New Year, New Goals

Well, after a long cooldown and some time spent catching up with a few projects I had on hold (as well as catching up with some new clients I'll be starting work with soon), I'm finally back from the December holidays. It's been an interesting few weeks - I was finally able to get back on a healthy kick (despite the tremendous amount of food my boyfriend's parents tried to feed me, I was able to commit to twice-daily yoga and a reasonable amount of food, and I'm still keeping it up two weeks later, much to the delight of my clothes, which were starting to feel the pinch.

All that aside, 2006 was a very good year, for me and for the zen kitchen. Despite my nervousness at going off on my own (would I make enough to survive? Would I crash and burn? Can I do this?) and a few moments where I neared burnout, I was able to do a lot of excellent work, and create a number of successful relationships with clients and others in my network. 2007 looks to be even better, with a few new projects already getting ready to start work on, and a renewed energy in the office. I even got some unexpected props this week from AntMan over at cre8Buzz, who appreciated the green message that I and a few of my new friends in the blogosphere have been spreading.

For 2007, I have a few goals in mind. The first is to get the zen kitchen ready for expansion to include another designer. As much as I love the working-from-home gig, it's a lonely road, and I'd really love to have another designer to share the workday/workload with me.

The next is to get and stay healthy. The pressure of running a design studio has taken quite a bit of a toll on my general health, and if I'm going to turn tzk into what I want it to be, it's important to get and stay as healthy as I can be.

The last, and possibly most important, goal, is to find ways to live more simply. I, like so many of us, find myself occasionally trapped in the "must consume" nature of our culture, and it bothers me from both a financial and an environmental standpoint. So this is the year of getting further control of my finances, and learning to live more frugally.

Thanks again for reading these humble notes, and I look forward to chatting with you in the new year!