09.28.06
Posted in Main, outings, sidenotes at 11:56 pm by carrie
Tonight, we visited the lovely Target mega-mega store in beautiful downtown Burbank. After purchasing several cleaning devices, paper products, a plethora of halloween lights and a brand new doggie toy for our pup we headed on over to the Olive Garden.
A 30 minute wait later, we were seated near the bar. We were enjoying our iced tea beverages and noticed that there were three people sitting at the bar and apparently, they were having a good time. They were sort of loud, very loud, normally it would have been a tad annoying, but they made us chuckle and say… why don’t we have friends like THAT, they certainly brought the party with them!
So, one of the three pulls up a chair and sits at the end of our table and introduces himself. Normally, a slightly intoxicated man joining our dinner conversation would intimidate me, but he seemed friendly enough. “Hello, my name is Petey…how are you enjoying your dinner this evening?” we introduce ourselves and each shook his hand. We ask him where he is from and conveniently, the address of the home he grew up in (North Carolina) was tattooed on the inside of his right arm, it even had the zip code… and so was his own name. “That’s where I used to live, before I moved here and became famous…” (I’m having mixed feelings at this point… teetering between being ignorant or thinking perhaps he’s having delusions of grandeur).
He asked us about our lives and made a remark about how he would like to have a talk show someday. He talked about love and something about waking up next to someone and putting on make-up… I can’t remember. He sang a bit. He had an angel pin on his shoulder. He made our waitress feel his arm muscles. We talked about his eight pit bulls and our little golden retreiver. His dogs have names like saddam, bin laden, tsunami and katrina… ours is named after a spice, and not even that spicey of a spice (nutmeg).
He mentioned going to Vegas in his car… he said he had tv’s “and stuff” in it.
We came home and googled our new friend…
Petey Pablo… and you can read about him on mtv.com.
I feel quite ignorant… there we were, at the Olive Garden getting advice from an up-and-coming rap star… huh. I gave him a Violets are Blue postcard and told him he should get a cupcake necklace… so, keep an eye out for that! ;)
So, that’s our adventures in Burbank for the evening… AND I got a new mop… how about that! ;)
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09.25.06
Posted in business-a-go-go, Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 9:17 pm by carrie
Ahhh, art monday! I was given some inspiration this weekend by Babs and off I went! Sidenote… 99% of my everyday-around-the-house t-shirts have little paint splotches on them. I make a huge mess while painting. There is something comforting knowing that I don’t own a pristine t-shirt…
The first to be almost finished is the little duckies by the pond image that I’ll use for cards and a wall hanging… I’m thinking of adding polka dots around the border…
When I was painting this I was thinking of the little song we sang in tap dance class… “Swim said the mama fishie swim if you can and they swam and they swam all over the damn… boop bood diddum daddum waddum, choo”. I must point out, these aren’t fishies (thanks captain obvious) but I somehow wanted to run and get a little tiara, tutu, tap shoes and some sunflower seeds in honor to the hours of tapping we did with Miss Kay Kourey of the Kay Kourey dance school. Ahh… memories… they always tend to be long-winded.
Oh, the frustration of drawing people, even if it’s just a tiny head and hand… very much the challenge. I love this image. The inspiration for this one came from a tiny 1″ x 1″ square black and white drawing of a baby in a bassinet in a tree. The not-so-little blue bird is there to tweet this toddler away to dreamland… I find it quite sweet :)
In other news… I’m trying to add new items to our growing family of goods at the store and website… which was officially launched TODAY. For those of you seeing this blog for the first time… Welcome! Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you would like to see here ;)
Anywhoo… I would really like to get these candles, and I would LOVE your input:
They would sell for $19.99. They are made of soy, not too overpowering, burn 80 hours, are 12 ounces AND you can clean the cup out and use it later on for beverages (since soy is so clean)! I’m leaning towards scents such as Orchid, Sweet Pea and Vanilla, Fresh Lilies and Willow Blossom . If you would like to check them out, click here and let me know what you think! They are called Skeem Candles…
The dinner timer just dinged! Off to make a salad… I’ll post more later! (possibly tonight!)
