So, I have had my shop for a month now and it looks so different to the day I took it over. I am getting lots of feedback on how much BETTER it all looks now, which is totally awesome! I am at the moment organising a bit of a grand re opening of sorts for next weekend. There will be balloons and cookies for the kids and .... a face painter!!! I love face painting. So much so in fact that I will get my face painted on the day too I think! I'm putting a half page ad in the local paper next week for a little promotion, so I hope it brings in a few peeps and of course a few dollars :D
As usual, my mind is about 100 miles ahead of where it should be and I keep telling myself I should be slowing down and taking it one day at a time, but I have this ambitious streak that has hit me head on and I feel like I need to act on it. I suppose time will tell what comes of it all. In the meantime, I damn well hope this economy picks up, particularly the Aussie dollar against the US, as that has a fair bearing on a major element of my future plans .... definitely just have to wait and see there.
People are starting to buy for Christmas already which is good but also daunting! It's still October!!! Not that I'm knocking it! Bring it on, I say!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Year 12 runs amok
It was Year 12 Muck Up day in town last night and the streets are littered with little polystyrine balls and shaving cream adorned windows! My shop escaped unscathed luckily! My window cleaner came in this morning and we got talking about the muck up day and it turns out that I went to school with his daughter! We got to laughing about her in her costume for the day which was a giant nappy! So funny. I remember her clear as day in that get up too! So I've been remembering my muck up day quite fondly. I dressed in my 'modified' school uniform for the night. I cut my skirt to just below my bum, had knee high black socks and high heeled boots, a white shirt unbuttoned to reveal a black bra and bright pink hair!! It was such a riot of a night. We stayed out all night drinking and causing havoc to the school and town, which we were then made to clean up the next day hung over as all hell! It was a good night. I remember a photo of me sitting on the edge of the basketball court with my hair in pink dreadlocks caused by flour egg and god knows what else getting into it! I was covered in permanent black texta from all the phone numbers of friends written on me .... making me laugh know as I think about those kids doing what I did some 14 years ago :D
Slowly growing :)
Quite an exciting week so far. I finally received my clothing line from the US which is getting rave reviews from all that have seen it so far. I am dressing my middle feral in it and letting her wander the streets (just kidding) as advertising! Lots of people are saying how wonderful it is to see the shop full of stock again and I have also had quite a few say that they like it more than the previous owner! Of course, being a small town I still have my doubters, and I always will. That was always to be expected.
I am planning my next trip to the US. I can't give away too much but it will have a significant effect on what course my career takes. And hopefully that course is success of course! Hopefully in mid January I will be in LA again and also San Francisco. I had planned to go to New York as well, but with the Aussie dollar looking the way it does, I may have to stick to the west coast for now and head to New York later next year. All going the way I *hope* it goes, this shouldn't be a problem by then!
It's strange being away from the kids. I miss them a lot. I don't miss the tantrums and random screaming matches for no reason, but I miss their voices and kisses and cuddles. I have also learnt that my kids are freakin awesome really, compared to others! Some of the kids that visit my shop should be locked up!! Not to mention the parents! The other day, I was about to lock up the front door to close for the day when I heard a little noise. There, in the playroom was a little girl of about 7 ON HER OWN. I asked her where her mummy was and she said 'in a shop shopping.' Seriously, who does that? Who leaves their little kid to wander aimlessly? Morons. And don't get me started on the ones who think that my stock is a free for all play area and that it costs me nothing if they break all my toys. Makes me so mad. Totally not the kids fault though. They need the guidance of their parents .... which I have discovered is sorely lacking in too many cases.
Anyway, all is progressing nicely and I am finally making some head way into developing my website. Oh and when I say developing, I mean paying someone else to do it of course! I'm way too much of a nuffy to even think about doing that myself!
I am planning my next trip to the US. I can't give away too much but it will have a significant effect on what course my career takes. And hopefully that course is success of course! Hopefully in mid January I will be in LA again and also San Francisco. I had planned to go to New York as well, but with the Aussie dollar looking the way it does, I may have to stick to the west coast for now and head to New York later next year. All going the way I *hope* it goes, this shouldn't be a problem by then!
