Testing the Waters

I knew that the Howard Markets were on and that River Heads were running a festival this morning, but I didn't know that Torbanlea were holding a big fete.

So with those three events in competition with opening our shop doors, I decided to do it anyway. I opened the doors between 9am and 12pm.

Only three people came into the shop and one of them was a new resident of Burrum Heads, and apparently, loosely related to The Fisher King! She is also a photographer with the same camera as the one I use, so we had quite a long and animated conversation about many things that we had in common, photography being just one of them.

So for that reason alone, I'm pleased to have opened the doors today!

I made two sales and had three visitors.

In the quiet time, I created a blog post for Romance Your Life with Roz. I still have some adjustments to make to the site. I've deleted all but my photography from the shop, and I still need to amend the shop page where I talk about the jewellery and journals that I'm selling. It's been quite a while since I updated any of the pages, so hopefully I will have a bit more time to devote to the site from here on in.

At midday, after I closed the blinds and locked the shop door, I danced through the shop, singing along with Barbra Streisand and whoever the male was that she was dueting with at the time, all the while thinking to myself "I LOVE this place!"

I posted this in Facebook this afternoon ...

So here's the story ...

Now that I'm a working girl, and Adoring Husband has his big birthday bash happening in approx 7 weeks, he's decided to Spring clean the entire house from top to bottom.

This week he did the family room and dining room. Today he started on the kitchen cupboards, emptying them out, cleaning the shelves, culling stuff we haven't used for a while and rearranging for more practical use.

I returned home after 3.5 hours to a shining and completely clear bench top and the inside of the cupboards ... Immaculate!

I had been grocery shopping, so began unpacking the bags.

The last thing out of the bag was a bottle of soda water.

The reason that I have this stuff is because a Naturopath in Canberra gave me a special Magnesium mixture that has to be dissolved in flat soda water.

So ... I put the bottle on the sink and twisted the cap.

If I hadn't had a tight grip on the cap, it would have gone flying and the liquid would have hit the ceiling, but because I kept my hand about a foot above the bottle, the liquid hit my hand and sprayed outwardly in all directions!!

It sprayed me.

It sprayed the kitchen floor.

It sprayed the ENTIRE bench top.

It sprayed the sink.

It sprayed the family room floor.

It sprayed my laptop bag and handbag.

All of Adoring Husband's beautiful work, destroyed in a split second!!

So I would just like to thank the (insert appropriate profanity here) who thought it might be fun to shake up the bottle of soda water and put it back on the shelf at the supermarket. You are sooooo freaking funny hey!?

Since I arrived home, my nose began running like a tap. I've used half a box of tissues already. I'm diffusing 'Easy Air' (which is a do TERRA product) with La Reve Frankincense oil, eaten pure raw honey, taken a strong dose of Vitamin C, consumed three bottles of filtered water, one glass of strawberry/watermelon/lemon/honey juice (freshly squeezed yesterday) and will dose up on kefir and probiotics before I go to bed.

I wonder if I can beat it by morning?

It's just after 9pm and I'm off to bed right now to sleep the bug away.

Nite all.

Beyond Tired

It's been a big week!

Our first week is done and dusted, although I am very tempted to go to work tomorrow and open the doors for a Saturday morning just to test the waters, but I'll see how I feel in the morning.

It was another successful day today with visits from friends, holiday makers from down south and the yoga ladies.

I met the owners of the building for the first time today and they seem like a nice couple, especially Lady Gaga. The Rooster seemed a little bit cocky but not too bad. He told me to put in a coffee machine and I told him that we weren't allowed to sell food and drink from the shop. His response was "I own the building and I say you CAN!"

Anyway, it was yet another pleasant day spent in our lovely workspace, and there was no visit from The Little Mermaid. I saw her from a distance late this afternoon, but that is all.

My visitors included Tweedle Dee, Maid Marian, Woman of Many Talents (with grandchildren in tow), Arty Farty Queen and Bridging Hippy.

