start-up capital

On Friday night I got really excited about starting my business. I began typing up all of my ideas into a business plan. I was going to wait until July, after I'm done with everything I'm doing for Jennifer's wedding, but I just couldn't help it.

I wrote down the service my business will offer, listed out all of the dessert items that will be included on the menu, the regularly used ingredients, kitchen utensils that will be needed, the jewelry and clothing -making items that will be needed, and the equipment I'll need to get started.

That night as I was laying in bed trying to sleep, ideas kept popping into my mind, so I wrote them down on a notepad I have on my nightstand. I finally dozed off, with my imagination running wild envisioning the store, the treats, the displays, the kitchen....

Saturday morning I woke up early to bring our card table to a friend's house so she and several others could borrow it for their yard sale. I should have joined in on it with all of our leftovers from our yard sales last year, but I just didn't have the energy.

While there, I noticed a couple of slat-board shelving units someone was selling. "Start-up capital!!" my brain yelled at me. One even had a signboard on top of it. I found out whose they were, went to an ATM, then went back and bought both of them for $20! Those things retail for way more than that. What a deal!

Then I searched and searched for the accessories that go on it, like the baskets and hooks and what-not. Lowes and Home Depot don't carry anything for them. Staples has it on their website, but not in the store. I finally broadened m search and found a couple of stores in SLC that carry that stuff. All but one were closed on Saturdays. Well, that made it easy. So I took a trip up there.

The store is called Modern Display. Oh, my goodness--it's a good thing I don't live closer to it or else I'd spend all of my money in there! The downstairs level is full of gorgeous furnishings and decor, as well as holiday decorations, things like faux flowers, stunning candlesticks, vases, mirrors, wall clocks, etc. It's like an upscale section of Hobby Lobby. Then the upstairs level has all of the store and business display merchandise, including jewelry display items, signs, fitting room mirrors, mannequins--seriously almost anything you need for a store. I went right to the clearance corner and found all of the hooks I needed and a small shelf. I spent a whopping $6 on it all! That's way better than the prices I was finding online.

I got home and spray painted the hooks and shelf so they'd all match (they were different colors and I wanted them the same) with the paint I used on my succulent plant container. Then I rearranged my living room/office area so that my new/used slat board unit would fit better in the front window with my dressmaking model. 

I love it. 

Of course, it's more that we'll have to pack when we eventually move. 

But it's startup capital for my store.

There. Justified. 

:)

from tacky to trendy

I love plants. I love flower gardens, vegetable gardens, potted plants, etc. But it's been tough to keep them alive and healthy. It's not that I lack a green thumb, it's just that I'm not home enough to really take care of them. I've been going out of town a lot recently, and with Bob out of town so frequently as well, it's been impossible to keep any plants healthy. Take this, for example:

My kitchen window flower pot. 

It used to have two flowers in it. 

One died.

The other one is on its way, if you'll notice the poor leaves and shriveled up flowers on it. And especially with me going out of town for 10 days in a couple of weeks, I doubt it'll last. Bob won't be home either, so how am I supposed to keep these poor things alive?

I'm hoping I found a solution. I've seen these little "zen garden" style dishes with cute little succulents growing in them. They're hardier and don't need to be watered so often, so I'm hoping when I go out of town they'll last until I can make it back. I've wanted to get one of these for a while, but I haven't been able to afford one.

Then I just decided to make my own. I practically make everything else, so why not? 

After getting my paycheck and depositing it on Friday, I went to Lowes. I found all of the little tiny plants I was looking for, costing $2-3 each. I almost got a cactus, because they had these pretty flowers on the tops of them. Then I looked closer, and realized that the flowers were fake and just glued on. Total let-down! I ended up getting an aloe vera plant, something nicknamed "baby toes," and three others. 

The chic little bowls and dishes that usually hold these plants are ridiculously expensive. Well, the ones there were, anyway. So I went to the DI. I love going there, but the problem is I always end up getting more than I intend to get, so I don't go very often. I walked back to my favorite aisle--the one with all the glass jars and vases. See, I collect really unique flower pots and glass jars and containers of all sorts. It took all of my self control not to snatch up 5 or so really cool glass jars right at first. I had to keep telling myself, "It'll just be more to pack later when we eventually move..." 

I settled on this horrible shiny brass-colored tin container that had these old, faded, dirty fake flowers in it. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a full-on before picture. I was just so excited to see the finished product that it slipped my mind.) I ran to one last store and bought a can of spray paint, then headed home.

