every little thing

Halloweenie

I'm posting this video because my mom says I never post on the blog anymore.
Harumph. So there.

What it is

It's about time I check in over here.  I haven't been in the mood to blog lately, but I suppose I'm feeling a bit reflective today.  Maybe it's all the Lifetime Original programing I watched yesterday.  Can you believe we actually got cable?!  Mike and I have never had cable, and we've lived together for almost 10 years now.  At first, there were financial restraints.  Then I suppose after a while we just got used to not having it.  We still watch lots of movie, so we were far from TV-free, but I still believe that movies and TV are a world apart, the main difference being that movies have a beginning, middle, and END.  Emphasis on the "end." 

So, it all started last week when I received a telemarketing call at a very bad time.  I was down.  Beat.  Stressed.  Hanging on by a thread.  When the cheerful lady asked me if I'd be interested in the Charter Cable Bundle, instead of blowing her off, I actually stopped to think first.  I was interested.  I guess I didn't respond right away, because she inquired again, "hello?....I said is this something you'd be interested in?"  I broke down, almost sobbing, "Yes!  Yes....yeeeesss! I am interested.  I really, really am."  The thought of being able to watch Mad Men at it's regularly scheduled time, and to listen to Food Network shows while I answered emails, gave me the strength, hope, and courage to keep going that week.  Now that it's all hooked up, I am enjoying it, but I don't think I'll get addicted or anything.  Somehow in my romanticizing of the whole affair, I conveniently forgot how God-awful annoying commercials are.  Time to learn how to work the DVR.

Cable TV...an interesting change for us.  But not as big Max's big news.  He started school today!  It's a really big deal and so far, I think we are all pretty ecstatic about the whole thing.  I never talked much about our decision to homeschool on my blog.  Our family is always changing and evolving, and this year has been a little bonkers for all of us.  In the end, I love homeschooling, and I hope we get the chance to do it exclusively again someday.  But there were several reasons why it stopped working for us right now.  Mainly, though I know it's not impossible, I think it's extra hard to homeschool an only child.  Especially when Mike and I are both quiet, homebody types.  I figured I'd just have to change who I was and become more social....but it's hard to change who you are, and not really fair to everyone involved.  We also have been utterly overwhelmed with the business these last few months.  I blame myself for not seeing this coming, who'da thought the first year of a building a brand new business from the ground up would be tough?!?   Since this is exclusively what we do for a living and what supports our family, we can't exactly shove it to the back burner.  Mike and I are both taking steps to make sure the business grows more smoothly and that we have the help that we need, but it's going to take a little more time before things are running like clockwork.  The Shop isn't a sacred cow or anything, but neither of us want to give up on it just because we hit a rough patch.  We know we can work it out, but we can't both focus on the shop and homeschool Max properly at the same time.  We're just not that awesome, (and I require more than 3 hours of sleep a night.)  Plus, I've had a few health issues lately (nothing terrible,) but my stress levels have been all over the place and it's been a very new, and humbling experience for me.  Not to say I've never had stress before, but I have never encountered this kind of work-related stress in my entire life and WOW...it's really thrown me for a loop.  I'm dealing with it, but it's a strange new obstacle for me, and not feeling like I was able to be an adequate teacher for Max was making it all even harder.  I'm sure that many people will argue me on this, but I personally feel that Mike and I are not able to both work full-time and successfully homeshcool.  Homeschooling/Unschooling is hard. Wonderful, time-consuming, amazing, and hard.  It's really a full time job on it's own. 

Happily, we found a dream-come-true school for Max that seems to be the perfect fit for him and is also reasonably priced.  We are so grateful to have the ability now to pay the tuition, (which was never really an option for us before.)  It's a Montessori School, and their philosophies on learning are very agreeable with Max's temperament.  The classes include a range of ages, so everyone learns from and helps eachother - something that Max definitely has missed out on by not having siblings. Max just had an awesome first day, I'm so excited for him.  Our policy has always been, "Do what works, until it doesn't work anymore."  I will miss the freedom of homeschooling, but honestly, we all need to get a little more scheduled right now.  The beginning of this year was like a big free-for-all, and now it's time to settle down and find a rhythm.  I hope it all comes out in the wash.  I think it will.  I'll still miss my baby terribly every minute he's at school.  I've always been like that, though.  :)  Max, however, doesn't miss us for a second.  If anything, I think he's grateful to escape.

