Christmas shopping has begun!
Not mine.
Some people are doing their Christmas shopping in The Happy Abode because it's "not like all the other shops", so I'm thinking that's a good thing.
I had more wonderful feedback today and even had a couple of husbands sitting in our lounge area, enjoying the pod chair and a bean bag while their wives spent almost an hour choosing bags, jewellery, diaries and purses.
They were very patient and also provided positive feedback!
One of our customers went searching for our Facebook page and commented favourably.
Another local man came in with his phone, asking me to take photos of the snap button range, as well as different parts of the shop so that he could send the pics to his daughter-in-law who will be visiting soon. Then he phoned her and handed the phone straight to me!!
We agreed that he was 'special' and she said that she will visit the shop next time she comes to town.
Quite a few locals came in today stating that they had no idea we were there and they promised to spread the word.
Some wanted to bring their families in on Monday (which is a public holiday) and asked if we would be open. I think I might open for the morning - treat it as a Saturday and take advantage of the public holiday.
Adoring Husband and I went straight from work into The Bay this afternoon. We did a Bunnings run and bought some flowers and hanging baskets for our outdoor area, some paint to spruce up the concrete floor in that area and some timber to make some rails to put on the walls of the shop for my photos to sit upon.
We also drove across to Go Natural and bought some organic fruit and veg, as well as some delicious ice cream, one tub of which has already been eaten! Most of it by me!
Now I'm feeling incredibly full bellied and incredibly tired, so I'm off to bed! It's not even 9pm and I believe that I'll be asleep by 9.30pm.
So ... nite all.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Happy Weekend
The holidays have ended. The tourists are on their way out of town. The caravan parks are emptying. The party is over.
It's a long weekend, so let's go out with a bang!
It was a crazy day with people coming in to spend the last of their holiday money before they left town. Lots of snap button jewellery went out the door and I'm concerned that the next lot of orders won't arrive in a timely manner.
We'll have to manage with what we have for now.
I had a fight with Telstra over the phone today.
I had a fight on Monday with Telstra also, and that fight ended satisfactorily, or so I thought. The promises that gentleman made were empty and he didn't follow through with anything, nor did he log my call.
Today, I was redirected three times until I spoke with a male who wouldn't listen and was arrogant, so I demanded to speak to his supervisor. He put me on hold for 20 minutes and then handed me to a female named Charlene. She had a strong accent that almost sounded robotic.
She also didn't listen, although she at least offered to remove a $59 fee from our bill. It was the one fee that I was happy to pay and the one fee that I could see was relevant. The $250+ double fee for tech support was the one I disagreed with, but I won't go into it here.
She, like the guy on Monday, promised to email me the revised bill with the new total and agreed that we wouldn't have to pay the $15 late fee on the bill.
Just like the guy on Monday, she failed to deliver and no email arrived.
But at least I have her name, unlike the guy on Monday.
So I guess there will be another phone call on Monday.
*sigh*
I had a customer in the shop for almost the duration of the phone call. A couple walked in during the call and Adoring Husband came in near the end of it. That was all a bit uncomfortable.
The remainder of the day was happy and good. I enjoyed it and all of my customers were in a jovial mood, so that was an added bonus.
Somebody brought back a rose gold bangle because it had tarnished overnight, so I took it and refunded the money. She was grateful and then proceeded to spend more than twice that on more jewellery! I think I passed on my snap button obsession to her. Haha.
I left work at 3.20pm and it gave me plenty of time to get ready for our Friday night at the club.
Four of our group were lucky with raffles and such. I was not one of them.
Football season is over so there was no footy to watch tonight. The Grand Final will be played on Sunday and then we have to wait til March 2018 for the next season.
So Adoring Husband and I watched a movie on Box Office. 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' I enjoyed it and I hope to get the time to watch it for a second time in the next 48 hours while it's available.
It's almost midnight, so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
It's a long weekend, so let's go out with a bang!
It was a crazy day with people coming in to spend the last of their holiday money before they left town. Lots of snap button jewellery went out the door and I'm concerned that the next lot of orders won't arrive in a timely manner.
