Bad Form

In the four years I have been doing craft shows, I have only received one bad check... until last month. The first bad check was no big deal - it was for about $35 and even though the check writer wouldn't return my phone calls, the bank said to just check her balance every day and when she makes a deposit, run to the bank and cash it. Which I did. Crisis averted.

Then last month, a guy wrote me a check and I just knew it was going to bounce. His demeanor totally changed when I told him I accepted checks. He wrote his drivers license and phone number on the check without my asking. He bought too much. He was a bit too eager. He acted ever so slightly on edge - he even broke my mirror by dropping it while trying necklaces on. Yes, he tried necklaces on.

Not only did this guy write me a bad check for $230, he wrote it from a closed account. That, ladies and gentlemen, is fraud. It is theft. And he stole money from little old me. A small home-based business just trying to make a decent living. What an A-hole. Capital A. My bank called me and they have this lovely FREE service of trying to get your money back for you for 60 days, so we'll see if they can track him down. If they can't, I just may post up his name on my blog for the world to see what a jerk he is. If that even was his real name...

Lightning!

I know, I know, I'm lucky to be alive, yada yada yada.... But seriously - lightning struck merely feet away from myself, my hubs, close friends, my step-dad, and even a cute neighbor family while we were all on my front porch near the end of the yard sale on Saturday. It was LOUD. Sparks were FLYING from the telephone poles in front of our house and all of us felt like we had been smacked in the head - minor headaches and earaches were had by all. After we made sure our computers were okay (they were - whew!), we packed up the yard sale when the storm blew over, and took everything left (mostly) to good will.

Then we started realizing that maybe we had been quick to deem our house and appliances o.k....

Our phones (all two of them) were dead. I couldn't get a dial tone, until I hooked up an old corded phone (I know - who still has those???) and did get a dial tone so at least our phone lines were working.

Our wireless router was still working - for about two hours until it got so hot that it fried itself. The surge must have damaged its cooling mechanism or something. We are now broadcasting our wireless through Greg's old macbook that is semi-held-together with duct tape. Our internet was really spotty, so we were afraid that the cable lines were fried, but luckily it affected the whole street so Comcast cleared up the problem pretty fast. But seriously - no internet for a few hours was just like the dark ages! My computer was very angry and kept telling me to check my internet connection, because apparently every program is surfing the net in the background while I am using it. I was even wondering how I could plug in my computer to the phone line and dial up a connection - scary stuff...

Then the next morning as I lay in bed, I decided to turn on the t.v. to check the weather. I turned up the volume, and up, and up... all the way.... nothing. No volume. Picture - fine. Volume - nil. This was my first "big" purchase when I was a bonafide working girl 7 years ago - it was when flat panels were new and LCDs were thousands of dollars, so it was a big ole' boxy flat panel, about 19", and I loved it - it worked just fine and probably would have been fine forever, except for that whole electrical surge thing. Greg tested it with headphones and they didn't work either - the amp is dead and apparently it's too expensive to fix. Does anyone know of a cheap t.v. repairman?

Next, I went into my studio to work and turned on my computer. I made jewelry for a few hours before I realized I hadn't heard my computer make any noises. I turned up the speakers and turned on itunes... nothing... not a sound. Awesome. Another set of speakers broken, rendered useless by the lightning. Those were nothing special - standard issue Dell that came along with my first desktop computer, circa 2002, but they worked, dammit! Now, off to the trash they go.

The kicker is that Tad sold a t.v. at the yard sale (would have been a delightful replacement to the one in the bedroom) and Greg donated TWO phones to goodwill! Gah! The money we made at the sale for some tree trimming may also now be going to a new roof leak (all this freaking rain!!!) and the frustrating thing about all the stuff that was damaged is that none of it is really necessary to replace. We don't need a telephone because we just let it ring and never answer it (telemarketers, you know). We don't need a t.v. in the bedroom, but I have always always always had a t.v. in my bedroom (seriously - since I was 10 or 11). I don't need computer speakers. I didn't need lightning to strike my house, but that wasn't up to me.