It's strange being away from the kids. I miss them a lot. I don't miss the tantrums and random screaming matches for no reason, but I miss their voices and kisses and cuddles. I have also learnt that my kids are freakin awesome really, compared to others! Some of the kids that visit my shop should be locked up!! Not to mention the parents! The other day, I was about to lock up the front door to close for the day when I heard a little noise. There, in the playroom was a little girl of about 7 ON HER OWN. I asked her where her mummy was and she said 'in a shop shopping.' Seriously, who does that? Who leaves their little kid to wander aimlessly? Morons. And don't get me started on the ones who think that my stock is a free for all play area and that it costs me nothing if they break all my toys. Makes me so mad. Totally not the kids fault though. They need the guidance of their parents .... which I have discovered is sorely lacking in too many cases.
Anyway, all is progressing nicely and I am finally making some head way into developing my website. Oh and when I say developing, I mean paying someone else to do it of course! I'm way too much of a nuffy to even think about doing that myself!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Super busy ... my brain could do with a day off! :D
There is so much going on in my life at the moment and I have barely had a moment to sit down. The times when it is quiet at the shop I relish, as it gives me a chance to kick back and relax. Having said that though, I seem to be constantly doing something!
This week I advertised in the local paper and the response has been quite good. I am getting customers coming in and talking to me as if they know me!! This is due to the fact that the paper ran an editorial on me and basically told my life story!! hehehe
The editorial also resulted in some companies contacting me wanting me to stock their products. Happily there are a lot of high quality, high end companies liking me, which is my ultimate goal, particularly once I go online.
Also at this time we are doing a major house extension and renovation which is frustrating but also exciting. My dream home is being built and once finished will be damn shit hot. I have only managed to go to the site a couple of times as I have been too busy, but it looks awesome and I cannot wait to move in. Will of course post pics once it's done, probably with before and after so you can see the difference. Exciting times!
I still haven't started my website yet. The biggest hurdle I have at the moment is that I work 9 - 5 and as I am on my own at the shop, making phone calls can be tricky as obviously the customer comes first. Web developers have the same office hours as me so not quite sure how I'm going to go about this. Might have to get me a minion!! It's frustrating too because I want the site up and running ASAP as I am sure this is where I am going to be the most successful. Particularly with the ideas I have for it. I believe what I want to do will be quite unique to Australia so I am very very excited!! Big ideas I have!!!!
Now I am indulging in some much needed wine ... been super hot today and I am loving the change in the weather. Will be loving it even more when I can swim in my pool that is coming with my reno ... YAY!!
Happy days :)
This week I advertised in the local paper and the response has been quite good. I am getting customers coming in and talking to me as if they know me!! This is due to the fact that the paper ran an editorial on me and basically told my life story!! hehehe
The editorial also resulted in some companies contacting me wanting me to stock their products. Happily there are a lot of high quality, high end companies liking me, which is my ultimate goal, particularly once I go online.
Also at this time we are doing a major house extension and renovation which is frustrating but also exciting. My dream home is being built and once finished will be damn shit hot. I have only managed to go to the site a couple of times as I have been too busy, but it looks awesome and I cannot wait to move in. Will of course post pics once it's done, probably with before and after so you can see the difference. Exciting times!
I still haven't started my website yet. The biggest hurdle I have at the moment is that I work 9 - 5 and as I am on my own at the shop, making phone calls can be tricky as obviously the customer comes first. Web developers have the same office hours as me so not quite sure how I'm going to go about this. Might have to get me a minion!! It's frustrating too because I want the site up and running ASAP as I am sure this is where I am going to be the most successful. Particularly with the ideas I have for it. I believe what I want to do will be quite unique to Australia so I am very very excited!! Big ideas I have!!!!
Now I am indulging in some much needed wine ... been super hot today and I am loving the change in the weather. Will be loving it even more when I can swim in my pool that is coming with my reno ... YAY!!
Happy days :)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Blue
It's Mental Health Awareness Week and twitter is awash with blue avatars of wonderful people supporting this cause.
One of my favourite charities is Beyond Blue. The reason for this is because four and a half years ago (or thereabouts) I suffered from a form of depression that is so very common yet rarely talked about even now: Post Natal Depression.
It was a very horrible time in my life. I had a form of post natal depression that was fueled by anxiety. I was certain that my newly born son was going to die. It haunted my every breathing moment. All I wanted was to shield him from the world and protect him forever. I was certain if someone tried to do anything to him I would put myself before him. Had anything happened to him, I would have quite possibly never made it myself.