On the Biz-side.....still trucking along.  Making big strides these days.  Hiring employees, looking for a new commercial space, and a big website update on the horizon!  Super stoked about that.  Speaking of something "working, until it doesn't work anymore?"  That's sort of what happened with Pappashop (our ecommerce provider.)  We have totally outgrown it, and ooooh...the technical difficulties.  We lost so much ground over those these last few weeks due to those issues, I can't even tell you.  At one point, we just sat back, waiting for the locusts.  I'm excited to be moving on up, but I really wish I could just blink my eyes and have all of the work done and the new website up and running smoothly.  It's gonna take time to move 1000+ products over to a new site, and get used to the new, more complicated software.  In the end though, it's gonna be so very much better.  Lots of fun bells and whistles for the customers, easier checkout and a more professional layout, and time-saving features that will give me the ability to do what I love best: finding unique, new products and updating the blog with tutorials and fun stuff.  It will be such a relief to get the site going, and a real milestone for the whole business!

Growing the business has been hard.  Mike said it reminds him of Croatan.  It's a little piece of beach that's one of the only decent places to surf in Virginia.  When he was a kid, it was relatively a secret-spot.  Hardly anyone knew about it, so it was never crowded.  Then one day, everybody found out.  And it wasn't a secret anymore.  There were so many people trying to cram in and catch waves that nobody could really have any fun.  Ok, not the best analogy, but you catch my drift.  I miss being the little, secret shop that Mike and I could run ourselves, and ship orders out same-day, and make almost everyone happy all of the time.  Now, we are spread far too thin - and I know that will get better as we get help, but right now it sucks.  We're sold out of popular items all of the time, we can't ship fast enough, and I have hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls every day that I can't answer fast enough.  Even though I know we're doing our best, it's bad customer service and it drives me crazy.  But what to do?  Shut down for a while and "retool", so to speak?  Thought about it.  Might still happen on a small scale, but the Internet is strange like that.  you can't just say, "Sorry, we're closed.  We've got enough orders for the day, thank you and goodnight!"  Internet means 24/7, baby.   I've tried to keep popular items "out of stock" for a little while so we could catch up, but then I get 100's of emails asking when the products will be back in stock.  The only solution is more man power, and we've learned that the hard way.  Still, training people takes time, so we're still not out of the woods yet.   

It sounds like I'm whining about being successful.  I hate to sound like that.  I don't want to make excuses for what's going on, but I do feel it's important that our customers understand who we are and where we are coming from (and that we did NOT know BH&G was doing a full page mention until the day it hit newsstands!)  As of now, we have one person that answers phones and emails.  Me.  The same person who is working like a crazy girl, and also getting her kid to school, and (occasionally) doing laundry.  So if you don't get an instant reply, that's why.  I'm not saying that's right or wrong, it's just where we are right now.  And now I really need to help with packing and shipping orders to get them out faster, but I can't if I'm on the phone/email all day!  It's so frustrating - I wish I had about 8 clones!  (It worked out for Michael Keaton, right?)

All businesses start somewhere, and we started small.  I think many people aren't used to Indie businesses like we are, as bloggers, being immersed in this world and "growing up" on Esty and Ebay, craft shows and small start-ups.  We know the deal, and we tend to be more understanding.  I am getting many emails from people who are disappointed that items are sold out, and that we are unable to ship same day, etc.  And rightfully so, I wish things were different and that we could make everyone happy.  But, you know it's a funny thing, supply and demand.  If the items we offer were easy to find, and readily available all in one place, do you think they would be nearly as popular?  I seriously doubt it.  That's the nature of the beast, and it's a huge part of why I love my shop, because it's not just the same old stuff you can get everywhere.  If you could buy all of our products at Target, I wouldn't even be writing this post right now.  I rely mostly on my own intuition when I choose new items and design kits, and it really makes me smile to think that others are enjoying the selection!  Hooray! It's not just me, you all like this crazy stuff, too!  I don't make a lot of different kits, because I want them to be truly inspired and special to me.  I love the Best Ever icing kit (which I know are never in stock these days,) because I worked really diligently to make the perfect, hard to find product that was also accessible to everyone in terms of use and price.  I remember back in the begnning when I put together the Magical Forest Sampler, true....it was a trendy-inspiration, but I also absolutely loved the combination of items and I still enjoy assembling them today.  Same with the Vintage Village Kits, I wanted to make a holiday-themed item that wasn't just a bunch of red and green stuff thrown together. I wanted it to actually mean something to me, and I liked that the finished product reminds me of the winter village scenes that my grandmother places under her Christmas tree every year.  I really look forward to getting back to the creative part of Bake It Pretty, because I think that's really where I need to be.  Unfortunatly, there just isn't time right now.

