It is my first blog post of 2019, and the start of a new year is about reflecting on what you have accomplished in the past year and knowing what your current goals are to make this next year an absolute success. Looking back on 2018, I am beyond proud of myself for the success Copious has had. There are many reasons for this success, one being I became even more transparent about Copious on Instagram. I started being more direct with the struggles I was having and found out that a lot of my fellow friends, that are entrepreneurs were dealing with similar issues. This made me me feel even more connected to my maker community than ever before.

Even with my new found honesty, I had a not so well-kept secret I was holding back. One of my 2019 goals was to share this change because it was a huge reason for my success this year!

Summer 2017 the beau and I came home to see our families, we got to live at my family’s cottage for a couple weeks, and when it was coming to end, we both looked at each other and knew this was where we were meant to be. We had gone back and forth for years talking about moving out of Toronto. At one point I was ready to move, and he wasn’t, and then a year later he was ready to move, but I wasn’t and finally, we were BOTH ready to make the leap. Toronto had been grinding us down, and creatively we were feeling stifled by our huge rent and not being able to grow in our careers the way we wanted. We were treading water and didn’t have much to lose and A LOT to gain. We had walked consciously towards this goal, but only part way, now we were going to make the leap into our future!copious blog post, clothing handmade in TorontoThe sunset at our family's cottage

We took this leap in December 2017 and moved closer to our families, to nature,  to our creative selves, and it is not lost on me that I had my most successful year in Copious! I was able to have a studio separate from my home to create a better work-life balance. I have been able to make yoga a serious part of my life, and this year when my major prep was happening for OOAK I didn’t have any back pain because I was stronger than ever before. The biggest reason for the move was being closer to family and we have spent so much time together! I am unbelievably lucky to have a beau that is close with my family and we have had an incredible year making memories at our cottage, having Manhattan Friday Dinners (the grandkids cook dinner the grandparents provide the Manhattans) and being able to see my nephews and nieces whenever I want has made this an incredible year and reassured us we made the right decision.

clothing handmade in Ottawa

copious family, clothing handmade in Ottawa

clothing handmade in OttawaMemories made because we moved closer to our families!

Copious now officially resides in Kemptville, Ontario (just outside Ottawa) but I make several trips back and forth to Toronto to see bridal clients, stock up on supplies, see my fabric wholesaler, and attend my favourite show: OOAK. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last 5 years. This last year, in particular, was stressful to see whether Copious would survive the move, but I found a whole new customer base. A dream is just a dream until you put it into action and 10 years ago I was with my sister sitting on the bank of a river in Laos, we had barely started our lives. She always had a clear vision of what her future held, and I was a little more go with the flow kind of girl. She looked at me and said one day I will have children, and one day I will need you back home to help me raise them. She and I were raised by our entire family, we were lucky enough to have a huge support system, including each other. I am so happy she knew what our futures would hold, lots of success in our careers, but also the love of our extremely tight-knit family, coming together to help raise the next generation.

copious family, clothing handmade in Ottawa

All pictures were taken by myself, except this last one. It was taken by the incredible Kaja Tirrul of Jack Loves Mary. She captured this at a family wedding this year, an amazing night that the beau and I would not have had if we did not choose to move closer to the people we love! 

Written by Carissa McCaig

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