So, instead of going out and spending retail on all these things (because I did need 4 new tires, I'm a bit short on cash right now), I just hit Craig's List for the first time. I think I can easily replace everything for about $80! That would be nice - then I wouldn't feel so guilty about replacing these items that aren't technically necessary for survival.

Now I'm off to bed to watch my volumeless t.v. - maybe I can figure out how to turn on the subtitles!

The system is down

The system is down, the system is down. To understand what I'm talking about, watch this awesome clip from Homestarrunner.com:


Anyway, for those of you who tried to email me today or just look at my website, you may have noticed that my system was down. Yes, for the first time since I launched freshieandzero.com two and a half years ago, it went down for several hours today with no functioning email or ability to view the website. Needless to say, this stressed me out considerably, but fortunately I was moving and working on my house all day so I didn't have much time to think about it. I was listening more to the jerky cable guy who gave me a hard time for not disconnecting my old account before hooking up my new one. What does he care anyway? How does this affect his life at all? I'm the one who has to drive our cable receiver to Metro Center, not him!

Sigh. I digress. I worked on my house all day today and tomorrow will focus on jewelry again for at least half the day. Then, back to packing up my worldly posessions! The moving of the office and studio will have to happen in a coordinated effort, all in one day preferably so that I can know where everything is for jewelry emergencies (these things do happen!). Okay, off to bed to catch up on my sleep! Tired and grumpy is no way to move, folks.

Comic Relief

I got a lovely email from a Shecky's representative today, asking me if I would be interested in doing one of their shows. Here was my reply:

Hi (very nice Shecky's representative who has no idea what I am about to unload),

I actually did Shecky’s in Atlanta 2006. It was really just too expensive to justify doing it again since I didn’t sell very much due to the fact I actually threw my back out before the show started and left in an ambulance. My friends came to the rescue once the show had already begun and tried to sell my jewelry, but my setup was incomplete and they did not know what they were doing. I was only there for an hour at the end in extreme pain and also sick from the medication the emergency room gave me. Plus, I was completely harassed by a customer for a discount I would not give her, and security would not throw her out. She was really fun to deal with between throwing up outside in the bushes. I did not receive a full or partial refund from Shecky’s which everyone who was at the event and witnessed my horrendous night was appalled by, including the manager of the event at the Biltmore. But thanks for contacting me!

“freshie” beth lawrence
http://www.freshieandzero.com
http://www.charmstarjewelry.com



Too harsh? I hope I made her laugh if nothing else. The best case scenario would be that I actually get a partial refund of that wasted $600! Ah, the joys of business ownership...

Rainy Renegade Craft Fair

We just arrived back from Chicago and I have a lot of catching up to do, but here is a tiny bit about the Renegade Craft Fair. I will write about the happy side of it tomorrow when I've digested it all!

For starters, Chicago had a record day of rainfall on Saturday - a record that's been held since the 1870's when they started recording weather. They usually have about 2 inches of rain during this time of year and they've had 12 as of this weekend. So it was rainy and wet wet wet. Chicago area suburbs flooded - including Bloomingdale where our hotel was and schools were even closed today due to flooding. One of the main interstates in Indiana/Illinois was entirely shut down near Lake Michigan - we had to reroute ourselves down through Indiana (thanks to my trusty Road Atlas) to avoid the four hour delay to get through the interstate closure. Nuts!!! In a gas station in Indiana, this poor girl was trying to get to Detroit and the worker at the gas station told her it wasn't going to happen today since the interstate she needed was closed. I would have advised her to get a map and figure it out, but hey that's my d.i.y. mentality kicking in.

Anyway, this was supposed to be brief! I only bought one thing - I was just feeling too wet and icky to shop and that's just not like me! The one final bummer was that the electricity we paid for was never turned on. So it was dark outside and inside our tent. I understand why they were afraid to turn it on (safety issues I presume) but I was still bummed out about it and I imagine they're going to get some angry emails from crafters wanting a refund. However, it could have been worse. And how could you foresee this kind of weather?

The upside of the Renegade Fair will be posted in a day or two... yes there was a definite upside!