I'm rambling on here, but it's good to get this out a little bit.  This business means so much to me and I find myself lamenting a lot lately about not being good enough, smart enough, or organized enough.  Not working hard enough, not being sure how to proceed in the future.  Not knowing how to be the boss that I need to be.  Not knowing how to stay small and still make customers happy.  Not knowing how to grow without changing who we are.  Not knowing how to do the things I love, and not have them do me. 

In a nutshell, running a business is hard.  Did I think it would be easy?!  I don't know.  But I'm glad we have Max.  He grounds us.  We'd be insane workaholics if it wasn't for him.  And that's no good.  We don't want that, but it's just so easy to get caught up in it all.  Especially when it's all around you, all day.  But things are not as desperate as they seem.  I told you, it's the Lifetime made for TV movies!  They're infesting me with melodrama, I tell you!  Maybe one day they will make an original movie about a whiny girl who selfishly complained about starting a successful business and blogged about how frustrated and wimpy she was. 
It just might work.....

Ok, so that's what we've got going on these days - thanks for lending an ear.
I hope you are all enjoying what's left of your Summer!

Dear Blog,

Do you miss me?  I've missed you.  I can't believe the Summer's almost over and we never got to do all those things we planned.  We didn't drive out to that fishing pier where they make the good crabcakes.  We forgot to transplant those sweet peas we started in April.  And I never finished that macrame plant holder you were so kind to help me with.  Wow, time really flies.  Ha ha ha.  I'm sure you've been busy, I remember you mentioned you were taking a pottery class, and although I still think it sounds dangerous, I hope that you're having fun with that.  Remember that time you lost your quarter at the gas station?  Boy, me and the gang are still rolling over that one, let me tell you.  That reminds me, we never did talk about what happened that afternoon at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet, but I think it's for the best, don't you? 

Oops, looks like I'm running out of room.  Write me back if you can find the time.

Love and other indoor sports,
~Amanda

Goodbye Mr. Bunny

{Thanks so much, everyone, for all of the kind comments! I wanted to mention that Mr. Bunny wasn't actually a pet of ours. He's one of probably many that lived on our mossy mountain. He would hop along side us when we took walks down the road and Max was sad to find him dead, (likely hit by a car,) in front of our house. We laid him to rest by a rock and Krissy made him a wreath of daises.}

a home for the fleas

I told the stylist I wanted to look like Scout, from To Kill a Mockingbird, and, personally speaking, I think she hit the nail on the head.  My hair had gotten really, really long and I was just ready for a change.  After a few weeks of systematically shearing off an inch here and there myself, I finally sought professional help before things got out of hand.  I'm glad I did, too, because I really like the do so far.  It's cute, simple, and shows signs of having actual style (a thing my hair does not usually exhibit.)  I used the flat iron for the picture here, but my hair has a natural wave to it, so it usually looks a bit messier and scrunched up.  Still, much better than a ratty-ended pouf of straw it used to be.  Unfortunately, my hair grows at the speed of light, and I'm not one to keep regular appointments of any kind, so the style will surely have grown out by the end of summer.  At least Mike can stop calling me "Cher" and move on to new nicknames, like Pat Benatar, perhaps.  *Sigh*  Better get to work on my paper mache ham costume....       

PS:  Any comments to the effect of, "Why did you cut your hair?  It looked so good long, etc"  will be be immediately deleted.  I will then roll my eyes at the author, and say they sound just like my mother. 

With a Grecian Feeling

So, I was chatting with David Sedaris last week.*  About Greek Easter, spanakopita, and what-not.  I was sad to miss the celebration with my family this year.  We couldn't drive down last weekend, because we are driving down this weekend to attend my cousins wedding.  A Greek wedding.  (You know where this is going.)  I'm so excited, really.  I get to see my family for a few days, and go to a big-old party, and dress up, and be amongst adults, and hopefully imbibe a few adult beverages. 

I love that attending a wedding is a classic excuse to buy new clothes, and I picked up this gold dress a few weeks ago in preparation.  I really love it, I think it has a Miss Elizabeth Bennet feel, but now I'm having second thoughts.  It's not really Greek enough, is it? 

I picked up the vintage necklace at a shop in Hendersonville while my mom was visiting for Easter, and I really want to wear it, but I think it'd look classier with a little black number.  So, I'm off to do what every woman does 2 days before a formal event:  I'm going to TJMax and pray for a miracle.  The perfect dress for super-cheap.  It can happen - it has happened before.  Wish me luck. 

*If you are a fan, and you ever have the chance to see David Sedaris, I would highly reccomend it.  And be sure to take a book with you and stand in line for an autograph.  He really takes the time and effort to talk sincerely to every, single person in line.  Plus, his autographs are clever and personalized.  Who does that?!?

