I have been crazy, overwhelmed this week and here’s why:
We started with this and had about 3 weeks to get it ready for our move.
yeah, that is an understatement of how I was feeling…
There was a lot of hustle and lost sleep while the new location was being built out. We stayed open in our current location until Feb 20th because it was a holiday and I didn’t want to miss out on that much need day of revenue (someone has to pay for all this!). We closed that location on the 21st and had to be completely out by the 22nd when my lease was up. Not a lot of time for packing and moving.
I have an amazing staff who pitched in to wrap up all that pottery to move to the new location. It was just a few doors down, but there was a lot to move. I also had three guys come out from the corporate office to help which included moving all the furniture and my kilns. The former owner was messy and a packrat so I just started stuffing trash bags. I filled up three large dumsters with her old mess.
Did I also mention that I have one pretty terrific husband helping me too? He was packing, moving, unpacking, carting the kids around, keeping our lives in check, and talking me down from every drama. These are not small things and he never asked for anything in return. Well, maybe for me to calm down a bit, or to sleep, or to stop crying every now and then… but I guess those are all reasonable requests.
I finished packing up very, very late on the 22nd. It was bitter sweet. I fought so hard for that grody ol’ Color Me Mine. It was special to me and my family, but never really felt like mine. I was constantly making excuses and trying to distance myself from the previous owner. It was never my style, never felt like home. (It was so flippin’ dirty!! UGH!). I can’t say I will miss it, not one little bit. I did learn a lot here (mostly what I did NOT want) and for that I will always be grateful.
I locked up those doors and headed over to see the new location:
This was very late Wednesday night and we were scheduled to open the doors Friday morning. If I’m being completely honest this is when the tears arrived. I was so, so tired and I couldn’t get the door locked when I was leaving. I just stood there and cried. That’s what a lack of sleep will do to you (and maybe a touch of fear and despair…).
Again, that husband of mine talked me off the ledge. He bought me a burrito and a beer and assured me it would all get done. He also did homework with the girls, went grocery shopping, made sure lunches, swim bags, and dance bags were packed, and still managed to run his own business for the week. I have always thought we made a great team, but this week I have fully realized that I have it far, far better in this marriage. My only hope is that he doesn’t realize it too or that he remains too kind to admit it.
Thursday morning I woke up with renewed confidence and was determined to get that store in order for a Friday opening. I had several staff members come in and help me load shelves and get the kiln room in order.
And we did it! We were ready to open Friday morning! We got that entire store unpacked and ready in one day! What the what?!?
I still can’t really believe it happened. The store wasn’t perfect (still isn’t), but it’s a work in progress and it is me. It was truly miraculous seeing my vision come together from a few drawings to this:
I absolutely love it and it finally feels like ours! It’s modern and clean and I couldn’t be happier.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I’m feeling quite fortunate and grateful these days.
Meyered...With Children 