While I was working, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay to pick up my photo prints from Harvey Normans and deliver them to the framing place where they will be fitted with matt board before being displayed in the shop.

He came back to the shop with the chicken that I cooked last night and he'd made a delicious little salad to go with it. We sat together in the shop dining area to eat lunch totally uninterrupted.

Just as I was about to walk out the door to leave work this afternoon, Arty Farty Queen pulled up on her bicycle, so I welcomed her in and turned on the lights to show her around. It was a quick visit and she purchased a gift for a friend before she departed.

I arrived home with plenty of time to make myself acceptable for the Bowl's Club. We had a good crowd there tonight and it was nice to catch up with a few friends who have been away, some out of the country.

After a night where none of us had any luck, AH and I drove the Leggy Blonde and Father UP home before coming home ourselves to make a quick chicken + concoction dinner.

AH went to bed quite early and after about an hour, I had to massage his back because he was in a bit of pain.

Now, I am off to bed because I'm feeling the weight of my week on my very tired shoulders.

Happy first day of Spring!

Nite all.  

Winning

We are winners.

Not only do we have a wonderful workspace to spend time in every day, but each day our customer numbers are increasing and they are loving the stock that we have available!

I almost have enough names to start my first photography course and we are feeling very positive about our future.

It was reported that The Little Mermaid was having a bad day today, but she stayed away from our shop, so it was nice to not have to deal with her struggles for a day. I did speak to her at lunch time and she told me that she was not in a good space and I wished her well. It's tough for her AND for us. She is the only one who can help herself and her issues are complex.

We had a really good day with visitors to the shop and with sales. Visitors from earlier in the week returned, some bringing family and friends with them. So word is spreading and we make sure that everyone feels welcome, and when they show genuine interest, we show them through the shop to the treatment room and the training room.

Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay straight after work to get a couple of things for the shop and to order prints of some of my photos, which will be displayed on the shop walls. I got a bit carried away with some clothes shopping because there are big sales on at the moment and I bought 4 tops.

It was dark by the time we left for home, which felt really weird because we are never out that late. Our usual routine is to be home and eating dinner at 6pm!

I cooked up some chicken for AH's dinner and he made a salad to go with it. I also baked a chicken so that we would have cold meat for lunch tomorrow. Strawberries were on sale and I bought three punnets so I juiced them with watermelon and mint and raw honey, which was delicious.

It's almost midnight! Time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Late

It's already well after 11pm and I need to get to bed.

My body is still adjusting to working life!

We had an amazing day in the shop today.

The Little Mermaid only visited once, and that was to get my postal address so that she can send me postcards from her travels in the boat.

I saw an old local sitting outside the post office this morning and I asked him to tell his wife about our shop and to tell her I'd love to see her. It was only about an hour later that she appeared at the shop and found lots of lovely items to purchase. She had a great time, as did I attempting to add everything up!

We had quite a few customers today and some lovely friends came to visit, as well as some local business owners and other sales people. Everybody commented on the great energy in the shop, which we worked hard to achieve so it's nice to hear those words from so many people.

Stephanie, the Le Reve essential oils lady came to the shop to show us her new products and I've booked a party to be held at the shop on 13th September at 2pm. There is a beautiful new collection of 'Shakra Energy Oils' in a beautiful silver zip up pouch. New candles, perfume and a new scented reed diffuser too.

Early next year, Le Reve are releasing a new range of skincare products which sound fabulous, so we will be keeping in regular contact with Stephanie and one of us may even become a consultant!

I created and ordered a photo book with 40 of my photos to display on the main table in the shop. I'll also have a few of the photos enlarged and printed with matt board frames to hang on the walls.

We hope to finalise the insurance stuff tomorrow too.

Now I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

Feeling the Way

Day two at The Happy Abode was lovely.