Hanging Out

(yes, that's the best post title I could come up with.)

Last Saturday we visited the Earth Day festival in downtown Asheville.  Amidst the music food, and vendors I happened upon these amazing, portable hammocks made by a local company; Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO.)  I have been seriously wanting a hammock lately now that the weather is warming up, but our property doesn't really have an ideal spot for a standing hammock, or a perfect place for the traditional kind in-between two trees.  I loved the idea of having a portable hammock that could easily be taken down during bad weather, or brought along to the beach or a camping trip, or even moved around the yard to follow the sun.  I decided to try one of ENO's Double Nest Hammocks (for an early Mother's Day gift,) and I am so, very pleased with my purchase! 

We also got the Slap Strap accessory kit that makes it crazy-simple to use the hammock practically anywhere you want.  We hung it in the trees by our house, and on the porch, too.  It's a lot roomier than it appears, and will fit two adults comfortably....and boy, is it comfortable.  Much more so than traditional rope hammocks.  I've already fallen asleep in it twice!  And even though we aren't hard-core campers and hikers, I love that the whole thing rolls up into a little bag about the size of a hoagie sandwich, so we can take it anywhere we please.

I went with the obnoxiously bright pink+orange, but they have plenty of other colors to choose from, too!  I also can't help but feel a little smug supporting such a cool, local business run by two brothers.  Gotta love that.  I highly reccomend this hammock, and not just for outdoorsy types, either.  Hammocks are also synonymous with lazy folks (like me) and are just as enjoyable for an afternoon of dozing with a good book, as well as resting after a treacherous mountain hike.  Since they have such broad appeal, I think they'd make excellent gifts...Mother's Day or otherwise!

...and if Max would get his little hiney out of it for two seconds, I might be able to have a turn once in a while.

Eighty Six

Sunday was like a dream.  (I'm choosing to ignore the weather forecast, which is predicting snow for this Tuesday.)  We had a nice, little lunch on the back porch, and then the boys played Frisbee while I puttered around the front flower bed, trimming old lavender stalks and digging around to find new strawberry plants. 

Max suggested we have lemonade with our sandwiches.  I told him it was a great idea, but we didn't have any lemonade.  He looked over to the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter, then back at me.

"Well, you have a bunch of lemons."

This immediately induced a restaurant-flashback.  I waited tables for many a year at various restaurants through my late teens-early twenties (and then some.)  And I'm sure a bunch of you out there have, too. Did you ever run across that person?  The customer that requests lemonade, and when you tell them it isn't available, they ask you,  "Well, do you have lemons?"  "Do you have sugar?"  "Then you do have lemonade, don't you?!"  This is such an annoyance, not just because they are asking you to go out of your way to make them a custom drink, but it's in the way they go about the questioning.  Like they're tricking you into it....like you don't know how lemonade is made.  Like you don't have about a million other things you need to be doing, and you have time to make a drink that isn't on the menu that will probably be really good, that the customer won't expect to be charged for at all.  I mean, come on.  It's just water, and lemon juice, and sugar.  What's the big deal?  Really industrious customers will order an ice water and ask for a bowl of extra lemons and a sugar caddy.  Just make it up themselves.  I actually have no problem with that.  Go for it.  Stick it to the man.  

Well, I did make the lemonade for our lunch, and it only took a few minutes.  It was also amazingly delicious and I had to thank Max for the suggestion.  I haven't worked at a restaurant for a long time now, and it's strange to feel so completely happy to be finished with a certain phase of my life, and also deeply nostalgic for it at the same time.  It was a great gig.  Good money, entertaining co-workers, and when I went home at night, albeit reeking of the tilapia special, there was a wad of cash in my pocket and not an ounce of work to bring back with me.  The slate was clean.  Asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I was lucky to spend most of my waitressing career at a wonderful restaurant called The Wild Monkey, (I hate that it sounds like a strip club when it was actually a charming little bistro-type restaurant with a stupid name.)  It's gone now.  New owners, new menu, different name.  I do miss the characters I met there, and the hustle and bustle, and the BBQ scallops.   I don't really miss the customers that wanted their checks split to the tenth of a penny, or the morons who ordered soft shell crabs and screamed in horror when they saw their plate, "It's a whole crab???" they'd shudder.  And I'd have to be nice, and apologetic, and accommodating. Taking the plate back to the kitchen, and getting yelled at by the cook for wasting a $28 dollar entree.  And don't get me started on the side work. 

