I can hardly believe that we’re already half way through January 2009! I think somebody needs to invent something which makes the world slow down a bit.

As for what I’m doing with my new year, well this time of year is usually when I try to regroup – I rest up to recover from the frantic Christmas selling season, start making plans for the rest of the new year and generally try to sort my life out a bit.

This year is a little bit different as I also have two freelance web projects to complete over the next few weeks, so those projects have been taking up a fair bit of brain space, not to mention time. It will be good to have them done.

However, I am also working on personal things, most notably going through every drawer and cupboard in my home (there are a lot of them and they’re all jam-packed!). Everything is being taken out and re-organised – and I’m being ruthless in terms of what gets thrown away, with anything still useable being set aside to be donated to charity.

This is with a view to moving over the next few months – and wanting to avoid taking too much excess ’stuff’ with me when I do. My plan is to have a go at living in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. I have a hankering to live in an actual house with a garden and space to have visitors. I also want to be in a place where there are lovely walks to go on (my current situation in suburbia is hardly inspiring in that regard!). Doing any of this within Sydney isn’t really an option for me.

I’m not positive that the Mountains will be where I will stay, but I have incredibly itchy feet and I figure I may as well give it a go. And maybe one day I’ll finally manage to figure out where ‘home’ is for me!

In addition, I’m also making plans to buy a shiny new car. I’ve managed to get by without a car for around 14 years now, having always lived in places where it hasn’t been essential to own one. However, over the last few years I’ve been a bit further from the city and it has been a pain not having a car. Also if I’m to move out of the city entirely, I really have no option but to get one. But it will be a teensy one and I still hope to live close enough to shops and cafes that I can walk to them as much as possible.

In terms of jewellery, I’ve been taking a break from making work having completely worn myself out closer to Christmas. However, in the next few days I need to get back to my bench to start catching up on stock, particularly with Valentine’s Day looming.

So that is where my life is up to! I hope all of you are having a good new year so far.