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09.21.06
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 2:47 am by carrie
I’ve been listing on the website all night and I can barely see!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted… I will be back in the next few days. We have a busy work and social schedule this week… seems I’m going to be spending a lot of time at the Hollywood Bowl :)
We’re going to see this… I’m excited & a tad disturbed that it was so popular. They are having a costume contest… too bad there isn’t a smurf video game, we’d be in the running for sure ;)
That didn’t make sense… it will after you click on the link.
Goodnight and have a great rest of the week everyone! It’s cooling down, yay!!! :)
p.s… if you would like to see more fresh-baked goodies at the shop, bug Graycee… tell her we NEED cupcakes and toffee wafers, urgently! We need to encourage this one, she’s being stubborn ;) If you tasted her stuff, you would be immediately hooked, trust me!
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08.29.06
Posted in business-a-go-go, Main, sidenotes at 2:12 pm by carrie
So, a slow progression… but I got everything unpacked! yay!!!! It’s not all priced, but that’s another story.
Here’s my progression…
Although not the best pictures… it’s coming along nicely :)
I must point out… we’ve had the greatest people in here today! Today, everyone has been encouraging and excited to see the decor all up! It’s always a nice pick-me-up to receive praise and well-wishes! And I’ve gotten a few requests for information on that wallpaper. This link to the wallpaper auction on ebay won’t last forever, but here’s their ebay store.
One of my most fabulous visitors has recently started a daycare… please check her out if you are in the La Crescenta area! :)
Well, I must get back to work but I had to share my progress and say a loud “Thank You!” to everyone who has given me a great day today! :) (And Lupe, if you are reading this… you are a part of that “good day”! I can’t thank you and Roy enough for the help with the wall hangings and for your happy feedback today! yay!)
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08.27.06
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 3:04 am by carrie
Quick sidenote… I have this bracelet on ebay and I LOVE it… I may have to keep it for myself :) Cathi Milligan (who is going to be on DIY for the 4th time!) made the beads and I assembled it… There are 2 slices of cake, a cupcake and two little petit fours!
So, this is just a “share” session…
Happy Sunday everyone! Toodle-ooo! :)
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08.24.06
Posted in business-a-go-go, Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 5:55 pm by carrie
“you’re sensitive!”
But… with the store in disarray the way it is… I take it personally. Kind of like in E.T. that “kid friendly” movie we watched over and over when I was eight and it scared me to death (I had a t-shirt with his scary little face on it, see… I’m still scarred… hehe). Elliot and E.T. share emotions and are linked together… remember… Elliot releases the frogs. The store is feeling chaotic and it’s giving me a headache… I need to release some frogs.
That said… I think that everyone coming in here feels it, too. I get disappointed sighs that the new holiday decor isn’t up, I’ll hear them dig through a box or trip over one, I haven’t decided which is more embarrassing. The other thing… I’ve had a LOT of odd requests for things I have never seen before. And I feel like I haven’t done my homework when someone walks out of here empty-handed after scolding me that I don’t have a what-see-do or a who-see-waddle. I didn’t get the gold star AND a note may go home for the parents to sign. Bad me. Bad, bad me…
So… this be a lesson to anyone wishing to open the doors to a lovely shopping mecca… think about all the shopping-treks you have embarked upon and what you wish you could have found or what made you go “that’s clever!” I have yet to go through many of life’s milestones (50 year anniversary, grand kids, a quinceanera, retirement… just a few examples) and come up with the perfect token gift for such an occasion, but really… keep a little journal. I’ve started one. Start with… frames for every occasion. Now I’m remembering a company that had one that was a magnet frame and you bought the little words and letters to personalize it… a-HA! Must give my rep a call. He’ll laugh at me because I passed on them the first time around.
I’m totally rambling… another sign of your alien-bond/friend being surrounded by chaos.
