Grateful

I am taking a training class at work that focuses on Energy and basically living a life of intention.  I am a faithful reader of Make Under My Life and am constantly attempting to create my life with intention and this class is just enhancing that focus.  In class they suggested writing down what we are grateful for, I decided to be open and do this on my blog.  

Whether is something small or something Huge l I am excited to start the day off on a positive note.

Today I am grateful to have reconnected with my college roommate Ann.  We have drifted apart over the years even though I always thought about how her and her family were doing.

I have always considered Ann a great friend, even when though we have not had much contact over the last few years.  Lots of people, my self included, think just because you care about others that means you are a great friend.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  Caring is great but actions are so much more, it proves you are a great friend, it shows you will be there for them anytime.

As I work on where I want my life to be, I know friendship is one of my highest priorities. I can't simply just care anymore I need to invest my time into my friendships that are positive in my life and shift away from negative energy.

Tired!

After a few crazy busy weeks and an insanely busy short week at the Corporate Job I am officially exhausted.  Working two jobs, being a friend and daughter plus creating a business is getting tiring. I think adults deserve nap time too!  However, I know this will be worth it and one day I will be relaxing on a yacht :)  ...what? I have to dream big!

Although the website is up and people can visit, its not complete by any means.  So this week I have spent every night working on pieces, pictures and of course the actual store.  It is still a slow process and I need more content but IT WILL be complete by next Friday.  Setting a deadline will help me stay motivated and help with my intention* to not procrastinate!

Here is a little peak at the pieces in the online store!

*To read about Designing my life with intentions read this post!

What would Gibbs do?

He would follow his gut, ALWAYS! Hence this being my new motto.

I have talked a few times about needing to follow my gut in life. About how I often ignore that feeling and the outcomes all differ from what I want.  So to create my life with the right intention for me I am going to listen to my gut 100%.

Using my gut in Business

I have spent a long time thinking about how can I get our jewelry online, way to long in fact.  I have analyzed fees, photos, design restrictions, pay pal buttons and my limited website knowledge for hours.  I have played with Etsy and LOVE Etsy but my pieces get lost in the mix.  I need a lot of time to keep pieces relevant on the site and until I have that I need a simple shopping cart on Stella Jewelry Store. Hence my discovery of Big Cartel. 

I was hesitant at first and looked through the site a couple of times pondering my worries.  In reality I was just holding myself back from taking the next step in business and ultimately ignoring the annoying feeling that said JUST DO IT.  Maybe I am scared to see what I can really do with our jewelry, maybe it will be too much to handle and maybe it will fail, that definitely scares me. 

However, not taking the next step is making me fail before I even start.  I am failing at making decisions for our company (I'm a Libra so decisions are really complicated for me lol).  If I was on NCIS and this was some sort f mystery I would have definitely received a Gibbs slap and told to just do it.

So the first act of following my gut is signing up for Big Cartel and it integrates with my website seamlessly.  I can't wait to get everything loaded to show you all and so far my gut thanks me for listening.  

Thank you to everyone who left sweet comments on prior posts about following my gut!

Has anyone else used Big Cartel for their small business?  How did it work for you?

#winning

Ok I am sorry for the Charlie Sheen reference as the blog title but I couldn't resist because today I am WINNING. Thanks to my friends, family and co-workers all voting for me I won the Jess LC Design Your Look contest.

I am so EXCITED! I get to pick out two pieces from her collections, I haven't decided what to pick yet but I love everything so I can't wait to wear them!

So again, I thank you for me making me a #winner and suggest you check out Jess LC for a fabulous Mothers day gift!  The Franklin Braille, I love you Necklace is perfect.

Braille letters on front with text in English on reverse side. Pendant comes on a plain gold-fill chain.

working on my business!

Did anyone get the title of the blog? "working on my fitness business"? Ok lame? I just couldn't get the fergie song out of my head when I started writing this blog lol.

I have spent most of this week thinking, talking, working on my business.  It was almost two years ago when we decided to really do something with jewelry, back then I wasn't passionate and didn't have confidence.  Things are different now, I'm motivated to create the life I want.  So my business partner and I are planning to do a soft launch on April 1st, with new advertising, a full etsy shop, new logo and lots new jewelry. This seems really soon but I'm impatient and want to dig right into my business.