On top of this anxiety that harm would befall him, was my inability to breast feed him. We struggled for 11 long weeks. I had to use a nipple shield which meant I barely left the house, because as anyone who has ever had to use one knows, it's impossible to feed in public without everyone getting a good look at your breast and I was not at all the type of person comfortable with flashing my boobs in public (4 yrs and 3 kids later it's a different story!!! lol). We were virtually isolated inside and I was going insane. Literally.
I rang the breast feeding association. I have to say, I encountered the most unhelpful woman ever. I was crying. A lot. I could barely talk. My son wasn't feeding. He was crying. You know what she said to me? She said, "let me send you an info pack, it's obvious from your tears that you're desperate to breast feed him" ... an info pack??? Hello? My life was and had been in hell for the past 9 weeks. An info pack? Lady, I needed help, and I needed it right then. As I was living in Perth at the time, I rang the local parent help line at Ngala (wonderful peeps who continued to provide support for 4 years) and got a wonderful woman on the phone. She had suffered exactly what I had been suffering. She knew the pain I was in. She asked me, very gently, "Will he take a bottle?" "Yes." I said. We had been giving him bottles in between breast feeds as he was starving. "Then give him a bottle and DO NOT feel guilty about it. DO NOT." I gave him a bottle. He stopped crying. I stopped crying. I also made the decision to stop breastfeeding him and use bottles. He became a different child overnight. I became a diiferent woman. My depression lifted remarkably quickly as I was able to leave the house and not spend hours of every day crying.
As a bit of a postscript, I would like to mention that the lady from the Breastfeeding Association never did send me any information. I would also like to note that my 2nd child breast feed like a champion for 8 months, even after being a neonate baby and tube fed for the first week of her life. My third child was also a champion feeder, though I felt I was slipping into the depths of depression again after her birth, so I made the tough desicion to stop breast feeding her as I wasn't eating or looking after myself at all, so was therefore not really looking after her either. We lasted 3 months the third time.
So many people have an opinion about post natal depression. Every one is a doctor in their own heads. A couple of years after my depression I was finally able to talk about it. My cousin laughed at me and told me I was "sleep deprived". Even my own mother questioned whether I had had depression. No wonder we don't talk about this stuff. Every one laughs at you or tells you (ironically) that you are 'crazy' for thinking you're crazy.
After 3 children I am happy to say that I only suffered PND once. I was lucky to have a wonderful husband who stood by me and understood. Who helped me and who helped me get help. Who sat with me in the middle of the night and held my hand while I cried and tried to get Sprat to feed. He also knew the signs to look for after kids 2 and 3 were born and he read books and articles to better understand. Without him, my story might have ended differently, or after a lot longer.
So to anyone who suffers depression ... I know. I know how dark it can be. I also know that I am lucky to have come through unscathed, and after such a short time.
One of my favourite charities is Beyond Blue. The reason for this is because four and a half years ago (or thereabouts) I suffered from a form of depression that is so very common yet rarely talked about even now: Post Natal Depression.
It was a very horrible time in my life. I had a form of post natal depression that was fueled by anxiety. I was certain that my newly born son was going to die. It haunted my every breathing moment. All I wanted was to shield him from the world and protect him forever. I was certain if someone tried to do anything to him I would put myself before him. Had anything happened to him, I would have quite possibly never made it myself.
On top of this anxiety that harm would befall him, was my inability to breast feed him. We struggled for 11 long weeks. I had to use a nipple shield which meant I barely left the house, because as anyone who has ever had to use one knows, it's impossible to feed in public without everyone getting a good look at your breast and I was not at all the type of person comfortable with flashing my boobs in public (4 yrs and 3 kids later it's a different story!!! lol). We were virtually isolated inside and I was going insane. Literally.
I rang the breast feeding association. I have to say, I encountered the most unhelpful woman ever. I was crying. A lot. I could barely talk. My son wasn't feeding. He was crying. You know what she said to me? She said, "let me send you an info pack, it's obvious from your tears that you're desperate to breast feed him" ... an info pack??? Hello? My life was and had been in hell for the past 9 weeks. An info pack? Lady, I needed help, and I needed it right then. As I was living in Perth at the time, I rang the local parent help line at Ngala (wonderful peeps who continued to provide support for 4 years) and got a wonderful woman on the phone. She had suffered exactly what I had been suffering. She knew the pain I was in. She asked me, very gently, "Will he take a bottle?" "Yes." I said. We had been giving him bottles in between breast feeds as he was starving. "Then give him a bottle and DO NOT feel guilty about it. DO NOT." I gave him a bottle. He stopped crying. I stopped crying. I also made the decision to stop breastfeeding him and use bottles. He became a different child overnight. I became a diiferent woman. My depression lifted remarkably quickly as I was able to leave the house and not spend hours of every day crying.