We'll have to manage with what we have for now.
I had a fight with Telstra over the phone today.
I had a fight on Monday with Telstra also, and that fight ended satisfactorily, or so I thought. The promises that gentleman made were empty and he didn't follow through with anything, nor did he log my call.
Today, I was redirected three times until I spoke with a male who wouldn't listen and was arrogant, so I demanded to speak to his supervisor. He put me on hold for 20 minutes and then handed me to a female named Charlene. She had a strong accent that almost sounded robotic.
She also didn't listen, although she at least offered to remove a $59 fee from our bill. It was the one fee that I was happy to pay and the one fee that I could see was relevant. The $250+ double fee for tech support was the one I disagreed with, but I won't go into it here.
She, like the guy on Monday, promised to email me the revised bill with the new total and agreed that we wouldn't have to pay the $15 late fee on the bill.
Just like the guy on Monday, she failed to deliver and no email arrived.
But at least I have her name, unlike the guy on Monday.
So I guess there will be another phone call on Monday.
*sigh*
I had a customer in the shop for almost the duration of the phone call. A couple walked in during the call and Adoring Husband came in near the end of it. That was all a bit uncomfortable.
The remainder of the day was happy and good. I enjoyed it and all of my customers were in a jovial mood, so that was an added bonus.
Somebody brought back a rose gold bangle because it had tarnished overnight, so I took it and refunded the money. She was grateful and then proceeded to spend more than twice that on more jewellery! I think I passed on my snap button obsession to her. Haha.
I left work at 3.20pm and it gave me plenty of time to get ready for our Friday night at the club.
Four of our group were lucky with raffles and such. I was not one of them.
Football season is over so there was no footy to watch tonight. The Grand Final will be played on Sunday and then we have to wait til March 2018 for the next season.
So Adoring Husband and I watched a movie on Box Office. 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' I enjoyed it and I hope to get the time to watch it for a second time in the next 48 hours while it's available.
It's almost midnight, so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
End of Days
Apparently tourist season has almost ended and I should prepare myself for an empty shop.
This is possibly correct, but we've had more locals in our shop than tourists of late, so I'm hoping that they will continue to support us.
Even if the end of tourist season means the end of our current customer flow, it will at least give us time to cover the chairs and set up our training room, so there are positives to whatever the immediate future has to offer.
Meanwhile, it was another good day in the shop, with plenty of happy smiling faces belonging to tourists and curious investigations from the locals.
I locked the doors at 3.20pm, grabbed a coffee from the fish n chip shop and was home before 4pm.
Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island fulfilling SES duties. It was a rough ride in gale force conditions and the tides were not conducive to a happy or productive trip on the island itself. He endured a long day, having more work to do in The Bay before he could come home.
He left at 5am and returned at 8.30pm. That's a long day in anybody's books.
We had our big sign delivered by the Fisher King and Toy Boy this afternoon.
A local lady offered and delivered some plants for our garden at the front of the shop.
A courier service delivered five boxes of goodies for The Motivator's lighting and design business.
Some of our signs arrived yesterday from Vistaprint. It was kind of funny that even though we planned on opening from 9am - 12pm on Saturdays, The Motivator accidentally put 9am - 1pm on the order ... I guess it was meant to be!
I enjoyed my day today.
The Motivator is now in Sydney for a few days so I'll be flying solo. I hope she has a good time with her family and returns to me all relaxed and happy :) She needed a break because she works super hard and at full steam.
It's just gone past 10pm so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
This is possibly correct, but we've had more locals in our shop than tourists of late, so I'm hoping that they will continue to support us.
Even if the end of tourist season means the end of our current customer flow, it will at least give us time to cover the chairs and set up our training room, so there are positives to whatever the immediate future has to offer.
Meanwhile, it was another good day in the shop, with plenty of happy smiling faces belonging to tourists and curious investigations from the locals.
I locked the doors at 3.20pm, grabbed a coffee from the fish n chip shop and was home before 4pm.
Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island fulfilling SES duties. It was a rough ride in gale force conditions and the tides were not conducive to a happy or productive trip on the island itself. He endured a long day, having more work to do in The Bay before he could come home.
He left at 5am and returned at 8.30pm. That's a long day in anybody's books.
We had our big sign delivered by the Fisher King and Toy Boy this afternoon.
A local lady offered and delivered some plants for our garden at the front of the shop.
A courier service delivered five boxes of goodies for The Motivator's lighting and design business.
Some of our signs arrived yesterday from Vistaprint. It was kind of funny that even though we planned on opening from 9am - 12pm on Saturdays, The Motivator accidentally put 9am - 1pm on the order ... I guess it was meant to be!
I enjoyed my day today.
The Motivator is now in Sydney for a few days so I'll be flying solo. I hope she has a good time with her family and returns to me all relaxed and happy :) She needed a break because she works super hard and at full steam.
It's just gone past 10pm so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Happy All Round
I left home early enough to drop by the Seat of Knowledge and see the boys. It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw them and during that visit, they seemed a bit aloof, because I was hoping that they would ask about the shop, but they avoided the subject.
Today was a different story and they asked me to sit down and proceeded to bombard me with questions. It felt good to me that they were interested at last.
At 8.30 I pedalled to the supermarket to get some food for tonight's dinner, checked my PO Box and then headed to work.
It was lady's lunch day so I was only working until 11am. I made a small sale before I left and as I walked out the door, I declared to The Motivator "I hope that you have an incredibly busy afternoon and break all our sales records!"
I then rode home to be picked up by The Speckled Hen and it was my first lady's lunch for 3 months so I was pretty pumped!
Even before I reached our lunch destination, I received a text from The Motivator to tell me that she had sold four of my photos + other sales and was rapidly approaching our sales record!
That was pretty exciting.
We lunched at Goody's Restaurant in Toogoom and they had a fabulous GF menu. I couldn't eat all of my Salt n Pepper Calamari even though it was amazing. The sweet potato chips were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The salad was fresh and crunchy with a delicious dressing.
But the piece de resistance was the dessert of which I decided to partake at the last minute. A warm GF brownie with warm chocolate sauce and pouring cream. That was a plate full of heaven and I savoured every single mouthful with gusto! Yum Yum Yum
After a couple of hours, four of us drove to the Bowls Club for drinking and gambling.
That was a lot of fun and we left there at 4pm.
There was no way that I was capable of eating dinner after filling my belly with all of that good food, but I made up a big salad with a Barker's Creek pork loin cutlet for Adoring Husband.
Now it's almost 9.30pm and I'm feeling a bit peckish. Perhaps a piece of toast would hit the spot.
Anyway, I've had a fabulous day and after so much time, I loved catching up with the ladies. I didn't even think to take a photo because I was too busy yapping with everyone.
Hugs all round and feeling the love!
Nite all.
Today was a different story and they asked me to sit down and proceeded to bombard me with questions. It felt good to me that they were interested at last.
At 8.30 I pedalled to the supermarket to get some food for tonight's dinner, checked my PO Box and then headed to work.
It was lady's lunch day so I was only working until 11am. I made a small sale before I left and as I walked out the door, I declared to The Motivator "I hope that you have an incredibly busy afternoon and break all our sales records!"
I then rode home to be picked up by The Speckled Hen and it was my first lady's lunch for 3 months so I was pretty pumped!
Even before I reached our lunch destination, I received a text from The Motivator to tell me that she had sold four of my photos + other sales and was rapidly approaching our sales record!
That was pretty exciting.
We lunched at Goody's Restaurant in Toogoom and they had a fabulous GF menu. I couldn't eat all of my Salt n Pepper Calamari even though it was amazing. The sweet potato chips were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The salad was fresh and crunchy with a delicious dressing.
But the piece de resistance was the dessert of which I decided to partake at the last minute. A warm GF brownie with warm chocolate sauce and pouring cream. That was a plate full of heaven and I savoured every single mouthful with gusto! Yum Yum Yum
After a couple of hours, four of us drove to the Bowls Club for drinking and gambling.