Indie Designer Market Chicago recap

Bleh. That's all I have to say about that show. The weather was sooo crappy and the windiest I've ever experienced. It was so windy that I had to take my hanging display down because it was slapping people's hands when they tried to get a necklace off of it. Overnight, we tore down almost our entire display since we were afraid the glass could be knocked over by the tent (which we have never done before), and my tent (and the row of tents) were all squished together from the wind when we came back for day two. After the vendors who decided to brave a second day spread our tents back out and set up again, the weather cooperated until about 1:30 when the wind and rain came back.

As always, things could have been worse. At least we weren't at the show north of Chicago in Evanston - ten people were injured due to a sudden storm that blew through and left a path of crafter destruction. Read the article here.

a crafter's nightmare

In addition to the crappy weather, there were just not very many customers. I had terrible sales - I'm not even sure if I covered my expenses! I learned during the show that we were competing with some other major events in Chicago that weekend (a Cubs/Sox game, Taste of Chicago including a free Stevie Wonder concert) so that could explain where all the people were.

On the brighter side, two awesome things happened during the show! A bride came to the market only to visit my booth and she ordered jewelry for her bridesmaids, which saved my sales, not to mention was flattering. The other awesome thing about the show was that I got to meet Cindy Tomczyk and a couple of her friends! I have one of her paintings, so it was nice to meet the face behind the creativity!


Okay bitching over. The end.

advertising is getting out of control

I've been noticing over the years that restaurants have added new ways of advertising to their customers. It started with the bathroom advertising which is actually a great idea and I have to admit I got really excited a few years ago when a boutique that carried my jewelry actually mentioned me in their list of vendors in their Indoor Graffiti ad!

Then a few of the more posh establishments like Bound'ry added t.v. screens in the wall that flashed digital ads you could watch while hanging out in the bar - forget watching muted ads on t.v. - here were flashy ads full of pretty pictures and text you could read while the guy trying to pick you up was totally boring you!

But now, Nashville has gone a bit too far. I drove by Sunset Grill yesterday and saw that the valet stand had three glossy ads behind glass on the podium. Do people really read ads by their knees? What businesses were convinced that this is a good idea and actually put their money down? I don't know because I didn't slow down to find out what they were trying to sell me. Really - is this ridiculous or is it just me?

Zapplication - the not so happy adventures

Zapplication is becoming a thorn in my side. It supposedly simplifies applying to craft shows by making everyone upload a few photos in the same complicated format, and therefore the crafter is able to apply to multiple shows with one click (and one credit card). I am uncomfortable with it because I don't see my images as the jury sees them, so I don't know what the final product looks like to them. Want to know why I'm paranoid? Here's a screen shot from my Zapplication account:



Notice how every single status is "Not Invited" (except for the one where I was wait listed and then rejected). How is that for a batting average? Another depressing stat is that all of these rejections cost me $305. I am starting to doubt that I will ever be accepted to any show that requires you to apply through Zapp. I even redid all of my photos with a super nice new camera (Pentax K10D) and followed their photo uploading instructions to a T. I think my photos look good but I don't know for sure! The true test will be if I am accepted in the Lowertown Festival - it is a festival that I have done two years in a row and if they reject me then something is seriously wrong with either my photos or their website... Grrr.....

I will admit that a lot of the Zapp shows are pretty big time and I may just be small potatoes to them, but until I get accepted to a show through Zapp, I will continue to doubt their application techniques and I've started to apply to less and less shows through Zapplication because it seems like a waste of money. Have any of you, my fabulous blog readers, had a good or bad experience with Zapp?

crime spree in 37215

So, one of my supplies packages from Fed Ex was STOLEN from my front door (scary! what's stopping the thief next time from breaking in??) I wish I could have seem the thief's face when they opened up to find a bunch of wire inside. I half expected it to be returned to me, since what was inside was pretty useless to a criminal.

The day I reported it to the office, two cars were broken into the same night! I live in a "safe" area of Nashville, but I feel anything but safe and secure right now. My car was broken into last summer here, just yards from my front door, along with several other cars in the same week. How many times does this have to happen before our homeowners association does anything about it??? Arg!

If you want to know more about the criminal activity going on in Green Hills, let me know. I'll give you an earful!

