Hi! It's been awhile! I am trying to be kind to myself and not go back to see exactly how long it has been or how sporadic my blog posts have been the past month. That's a version of kindness, right? To not beat yourself up for one of the many, many things you couldn't get around to?
That's not to say I have been totally awol. I mean, I did convince Greg to write an amazing guest post for this favorite product of his. Victory!
Our past three weeks have been absolutely insane with jewelry. We have jewelry coming out of our ears. It's kind of the craziest thing- this life we have somehow formed for ourselves. We have been so busy and stressed the past few weeks that it's hard to even register what we have done- what we are doing. We are making this work! This is a business for us! This is providing for our family! We have made our own work and it is paying us better than other work we've done and we get to choose the hours, the way, the rules. We are doing it!
It's thrilling!
But also really stressful!
And also taking over our house!!!
So Greg does the caffeine run and I box up some orders and Greg finds a creative way to set up a booth at a Christmas market and I reply to a question about if someone can change their shipping address and Greg drives to set up a jewelry display and I order more inventory and Greg digs through the earring bins to find a pair of rose gold bars and I attach earrings to label backs and so it goes and goes and goes. No time to think about what we are doing because the past three weeks it has been survival mode survival mode survival mode.
That's why there have been no blog posts. There hasn't been time to write, let alone to think. I keep telling myself that this is a temporary insanity. We have to take the work when it comes because then January will come and everything will slow way way down and baby is coming in February so we need to save extra money in December. You take the work when you get it and are grateful for it. And you take the slow time when you get it and are grateful for it. I think that has been one of the biggest challenges so far of our business- managing the busy times and the slow times. During the busy times I can't relax or enjoy the success because I'm so stressed about getting the orders out and pleasing people and making sure customers are happy. During the slow times I can't relax or enjoy the down time because I convince myself that we'll never get another sale again and the business will surely fail. IT IS SO FUN TO BE ME!
Anyway, all this to say that after this next week everything in jewelry land should slow waaaaaay down and that's a good thing. It is already slowing down, actually. Our last day for Christmas delivery for our online orders is Friday, December 16. Just five more days! We have already done 6 of the 7 Christmas markets we committed to this year- and the seventh is already set up and stocked. Last week was the worst of it. I kept telling myself- just make it to December 11. Just make it to December 11.
Guess what? It's December 11! And I made it! We made it!
I am so excited to start writing more this week. I am planning to pick back up the 8 minute memoir project I started in the fall. I really loved that and the opportunity it gave me to just write. I'm also excited to tell you about this pregnancy (I'm really tired and my back hurts!) and to tell you about school (my students are the sweetest and teaching them Kite Runner was one of the highlights of my whole teaching career) and about my little Junebug (she talks nonstop but it's mostly purely gibberish and I don't think there's such as thing as too much two year old gibberish.)
It's a good life! And we're keeping it together over here. Thank you to every person who has ever read this blog or bought a piece of jewelry or done both! You guys are so great and we love you. We feel so grateful for our corner of the internet. Sometimes people who read this blog order jewelry and they leave a comment on etsy that says something like, "Hey! I read your blog! Good luck with everything!" and it kind of makes my day that people out there are that nice to read a blog, invest in a person and family they've never met, buy a piece of jewelry, support and love and all that good juju. SO THANK YOU!
SOME OTHER THINGS:
+ I got this gift for Greg this year and he's pretty much nuts about it. So now I am buying some for my boss AND my brother. Hey, go big or go home, right?
+ If you are looking for a great way to give globally this holiday season, may I suggest giving through this program that gives lasting changes to women and families in Malawi. The gift of a farm animal, for example, can give nourishment and income to a family. It is an excellent gift for that hard to buy for person who already has it all.
That's not to say I have been totally awol. I mean, I did convince Greg to write an amazing guest post for this favorite product of his. Victory!
Our past three weeks have been absolutely insane with jewelry. We have jewelry coming out of our ears. It's kind of the craziest thing- this life we have somehow formed for ourselves. We have been so busy and stressed the past few weeks that it's hard to even register what we have done- what we are doing. We are making this work! This is a business for us! This is providing for our family! We have made our own work and it is paying us better than other work we've done and we get to choose the hours, the way, the rules. We are doing it!
It's thrilling!
But also really stressful!
And also taking over our house!!!
So Greg does the caffeine run and I box up some orders and Greg finds a creative way to set up a booth at a Christmas market and I reply to a question about if someone can change their shipping address and Greg drives to set up a jewelry display and I order more inventory and Greg digs through the earring bins to find a pair of rose gold bars and I attach earrings to label backs and so it goes and goes and goes. No time to think about what we are doing because the past three weeks it has been survival mode survival mode survival mode.
That's why there have been no blog posts. There hasn't been time to write, let alone to think. I keep telling myself that this is a temporary insanity. We have to take the work when it comes because then January will come and everything will slow way way down and baby is coming in February so we need to save extra money in December. You take the work when you get it and are grateful for it. And you take the slow time when you get it and are grateful for it. I think that has been one of the biggest challenges so far of our business- managing the busy times and the slow times. During the busy times I can't relax or enjoy the success because I'm so stressed about getting the orders out and pleasing people and making sure customers are happy. During the slow times I can't relax or enjoy the down time because I convince myself that we'll never get another sale again and the business will surely fail. IT IS SO FUN TO BE ME!
Anyway, all this to say that after this next week everything in jewelry land should slow waaaaaay down and that's a good thing. It is already slowing down, actually. Our last day for Christmas delivery for our online orders is Friday, December 16. Just five more days! We have already done 6 of the 7 Christmas markets we committed to this year- and the seventh is already set up and stocked. Last week was the worst of it. I kept telling myself- just make it to December 11. Just make it to December 11.
Guess what? It's December 11! And I made it! We made it!
I am so excited to start writing more this week. I am planning to pick back up the 8 minute memoir project I started in the fall. I really loved that and the opportunity it gave me to just write. I'm also excited to tell you about this pregnancy (I'm really tired and my back hurts!) and to tell you about school (my students are the sweetest and teaching them Kite Runner was one of the highlights of my whole teaching career) and about my little Junebug (she talks nonstop but it's mostly purely gibberish and I don't think there's such as thing as too much two year old gibberish.)
It's a good life! And we're keeping it together over here. Thank you to every person who has ever read this blog or bought a piece of jewelry or done both! You guys are so great and we love you. We feel so grateful for our corner of the internet. Sometimes people who read this blog order jewelry and they leave a comment on etsy that says something like, "Hey! I read your blog! Good luck with everything!" and it kind of makes my day that people out there are that nice to read a blog, invest in a person and family they've never met, buy a piece of jewelry, support and love and all that good juju. SO THANK YOU!
SOME OTHER THINGS:
+ I got this gift for Greg this year and he's pretty much nuts about it. So now I am buying some for my boss AND my brother. Hey, go big or go home, right?
+ If you are looking for a great way to give globally this holiday season, may I suggest giving through this program that gives lasting changes to women and families in Malawi. The gift of a farm animal, for example, can give nourishment and income to a family. It is an excellent gift for that hard to buy for person who already has it all.
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