Victories

I had a much needed victory yesterday!  I'm feeling confident enough now in my techniques and design abilities to experiment and had this idea to attempt something that others have not been able to do successfully.  I'm not going to go into full detail here because I don't want to disclose my approach, but the photo is proof of my victory : )  The failures I've been dealing with of late have tested my confidence to continue, but in hindsight, that is simply the universe's way of helping us appreciate the victories.  And victories, no matter how small, can raise the spirit just enough to persevere!

Sometimes when you win, you lose

I had to eat crow today!  And what really sucks is that I know I'm right, but they have what I need and I can't find it anywhere else, so here I am asking for forgiveness when I am in the right : (  And just so you can see where I'm coming from, I stuck to my guns and requested a refund that I knew I deserved and after several emails I got it, but then the next day my full order that I spent an entire morning preparing was deleted by the company!  And the worst part is, with as many internet companies that supply jewelry findings I can't find a single other one that carries these parts, so I have to ask for a pardon.  Compromise... sometimes it works in your favor and sometimes it doesn't!

Craziness

Life has been a bit crazy this week!  My husband separated his shoulder in a watercraft accident on Sun. and can't do a whole lot for himself, my sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful 6lb 11oz baby boy yesterday (10 days early), and my older sister is in town for a visit, plus the usual day to day that throws you for a loop!  So, I've been a bit lax with my posts this week, please forgive me.  I'm hoping this coming week will be more sedate : )

It's easy, yeah right

It's easy to say something is easy when you know what you are doing, but when you are learning something new and completely foreign the hurdles can be extremely frustrating.  As I said in a previous post, I am building my own ecommerce website with no prior training in doing such a monumental task.  And when I started whining in frustration about how stupid it makes me feel, my husband ever so sweetly reminded that "I'm not stupid, just ignorant".  Now you may be thinking what an a-hole, but he's right if you take a moment to consider the point.  We are all ignorant of what we do not understand because we have not learned the skill, technique, or language.   And before I started reading about and practicing html, css, and other internet speak I was ignorant, but now that I'm forced to study and learn it I'm not!  And while I can't say at this moment that I will ever truly be good enough to help someone else, it is making the process a little easier to create changes within my pages now that I possess the knowledge of the code.  Never stop learning, learn something new each and every day, even if it's something small : )

Independence

I am so immensely thankful for the freedom to be able to have my own business and be independent of the corporate world!   Independence to me is the ability to be myself, do what I want when I want, show my face, choose my own clothing, walk around anywhere I wish, and own my business, and these are only a few examples of the freedoms I usually take for granted!!!  "Independence Day" helps to remind me of what so many others only dream to have!!! And so, I say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the men and women working and fighting every day to keep our freedoms!!!  Happy Birthday America, land of the free and home of the brave : D

Here is a link to another great cause ~ http://operationtankyou.blogspot.com/

Persistence

Persistence does pay off!  I finally found a great source for rose cut stones after hours and hours of searching the web!  Now if all of my time (what probably amounts to weeks) searching for rose gold filled bulk chain could pay off, I'd be golden.
Update, I figured out how to afford the purchases I need to make to get these new design ideas going    : D YAY!!!  Ordering today, assuming silver and gold don't go up again : p 
And please learn for my mistake and always do your research first!  I've decided to build my own website and I am not tech savvy, I know just enough to get by.  So I had to do a lot of reading before and during the process of creating this blog, so I know the same is going to be true for the website.  If you are considering your own blog and/or website, believe me when I say cutting corners is not beneficial, your time is better spent once you've learned the ins and outs.  I thought I had made a decision on the site I would use to build my ecommerce shop.  However, yesterday morning I discovered a company whose prices where less than half those of the company I've been reading such glowing testimonials about and being the frugal person that I am, my interest was peaked.  I got so excited by all of their exuberant claims and flashy tricks that I jumped right in and started creating without a second thought!  Basically, I wasted a whole lot of time yesterday by not checking reviews on them before I began!!!  Because after reading reviews, it sounds like their service and ethical practices leave a lot to be desired : (  Guess, I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the extra cash for a reputable company!  Back to the drawing board...

