NEW SHOP!

via Twitter

Hi!
Or, as my Chinese Immersion students would say, Ni Hao!
I have some exciting news!!!! I have officially opened my Greeting Cards Etsy Shop! I have been wanting to do this for some time and I have finally made the jump to just do it. I posted on Instagram last week about starting to sell these cards and I was absolutely blown away by the support that people gave me!

What is the shop? Now, I am not sure if this Etsy shop will succeed (oh, but I hope it does!), but I figure that I love to take nature photography and this is a great jump start into sharing one of my hobbies with others. I am, by no means, a professional. And I like to stick to photographing nature when I'm out hiking or thinking. I love to photograph people, but I definitely don't feel comfortable selling my work for that. This shop, though, is my nature photography that I have taken and transferred onto greeting cards. They are blank and are awesome gifts to give to friends and other little knick-knacks. I don't know about you, but I love writing in blank, quality cards.

How this shop came to be: My mom, dad, and husband have been bugging me for about a year to start this shop. They have all incessantly told me that I have such a good eye and that I should share my photography with friends and family. So, I'm doing it. And if it fails, it's okay. Because, guess what? I can just go back to making these cards as a hobby. Also, life is full of failures, but I may as well try.

How can I help? By purchasing some cards, of course! You can click on "Sierra's View Photography Cards" in the header at the top of this blog or on the picture to the right that says Etsy Shop.
But even more than that, you can
 1. Make my shop a "favorite".
2. Give me a 5 star rating on my Etsy shop.
3. Also, if you are interested in sharing on your social media sites (Instagram, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.), I would love to give you some cards for free to try out! Just let me know.
4. And, lastly, just share! Share my posts on Facebook of me selling my cards!

I am starting to question if I am crazy or just feeling really motivated these days, but I have a whole lot of things going on in my life (if you have noticed that I haven't written in awhile-- this etsy shop, teaching full time, getting my master's, writing new core and advancing my teaching career, singing an intense and wonderful choir, church calling, exercise/health stuff, other social and family stuff..), and I will expand on this on another post here in a few days, but I want to do this and I am tired of waiting around for it to happen!

Here are some of the photos that I am making into cards!!

Mountains! Snow! Christmas Break!

...is heaven! Today I went to the gym, ran errands, and cleaned my house IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. It's seriously amazing what I can get done in the middle of the day when I don't have a full time job! Haha. Our christmas break ends on Tuesday (and we got out on the 22nd, don't even get me started). I am already dreading having to go back to teaching. I love my kiddos and my job, but this whole not-working thing is seriously amazing. And I can already feel that the break was not long enough!

Our Christmas was pretty low-key, but it was a great day spent with my in-laws. I tried really hard to focus on the "reason for the season" this year, so gifts were not over-the-top, but I was impressed with what I got T-Money with our budget. I am so grateful that I was able to sing in church on Christmas Sunday and to participate in so many fun, festive Christmas activities over the month of December so that I could focus on our Savior and his birth. I promised myself that is something that I would do and I stuck to it. The whole Christmas season seemed so much better! This whole week I have been catching up with my life: working out twice a day, cleaning, and running errands. It hasn't been super exciting, but it has been productive and slow-paced, which is so nice for a change. T has had to work all week so it's pretty much been me and Saylor, my sidekick, doing things. And I've loved it!!!

I have been up in the canyons hiking in the snow a few times this week to change my workouts around (so that I'm not always just as the gym! ha). Plus, watching Saylor run in the snow might be the cutest thing in the world. If you don't have a dog, you don't understand. I caught some absolutely gorgeous photos while on some of my hikes. It is freeeeezing up in the canyons, but I stayed bundled up and tried to enjoy the outdoors. I will show you those amazing sites and photos below. As always, please do not take without permission. 

Over the break, I:
-read three books. Man alive, am I nerd, or what?
-deep cleaned my house (like doors, baseboards, everything).
-Did about 7 loads of laundry. Yikes.
-hiked in the canyons multiple times. So gorgeous!
-went to the gym. A lot.
-slept. A lot.
-saw movies (my fav) and watched Netflix (also my fav).
-ran a gazillion errands.
-drank a lot of sodalicious (guilty).
-saw grandparents and cousins and family members all over Utah.
-Took down Christmas decor (and cried while doing it. Always makes me sad).
-Went to a New Years Eve Casino night.
-Caught up with friends.
-cuddled with Saylor. A lot.

If you follow me on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, you may have already known these things, but it's fine. Whatever. (@sierrasview for all).

Without further ado, here is WINTER IN NORTHERN UTAH. AS THE YOUTH WOULD SAY, "I JUST CAN'T EVEN." Also, just take a moment and look at that stinkin' adorable dog. I'm obsessed with her. I think we all knew that though. Note: these were all taken on different days, hence the different lighting.

DO YOU SEE THE PEOPLE?! Gah! 

The lighting on this day was ~perfect. 

Love the edit on this one, too. 

And the Saylor photo shoot starts NOW...

Mom. Stop. 

Had to edit this one a little different. Love the look of this. 

look at my cute house in the snow!!!! I'm obsessed. 

Utah. You are cold, but, MAN you're beautiful.
Wish all the teachers luck as they endeavor back to school this week. Gahhhhhhhh.