Here are those nasty fake flowers.

I'm sure they were pretty at some point. 

Maybe.

I spray painted the container a nice metallic/hammered metal brown color. There was also some really dried out Spanish moss covering the floral foam the flowers were stuck in, so I used it to cover the soil, then covered that with some little stones I still have from our wedding reception a year and a half ago. 

I love how it turned out!

Too hilarious not to tell...

Sometimes the strangest things happen to me.

And then sometimes, I accidentally do the strangest things.

Lucky for me, both of those happened to me this morning, and it's not even 9am.

I woke up to Bob kissing me goodbye as he left for work. It was about 7am, and he smelled like pancakes and fresh orange juice. I laid in bed a while longer, enjoying how cozy it was under the covers on another chilly and rainy morning. I finally got up and went to the living room, snuggled up under a quilt on the couch out there, and turned on my laptop for my usual online routine: email, facebook, check what new episodes are on Hulu, check for updated comics that I read, play some of my nerdy video games for a little while, etcetera.

At some point my stomach rumbled, so I went into the kitchen to see if Bob had left any pancakes for me. He did. Then I remembered we were out of syrup. I didn't want to wait ten minutes and make some more. I was hungry now. So I peaked around in the fridge and found caramel syrup. Then I found chocolate syrup. They're syrup, right? Close enough for me right now. I drizzled them over my pancakes and decided they would be good enough.

As I walked back to the living room I noticed a spot on my foot hurting. It had hurt all morning when I walked or stood on it, but this time I decided to check it out before I ate my oh-so nutritious breakfast. I set my plate aside on the couch next to me, and looked at the underside of my foot. It was hard to tell because I hadn't turned on any lights and it was still pretty dim inside our house from the rainy-day light coming in through the windows, but it looked like... a hair was stuck in my foot?

I walked into the bathroom to find the tweezers and sit next to the window in there for better light. Sure enough, a half inch long piece of hair was stuck into the bottom of my foot like a splinter. I know I gave Bob a haircut barefoot yesterday, but... That was really weird. I pulled it out, and my foot felt immediately better. Seriously weird.

Somewhere between setting my plate aside and being weirded out by that hair-splinter, I forgot I had a plate of chocolate syrup covered pancakes on the couch....

:)

I sat right on my plate, which was camouflaged so well by the colorful quilt next to it. I had a sudden cold sensation on my backside, so I squealed and jumped up at the same time, and when I realized what happened then couldn't stop laughing. I looked at my behind and it was all I could do to stay upright from laughter as I went into the bathroom, took off my pants and rinsed them under some cold running water.

It was just too hilarious and embarrassing not to mention.

The good news is that my pants are already a brownish-tan color, so if they stain, it won't be too noticeable. The other good news is that fortunately, my pancakes weren't ruined. Just flatter, and I enjoyed them anyway.

epiphanies & 18 hour days

At work, Mother's Day is probably our busiest holiday of the year. Valentines Day is pretty close behind it, but seriously, Mother's Day was....ridiculous. In a good way. We started getting ready for it a week or two ahead of time, cutting the lengths of ribbon we need, folding boxes for arrangement transportation, putting together the 12 and 6 count boxes for chocolate dipped fruit, prepping loads and loads of containers and vases for arrangements, etc. The only thing we couldn't prep that far ahead of time was the actual fruit itself.

Thursday, May 5th was pretty normal, except that instead of going into work at 4pm I went in at 10am and stayed the entire day. Then Friday I went in at 7:30am and didn't get off until after 2am. Saturday was the same. And Sunday I went in at 7:30am and got off around 5pm. I worked a 10 hour day, nd 18 hour day, another 18 hour day, and then a 10 hour day after that. What made it even longer was standing for nearly that entire time. I'd get home and ask Bob to give me a foot massage at 3am, which he'd kindly do for me, then I'd fall asleep during it, and get up a few hours later to go stand some more.

Saturday morning I awoke and sat up in bed to rub the sleep from my eyes. Then I stood up. The familiar throbbing in my feet and tenderness in my knees came back immediately, my hands were stiff and forearms sore from pinching the fruit skewers and pushing them into arrangement foam for hours on end, and my back hurt from holding and leaning over the chocolate dipping pots. It was hard not to whimper as I walked from the bedroom to the bathroom, knowing the day would consist of all the same work, and that I'd be feeling even worse by the end of the day, and worse by the following morning.