That was a lot of fun and we left there at 4pm.
There was no way that I was capable of eating dinner after filling my belly with all of that good food, but I made up a big salad with a Barker's Creek pork loin cutlet for Adoring Husband.
Now it's almost 9.30pm and I'm feeling a bit peckish. Perhaps a piece of toast would hit the spot.
Anyway, I've had a fabulous day and after so much time, I loved catching up with the ladies. I didn't even think to take a photo because I was too busy yapping with everyone.
Hugs all round and feeling the love!
Nite all.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Social Work
My work morning was more social than work!
There were 9 of us for coffee this morning, although The Motivator was trying to get work done at her desk and ended up serving customers the entire time, while I socialised with my girls. It was a busy morning too.
Best Cousin in the World arrived just as everyone was leaving, so I go to sit with her for over an hour as well.
So my morning was very social.
Tomorrow will also be social because I'm getting picked up for lunch at 11.30am. I missed the last two lady's lunches while we got the shop ready so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Our LeReve goodies were delivered by Stephanie this afternoon, so I need to contact everyone to come pick up their orders.
Meanwhile, I'm still loving our space.
Even though the shop is doing so well, The Motivator and I will be even happier when we've finished organising our training room so we can get started on the courses and workshops. We have lots of names of people interested in what we are offering and lots of questions about when they will be starting so we really need to get cracking.
My six week holiday in Nov/Dec will kind of dampen things a bit, but maybe we can squeeze in a couple of workshops between now and then????
Who knows? But we are not going to stress about it. That's not what we are about.
Feeling the love.
Feeling tired!
Time for bed.
Nite all.
There were 9 of us for coffee this morning, although The Motivator was trying to get work done at her desk and ended up serving customers the entire time, while I socialised with my girls. It was a busy morning too.
Best Cousin in the World arrived just as everyone was leaving, so I go to sit with her for over an hour as well.
So my morning was very social.
Tomorrow will also be social because I'm getting picked up for lunch at 11.30am. I missed the last two lady's lunches while we got the shop ready so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Our LeReve goodies were delivered by Stephanie this afternoon, so I need to contact everyone to come pick up their orders.
Meanwhile, I'm still loving our space.
Even though the shop is doing so well, The Motivator and I will be even happier when we've finished organising our training room so we can get started on the courses and workshops. We have lots of names of people interested in what we are offering and lots of questions about when they will be starting so we really need to get cracking.
My six week holiday in Nov/Dec will kind of dampen things a bit, but maybe we can squeeze in a couple of workshops between now and then????
Who knows? But we are not going to stress about it. That's not what we are about.
Feeling the love.
Feeling tired!
Time for bed.
Nite all.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Manic Monday
We had our busiest Monday today!
Not just tourists, but quite a few locals who we have never seen or met before.
I love how people want to stop and have a chat about where they come from, how many years they've been coming here for holidays, where they stay, who they know and of course, how much they love our shop - "Just what this town needs!"
My third customer since we opened, strolled through the shop today and asked "Who is this photographer? Is she a local?" and then proceeded to heap praise upon me. Gives me a thrill every single time!
We completed and ordered our business cards and some of our signs today.
I spent time on the phone with Telstra trying to reduce our ridiculous bill today. I was told that an email would be sent, our bill would be frozen and that he would phone me back with the result. Surprise, surprise, he didn't send me an email or phone me back ... probably didn't freeze the bill either.
I'll follow up tomorrow.
I postponed the LeReve party that we were going to have tomorrow. It will be held next Tuesday afternoon now at 3pm.
Researched more snap jewellery sites to re-order some stock that is no longer available with my old provider.
I ordered a Cenzoni bag for a customer who was here last week.
Adoring Husband ran a couple of errands for me in The Bay.
We enjoyed GF hamburgers from the local takeaway - delicious.
Once again, we left the shop much later than 3pm. It was after 5pm by the time I got home, which meant I walked straight into the kitchen to begin cooking dinner. Bangers and mash with fresh beans and snow peas.
I ate a fresh sand crab for dinner, while AH ate my creation.
