Gloomy Monday -- Bright Orchid

     I admit -- I have my phone set to "do not disturb" each evening because I also have push notifications set for all my sites.  Often, there are sales in the middle of the night, and before I set my phone to "do not disturb" I woke up to loud cha-ching's or "dings" in the middle of the night. 

     It's an odd situation though, not seeing anything until the next morning, so invariably, I feel like I wake up behind -- not that I would be able to honestly ship in the middle of the night.  It doesn't matter, I still feel behind, because I often feel like many of my items are gifts and needed quickly.  

     So I prepare items for shipping at the crack of dawn, as my kids are dressing for school, so that I can mail quickly in the morning (knowing full well that item's won't really move at the post office until specific times are met -- 1:30 pm is the earliest on weekdays, 5:30 pm is the latest).  Still, I like to have items there because in my mind they are still "moving" along their trajectory to their final, happy destination. 

2014 year of Radiant Orchid by CoolAndChic

It's also started raining again.  Here in Seattle, it's not unexpected -- but this late in the year a bit of an annoyance because by now we are all sort of ready for the fabulous summer the Pacific Northwest usually provides.  We got a glimpse of it last week:  72-80 degrees and fabulously sunny.  It was pretty much a green heaven for two-days.  Then, the 20% chance of rain struck, meaning pretty much 100% in the end.
Hence the gloom -- but after my "do not disturb" ended this morning, I woke up to the wonderful, bright, beautiful sunshiny treasury above.  Pretty much made me want to blast "shiny happy people" this morning. But, alas, my husband was home -- not having physical training because of duty yesterday -- and certainly needing a bit of 'vege' time prior to "spring cleaning" happening around his office this week.

Here's to bright sunshiny weather that will eventually head our way -- at least that's what the national weather service tells us.  Please be correct, NWS -- it often seems as though you just sort of throw darts to explain weather phenomena here in the Pacific Northwest.

~Maggie~

It's a Spring Sale, but it's something more...

Currently, My Etsy Shop is having a "Spring Sale" -- boasting 25% off every item in the shop.  It's pretty exciting. 

I've locked my 'packaging' up in air tight containers -- in case any of my lovely customers have as much trouble with the heavy pollen years (like this year) as I do.  This was taken last year -- this year we are more heavily in bloom, thank you allergy medication for making life bearable to enjoy the season.

But there is a reason behind just Spring Time here -- hopefully we are moving to a larger studio space next month, and to do that,  I am discounting the shop so that I have an easier time of moving. 

Let's be honest -- I am a pretty prolific creator right now, there are literally hundreds of items in my shop.  Yes, each one is made by me, personally.  Which means in my now tiny studio, there is limited space for both the finished products and the "parts".

That is a super horrible photo of a fraction of my gemstones -- yes I do keep them color coded like that, and since that is a while ago I have about a half dozen more of those tiny little organization containers.  Now, however, I have them separated by gemstones, glass, crystal and pearls -- but all still color coded.

Another bad picture -- clearly I have to refinish my desk prior to the move (am hoping to convince hubby to get me a new "set up")  but those are a fraction of the strands I barely have the space to even get into.  Look at those Placid Blue pearls I can barely think of touching.  Sigh.

I know, I know it seems selfish -- I am putting all the items on sale so that I can work more items, lol.   But, I figured also (probably not the best business acumen here, but it is my shop after all) hey, it's almost mother's day -- and if I had the space, I could finally finish some of those personalized necklaces I have been jonesing to create.

Soon, I can only say soon. 

Happy Spring -- and happy shopping.

Digging this Purple Haze of Radiant Orchid

Orchid. Radiant.  by VaidaP

It's the wonderful femininity of this treasury that really strikes me.  It's vibrant and soft all at once.  And to be honest, I personally would love getting any number of these items on Mother's Day.

Field Trip -- Outside the Scope of the Shop

Yesterday morning I checked my email.  I often leave one day a weekend off from checking my email -- to sort of unplug.  I prefer to leave two days off and take a whole weekend with the family -- but sometimes I also want to get things in the mail on Saturdays so that Mondays in the shop are not completely nuts.

They usually are anyhow.  Inevitably, I am out of coffee or creamer come bright and early Monday mornings -- and getting the kiddos moving for school is often a trial.  But, between the "don't take forever in the shower" to one kid and the "make sure you have your homework packed up" to the others,  I managed to get a bit of email read.

So I had an email from an instructor in a Veteran's Writing class I am taking (love this class by the way) asking if I wanted to go to a special screening of a movie about to come out -- Dom Hemingway.  Hubby and I used to love going to movies together -- before the diapers, bottles of milk and need for baby sitters. We just haven't been able to do that for a long, long time.

So I showed hubby the previews online -- and he was very much into it, being the movie buff he is.  Since we're trying to get a house (with a bigger studio for the shop, no doubt) we've been kind of living cheaper than normal as it were.  So the chance to take hubby to a "free" movie, as a date -- total bonus and something that kind of needed to happen. 

It was tough getting up there (we live south of Seattle -- and getting around downtown is sometimes trial and error for us, even with the genius of Siri yelling at me constantly the whole way up there).  It was even tougher when at the golden hour I had to drive right past the turn to my favorite all time bead shop -- Fusion Beads.  (Seriously, check out their website and inspiration pages at fusionbeads.com -- those folks there are amazing and provide that touch of personal service that is perfect and not overwhelmingly geared toward the sale).  I almost cried passing it by for the move -- as hubby tried to convince me it was no longer open for the evening.

Like I didn't know.

We barely made it in time for the movie -- having to drive around the block a few times to find parking, with Siri telling me I was doing it all wrong and passing my destination about half a dozen times.  Once we were seated -- it was even more hilarious as I realized that maybe I should have turned off the kids' phone restrictions, originally set up for homework time.   Sometimes I am literally brilliant, I say.

It was an interesting experience, to say the least. 

We were (or at least I was) worrying most of the way through the movie if our car was going to be locked up or towed while we were watching the free movie.  I was nearly certain it was going to be the most expensive "free movie" in the history of the world.  Luckily our car was there -- and not locked up.  We got home and bolted to all the kids rooms making sure they were okay, since as we pulled in, both hubby and I had a little heart attack seeing both an ambulance and fire truck in the parking area of our apartment.

Needless to say, I did not get done what I needed to in the shop yesterday -- which should be a sign for me.  I spend a lot of time working all the parts of this shop, the design, the photos (I hate trying to get the backgrounds just right) the marketing, etc., it's a lot more work than I realized -- that taking a few hours to go on a date with hubby set me back what feels like a whole day.

Maybe when we decide to get a place with a bigger studio space -- maybe that will make it easier to turn off for the evenings.  It's funny, really, I am just as much a work-a-holic running my own shop as I ever was working outside of this creative business.

Maybe I need to slow down a bit more often.

Teal Blue Glass Flower Earrings in Oxidized Sterling Silver