Luckily for me, Bob was working as a temporary delivery driver, so he got up with me, sympathized as much as he could, and helped me hobble around as I got dressed and ready for work. Even though I was working non-stop for hours on end, it was always refreshing to see Bob walk through the prep area as he'd scan and take more deliveries. As he walked past me he'd just brush his hand across my back or shoulders. Even though I didn't react to it usually, it was a momentary and pleasant distraction from how much I hurt and how tired I was. It was so nice to have him there for a few minutes at a time, partially because I love being around him and also because I knew he was helping to earn some money.

Speaking of which, overtime pay is great. So is a generous boss who included a hefty cash bonus with my pay check this week. She also let us make an arrangement to take home on Sunday evening. I wish I'd taken a picture! It was so good! It looked like this, only with chocolate dipped oranges, chocolate cinnamon apples, and some white chocolate strawberries, and I put it all in a cute orange watering-can keepsake container:

I'm glad I made it through last weekend. I'm very ready for my usual weekend off. I'm hoping to get the house cleaned today so that we can play all day tomorrow (well, when I'm not working on Jennifer's bridesmaid dresses).

With all that time to think as I stood at work making arrangements and dipping fruit in chocolate, I realized a couple of things.

I want to open my own store really, really badly. I think I want to open a gourmet dessert shop to start with. I never really got tired of dipping fruit the whole time I did that over Mother's Day or Valentines Day. I just really like to make all of it look pretty with swirls and toppings on everything. I stood there, dreaming and fantasizing about what my shop would look like, what kinds of desserts I'd make how I'd package them for customers, how I'd display them, etc. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to actually get out some paper and write down my ideas and create a business plan, and figure out how to get the right start up capital. I haven't been this motivated about something like this in a while (which is why I'm writing about it).

I love sewing and fashion design, but I also realized I really hate keeping up with current trends, projecting the styles for the upcoming seasons and years, and sometimes I actually get tired of sewing (believe it or not). I hate how long it takes to get one piece of clothing done.

Accessories are different. I could make hair clips and jewelery all day long. In fact, I used to do just that when I worked a Busy Beads & Moore in Clarksville. I never got tired of it. I finally finished Jennifer's hairpiece for her wedding, and got it mailed out to her this week as well. It was a $20 item. If I made and sold just 5 of those a day, that's $100 a day! I know that includes supplies, but I'd still profit a lot on those kinds of things.

I guess I like fast results. I love projects that I can start and finish in  matter of hours or within the day... Like accessories... And desserts... I'm not a fan of baking with yeast or dough. All the kneading and waiting, kneading and waiting drives me nuts. So cupcakes, cake bites, cakes, pies, tarts, and chocolates are all things I love to make. Opening a shop up to sell those kinds of things would take lots of work and time, (and boy, am I learning how to put in long hours at work) but once it got off the ground, I'd rarely have to go in before 7 or 8am, whereas a bakery requires getting started at 3 or 4am because of all that dough and yeast and nonsense.

So, I'm going to work on slowly gathering the start up capital I need, saving money for it, as well as finding things like a commercial sized mixer (or two!), double-boilers, chocolate warmers and fountains, a display cooler or two, freezer(s)/refrigerator(s), bun racks/carts, ovens.... You know, stuff like that. I know a lot of small companies go into too much debt too soon when they first open, so I'd like to avoid that. I'm willing to use things 2nd hand--heck, even 3rd hand if it's in good condition. I don't need or even want brand new stuff. Besides, I love vintage, antique, and steampunk styles. I intend for my shop to be along those lines, so the older the better (if it works, anyway).

I'm so excited about it, I want to start it up now.

*sigh*

But I can wait. I want to start it when we move to San Diego anyway, so it'll be a while until then.

I guess I'm learning patience, too.

Stamping and Baking

Today I was in the mood for creating stuff. 

I made some little miniature cards with those new stamps I bought. 

Then I baked some mini loaves of pumpkin spice bread with pecans and chocolate chips. 

And then I gave them all away.

(I hope that bread was good. I didn't even try any of it.)

Kitchen Flowers

When I bought those stamps from Roberts the other day, I also bought five red silk gerber daisies. I've had a white vase from an arrangement I got from work a while ago, and I've been wanting to put some flowers in it since I brought it home. I also had some black feathers left from Jennifer's hairpiece that I made earlier in the week, so I got creative with them.

It's kinda fun.

I think it was just what our kitchen was lacking.