It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Not just tourists, but quite a few locals who we have never seen or met before.
I love how people want to stop and have a chat about where they come from, how many years they've been coming here for holidays, where they stay, who they know and of course, how much they love our shop - "Just what this town needs!"
My third customer since we opened, strolled through the shop today and asked "Who is this photographer? Is she a local?" and then proceeded to heap praise upon me. Gives me a thrill every single time!
We completed and ordered our business cards and some of our signs today.
I spent time on the phone with Telstra trying to reduce our ridiculous bill today. I was told that an email would be sent, our bill would be frozen and that he would phone me back with the result. Surprise, surprise, he didn't send me an email or phone me back ... probably didn't freeze the bill either.
I'll follow up tomorrow.
I postponed the LeReve party that we were going to have tomorrow. It will be held next Tuesday afternoon now at 3pm.
Researched more snap jewellery sites to re-order some stock that is no longer available with my old provider.
I ordered a Cenzoni bag for a customer who was here last week.
Adoring Husband ran a couple of errands for me in The Bay.
We enjoyed GF hamburgers from the local takeaway - delicious.
Once again, we left the shop much later than 3pm. It was after 5pm by the time I got home, which meant I walked straight into the kitchen to begin cooking dinner. Bangers and mash with fresh beans and snow peas.
I ate a fresh sand crab for dinner, while AH ate my creation.
It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Nothing At All
There is still much to do at home in preparation for the big birthday bash.
In particular, there is still much for ME to do, even though Adoring Husband has worked hard throughout the house.
But today, I just wanted to do nothing at all.
I didn't want to think about anything or do anything or worry about anything or answer any questions.
I just wanted to veg.
Of course there was washing to do and some tidying to do in the bedroom and family room, but I did the minimum required.
Adoring Husband put together some IKEA drawers for a cupboard at work and we drove to the shop to install it. I didn't lock the door and some people attempted to come into the shop! I told them to return tomorrow.
We've watched a marathon of movies. 'Going in Style' 'Enchanted' 'Runaway Bride' 'Sex and the City2'
It's just 8.30pm and I feel like it's time for bed ... even after doing nothing all day!
I made Butter Chicken for dinner tonight, which was pretty easy and I added small cubes of roasted sweet potato and grated carrot for some extra goodness and nutritional value.
Pretty happy about the Cowboys winning the footy last night. It will be an interesting final between them and Melbourne Storm. Storm are far and away the best team in the competition, but you never know how things will go on the day.
If the Cowboys can play a whole game the same way they played the second half of yesterday's game, I think they could be in with a chance, but they were 9th on the ladder at the end of the season and only made it into the top 8 by chance. For them to beat the number one team, would be pretty miraculous!
Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to bed. I need my beauty sleep.
Nite all.
In particular, there is still much for ME to do, even though Adoring Husband has worked hard throughout the house.
But today, I just wanted to do nothing at all.
I didn't want to think about anything or do anything or worry about anything or answer any questions.
I just wanted to veg.
Of course there was washing to do and some tidying to do in the bedroom and family room, but I did the minimum required.
Adoring Husband put together some IKEA drawers for a cupboard at work and we drove to the shop to install it. I didn't lock the door and some people attempted to come into the shop! I told them to return tomorrow.
We've watched a marathon of movies. 'Going in Style' 'Enchanted' 'Runaway Bride' 'Sex and the City2'
It's just 8.30pm and I feel like it's time for bed ... even after doing nothing all day!
I made Butter Chicken for dinner tonight, which was pretty easy and I added small cubes of roasted sweet potato and grated carrot for some extra goodness and nutritional value.
Pretty happy about the Cowboys winning the footy last night. It will be an interesting final between them and Melbourne Storm. Storm are far and away the best team in the competition, but you never know how things will go on the day.
If the Cowboys can play a whole game the same way they played the second half of yesterday's game, I think they could be in with a chance, but they were 9th on the ladder at the end of the season and only made it into the top 8 by chance. For them to beat the number one team, would be pretty miraculous!
Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to bed. I need my beauty sleep.
Nite all.
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