Stuff

So, one of my nearest and dearest friends who I've been been playing phone tag with for months finally caught me on the phone! It was just like high school all over again - we talked like we had just seen each other yesterday and talked, and talked... for an hour and twenty minutes! That's probably the longest conversation I've had all year! It was so fun to catch up, but weird that our conversations have shifted from boys and homework to savings accounts and marital housekeeping duties.

Second, there was a LOT of lightning tonight in Nashville and it was scary because it was very frequent and very close to my front door. I happened to watch the news tonight and saw that a fire (not confirmed that it was lightning that started it) heavily damaged the Werthan Mills Lofts - the same ones where my wedding photographer has a studio! Yikes! My first thought was "oh no, all of Chuck's pictures" then I thought "he better have mine backed up!" Fortunately, the fire only affected one of the buildings that no one happened to be living in yet since it was still being finished. Fires are scary. It reminded me of the fire we had in my condo complex last year (one of the buildings next to mine had a massive fire and I watched in disbelief as the flames ate up people's homes). Maybe it's time to buy a backup hard drive for my Freshie & Zero files and store it elsewhere...

the view from our booth

Also, I went to a great craft show this weekend in Alabama - it was the Moss Rock Festival and it was so well organized, planned, and full of things to look at and buy! I was so impressed, and it was also successful sales wise, which is always nice. I met a talented ceramicist named Amy (her line is Olaria) that I traded necklaces with and bought one of her platters for a Christmas gift.

a necklace by Olaria from Birmingham, Al

I also saw an artist making wooden jewelry and wooden "art" which I thought was really pretty until I recognized a piece of scrapbook paper from Michael's being sold as an art piece! All I could think of was "Lame!!!" Granted, she had embellished it a little, and I heard her say something about sanding and varnishing, but it really was just a sheet of scrapbook paper glued onto a piece of wood and sold as art. Wow.

Gah!

I got my first bad check! Crappers! It's my first bad check I've received since starting Freshie & Zero, so that's not too shabby really. What sucks, though, is that I now I have to track this lady down to get my $60. That's no fun. I feel like a mean old bill collector, but she did write me a bad check...

Another Gah! moment is that have to file my business tax. I managed to do it last year, and I think I took notes to help myself out this year, but I'm sure that will take at least a day to figure it out. Yuck! All I want to do is get ready for my trunk show on Thursday night, and my show in Blacksburg next weekend. Plus, my birthday is a week from today. Business tax and bill collecting are not what I want to be doing around my birthday.

I also had a goal to finish my wedding thank you notes this month - how embarassing is it that I haven't finished those? I think I only have 10-15 left but you should see the pile of crap I have to do on my desk... scary stuff.

yes, that's two computers on my desk.

rejection sucks

I'm getting married in 10 days and I'm totally overwhelmed with last minute wedding details, including rescheduling all of my hair & makeup appointments with a new salon (don't EVER go to Trim in Nashville - they treat their customers like garbage).

I did, however want to blog a tiny bit about the American Artisan Festival. I applied to it, wrote a nice cover letter, sent a resume, slides and crossed my fingers. It's a great show - it's here in Nashville, and I've been going to it as long as I can remember. Well I got my answer yesterday after a generally crappy weekend in Knoxville - rain mixed with sleet and thunder and lightning do not yield a successful 3 day outdoor craft show and they dismissed us all early since there were no customers and so many crafters had already left. Sitting in this freezing weather for 3 days also produced a nice pre-wedding cold sore. Lucky me.

So anyway, I opened my letter and knew what it would say - yep - I got denied. I didn't cry or anything but I sure felt like it. I don't take rejection too hard or too personally because I know that shows, especially one this great, have a ton of vendors that come back year after year who are practically guaranteed a spot and that leaves very few spots open for new people like me - especially in the jewelry category. There was even a nice note that said my work was great but that they had too many jewelers.