We had three brief visits from The Little Mermaid. She may be small but she has a booming voice is a touch intimidating to anyone who doesn't know her. She startled an elderly lady who was in the shop during one of her visits. She claims to be leaving town, so hopefully she will not be a problem in our future!

Three of the ladies visited after they had their coffee at our usual haunt, even though they were supposed to actually have their coffee with us in the shop!

We had fifteen visitors to the shop, another two names for the photography course and we made sales!

I created a notice to put in the local notice board, which will hopefully direct more people to our shop and bring more interest to our workshops and courses.

I attempted to insure the shop, but the man that I needed to speak to was in a meeting and THEN when he finally made contact 3 hours later, he told me that he was retiring but could refer me to somebody else on the Sunshine Coast who could help me. This meant he had to send me an email to which I had to respond with the word 'yes' and then he passes my name on to the new people!

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I've started to create a photo book to put on the central table, which people can browse through to select photos for purchasing. I'll have a small selection of those photos printed and displayed on the shop walls too.

We need to cover the training room chairs and buy some desks so that the first workshops can go ahead.

I need to create the photography workshop!

So much to do! So little time!

Still loving the space so much :)

It's 11pm and I need sleep.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

Opening day is done and dusted!

I love being in that space so much. It makes me very happy.

We had a visitor before we even opened the doors this morning. Another business owner dropped by to have a sticky beak before anyone else got through the door, which was kind of uncomfortable because we were madly rushing around trying to tie up loose ends before we opened for business.

At the end of the day, I retraced our steps to count how many people actually came through our doors and we had 22 visitors in six hours.

Unfortunately, one of those visitors was The Little Mermaid, a resident of our town who lives on her boat on the river, but who has many serious problems ranging from drug abuse, alcoholism and mental health issues. She cried a lot and talked nineteen to the dozen about all of her current problems, emptying out her bags onto the floor of the shop and showing me all of her official papers and describing how difficult life is for her.

It was sad and I felt so bad for her. I hugged her before she left the shop and wished her well. She has tried so many different avenues and it seems that a lot of departments and officials have let her down and it's difficult to know how to help her.

I do know that she needs to be heard and I can listen. I also know that our shop is not the place for her to be during her episodes, so I have a plan for her future visits. (My Centrelink experience coming to the fore here!)

We certainly had some interesting characters through the door, including some locals whom I have never set eyes upon before today.

One elderly lady who had some crazy stories to tell and who wants to do both the photography course and the journalling course. I can't wait to hear some more about her life!

There were a few holiday makers who noticed our signs and came to investigate.

Lovely friends dropped in, some with their take away coffee, and some just to wish us luck.

So we had a slow but steady stream of people and in between we got a little bit of work done.

Even though our plan is to work 9 - 3, we didn't leave the shop until after 5pm.

I have a long 'to do' list for tomorrow that's for sure, and we'll be having the girls in for coffee in the morning.

It's 10pm and I need sleep.

Nite all.

This is it!

Tomorrow morning is the moment we've been working towards!

I have to be at the shop by about 7am to clean up the mess around my desk, vacuum the floors and display my silver chains on the timber trees.

I brought my white timber display trees home and painted them teal tonight. It's taken me two hours to give them two coats of chalk paint and I have to seal them before I go to bed. It's already 11.30pm and I desperately need to sleep!

It's been a great day adding the final touches with a little help from Shiny Shonny who joined us for a glass of champagne to celebrate our achievement.

Adoring Husband also came to assist hanging the wall tapestries and the door blind.

There is still much to do in the morning before we open the doors, so I need to sleep ...

Well, I forgot to post this last night! That's how tired and discombobulated I was!

It's now opening day and I am sitting at my desk waiting for customers to walk in ... and we've had quite a few this morning ... but it is very quiet right now.

It's a beautiful day and The Motivator and I are loving our space. It feels lovely to be here and we are very HAPPY!

I will write another post tonight to tell you all about my day.

Morning all.