This post could get long, I will try not to write too much :)

The Logo:

So this is our current logo which I LOVE, however the colors and the shape haven't been the easiest to work with on price tags etc. Plus I can be a little OCD and need everything to be symmetrical.  Thankfully my friend Taryn, who designed this logo, was willing to help me with a new logo to re-launch the right way.  We talked about new colors and using clean lines and fonts.  I am really looking forward to seeing her designs.

Displays:

We hadn't updated the displays at Plantagenet Rose pretty much since January which is somewhat unprofessional.  People are shopping for Spring and they don't want to see the same display or merchandise they saw during the holidays.  My plan from now on is to keep the displays relevant and update them every month.

How lovely are the handcrafted wooden earring holders?

My Mum purchased them from a company in Colorado.

Also, I love the cream bases we used for our display.  My Parents so kindly made them for us and they are perfect, clean color, clean lines, perfect for the new style we are going for.

Website:

This weekend my friend, Jenna, took pictures of our spring stock for the website!  Luckily there is some really interesting places in downtown Roanoke.  I wanted to go with something that related to Roanoke and a little rustic.  We decided the area by the railroad was perfect.  I can't wait to see the outcome and how they look on an all new website!

Selling:

In the past we have had giveaways on facebook and through other sites and they have always increased traffic to our website. Unfortunately we have not put any effort into online selling.  These giveaways are fun and get our name out there but don't show people where they can buy/see our merchandise.  So finally I found the time/effort to take some pictures of our current stock and get them loaded on to Etsy.

I am proud to say we now have 16 items on Etsy.  It may not seem like a lot but it takes me about 15 mins to add one item.  That has to get faster the more I do it, at least I hope anyway! 

Well this ended up being a long post, hopefully some of you enjoyed reading about my current business adventures!  If you didn't I apologize for boring you for 15 mins :)

appreciate the little things

The devastation in Japan is pretty much all I thought about all weekend.  I feel for those people who have lost family, friends, homes, pets, belongings, everything.  The pictures seem so unreal, their neighborhoods turned into junk yards, part of me wants to ignore the news and go on with my daily life safe in America just so I don't get upset but that would be just ignorant/selfish of me to do. 

The situation has made me think about many things in my life, what would I do if we had a major natural disaster here? The people of Japan in my opinion are handling the situation extremely well and with a lot of dignity.  The pictures of people lining up at the grocery store, no riots, no chaos.  They understand they are all in need and are patience and helping each other.  I don't feel like that would happen here, I would hope we would have the compassion for each other but would we really? 

*dailymail.co.uk

The little things we get upset, stressed and worry about seem so irrelevant.  A few weeks ago I listed one of my goals for living a life with intention as to enjoy the little things.  I really haven't put much effort into this intention to date and I am regretting that.  What if something happens tomorrow and I didn't appreciate the email from an old friend, the sun shining, dinner with friends and family?  This intention is now my priority, not my business. I want to work to live and not live to work and if I am enjoying the little things in life and am happy my passion for my business will be natural and I will enjoy all my successes small and big.

If you would like to help :

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to Give $10Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami

My Week

I know you are all patiently waiting to know how my week went, right?  Oh your not? Ok well I’m going to share anyway. J

Last weekend was not very eventful.

It started out sad by going to support a friend who lost her father.  I know she will be ok but it hurts me to know she has to go through the pain I remember so strongly from when I was a child.  Times like this renew my thoughts on loving your family and friends as much as you can and making sure they know you do.  Sometimes that’s hard to do, life gets busy, people make mistakes and hurt each other but regardless if you care about someone we should always take a second to tell them.

Saturday ~ I helped a high school friend pick out her Wedding Dress.  I was excited to help; I love shopping and love looking at the dresses.  She asked me to make her a Bridal headpiece because I’m “creative”; I know what she wants and am pretty confident I can make it but what if she doesn’t like it?  It’s the most important day of her life; I don’t want her to be disappointed.  Oh and I won’t see her before the wedding so I won’t know until then if she likes it or not agh! 

