New Pattern Please!

It rings so true to me.  Trying to work on this always.

from “public poster project” via behance network.

No Place Like Home

Dreaming of going home.

Enjoy your Friday everyone.

19 Days Later

Nobody could ever prepare me of how I would be feeling for the after shock of the shop closing.  It is like loosing your baby or breaking up from the love of your life.  That’s how I have been feeling 19 days later.  The after shock is even worst than the initial heartache.  We are still paying the January rent in order to get out from our lease via our 23rd street space.  The bill of utilities,  loans, consignments, old inventory, and new studio rent are just keep coming in and piling up.  The stress is over whelming with having no income from the shop.  Also the darkness feeling of failure and guilt is secretly taking over.  My personal life is a complete chaos and many issues are resurfacing.  I have been doing some soul searching of how to sit with my emotions and learn from them.  I know that I need to be more gentle to myself and be patience with this intense stress, chaos, disappointment and sadness.  I know these feelings won’t last forever.  I am trying to conjure up some optimism that this experience makes me of who I am.  I’m eternally grateful for Evangelina and Miles for standing by IDOM until the end and even for the after shock.  I could not go through any of this without M+E and all the friends that stood by me.  And I am truly blessed with the parents who endlessly supported me and loved me unconditionally.

Our last day of cleaning up.  We kept saying of how odd it felt.

E snapped a pic of little bears that we were packing.  They were adorable.  She said that they look like friends.

I got us some champagne and treats to celebrate our goodbye and our new endeavor.  We were trying hard to find some hopeful notion in all of this.

Miles toasting to the new adventure.

We were so excited to put this space together and to make our dreams of having a successful shop come true.  The feeling of deconstructing and taking it down was beyond my comprehension.  I wish things worked out differently.  All I could say is if you love small businesses.  You probably have to make it your priority to be consistent in supporting them and not just wait for the sales or come in once every 6 months.  None of us can survive by just doing it for the love and for the compliments.

As my dear friend Sally said “please be alarm when your favourite boutiques are having lots of sale events.  They are probably hurting and need cash flow to keep the business going.  Also people need to buy things at full prices once in a while.”  When we mark things down on sale.  We really don’t make any profit.  Again if you want your city to continue to have brick and mortar stores.  One probably got to make a conscious decision to do so.

I decided to share our struggle openly.  I think it is really important to start this dialog.  Nobody really talks about of how hard it is to be a business owner.  It feels like this fantasy world when people walk into beautiful shop with lovely product.  Most assumed that we were wealthy and doing great.  Yes we needed to keep the fantasy alive so that you could enjoy your shopping experience.  We just couldn’t say to you that this shop is our blood, sweat and tears.  Lots of hard work, sleepless nights, anxiety and worry most often occupied our time.  That we also never took home any paychecks.  We did it because we had to follow our dreams, our hope and our love.  We and our family took a big risk of our life to jump.  I hope that this behind the scenes information might help other small businesses to stay alive and be successful.  Knowledge and insight allows a person to be more respectful, empathetic and hopefully mindful of their daily decision.  It is my hope that we all somehow find balance of how to be frugal and yet open to support your neighboring businesses.

Strength

Remembering words to live by and trying to find more strength within me to move forward.

Found via Lyla&Blu.

Kitties!

I’m so excited to hear that one of our favourite IDOM girls, Kristin adopted a sweet 10 years old kitty named Diego.  He is lovely.  Also our friend Caroline sent me a photo of her companion Dashel to cheer me up.  It is a kitty Tuesday for sure.

Diego in Washington DC.

Dashel via Portland.

Kitty photo found online.  Source unknown.

Stares At Trees.

Thank you Kristin and Caroline for the lovely pics of your kitties.  Happy Tuesday everyone.

Dear Monday

found via leah dieterich at thxthxthx.

Sunday Beauty

“Falling in love, we said; I fell for him. We were falling women. We believed in it, this downward motion: so lovely, like flying, and yet at the same time so dire, so extreme, so unlikely. God is love, they once said, but we reversed that, and love, like heaven, was always just around the corner. The more difficult it was to love the particular man beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total. We were waiting, always, for the incarnation. That word, made flesh.”

Margaret Atwood

Weekend Inspiration

Do not grow old, no matter how long you live.

Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.

Albert Einstein

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Thinking of “Pin Me”

Sending Sally and Liz lots of love.  It is such an inspiration that this wonderful boutique on North Mississippi is turning seven.  But, life is full of surprises and changes.  It is always hard to say goodbye to something that you built and cherished.  Pin me is saying au revoir to their brick and mortar store this month.  Please be kind and gentle to the two lovely women and dear friends for these last few weeks.  I hope that people will be thoughtful, compassionate and supportive.  Wishing Liz and Sally a new exciting chapter and a fabulous adventure.

Please visit Pin Me at 3705 N Mississippi Portland, OR 97227 or ring the shop + 1 503 281 1572.

We love you Sally+Liz.

merci beaucoup!

Thanks very much friends for your kind emails, texts, messages and phone calls.  We at IDOM are doing well.  Trying to recover from our chaotic and painful month of closing our little shop.  It still feels raw and surreal to not going to wok at our sweet shop.  But, as they say life must go on.  I’ll be away for few days for another work assignment.  Please forgive me for my absent this week.  Thank you again for your love and support.

Merci!  Enjoy your week everyone.