Ranting and Raving

***Warning ~ I'm about to go off!!!***
I am a pretty passionate person and while some view it as endearing character trait of mine, some see it an annoyance!  Again, I am who I am, so with that said...  every day I scour the web in search of the gemstones and findings for this project I have in my head that's just clawing to get and out and be "real"!  I am so inspired by what I find!  I've been jabbering on about it for some time now to anyone who would listen, when what I really want to do less talking and more doing!  But where do I find all of this money!?!  The saying goes, if you build it they will come, well the plans are drawn and the permits are secured, so to speak, but I just need the capital to start!  I search, and I search, and I search, for grants any kind of help that doesn't have interest, but the road blocks are everywhere!  Just when I think I've found it, the deadline for submissions has already passed (in most cases by only days or weeks,  it's so infinitely frustrating)!  But I'll find the money somewhere, I won't stop 'til I do!  I just truly hope it's sooner, oh please make it sooner!?!

I am quite the conundrum...

and always have been!  When I was a child, I can't say little as I've never been a very large person standing only 5'2",  I liked to play dress-up.  I'd put on my frilly fluffy Easter dress, add my mom's Candies and grandmother's old fashion jewelery making myself look as glamorous as possible. Then I'd prance around the neighborhood inviting everyone I could to the back porch for a play I'd put on with my younger sister and next door neighbors, dancing around to Madonna's Like a Virgin record (and yes, they were actually vinyl in those days).  But looking back, I think it was more about the drama and spectacle of it all rather than the clothes.  Most days you'd find me playing in the ditch behind the house fishing for crawdads, climbing the neighbors giant weeping willow to see just high I could climb (I did make it all the way to the top eventually), or hiking through "private property" to monkey island always sporting the little rompers my mom so lovingly handmade.  These days I'm pretty darn girly, always!  I adore pink and flourishes, I don't like to be hot, I don't really like to get dirty but will if it's for a good cause, and I love to get dressed up both for the way it makes me feel and for the spectacle : ) However, if I thought I wouldn't get arrested, I would climb the huge banyan trees at my favorite place in Sarasota, the Ca' d'Zan!  I imagine most people are like this too, but would never admit it, not out loud anyway.  But I don't care who knows, I am what I am, and I only aspire to be the best version of me I can be!!!

Getting to know me better : )

So this weeks posts will be a series of snippets on getting to know me better.  I have added Pandora (in the sidebar, lower left) so you can sample the music I'm listening to as I'm creating.  I've also added a video section, so you can enjoy the antics of my silly kitties.  Hula, the baby is a purebred blue point ragdoll we adopted at only 4 months old (now 11 months and growing fast with the sweetest demeanor) and Kona a 6 year old chocolate bi-color ragdoll (spastic and slightly schizophrenic, but a love when the mood strikes).  Both are rescues from a local shelter where I volunteer http://www.stfrancisarfl.org/  I strongly support adopting from a local non-profit shelter.  You'll not only be gaining a fabulous new member of the family, but helping your local community/economy as well!  They have animals of all ages, breeds, and personalities, even pure breeds and all have incredible stories to tell : )  Clearly from their names I adore Hawaii!  My husband and I took our 10 year anniversary vacation there and I fell instantly head-over-heels in love!  We explored The Big Island's coffee plantations and Kilauea, Maui's road to Hana, and lush wild chicken inhabited Kauai each is very different and extraordinary in its beauty.  I am captivated by every facet and will live there, at least part of the year, as soon as I can figure out how to swing it!

Fishing for Hula Monsters

Ever Have One of THOSE Days

I seem to be experiencing one of those today!  It's Saturday, and I really want to be somewhere else enjoying myself, anywhere really! Catching some rays at the beach, exploring on watercraft, hiking, but instead I am attempting to check off a few items on my LONG to do list and everything seems against me : (  Updating listings, no I get a few pictures in and the battery on my camera dies, so I have to plug it in to charge, guess I'll come back to that one later.  Transferring all of my email accounts over to one integrated location, sure seems simple enough, but of course there are kinks to work out and it takes way longer than I thought.  I am constantly reminded that there is a "plan" and though we may think that we have mastered a skill we will be further tested to make certain we actually have!  I guess I need to heed my own advise here and move on the next item, 'cause what I'm doing now is not what I'm supposed to be doing at this moment. 

