As part of the Alt Summit awesomeness, we were all given lift passes for one day at Solitude Mountain Resort just outside of Salt Lake City. On Saturday after the conference, rides were available up the mountains to the resort to use said ski passes. I knew early on that I would forego a day of more design (design overload, anyone?) for some athleticism. I wanted to try something new, and be physical while doing it.

Yes, new. I had never done any sort of recreational winter sports, unless you count indoor ice skating, which I don't really.

I knew I wanted to snowboard, not ski. I realize that's a little weird in some circles, but it's just what I wanted, so I did it.

We were lucky enough to have a great guide of sorts give a mini lesson once we hit the slopes, and we were really lucky in that we got to meet the wonderfully friendly owner of Solitude, who was kind enough to offer us free official lessons.

I like to think that by the time we left that I was a pro. Just like I like to think that I'm really a 5'10" lovely Italian woman with the voice of an angel.

What I do know for sure is that I'm in love with snowboarding. I usually hate being cold, and the snow, but snowboarding is awesome. You're so busy having fun that you don't notice that your nose is frozen, and you're really working up so much of a sweat that the only thing that is cold is your nose, which you're not even noticing.

And what a workout! The days after snowboarding were fantastically painful. Serious ouch. The most painful part? My arms. Weird, huh? It's from picking yourself up all those gazillion times you fall down. Just goes to show you how often I fell.

Really though, I could not have imagined a more beautiful place to have my first snowboarding adventure. The video clip below was taken on our first ride up the slopes. So. Beautiful.

A huge thank you to Alt Summit and Solitude Mountain Resort for the perfect ending to a wonderful week. The resort was exceptional, and I will definitely be back.

Now time to get myself to the ski resorts around home. I think I'm going to be a snowboarder now.

Going to panels and keynotes all day at Alt Summit was cool. I learned a lot and was really inspired. But really, the best part about Alt Summit was all of the awesome people that I got to meet.

I met with old friends, whom I'd never met face to face, and made really great new ones. And I also met famous people, because that's just how Alt Summit rolls.

First of all, I finally got to meet my pal Heather from Viva la Violette. Heather and I have been internet friends for over 3 years. We met on Etsy, have collaborated many times, but had never met face-to-face until last week. It was awesome.

I also got to meet two relatively new bloggy/twitter buddies. The first was Jason Hudson, with whom I had drinks on my first night in town. We chatted and laughed, and wondered whether we were going to make it through the intensity of the next few days.

I got to meet up with Kathleen as well, whose blog I've followed for what seems like forever. We've hung out on Twitter and emailed many times about vegan babies and tattoos. It was so great to finally meet up with her in the flesh, including attending her Round Table discussion, which was maybe my favorite session of the whole conference.

I made lots of new friends too, like...

• Brittni Melhoff - The super sweet editor of Paper n Stitch
• Jenean Morrison - Pattern designer extraordinaire, oh so sweet
• Monica Lee - Super inspiring with awesome hair
• Melanie Saucier and Marie Asselin - Fantastic Canadian pair
• Deb Averett - Found out over a bathroom chat that her son was born the exact day as Cute Kid. Crazy!
• Madalyn DeMolet - Master of the sexy nose
• Shari and B - Awesome NCers, with more personality than all of Alt combined
• Nancy Martira - The best sponsor rep at Alt
• Ashlea and Joanna - Freakin' adorable Southern girls. Website designers and everything.

As for the famous folks, I think everyone at our table almost tinkled a little when Amy Butler joined us for lunch one day. And having the chance for a long chat with Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann at one of the mini parties (seen above) was pretty freaking awesome.

The fact that the people from the conference are my favorite part just reiterates the fact that real inspiration comes from the people that you surround yourself with. And the cool factor is always a plus too.

Last week I attended my first-ever Alt Summit. And I'm still on information and inspiration overload. I feel like I just need to have a Rip van Winkle sleep.

It was such an inspiring few days. So many inspirational and talented women! I sat through sessions about sponsorships, getting published, and getting press-ready. I talked to women about the creative online marketplace, marketing, and being code-nerds. It was amazing! And so overwhelming.

And the location? Beautiful. It was my first trip to Utah, and my first visit to the Rockies in about 15 years. The Grand America - the conference hotel - was over-the-top. Chandeliers like this were everywhere, and this was a baby one.

It was a great few days. I have so many things to implement around emmarie Designs to make my business life more effective and efficient. I'm really looking forward to beating jet lag and putting all my ideas to work.

I also met some amazing people, and it was great to finally put real faces to so many folks that I've been friends with online for years. Tomorrow I'll share some fun photos.