Plain and simple, it just sucks, and I sort of got that "woe is me" feeling because I have gotten denied for every show I've applied to in my own freaking hometown (with the exception of the Nashville Craft Mafia show). It sucks that I have to haul my ass all over the southeast, pay high gas prices and stay in hotels in order to sell my jewelry at a show. I can't seem to ever just drive down the road to do a great show just miles from my home. I don't think these promoters are snobs (well, I think some judges are snobs since i see so much of the same scary and horrible albeit well made and expensive yuckiness at big fancy shows that I would never buy and when someone new and modern like myself comes along, of course I'm rejected because I don't make gigantic forged/fused hideous sculptures to wear around your neck.... do I sound bitter?), I just think they are loyal to all of their past vendors.... for year after year after year...

I guess I'm just kind of down because I have been rejected from a lot of shows this year, probably because I'm applying to better ones than last year, but currently I've been rejected from more than I've been accepted - several of those I really wanted to do. Hopefully one day these people will shake it up and let the new, young, hip generation of crafters in their club, and possibly expand their buying audience who will be pleasantly surprised to see something different.

The White Stripes

Morton's strikes again! Greg and I went there for our two year anniversary and I had a feeling we would see someone famous again and we did! Jack and Meg White walked in behind us and sat a few tables over from us. Once again, I couldn't stop looking at their table but it was mostly because they were in my line of sight. Jack White lives here but I don't think Meg does, so I was more surprised to see her, since my friends seem to see Jack all the time. Apparently the Raconteurs are in town recording at Blackbird. It was pretty exciting to see them, I have to say. I have a feeling that most of the suit-types that were in Morton's that night wondered who the freaky looking people were sitting at that booth - they were with a guy who was wearing a skeleton hoodie.

On a side note, I will never eat at Morton's again. Our service was extremely slow but the biggest annoyance was that the whole restaurant is smoking - CIGAR smoking! Gross!!! How can you enjoy your $40 steak when you're breathing in nasty cigar smoke? Plus, Meg White was chain smoking cigarettes which sucked since she was fairly close to us. I would have just walked out the door had Greg and I not had a $100 gift certificate which still only covered about half our meal. For that much money, I refuse to breathe in smoke while I try to eat. Nasty.

Atlanta suckiness

bear with me - i'm on pain medication... so yesterday while I was setting up for Shecky's in Atlanta, I threw my back out while lifting a heavy box full of glass. when i say threw - i mean i instantly became immobile in the middle of a craft show inside a ballroom surrounded by strangers since i thought i could do this show without any help. i have never before had back problems and I have never EVER been in so much pain.

it happened when i lifted the box, felt a snap, and immediately collapsed on the ground and started crying because i didn't know what to do and i could not move an inch. here i was, alone in atlanta sprawled on the floor bawling my eyes out from the pain next to my booth that i had paid over $500 for that was not even set up yet. after 15 minutes of laying on the ground and crying (oh the mascara ran!) and swearing i would be fine in a minute, the show organizers called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. i called greg and begged him to come rescue me and my booth - ah my sweet night in shining armor...

so what was supposed to be a lovely, prosperous money making night turned into a hellish nightmare at the hospital four hours from home. my fabulous fiance left work immediately and drove to atlanta from nashville all the while i texted him from the ER since i couldn't reach the phone on the wall to actually talk to him. after the hospital was essentially no help the entire time i was there and even gave me medicine i told them i was allergic to, i finally hobbled into a taxi and got to the show over two hours late to find my display a disaster. fortunately i was too drugged up to care and my fabulous friend misha had come to help sell my jewelry, and for someone who had absolutely no idea what to do, she did pretty well. she was also kind enough to let me stay at her house an extra night while i tried to recover.

the drugs i am taking aren't even making a dent in the pain. they just seem to be giving me weird side effects. AND i can't even take the crap the hospital prescribed, because it makes me hurl, so i can't even get relief from strong drugs. augh!!! this sucks!!! not to mention that greg's parents are coming into town on saturday, so we have to come back asap so he can clean up his place! not to mention i have stitch next weekend! not to mention i work in a freaking art gallery which involves moving and hanging art constantly - wtf am i supposed to do there now???

11.13.06 - update - Well my back still hurts but at least I can move around now. Greg & I drove to Texas with a heating pad and a pillow supporting my back, which was nice. I'm now subconsciously scared of those glass boxes, though - i started shaking when I picked up just a single piece of glass during Stitch. Yucky.