Recap on the last few months

Well, the holidays have passed, New Years resolutions have been resolved, and a New Year has begun! It was a whirlwind end of the year both in my RebeccaJ and personal life! Some of the happenings:

My sister took a new job this year and moved down to Evans, GA. She is such an absolute doll and such a huge supporter of my jewelry line, so she decided to host a RebeccaJ Trunk Show/Christmas Party. I owe a HUGE thank you to all of the lovely ladies in the Pharmacy Department at MCG Augusta - this was my most successful trunk show thus far and one of the most fun! It's always fun to meet my sister's friends and co-workers and these girls couldn't be more sweet, outgoing, and an absolute blast! If you're ever in the MCG hospital there in Augusta know you will be in good hands with these women looking over your meds! 

Christmas in my family has always been a special time. With the majority of my parents siblings and parents still residing in the Memphis, TN area, all of my Christmases since I was 7 and until I graduated from college saw us making the 9-10 hour trip every year to spend it with my grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. We hated it that when I graduated we had to stop making the trip due to the amount of vacation time I had (it was WAY more fun when I had a month off when I was in school)! But, we've kept it a special time for the 5 of us and make sure that all of us take a couple days off in order to get some great family time in! It is funny though, as we all get older the presents have taken quite a different turn from the previous years - now there's an abundance of cookware and house decor! My big present this year wasn't really a surprise, but if you know my mom (and she's a total cutie), I still loved that she gave me this all wrapped up and with a big bow on it! 

My parents were total sweeties and gave me my New Year's Eve trip to San Jose, CA! A little back story on the trip: I was really fortunate last January that a friend of mine decided to set me up with one of her husband's teammates. I've been dating Russ ever since and this past year has seen a lot of growth and challenges for him in his career as a pro swimmer. It was a hard decision to make, but for the future of his career and his goal of making the 2012 Olympics, he made the move out to San Jose, CA to begin his training under coach John Bitter at the Santa Clara Swim Club. We're doing long-distance - me in Charlotte, NC and him in San Jose, CA, thus the plane tickets for Christmas! (You can follow his progress on his blog: www.russellpayne.org). 

My New Year's trip was absolutely WONDERFUL!! We had such a blast exploring the areas around San Jose and two of my favorite days were spent in Santa Cruz and San Fransisco. 

Santa Cruz: We stopped and grabbed lunch for a picnic and then drove down the coast until we found a beautiful cove to stop at. We had a blast for an hour or so playing around on the beach and taking pictures. 

San Fransisco: 

 At Ghirardelli Square getting some dessert. 

What's to Come this Year?

A LOT - The past few weeks I've been working on some new designs and on my picture taking skills. I'm hoping to get those honed a bit better in order to show off the sparkle and sheen of the gemstones and metals that I use. It hasn't been easy trying to improve, but I'm hoping that over the next few weeks I'll have better photos uploaded onto my Etsy site!