But until then, I've got some snuggling to do. I missed Cute Kid like craziness.

While I'm recouping from the crazy awesomeness that was Alt Summit, I want to share a recent launch that I'm adding to my list a insane love-projects.

Whereas all of my projects are special to me, some feel a little more like work than others. It's just the nature of the beast. But sometimes fate brings me together with a client and it is magical. Like dark chocolate and Zinfandel. Magic.

When I chatted with Evy for the first time, I thought it might be possible that it was going to be magical. She was looking for a designer, a killer platform, and some serious direction. Very soon things were meshing beautifully. We were solving problems, reorganizing, getting somewhere.

When Evy decided to hire me and we started working, it was so fluid. Decisions were made that improved the design, usability, and organization of her site. It was one of those projects that just worked. For both of us.

Last month I launched her new site for her fabulous products. Bright, colorful, and so wonderfully thought-out. Her work ethic is inspiring, and her products make the paper nerd in me freak out.

Speaking of freaking out, Evy sent me an awesome planner just before Alt Summit. I spent hours filling it in, like a kid the day before the first day of school.

Relationships like the one that grew out of this project are a big reason I love my job so much. I'm sure this won't be the last time that Evy and I work together. (See that Evy, that's a hint. I'll be emailing you soon.)

Check out Evy Jacob's new site for the best of paper goodies, and check out it's fab new design.

Click to tweet: New website design for @EvyJacob by @emmarieDesigns http://bit.ly/zQQnyI

Over the past month I have spent a good bit of time in Chattanooga. When we sent Lily to her grandparents for a week Chattanooga was the drop off point. I spent two weekends in a row there, one with my assistant/pal and the next with David, my besty La (who lives in Chattanooga) and her boyfriend. Then, we spent New Year's Eve Eve in Chattanooga again with La.

Lots of time in Chatty.

Being in Chattanooga (if you've never been there, imagine what you know of Asheville, NC, and make it bigger - city in the Appalachians on a lake; gorgeous) has really had me feeling the usual pains about living up in the mountains. The town I live in is small. I don't do small well. And it's been wearing on me for some time.

So, David and I have decided on our next step. He has officially come to the conclusion that he wants to take at least a year off before going ahead with his PhD, and I refuse to live needlessly in the mountains. Our conclusion: move to Chattanooga.

Here's our reasoning:

• We need to be around people. Like-minded, similarly-aged people. La lives in Chattanooga, so that's a really good start.
• Lily needs to be around kids.
• We want to be closer to our family and friends. We're currently a grueling 10-12 hour drive from our families. Lily's at an age where I want her to be around these people more. Living in Chattanooga will drop the driving time down to 3 hours, for at least a year, before David's education takes us off to goodness knows where.
• I need action. Bustle. Good restaurants. Culture. A life. (Whine, whine, I know.)

The plan is to move out later this summer. This plan is hinged majorly on David finding some work in Chattanooga, though I think my design work can sustain us if needed. And who knows, maybe he'll prefer work over academia for a good while and we'll stick around for even longer.

Already such big changes ahead of us this year...

(all images taken by Laura)

Alt Summit is, like, right now. Well, painfully close to it. I'm packing, getting my crap together, and trying not to hyperventilate over all the stuff I need to do and the fact that I'm leaving Cute Kid for a whole week.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Of course business cards were a biggy for this trip. I had new emmarie Web Design cards designed a few months ago, which I'm still madly in love with. I recently had Indie Shopography cards done. Then, to make them less of a pain in the tush to hand out, I bundled my cards in little envelopes, printed with my name.

I'm pretty much in love with them. They're on brand and fun.

Here I come, #altsummit.

(As per anniversary tradition, here are some of our favorite logo designs that didn't made the cut.)

Last year's What I've Learned post did me some good apparently. All those what-I've-learneds were well learned, and this year they weren't issues. This year brought it's own lessons.

1. Being an obsessive Type-A is a good thing.

Most of the time. I've always been an extremely independent person. Sometimes a little too independent. And it takes all I have not be a bossy bitch all too often. I constantly have to stop myself half way through ordering for David at a restaurant. Or completely taking over phone calls. Sometimes it's an issue. But it's an issue that I manage. 

As my business has grown, I've learned to deal with this issue very well, and even let Ms. Type-A out to play every once in a while. She keeps my files in order, my bookkeeping up-to-date, and makes sure all the bills are paid on time. I've learned to like being a bit of a control freak sometimes. Kind of a good thing.

2. Respect is mutual.

I remember in high school having a scummy coach/teacher give our joke of a science class an evil lecture about respect. The man was overweight, ignorant and an all-around ass. He deserved no respect because he earned no respect and he respected no one.