I'm nothing but grateful today, really.  Being able to stand where I am now and gaze back at where I used to be.  Working for yourself has it's own challenges, to be sure.  The lemonade is sweeter, but it's hard to sleep at night. 

Movies that make me want to cut my hair and also sometimes be more French

La Femme Nikita.  An all-time-favorite of mine, definitely in my top 25, (maybe even top-ten.)  If you have Netflix, it's on the instant view menu at the moment.  Just a sensational movie, and Anne Parillaud is one of the only actresses I've ever seen that can truly pull of adorable and bad-ass at the same time.  Plus, it's a squishy love story and an action movie, so if  your man will read subtitles, then it's a perfect date movie.  I don't have the emaciated, drug-battered physique to pull of this short hairdo, but I can still dream. 

 

I don't think I need to elaborate on this one.

 

 

Gwyneth in Sliding Doors.  I like this movie, and I may catch some snickers for that, but I don't care.  It's just cute, and so is Gwen.  It's hard to believe that she and Brad Pitt used to be an item way back when.  She has to feel like she significantly dodged a bullet there, eh?  Anyway, I doubt that going blonde and chopping off my locks will make me dreamy-eyed or able to fake a British accent.  My sister (who is nuts) thinks I look like Gwen already.  Yeah, if I was slimmer, had paler skin, lighter hair, blue eyes, and totally different facial features...I'd be a dead ringer.  Crazy sis.  Oh by the way, did you know that Gwyneth Paltrow has a blog?  It's called GOOP and, honestly?  It's kinda boring.  (Sorry Gwen.)  But she just started, so it will probably get better.  Like I'm one to talk, go back and read some of my first blog entries - scary! (ok, actually...don't do that.)

 

No explanation needed here, either.

 

 

Wow, that one came out of nowhere...literally.  But, I think Marisa Tomei is just so foxy, and even though this movie was a little....eh....she is super pretty and I love her with short hair, (and Robert Downey Jr. ain't too hard on the eyes, either.)  All Of Me is also on instant view at the moment, if you are so inclined. 

 

      

Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby.  Girls love this movie, especially if they haven't had kids yet but are seriously considering it.  And I think I know why: there is so much fear and anxiety that comes along with having babies, and it's just easier to express it abstractly through a scary movie, rather than watching real baby shows on TLC.  I mean, every girl worries about labor pains and stretch marks, that's nothing new.  But they usually don't have to stress over, you know, their kid ending up being the son of Satan.  It just gives us a little perspective.  Plus, Mia is so fantastically cute in this movie!  Love the hair, the clothes, the Twiggy-look.  Love it.  It's also a known fact that most pregnant women cut their hair at some point, usually towards the end, when they are huge and kind of irrational.  (I did.) And, most of us regret it, since there is no haircut in the world that will take the focus off the fact that your stomach is jutting out like a Volvo.  Except for Mia, of course.  I guess it only works for fake-pregnant actresses. Typical. 

Fluffy posts these days, I know.  But, the sun is out and there are so very many new and exciting items to add to the shop.  I hope you are all having a lovely week so far!

(PS, Thanks for all the Crumpcheese love!  It makes me feel a little less crazy knowing that you all are infatuated with him, too.)

get your crump on

Downtown last Saturday.  Mike was so overjoyed to go to antiquing!  (He had a much better time than he'd like to admit.)

I love the little spider brooch...wait, not quite enough legs...is it an ant?  It just says "insect" so I guess they weren't sure either. 

This Vintage Disney poster is just too much!  It fantastic, of course, but where would you put it? 

Cupcakes at Short Street, a new favorite.  I used the red-dotted dress I bought at the antique market for an impromptu background in this shot.   The dress looked better in the store.  Now that I have it home, I see that it's going to take a little more *tweaking* than I thought to make it wearable.  I knew the sleeves would have to go...no biggie.  Then I tried it on and realized it really needs to be taken in a lot, and possibly shortened.  And the matching belt is a mess.  Oops. 

Aaaaaaand, this is Crumpcheese.  (That's his name, don't wear it out.)  We have an odd habit of buying really random bits of junk, usually at museum gift shops, and becoming even more oddly attached to them.  We drag this little puppet everywhere like he's a part of the family.  Mike makes him talk in a voice so hilarious that we laugh til our sides hurt.  What's with the name?  Max named him (duh.)  It started as Ma-cheesy and sort of evolved to Crump-cheese.  Pretty rad.  Even better?  I made this awful animated gif of him dancing because I am cra-zy.  And I clearly have too much time on my hands.

Crumpcheese really knows how to get down, though. You gotta give him that.