from 1:30 - 5:30 PM as well as December 19th from 12 - 5 PM in Deep Ellum right on Main St.

My friends and I would check out bands and roam around Deep Ellum when I was in high school so this place holds a special place in my heart. I can't wait to see all you beautiful people!


 

A while back I shared with you guys my excitement to be a part of a wonderful photo shoot with Beauty Shop Forth Worth. The final photos are up on their blog and I'm in love!

It's that time of year again! (Eeeek! It's so daunting thinking about being another year closer to 30!) As with tradition I make a yearly list of things to do before my next birthday. Last years list was quite epic! I've accomplished a lot of things personally and professionally! I'm doing things daily in my shop and business that I never would have imagined I'd be doing. One thing that I'm realizing never gets done is the traveling items on my list! That definitely needs to change! So here we go!

I was inspired by Corinne Alexandra, who blogs over at Stuck With Pins, and her amazing Fall / Halloween playlist! Her playlist put me in the Fall zone. When my shop was open I had an epic playlist for every holiday. I felt the need to fine tune my Halloween one and share it with you. I included several of the songs from hers because she had fabulous taste in music, and included lots of new ones too.

I feel like I've sat down and written or attempted to write this post in some form at least a dozen times. Can we get real about life for a minute? I think my generation and those older than me were raised with this preconceived idea of what success is. Its some combination of the "dream job", the mortgage,  the family, the picket fence and new car every few years. All of those things are all based on material things that we can for the most part live without or with a downsized version of. We've been told that working hard will buy you all the things you need in life to be happy. I've been in a constant battle with myself to find happiness the past few years with very little success.

I'm unbelievably stoked to share that we will be setting up shop at The Dallas Flea November 7th! The Dallas Flea is a carefully curated market featuring handmade pieces, vintage, antiques and food. The owner, Brittany Cobb, whom we met at LOOT in September, is the incredibly talented genius behind this event.  It is by invitation only that you can be a part of this event so we are both honored and excited for this opportunity. If you will be in the Dallas area this November come by! Tacey Sunshine and I will be sharing a booth again. You will NOT be disappointed! And if you are from the Houston area you are in luck because they were branching out and will have a market in your area soon!


We may or may not be addicted to doing markets now...

Photos courtesy of The Dallas Flea
 

The weekend before last my good friend Christy at Tacey Sunshine Designs & I popped up shop at Loot Vintage Market at Dallas Market Hall! It was 3 fun days of learning and meeting lots of lovely people! This was technically my first big market to be involved with so I was incredibly nervous and not very sure what to expect. I've done flea markets and had small little booths at downtown events but nothing on this scale!

Sources:

Pink Tulle Skirt
Brown Jumper & Blue Blouse
Brown Velvet Skirt
Alexandra Grecco Skirt With Copper Blouse
Brown Leather Wedges
Green Sweater Dress
Black & White Skirt / Yellow Cardigan 
Navy Skirt & Yellow Tights 
Tights, Boot Cuffs & Booties
Stripes & Brown 
Olive Green Dress
Maroon Pants / Brown Boots / Black & White Sweater

I'm stoked to be a part of this years fall Loot Vintage Market at Dallas Market Hall! The event has hundreds of vintage & handmade vendors, live music, food trucks and more! Tacey Sunshine & I will both be there this year.  If you will be around the Dallas / Forth Worth area come see us September 11th-13th!

If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook you'll automatically get 15% off your vintage purchase!

Every year when we get ready to do back to school shopping, it never fails that my son wants and usually needs a new pair of Vans. They're his go to shoes for life basically. Its that time again and he's narrowed it down to one of these ( I have a feeling we will end up with the shark pair lol):

I'm writing this post from a strange place emotionally. I read a negative comment about my work this morning from a previous design client of mine. *insert womp womp womp sound* It hurt guys. Though it wasn't a personal attack or anything really even all that bad, it still hit me where it hurts the most. Long story short, a few months ago, a long time client of mine decided to work with a new designer that could offer them more of what they were wanting for the future of their business. No big deal, it happens. Goals change, and often you just aren't compatible anymore.

I follow their Facebook page and so I happened to see a post mentioning negative comments about my work for them. It stung. Behind my purple hair, goofy facial expressions and sarcastic humor, I am very insecure when it comes to criticism in any aspect of my life. This had me getting caught up in self doubt, sadness, anger and ultimately made me want to throw the towel in and be done with it all.

After I calmed myself, lol, I made myself accept the fact that no matter what you do, you CAN NOT and WILL NOT make everyone happy all the time or be everyone's cup of tea. And though your business and work may be incredibly personal to you, especially in the creative field, it is not a personal attack on you when a business relationship ends.  When your style, aesthetic and tastes no longer fit a client, it is time to move on and break up. And just like any personal break up it can hurt.

All you can do is step back and access what went wrong, if it could have been prevented, what you would have done differently, and how to grow from the situation. Or if they're the clingy, stalker ex type just run! lol This opened my eyes even more to the fact that I want to only take on my dream clients. I want to work with clients who look at my portfolio and say "This designer knows exactly what we want!"

How do you deal with criticism or negativity? Whether it be at your day job, freelance business or even handmade business? Have you ever had to break up with a client or been dumped? I love this post by Breanna Rose about Managing Feedback . It was exactly what I needed to read. Also, this hand lettered quote by Mark van Leeuwen is perfection. He's only a teenager and he's a fantastic designer / artist.

I feel like things have been bustling lately. I've never used to word "bustling" before, but it feels very appropriate. Lots of exciting things are happening and in the works. I've been collaborating with so many amazing people lately and I'm feeling like this is just the beginning. Hopefully! 

Anyhoo, I shared the rad new logo that I worked on with the amazing lady over at Tacey Sunshine earlier this week. We got together and styled a shoot to showcase her lovely crows & pretties. It's always a blast photographing her. It was hot and humid but we managed to get some good photos. (You may recognize her from all my previous vintage shoots)

Happy Friday all! Be sure to check out her shop!