My next post… I used one of Ina’s (Barefoot Contessa) recipes the other night and it was glorious! Nathan took pictures and evidentially, is encouraging this cooking habit. I wonder why? :)
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08.04.06
Posted in business-a-go-go, Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 2:24 pm by carrie
Okay… so… we have about 1/2 of our Halloween inventory here and it’s priced and ready to go out but I’m still waiting… on you guessed it, Bethany Lowe and some other fun things but there are things to settle with that company and blah blah blah…. long story short, I’m behind in paperwork, my communications and my merchandising. Bad me.
In order to make myself accountable for my lack of motivation, desire to procrastinate and website-distraction… I’m posting pics here of the shop so I can MAKE myself do something… we look like a warehouse and not a browsing mecca. Although, this summer… just thinking about it nauseates me. S-L-O-W. Why should I put out the blinky pumpkins and spend hours setting up every little detail only to amuse our umpteen-hundred vendors selling paring knives, fake aquariums, water coolers, baseball tickets and oh, don’t forget the charities like “people helping children in need oversees“. I’m sure they are are overseas, just not overseen and I’m sure any donations will go directly to the children. Argh. In a nutshell… our customers are out doing fun summery things… not truly planning out their Halloween decor scheme. Not right now, at least.
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Okay… so here it is… not very pretty and why is it so dark in here? This is just one side. This is where all the Halloween stuff is going to go. But look at it in this status… unpacked with nowhere to go. My drawing below gives an idea of what the window will look like but what do I do with this wall?!? Notice, if you have good eyes, the wallpaper I was speaking of 2 blogs down rolled out a bit on top of the mantle to the left of the mirror. Okay… in their picture, the pattern looks a LOT smaller, unless that is a behemoth chair and end table??
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See what I’m talking about?? Or maybe I’m not seeing it right. When you see my blurry pic on the right, do they look like they are the same size??
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Here it is closer. Wow, what a mess.
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Just for some added embarrasment, here is the hallway leading to our itty-bitty storage “facility” (ha!). I had to pull everything out to get to our black halloween trees… isn’t this attractive?!? And today I noticed our baseboard on the right had moved and is like… 1/2″ too short… how did THAT happen? Has anyone heard of spontaneous wood baseboard shrinkage?
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So, here is my sketch of my intentions… again… I have intentions ;)
Let me explain…
Okay, so… I have a ton of black tulle that I’m going to drape accross the whole window and the tiebacks are really cool Edward Gorey inspired skeleton cherubs. Creepy and cute, all at the same time… joy! I made them to look like they are flying and holding back the fabric, like they are presenting the scene.
Starting on the left, a vanity that looks like a desk when closed, but the middle opens up to a mirror. Currently it’s late 1960′s brown with matching hardware. I plan to paint it black and put white glass knobs on it. OOOH! I have those chairs from eons ago that I could put with! White with black and white cushion! yay! Okay… so, this will be the Witch vanity. Bottles of potion (this is where it gets ambitious… anyone in a decoupaging-sort of mood?!?), baubles hanging from the chandelier above… etc and so on.
The middle table is currently white… I’m debating bringing in the dark wood buffet to fit the mood. Here, I will display all the Nicol Sayre goodies… Behind these goodies and hanging in the window, 4 paintings done on plexiglass so you can see thru them. Ya, sure, I’ll just whip that out in an hour. Also, this is where I might hang all the cool Halloween chinese lanterns we got.
The far right… well…. I need to find a desk I can paint black. I don’t currently have one so I must get one! We have an old typewriter, I’m thinking a story written by a “ghost writer” started in the typewriter. And here I will drape cobwebs from the chandelier onto the desk covered in fun paper products… hear that Babette?!! We need fun black and white notecards and stationery! ;)
So, that’s the window… still have the other 1200 square feet to do. Really, I just want to sit here and sip my latte.
