In 2007, when my son was 4 years old, I started a Party Planning and Design business called Much Ado About You. I had always really enjoyed putting on events for friends and family, and I was desperate for a creative outlet that would allow me to continue to stay home with my son while contributing a little to our family's financial needs.
Turns out that creating events for paying customers is not quite as fun as doing it for friends and family. I found it to be extremely stressful and time-consuming.
In the midst of the madness, I decided that I really needed a good calendar to help me keep everything straight, but after an exhaustive search... I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. So I made my own.
A few of my friends saw my super-cute calendar, and wanted one for themselves. So I made a few more.
Then their friends saw their calendars and wanted some for themselves. So I made several more.
Before I knew it my business had completely evolved. By May of 2008 I had stopped taking on party clients and was working pretty much full-time at filling orders from my newly opened Etsy shop.
In the last two years I have hired several of my best friends and neighbors as my Calendar Girls, and we now have an amazing team that keeps everything running smoothly, and gets those orders filled as quickly as possible. As of December of 2011, we have sold over 2,500 calendars in all 50 states and 8 countries worldwide!
In April 2010, I decided that I wasn't quite busy enough... so I started this blog.
I was very intentional about the fact that this was going to be a creative blog... not a personal one! God had other plans.
In June of 2010, after being inspired by a fellow blogger, I shared my family's story about our struggle with secondary infertility. I held a raffle to raise money for the adoption that we so desperately desired to complete. In one week, my amazing sponsors, readers, friends and family donated over $6,000 to help us bring a baby home. Our daughter, Penelope Susan was born on March 31st. You can read about that here.
I have had my ups and downs here, but mostly ups. I am still surprised every time I get a comment and realize that someone is actually reading what I write. I love hearing from my readers and am always encouraged when I see that number rise in my followers box.
I hope you will find a little humor, some inspiration, and a whole lot of comradery as I share with you the truth of what my life looks like... Laundry Mountain and all!
Thanks for stopping by!
XOXO,
Emmy
emmythepaperfreak {at} gmail {dot} com
