Expressing gratitude

Here's my dirty little secret. I am terrible at expressions of gratitude.

Don't get me wrong - I'm full of gratefulness for all things associated with this creative job of mine - my retail customers, wholesale customers, wholesale orders, getting paid to make jewelry, etc., but expressing it verbally is just not one of my strengths. Saying "thanks!" should not be so hard! Of course, saying "Sorry" isn't super easy either for me either, but I digress.

I'm really good at fixing issues that arise in my business. I've gotten better at calming angry customers (which thankfully doesn't happen very often). I'm excellent at schmoozing in person, face to face, and I enjoy it! But whenever I receive an email from a happy customer expressing how pleased they are with their jewelry, I clam up. I have no idea how to thank them so I say nothing.

I even received a glowing voicemail from a happy wholesale customer - seriously it was the nicest voicemail ever. I saved it, I played it for my husband. It was so sweet. But I never called them back to say "thanks!". I felt like it was akin to sending someone a thank you card for a thank you card, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have done it!

I'm better at giving gifts to show my gratitude. My way of saying thanks is buying someone a cup of coffee, or sending them a little something. It's my love language (along with acts of service - yes I'm a bit high maintenance). Speaking of, I still haven't finished reading that book (I'm more of a Cliff's Notes person although I hear now they're called Sparks or something like that).

I don't know what's wrong with me. I need to get better about this. Do you have problems expressing gratitude? Do you have any pearls of wisdom to make it easier for me to do so? I'd be so grateful.

away

Radnor Lake

Yep, I've been away from the blog. I've written one post all year. Blogging takes time, and I am seriously in short supply of that so far in 2011.

I've been busy.

Two wholesale shows in January resulted in more sales than ever before (take that, economy!) and 90% of them were to ship asap - yikes! So I've been cranking it out and decided that maybe it was time to get some help. Maybe it was time to move this operation out of my house. And then Anthropologie came a'knockin'. And they wrote some orders. Some big, fat, scary orders. So I got some help, found a studio, and signed a lease. And I started making jewelry around the clock with the help of my husband and my friends. And then it was shipped. It was over. Whew.

So now I'm still really busy but it's not the complete insanity that was February and March. I have a show in May that I'm getting ready for (the Harding Art Show), I am hopefully moving into my studio this weekend, I've been training my two helpers, and I'm planning my daughter's first birthday party which probably would be simple if I hadn't been spending lots of time on Pinterest working on my Party Inspiration board. Her first birthday will be beautifully decorated if my end result looks anything like my pin board....

Luckily, baby girl and I got to go for a stroll around Radnor Lake yesterday. It was perfect weather for a walk, and unfortunately it reminded me how out of shape I am. I was proud of myself that I huffed it with a stroller for an entire hour. I'm sure many of you who exercise regularly are laughing out loud right now, but did I mention my new studio comes with the use of a workout room? Boo-ya!

Bye, bye Gilda

Sigh.  My 2000 Ford Explorer I had named Gilda has gone on to Explorer heaven.  I got her in 2002 to be my ride across my sales rep territory of Kentucky and Tennessee.  Then when I moved on from that job after two years, she helped shlep all of my craft show necessities across the entire Eastern half of this country.  We went to New York City, Austin TX, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Indianapolis, and so many more.  She had been stolen once, lost her stereo twice, broken into more times than I can count, and been in a few fender benders but she held her head high.  Never once did she break down on me... until I got a tune up last week.  Although technically she still hadn't broken down, she was gettin' shaky and it was only a matter of time before she gave out.  10 years and 168,000 miles later, she became a retiree.  

Greg fills her up with my craft show display

I'll miss her, that loud and clunky Explorer; my first car purchase, my interstate friend. 

Swirls and Swirls

It's a miracle - the Christmas rush is over and I can finally sit back and relax a little... bah ha ha ha!

There is no rest in my world. :(

After a record Cyber Monday (but I really only have last year to compare it to), and an insane amount of orders after that, I have been doing nothing but making jewelry, sleeping, and eating. I've neglected many other administrative duties yet luckily have not seemed to have missed any major deadlines. I've decided it's time to bring on some help. For reals. And most likely move this circus out of our house and on to greener pastures... or perhaps just a small studio. Just gotta decide what I can afford in this town where I won't get mugged after dark.

Here's what else that's been going on:

* Bought a new car! Bye bye, hubs '98 truck. Hello, sexy Sonata.

* Got baby girl baptized! It was a great family weekend, full of warm fuzzies and friends.

* My 2000 Explorer seems to be breaking down in a major way... do we have to buy another car? Bye, bye income earned during 2010.

* We're going to Orlando for the very first ACRE wholesale show in January! Being a guinea pig is always scary and I have very low expectations but at least we'll be in Florida if it totally blows. Harry Potter World, here I come.

* In light of trying to save money, I'm tossing the idea around of not printing a catalog for the next round of shows. Is a printed catalog really necessary? Should I just print a catalog teaser then direct people to the website for the full line? Decisions, decisions.

* Got Zero a "Thundershirt" to help with his separation anxiety. He hates it and now shakes whenever he sees it. Thundershirt fail. I'd return it but I lost my receipt. :(

* Going to Atlanta tomorrow to deliver most of our fabulous new wholesale display to the warehouse for Atlanta Gift. I have all the pieces to the puzzle of my new display but have no idea how it's really going to turn out. Hmm.... We're also going to Ikea while we're there. This may be a really bad idea, being only three days before Christmas and all.

* Christmas is coming! Baby's first - can't wait to see her reaction to her new toys. Not that we got her many and not that she has any idea what's going on but it's still fun. That reminds me, I need to watch Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas special this year!

So that's my brain - swirls and swirls and swirls. I have so much to tackle and so little time. I tell everyone "I'm pretty much busy from November to after Valentine's Day". And I can't WAIT for February 15th!