Fascinating How The Stars Align

I find it truly fascinating how the events of life align without us even knowing it's happening, until there you are down the avenue of time and it clicks!  You realize all of these experiences, some good and some bad, happened for a reason to lead you where you needed to be right when you needed to be there!  The people we meet in a random conversation, the places we discover when we think we are lost, are all leading us somewhere.  I believe in free will, but I also think that destiny, or the universe, or God, or whatever you call it plays a big roll in our journey through life!  Last night as I lay in bed I was thinking back to exactly where this chapter of my life began and realized that I don't think there is one particular point in time,  everything flows together.  From the jewelry store I worked in during the holiday season to be able to afford incidentals while in unpaid training for the airlines.  The brief job at the estate and coin shop with a friend of the family after I had to quit what I thought at the time was my dream job in interior design.  To the girl next to me in the security line at the airport, as I was so frequently was during my job of the past 6 years working auto shows.  A quick glance was all it took and I was fixated on the stunning necklace she wore.  Dragonflies are my totem and this piece carried so many of the elements I adore!  I had to know where I could get one of my own and thus began a months long and very frustrating search that eventually lead me to Etsy.  I didn't have much to go on, as she couldn't remember exactly where she'd purchased it, only that the designer was from California and it was made of copper, but I did find that necklace and where it to this day : ).  So you just never know how what may seem like an inconsequential moment in life is pivotal.  Etsy allows people all over the world to discover my work!  So to that girl in the security line I say thank you for being brave enough to talk to a complete stranger and for sharing your knowledge!  And to that designer in California, who has sadly closed her shop at least for now, thank you for creating such beautiful designs!  And to Etsy, an enormous thank you for helping me get my work out there for the world to find!!!  From daily experience we glean little bits of knowledge that we apply to our lives and livelihood!  So tread lightly and be kind, you never know who you'll need or where you'll be when your moment arrives!

My AH HA moment...

This was my ah ha moment;  I received an email containing this video http://youtu.be/-GCm-u_vlaQ from etsy, the server where I've set up shop to sell my jewelry.  It was like Derek Sivers got into my head,  somehow pulled this out, and made me see my obstacle in a way that would render it an obstacle no more!!!  I'm not being full of myself here, believe me, but before I saw this and my family or friends would tell me that my "stuff" whether decorating, jewelry, ideas, or whatever is amazing I just wrote it off! Of course they're going to say that, they are my family/friends they are supposed to say that, it's really nothing special!  I surrender to it now, I mean really what do I have to lose!  If you like my "whatever" and it makes you smile, fantastic, I'm elated we can connect in that way!  And if not, that's okay too.  I may not be for everyone, but I am liked by some, and for that I am thankful!!!   We have all been given the gift of a talent and it is our responsibility in life to discover it and nurture it and be the absolute best at it we can be!  Maybe this can help you realize your "stuff" IS special too : )

Check out my wares ~ www.SSMDesign.etsy.com

My very first blog post : )

Wow what a process all of this is, creating a business from scratch, there is so much to it and I feel I've just scratched the surface!  As with everything else in life I am learning as I go and I don't think I could have chosen a more expensive "craft"!  Just when I think I have everything I need, I learn a new technique or discover a new tool or stumble upon a new gemstone I just have to have and it begins anew!  I am certainly not complaining!  I truly enjoy the creation and discovery, but the paperwork and inventory, and having more money going out than coming in!  I fear I will need to get a part-time job soon if things don't turn around and I've only just quit the rat race!  But I digress, I'm 2 years in, surrounded by findings, brain flooded with ideas, and too little time in the days to get it all accomplished!!!  But as my mom reminded me this morning, "you can eat an elephant one bite at a time". So goals, I must set goals and stick to them, and another item is added to the ever-growing checklist as I'm certain you too are all to familiar ; p

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