In website news… it’s up but not quite done. Three days in a row staying up until 5am is starting to catch up with my and my once passionate desire to finish is overcome with sleepy-time thoughts… pillows and fuzzy blankets. It’s… argh… August… I wanted it done in July. But here we are. Oh, and I should check to see that the $7.00 order I put in yesterday hit my account… I’d hate to find out my new snazzy online merchant account is hooked up to a tattoo parlor in Yonkers… “Hey, Thor… there’s a credit on our statement… says we sold a cupcake necklace… when did we get cupcake necklaces?” Somehow, someway, I’ve come up with a scary scandinavian viking name for a tatoo guy in Yonkers.
And I’m still working on that car wash drawing…
And I need to thank Tracey at “Notes from a Cottage Industry” for the motivation today. I was browsing her blog and a few pictures really pushed me to get this diplay finished… so, many thanks to her for the inspiration! :) Her little shop (only 94 square feet… how cute is that?!?) is only open on Saturdays… hmmmm… don’t give me any ideas!
Sidenote… someone just came in… looking completely flustered… went directly to the other side of the shop then ran out… without saying anything… any conclusions? Perhaps we were mistaken for another business, she saw something offensive… our banana split dishes are a little offensive, but I wouldn’t expect running.
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07.28.06
Posted in business-a-go-go, Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 7:20 pm by carrie
So, retail land is slumber-time during the summer… especially with the record breaking heat we’ve had this year.
I’ve had quite the frustrating morning and I thought I would share it so those of you who want a shop will know what to expect ;)
1. You will be bombarded by vendors all summer.
They’ll be selling advertising, merchant services, handmade things you never knew you didn’t need and other odd things. This morning, for example, three young people came in trying to convince me to switch to their credit card merchant services… I was busy buying beads from Cathi Milligan, bead goddess (hehe). I have NEVER seen an angry Cathi… these 3, they rubbed her the wrong way… here’s how it went:
Me: me
Them: pushy salespeople
Cathi: Cathi
Them: “Do you accept credit cards ma’am?”
Me: “Yes, yes I do and I am very happy with my provider so I am not interested in your services.”
Them: “Well, I bet you we can beat their rates!”
Me: “Well, no… I’ve had 3 other groups, such as yourself, look at my rates and they’ve all said I have great rates, I don’t need…”
Them: “Well, what are your rates?”
Me: “ummm… I’m not sure… one point something… “
at this point you could tell Cathi was getting uncomfortable… she was putting her stuff away and pulling it towards her…
Them: “Well, if you just show us a statement, we could take a look and let you know what we think…”
Me: “That isn’t necessary… oh, Cathi, are you leaving??”
Cathi: “Yes… “(walking toward the door) “She told you she wasn’t interested and you STILL won’t leave and I find that incredibly rude!!!!”
I’m a tad in shock at this point….
Them: “If you just show us a statement, we’ll leave”
Me: “Fine…” I go and get the folder….
Turns out they COULD NOT save me any money and all of that was a waste of time…
Them: (the nice one in the group) “so, now you can tell anyone else who comes in that you have the best rates…”
Duh, I told you that. And with that said, if you need a merchant account, I’ll refer you to my guy if anyone out there requests it! :)
2. It’s hot. People are in a bad mood.
People want to be in an air conditioned environment and get lots of attention. It’s 78-80 in here and I can give you attention, but I can’t perform miracles.
Case in point:
My friend Rachael, who really has nothing to do with this story, but she is a self-proclaimed “lid banger”. I find that perfectly okay, but not with the turn-of-the-century hand-painted ceramics. Feel free to touch them and pick them up but if you think you are going to bang and clang them into each other, with force, please ask me for help and I’ll run right over and help! :)
That said… we got a ceramics banger in today who was looking at a set of 5 bowls, a nut bowl set, hand painted… retails for $83.00, these are slightly rare.
Customer: “$83.00…So, that’s $5.00 each, right?”
Me: “ummm… no, it’s a 5 piece set and they sell together as a set for $83.00, I’m sorry.”
Customer: “well, I only want this one!”
Me: “I’m sorry… I can’t break them up, they’ve been a set for over 100 years, it would be a shame to break up their family!”
