Living the Creative Life

For those of you who missed it, are new to reading Just Jen, or just plain forgot (that's me!), here's a look back at what 2011 was like for me. J A N U A R Y * 2 0 1 1 I started out the new year resolving to keep my plants alive . #FAIL But hey... at least I tried! And bonus... it smelled really great in my apartment for about a month!! If I try this again, I think I'll have to pay more attention to remembering to water them. Plants seem to like that. F E B R U A R Y * 2 0 1 1 I became infected by the book The 4-Hour Workweek . The idea of generating a passive income to give yourself the time to do what you REALLY want to do began to take root in my brain, forcing out the mild resignment I'd had to just putting up with my wearying job. I began to dream of having more. M A R C H * 2 0 1 1 I drowned my iPhone (not on purpose!). Luckily I'm a big enough geek to listen to WAY too many technoglogy podcasts, so I knew to immediately (as in... I...

This video is barely 3 days old and I've already seen it referenced in three distinctly different places on the internet. Definitely VERY CUTE and definitely worth watching. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are always cute anyway, but they make an especially cute duo here as they play us a New Years Eve song in someone's living room. How adorable is that? As JGL put it on his Twitter stream yesterday: Hey Zo, I think they like it ;o) Watch and judge for yourself:

I suppose I've been watching a little too much Gossip Girl over the break, but I've got New York City on the brain. It just seems like it'd be a magical place. (Although I could be totally wrong about that). I think it's the history of the place that charms me. Have you been there? What's it like? In my attempt to locate a "what does it feel like to live there?" point of view on the 'net, I ran across this blog: My Life as a New Yorker , about a graphic designer who moved there a few years ago from California. Unfortunately the blog ends abruptly in December 2009, but what I read up to that point is utterly fascinating. Here are some of the highlights: Even K-Mart is fancy in NYC! The Guggenheim Museum Adrienne's Pizza Bar -- I'm loving all the tall buildings in the background! A flea market in Hells Kitchen Cupcake vendor! We need one of those around here!! An umbrella in the trashcan -- this just struck my fun...

I'm revamping my sponsorship program again this January and I'd love for you to be involved! I really want to host ads from other creative blogs and small businesses, so hopefully that is you! Take a look at my new ad options below and email me if you'd like to purchase a spot. Hurry, because they go fast!

Wow, can you believe it's almost the New Year? I've got just one more week of Christmas break, then it's back to school for me! This break really FLEW by. It's probably been a decade at least since I've had that much uninterrupted time off and it sure was great! Definitely NOT boring, that's for sure. The main thing I've been up to is working my Etsy shop ! I had a great Christmas selling season (it paid for Christmas this year!) and am now working on a new line of wool stocking hats for the new year. Such fun colors!

There are hundreds of teams on Etsy already, but surprisingly none yet specifically for introverts. So... I started my own ! Are you an introvert who sells on Etsy? Come join us! One thing that's fun about teams is doing team treasuries! Here's one that I thought I'd share that another lady on our team did. It's all about red! Halter Dress Red Sw... MGDclothing $179.95 Owl Leather Barrett... WishingCreek $18.00 Hat Accessory - Cro... desertrose0601 $3.00 Radish Paintings ... virgillaart $45.00 Needlefelted Upcycl... NaturalistBent $45.00 8x10 Strawberries a... dreameryphotog... $32.50 Cute felt cupcake b... RainbowhART $4.00 SONOMA - SAORI Sha... LoveULamb $285.00 Candy Cane Whipped ... FairyBubbles $14.50 Red and Zebra feath... PropMeUpPropSh... $16.00 Hand Dyed Sock Yarn... Na...

We don't really celebrate Boxing Day here in the States as much as some countries do, but it's still an interesting holiday. I think the theory is that people take back their presents that they don't want and then buy the things that they DO want! Kind of Bah Humbug, if you ask me, but hey... who am I to stand in the way of the consumer-driven masses? If you can't beat 'em... join them!! I now present you with... my Boxing Day Sale!

I love reading blogs - there's just something inspiring about witnessing someone else's creativity. Unfortunately my time has been ZILCH lately, so I haven't been able to read much since last summer. However... I ran across a couple blogs today that made me want to start reading again. Both a fun, clean aesthetic to them, which is nice. Story of My Life has a great series of Blogging Tips  that I found very helpful and easy to read. That lastest post on Kristie Was Here , her iPod video , was very entertaining! As embarrassed as I would be to actually dance around in Target pretending I was in an iPod commercial, it was pretty fun to watch someone else doing it!

I haven't made a treasury in a long time, but felt the urge today to compile some lovely items! Here is my Aqua Bliss treasury - celebrating the color aqua! 'Aqua Bliss' by desertrose0601 Just a little treasury to celebrate the color aqua! Earrings Vintage Re... ChromeAndCotto... $19.00 ...