Sunday ~ I spent most of the day de-cluttering my life, throwing away things I don’t need and getting things together to donate or sell.  It felt good to clear out the unnecessary things I had laying around.  I know this will help simplify and organize my life.  I also went grocery shopping, I never do a real grocery shop, so I got things to pack lunches for work and light snacks instead of junk food!!

The rest of the week I have spent my spare time with friends and family.  I had a girl’s night with my Mum; we went shopping and got some great deals, had our hair done and went to dinner.  Unfortunately the service at dinner was horribleL.  Yesterday; I met some girls from my part time job and went to one of their son’s basketball game.  8 yrs old playing sports is sooo cute, he scored 3 pts and played great.  You can tell they love just playing to play and aren’t upset if they loose.  The other team however I feel is in a mini basketball boot camp.  They were running plays and had hand signs it was crazy to see them soo into the game on a serious level.  

On the business front, I made some new pieces and bought a printer.  I know exciting stuff buying a printer. I also participated in DIY Desgin Your Life.  You may have already read the blog from earlier in the week if not take a look.  I wrote out six intentions I want to fulfill in my life.  It was great to write out my goals and I have had some great feedback from friends as well as those in the blogging world.  Plus my blog was mentioned on one of my favorite blogs makeunderyourlife.com, very exciting!

Today is 11 days into my No Fast Food February and I haven’t stopped at any fast food joint.  I am reevaluating which local restaurants may be consider fast food too.  Plus I am down to two cokes a day and only water after 7 pm.  FYI caffeine withdrawals suck! 

Designing my life

Last week I talked about creating the life I want in business and at home.  Since then I have been reading http://www.makeundermylife.com/ almost everyday.  It is a great blog about living life with intention and the owner's business story is really inspiring. Jess created Jess LC (http://www.jesslc.com/) as its jewelry, I'm obviously a fan but I love everything about her brand and the fact she started when she was 15 and now has her pieces in over 100 retailers. 

I am finding motivation from the blog, to simplify my life, figuratively and literally and to listen to my gut, trust my instincts and do what I want with this life and not what other suggest is right for me.  I know my family and friends offer their advice in support of me and I couldn't ask for better supporters, but pushing my own ideas and wants away is not helping me move forward.

As part of her DIY Design Your life I am writing six intentions I want to fulfill with my life, kind of my like a more serious version of my 30 before 30.

I have by no means had a terrible or hard life but I have had my struggles and although I feel like I've overcome the tragedies in my life well, I know there are parts of me hanging on.  Those parts of me stop me from truly living.  Loosing my father at eleven has affected my whole life, some good some bad.  I now know that you should cherish everyone you love everyday because you never know what could happen to them.  I feel like this is a good trait but also hinders me as I am constantly worried about what if I lose someone, this I need to let go of and enjoy every moment with them.  This also stops me from opening up to people or opportunities as I am scared to loose something I had or am comfortable with.  I plan to make a conscious effort to be more open to change.

With the speed of life and the million and one things always going on I forget to enjoy the little things.  I want to seek out something beautiful that we normally take for granted each day.

As I am still working full time, I am dedicated to the spending my free time building my brand and product lines so that ultimately I can make this my career.

They say once you find a job you love it will never feel like work and you will be successful as you are passionate about what you do.  I know I can make something of my hand made jewelry and know its what I love.  I need to put my "gut" feelings into actions and I will be successful.  To get started I am making over my website and setting up the look book photo shoot.

I have been very lucky to travel throughout the US and in other countries.  I feel like every time I travel a part of me is found.  I want to experience other cultures and be open to what the world has to offer.  There is a real difference between visiting somewhere and experiencing a city/country.  I only want to experience places in my travels and will start  by seeking out the non tourist activities in my future adventures.

I have to make a confession that I am a Coca-Cola addict,  I want to be healthier and I know the sodas are not helping.  With my No Fast Food February I am also taking the opportunity to cut back my cokes.  This doesn't seem like a very serious intention to design my life by but to be healthier over all is something I want and this is part of that.

My final intention is to learn how the blogging world works, how does a link up work? How do I change my template from something not in the simple options?  I also know I have bad grammar and I am working on consciously thinking about what I was taught not how I text lol.

I am my intentions will change over time and I am excited to have goals to meet and can't wait to be able to update my progress.