Customer: “well, I guess I won’t get them then”
Customer: “I fell in love with this plate over here…”
Plate in question:
Me: “oh yes, it’s a beauty! It’s chipped and sold as-is… I wish I could get more”
Customer: “Can you get more? I would like a set but unfortunately, that one is broken”
Me: “oh… ummm… I can’t get a set and I only found that one, by itself, at an estate sale… again, I wish I could get more, but I can’t!”
Customer: “so, you can’t get any more?”
Me: “no, I’m sorry”
Customer: “But I want them”
Me: “ummmm…”
This went on for a while…
Boy, if I could have a time-traveling device I would SO go and grab all the expensive antiques and hoard them… but alas, I cannot and we do get onsies. I like the idea of all onsie plates, cups and saucers in my house… more fun that way.
3. You won’t have what they are looking for.
I just got 20 boxes of Halloween and fall items. They aren’t all out and displayed… if you’ve seen the way I plan for displays, you will be aware of the fact that it takes me a while to plan and assemble.
50% of my customers want it all out and displayed… with happy little ghosts, witches, pilgrims, indians… the whole bit.
The other 50% are annoyed with the idea of Fall items being out this early.
What do I do?
I figured mid-August is a good compromise… with a party at the end of September… we shall see.
Also… we are running low on silk florals. I am not quite sure what to get… We mostly sell springy pastel items but with the fall coming, I would like to get the darker, richer colored arrangements. eek! Do I wait, do I go now… another quandary.
Oh, and apparently, I don’t have enough lamps. pass it on.
4. Stock up on toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap
We must be between a large beverage factory and people’s homes because… we are a common pit-stop. They may or may not make a purchase but they will come in with a need of another kind. We are also surrounded by automotive repair shops and I can see the wheels spinning in their heads as they head for the crosswalk… greasy auto shop or pink boutique? Which would have the better-looking, cleaner bathroom?? (Since I’m the maid in this particular situation, and I’m NOT the best housekeeper… this one is a toss-up ;) )
5. Your electric bill… it will be huge.
Without going into numbers… this was the highest bill we’ve had… ever. But nothing will beat the Denny’s in Baker on the way to Vegas… the year we had the energy crisis, they had a bill of $10,000 for ONE month… that’s right, $10K!! It was mounted and shellacked by the front door. I would have bronzed it personally!! :)
6. Carry child distracting items
Such as candy, little games, books, dvd’s… or tell them that little people live under the carpet… anything to keep them distracted. If I were little, I would find the shop quite boring, too.
7. With the sun staying up longer, 7pm feels like 6pm…
How does this affect us you ask? Well, when you are on your way out at 6:30, you will get people coming in to shop… not knowing it is indeed, 6:30, thinking it’s more like 5:00… so, stay longer!
8. The July gift show is here! You should be…
in bunny mode, so put on those lop-ears! Here comes spring and Easter. You should have already ordered Valentine’s day, which I have… mostly. We went to the gift show last Tuesday and found the most amazing things! An awesome line of candles, the most amazing linens EVER, some neat chocolate gift sets for christmas, more soaps… and books! We’re going again this Sunday and perhaps I’ll be more aware of what I am doing and take pics of all the goodies we encounter!
I guess this is all general information… common sense if you will… but, it’s all sort of a lesson to me! We’ve been in business over 3 years and I’m still learning on a daily basis!
Nathan just got me a shirt that says “I’m blogging this”… HA! I’ll wear it when I desire customer service… would that even make them flinch??
OH!
One thing I can tell you for sure… a 12 foot pool-in-a-box put together and filled with water on a slightly sloped back yard is a bad idea. I got a pool-cleaning net, chlorine, the whole bit… couldn’t keep that thing clean to save my backside. So, it’s fun for about 3 days… after that… no. A gigantic waste of $100 plus whatever water costs you… and when you drain it, you have to do it a little at a time over the course of a few days. The birds loved it tho.
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