We Made It. Barely.

Well, it seems cliché to say we made it. But we did. Kind of. Don't get me wrong we lost too many people to COVID and then there are those who lost loved ones for other reasons and because of COVID they couldn't be with them. That breaks my heart and I can barely stand to think about it to be honest. We saw social injustice, icky campaigning for the presidential elections, covid fatigue, you get the point. I remember that one day in January when we all found out Kobe and his daughter had been killed in a helicopter accident. At that moment in time I truly thought that was going to be the worst day of 2020. Good Lord was I wrong.

I know for me personally everything about COVID has been a challenge. I mean duh right. I lost all creativity for jewelry. My regular 9-5 job as a healthcare marketer consumed me and therefore at the end of every day I was tapped out. Those first few months my team was pretty much on call all the time. You may not think of communications as someone in the trenches and while we were certainly not facing the risk of COVID every day caring for patients, it was up to us to get all of the messaging out to the public and our employees. It was exciting but still exhausting. I have always been in awe of our healthcare workers but this obviously took it to an entirely new level. 

I did have the good fortune to travel to Tucson in February for the gem show and that was FUN! I really wish I could go back this year. It was a quick few days but something new and different and exciting. I bought some gorgeous gems that have just been sitting in their packaging for almost 12 months. I take them out to admire them every now and then but have yet to place them down to design around. 

I created the cat pendant as an ode to my little ginger cat and to benefit a local rescue. After that came the #shalieve cuff bracelet to benefit the Ryan Shazier Fund for Spinal Rehabilitation. That was it! And that is okay my friends. 

My hope is to make some new fresh jewels this year and learn better story telling around my jewelry brand. You'd think being marketing that would be easy. For some reason, that is not the case. 

I bought a ton of jewelry during the ongoing pandemic. I have never been an online shopper because I like to really check things out and more importantly have the easy option of going back to the store to return if need be. Well that all changed this year. There was nothing more exciting than waiting for the mail to be delivered or for FedEx or UPS to stop by. I've already cut down on purchases now that the holidays are over but I'm finding it to be a bit of a letdown. I'm hoping that my growing bank account will make up for looking out the window every day like a little kid waiting for Santa! The jury is still out.

I'm hopeful that with the vaccine we can get back to some normalcy and a decreased amount of anxiety and worry about the unknown. I miss walking the boardwalk without a care in the world, sitting at the bar at Blue Hen drinking one or three froses - frozen rose for those who are wondering and even going to the grocery store without feeling like I have to get in and get out because I actually love the grocery store! I will say that social distancing on the beach served me well because I very much disliked people sitting too close to me anyway. There is such a thing as as beach etiquette! 

So carry on friends. Do what you've gotta do to maintain what little bit of sanity you may have left! For me, that may or may not still be buying jewelry ;) And for what it's worth, let it be what it is.