As a bit of a postscript, I would like to mention that the lady from the Breastfeeding Association never did send me any information. I would also like to note that my 2nd child breast feed like a champion for 8 months, even after being a neonate baby and tube fed for the first week of her life. My third child was also a champion feeder, though I felt I was slipping into the depths of depression again after her birth, so I made the tough desicion to stop breast feeding her as I wasn't eating or looking after myself at all, so was therefore not really looking after her either. We lasted 3 months the third time.
So many people have an opinion about post natal depression. Every one is a doctor in their own heads. A couple of years after my depression I was finally able to talk about it. My cousin laughed at me and told me I was "sleep deprived". Even my own mother questioned whether I had had depression. No wonder we don't talk about this stuff. Every one laughs at you or tells you (ironically) that you are 'crazy' for thinking you're crazy.
After 3 children I am happy to say that I only suffered PND once. I was lucky to have a wonderful husband who stood by me and understood. Who helped me and who helped me get help. Who sat with me in the middle of the night and held my hand while I cried and tried to get Sprat to feed. He also knew the signs to look for after kids 2 and 3 were born and he read books and articles to better understand. Without him, my story might have ended differently, or after a lot longer.
So to anyone who suffers depression ... I know. I know how dark it can be. I also know that I am lucky to have come through unscathed, and after such a short time.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The first week
Well it has been a very busy first week back at work. We spent the week cleaning and remerchandising the shop. We moved everything around, added new racking and shelving and the shop already looks a million times better than it did. Unfortunately in the past week I have discovered just how many mistakes the last owner had made, so have been busy fixing those too. My dollar figures for the first week were up around 40% on her sales too! This is all very good!
I'm still waiting on a lot of stock, mostly the clothing I have ordered. The fantastic brand that I picked up from Santa Monica is still yet to arrive and I am waiting for it with such excitement! It's truly beautiful stuff and I want to put it on display soooo badly! Hopefully it will arrive sometime this week.
The kids are loving having a toy shop to play in! Mr 4 even helps me ... he greets customers and makes sure all the toys go back in their correct spots when people have been playing with them .. so so cute :D
I am so exhausted though. We went out on Saturday night to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary (!!) and one of our best friends birthdays and after dessert I nearly fell asleep at the dinner table! So embarrassing! Luckily they're our best mates and I didn't offend anyone :)
So today is another Monday morning for me. It's foul weather, raining and gloomy, so I'm not expecting a very busy day ... might give me a bit of time to build more gorgeous wooden toys and play with them! I'm such a big kid! :D
Anyway, I'm off to a good start and my next step is the advertising. Will be giving that a red hot crack this week. Then it's time to get to work on my website ... and by get to work I mean get someone else to get to work!! I'll be paying peeps to do this for me as it's really something I don't want to stuff up! As soon as it's done, I'll post a link then you can all start shopping with me no matter where you live :P
I'm still waiting on a lot of stock, mostly the clothing I have ordered. The fantastic brand that I picked up from Santa Monica is still yet to arrive and I am waiting for it with such excitement! It's truly beautiful stuff and I want to put it on display soooo badly! Hopefully it will arrive sometime this week.
The kids are loving having a toy shop to play in! Mr 4 even helps me ... he greets customers and makes sure all the toys go back in their correct spots when people have been playing with them .. so so cute :D
I am so exhausted though. We went out on Saturday night to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary (!!) and one of our best friends birthdays and after dessert I nearly fell asleep at the dinner table! So embarrassing! Luckily they're our best mates and I didn't offend anyone :)
So today is another Monday morning for me. It's foul weather, raining and gloomy, so I'm not expecting a very busy day ... might give me a bit of time to build more gorgeous wooden toys and play with them! I'm such a big kid! :D
Anyway, I'm off to a good start and my next step is the advertising. Will be giving that a red hot crack this week. Then it's time to get to work on my website ... and by get to work I mean get someone else to get to work!! I'll be paying peeps to do this for me as it's really something I don't want to stuff up! As soon as it's done, I'll post a link then you can all start shopping with me no matter where you live :P
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