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Crystal clear

Saturday, 27 Jan, 2018

Today marks one year since I made the decision to resign from my full-time job and go after my dream – to launch my own shoe concept. I had been swimming in the beautiful teal waters of Port Stephens on Australia Day, and was reminded that although big decisions can often be hard, that sometimes the right choice is just crystal clear. This Australia Day weekend, we’re up here once again to celebrate this beautiful country, and I am reminded again how blessed I am to have the freedom to pursue my dream. I’m about halfway through Fashion is Freedom by Iranian swimwear designer Tala Raassi, and it’s a reminder of the difficulties some face on their journey (sent to prison as a teenager and given lashes for wearing a mini-skirt?! 😱)

Anyway, it’s been a looooong time since I’ve sat down to document what I’ve been up to, and a few of you have been asking. So with fresh eyes and a new perspective for the year ahead, it’s time for an update!

Firstly, I can’t express how touched I was by those who reached out after reading my last post, Reality Bites. Thank you all for your kind words, messages and comments. Despite this, last year was still filled with so many wonderful things, so it really was a huge year of personal growth as well as a learning curve in terms of business experience. At the end of that post, I explained the use of the Chrysanthemum flower image… We planted a number of Chrysanthemum plants in our garden at the time of our loss which was around Mother’s Day last year. And they all started to bloom at the time of my previous post – which I believe is unusual, as they usually only flower in May – so we took it as a sign of hope. And, shortly after, we were delighted to discover that we were indeed pregnant again! So today as I write this, we are 20 weeks and at the halfway mark with our little ‘cub’ due in June ❤🦁 We feel so blessed and are excited for what’s ahead in 2018 on multiple fronts.

Speaking of and getting back to business, as thrilled as I’ve been about being pregnant and being grateful for no morning sickness (hallelujah!) I did have zero energy during the first trimester – quite indescribable exhaustion really, I could have slept anywhere! So trying to juggle naps amongst freelance design work after the launch of Zandelion and pushing on with my shoe concept, things took a slightly different pace. I chose to slow it down and focus on my wellbeing and the client projects in front of me, one day at a time. This meant there was not as much focus on my shoes, although we did manage to move things forward in small steps and achieve some important things during that time. Thankfully now, since about the 16 week mark, I have been feeling back to a normal energy level and have been making more rapid progress which I’m excited to share with you in coming weeks.

 

There’s a lot to learn this year for me (and not just about becoming a mumma!). I’ve already starting delving further into the world of manufacturing since my trip to Italy to collect my prototype last year, and am now learning about rapid prototyping, sampling and scaling, etc. (more on that in a post coming soon!). So there’s plenty to get stuck into and as daunting as it is, I’m planning on hitting it all head on. I now have another deadline to keep in mind this year, so it’s time to get a hurry on and bring this dream alive!

Stay tuned, and let’s see where this year leads x

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