This year has taught me a lot about mutual respect that that coach never could have. You have to respect clients to get respect as a designer. And vice versa. It's hard for me to respect someone who refuses to respect me as a person.

3. Passion for entrepreneurship is intoxicating.

Really, I love my job in that I get to work with folks that have a drive for their business. They love their ideas. They've grabbed their skills by the horns and are building a life doing what they love. What does this do to me? It drives me just as hard, both working to help them, and working to grow my own business. It's truly intoxicating, if you open yourself to it. My clients are - in more ways than one - the driving force behind emmarie Web Design.

4. Asking for help is key to success.

I hired my first-ever assistant this year, after months of wrestling with myself to do something to better my work environment. It was the best decision I think I've ever made.

I think as small creative business owners, we sometimes have it ingrained within ourselves that we should juggle it all and become a real life Super Woman. But I think a real super hero knows when to call on his or her sidekick to keep things from getting too scary.

Even Batman needed a Robin.

5. Firing clients is a double-edged sword, AND an unexpected ointment.

For the first and only time ever, I fired a client this year. Granted, the basic terms of our contract were complete, but when additional work was requested, I had to refuse. This was my biggest lesson in respect, and in anger management. It affected me in more ways that I thought it could have, both in my work and personal life, but when all is said and done, it was not a job that I could have ever continued with, with a client that clearly never respected me or my profession, and I know I made the right decision. 

I would not have done anything any differently, and have learned a great deal about the kind of clients that I will now accept as my target audience. The biggest lesson of the year.

What kind of lessons have you learned from your business?

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my life as a web/graphic design freelancer.

What. A. Year.

I never dreamed that when I launched my website 2 years ago that I would be where I am now with emmarie Web Design. I entered in without any real goals, so I don't have any expectations to compare my success to, except that I'm still here and growing faster than I think anyone could have imagined I would.

It feels good to learn and grow. Stretch the bounds of what you think you can do. Doing things you never anticipating being confronted with.

And all the while, turning a profit.

I did my bookkeeping last week knowing that this anniversary was coming up. Seeing a new business have year-end profits after only two years is so encouraging. Seeing my revenue forecast for 2011 blown out of the water by an excess of over $10,000 was mind-boggling. Beating last year's revenue by over 3 times that had me floored.

What does this mean to me? Everything. It means that emmarie Web Design is glorious proof that small businesses are on the rise, and not just because I am a microbusiness, but because my success has come from the goals and success of other small creative businesses. This is our time!

And so today I'm reminiscing on projects from this year. I'll recap more goodies from the past year later this week: lessons learned, favorite projects. This year has taught me a lot.

I'm reading a really great book: Push by Chalene Johnson. I'm not one to read motivational literature, but when I saw this book by Chalene in the latest issue of Women's Health I knew I had to check it out.

I "know" Chalene from Turbo Fire, which I own and occasionally rock out to. (Whoa, cardio.) I was excited to see that she had a published book, and purchased it immediately. And I'm glad I did.

The book is set up as a 30-day program to get your life organized, with an obvious emphasis on fitness. However, I see this book really helping get my head straight on other aspects of my life, like my business.

One exercise that I've come across is to sit down weekly and create 10 outrageous goals that you hope to come to fruition in the next 12 months. Making easily doable goals is good, but making goals that you may think are just out of reach makes is more fun, and more rewarding, if and when you actually meet them.

They can be related to relationships, fitness, business, finances. Anything! This may end up getting a little personal. Just warning you, but I think it's going to be goooood.

So, I'm going to give it a try.

1. I will keep this up every week for a year.
2. Conduct a live Indie Shopography session.
3. Eat a vegan diet at least 5 days/week.
4. Completely pay off at least one of my student loans.
5. David and I have a weekly no-kid date night.
6. Exceed 2011 revenue by $50,000.
7. Juice 6-8 times a week.
8. Run three 5Ks.
9. Read 100 books.
10. Enjoy 6 weeks of vacation time.

So that's it! 10 goals, some quite a bit more out there than others. All of them somewhat attainable, but it's going to take some work! A challenge: I think I can handle that.

What about you? What kind of goals are you setting for yourself and your business?

Want to join me in this weekly goal making? Let me know! A support team makes reaching goals all the easier.

David and I were lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time in Alabama this year for the holidays. We spent Christmas in the mountains but shortly left for flatter land.

While home we spent time with family and friends. We ate food and drank really good wine. We ended up in Chattanooga for a night with friends. We hiked and shopped and biked. It was a wonderful week and a half.

Now back to life in the mountains for a little bit of reality before heading off to Alt Summit. What a fabulous month!