10,10,10

It’s been over a week since I last posted and Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Two Turkey dinners and lots of leftovers later and I’m finally getting back into gear with the next phase of Words and Watercolors.  The newest 25 designs have been printed (last week) and will be ready for pick up tomorrow (cut and folded) from the printer.  Now it’s time for me to send the new cards to all the reps for samples and to get my Atlanta show boxes ready to ship (cards, card racks, catalogs).  The new catalog is complete, in the computer, as well as of this weekend.  It just has to get printed.  I’m thrilled that we were able to get this project done so quickly as Sarah, graphic designer extraordinaire, starts a “real” job today.  We are moving right along.

I do want to pause for a moment and give thanks for ALL that has transpired in my world since I began this journey of entrepreneurship.  I’m most thankful for my husband who continues to believe in me and supports me in this adventure.  For all the reps that have helped me get my product into the retailers stores, for the SF Small Business Development Center with help in writing a business plan and coaching, for Sarah whose sense of design and graphics shaped the “look” of my line, for my friends who have helped me with the “words” to match my “watercolors”, and most of all to Spirit who continually feeds me inspiration in the form of the all the beauty I see in this world that I attempt to capture on paper.  I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since I was a child and made cards for my Mom putting PC & Co on the back with the price of .15 or .25 depending, I guess, on what year it was! Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you!

As for the 10 10 10 title, a friend from High School flew out to San Francisco on Friday.  She’s here for her daughter’s wedding.  Mark and I were lucky enough to have her over for dinner on Friday (Turkey Noodle soup I made from the Thanksgiving leftovers!) and we picked her up early Saturday morning at her hotel for coffee and a walk at one of our favorite places to hike in the city, Land’s End trail in the Presidio.  Annie is natural motivator. Having battled (and won) breast cancer not to mention run many marathons and 1/2 marathons finishing in the top 5 of her age group, she is determined, dedicated and disciplined.  We were discussing something at dinner and she said she invoked the 10 10 10 rule.  I asked what that was.  Surely you’ve heard it before she replied.  It sounded rather familiar but I wasn’t clear so she explained you look at a situation in how it will impact you in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years.  Obviously what you may think about a situation may change drastically when viewed from the 10 10 10 viewpoint.  I’m going to try and keep that upmost in my mind as I go about making decisions.  How about you?

I did sell 26 Calendars in the 2 1/2 hours I sat at NW Art and Frame for their Holiday Open House!  All of Em’s worries were for naught as the day was amazing.  They were as busy as ever and the entire day was very successful for everyone involved.  Kudos’s to my Miss Em!

Last but not least, some pics of my time in Seattle and here with Annie:

 

Grateful…Grateful…Grateful!!

I’m sitting at San Francisco Airport (SFO), 8:10am Friday morning waiting for my 9:20 flight to Seattle (SEA).  Can’t wait to see Miss Em and Bob (and Ryan, Em’s boyfriend)…It’s going to be an action packed 4 days as I’ve got lots of people to see this trip and things to do.

“Grateful” is in keeping with the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up next week.  I’m starting the Holiday early.   I’ll be joining my kids in an early Turkey dinner at Bill (their Dad) and Greg’s on Sunday afternoon.

Mark and I at various times have tried to keep a gratitude journal.  We’re back doing it again.  I love how jotting down 5 things a day keeps ones awareness on all there is to be grateful for… For instance yesterday I got an email from JudeAnn Wilson.  She works in the Development Office for LCSS, the Lafayette (Indiana) Catholic School System (of which I’m a product).  I had contacted her last summer to see if she’d be interested in my calendars for a fundraiser.  She thought the Sophomore class might be interested, that didn’t work.  Then she told me the German club might be interested.  That didn’t work.  I’d given up and in the meantime wondered what the hell I was going to do with all these calendars yet my optimism made me think somehow they’d find homes.  Her email yesterday let me know that the St. Mary’s Parish Priest was interested in Calendars for a fundraiser they were doing for the school (I graduated 8^th grade from St. Mary’s!) and could I ship them immediately.  YEAH!!  I was able to ship 2 boxes (96 calendars) yesterday. I kept thinking, “this will be a good thing to be grateful for in the gratitude journal!”

And since last Friday when I had my last one on one coaching session with Martha Zlatar, I’ve been meaning to write about her closing comment to me, which I was soooo grateful to hear!  One of the many benefits of working with the SF Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is the ability to get free coaching.  I began working with Martha in April.  Over the course of the 7 months we’ve met either in person or on the phone 10 times.  I have made HUGE strides in my thinking since then.  In April I lacked the confidence I have today.  Though I “hoped” to get here, I also had a lot of doubt.  I was worried too much about money, or lack of it more appropriately.  One of the first things Martha had me do was write 3 immediate goals and then asked me to write a 3 year vision plan.  She encouraged me to thing Big, be Bold!  I hesitated at first trying to “figure out” how my huge vision would come to pass but with her suggestion to also do a “vision board” of what I’d written, it became plausible…I began to trust.  I also had experiences that reinforced my cards would be accepted in the world.  In short, I began to have successes to share every time we began a session…and in closing last week she stated, “You were sooooooo meant to do this!”  Grateful Grateful for such a positive, reinforcing comment!  Thanks Martha!!

It’s now Saturday morning. I’m down at my favorite Tully’s coffee shop on Alki (the beach) in West Seattle.  It is cooooooold here!  Temps in the low 30’s, but with the cold it is also crisp and sunny outside.  I hope to capture the Olympic Mountains looming over the Sound in a photo.

The real reason I flew up here was to support my daughter in her Holiday Open House at NW Art and Frame today.  Em has been the one to make this happen.   Her boss, Debbie, had cancer and passed away rather suddenly in August.  It was tough on everyone at the store to cope with the loss of Debbie.  They decided to go ahead with the annual Open House but someone needed to coordinate it all.  That became Emily.  She called me quite a bit over the past few weeks in a state of overwhelm but I’d remind her to breathe and through talking it out she’d be ok.  Now is her day to shine and I’m going to be one of the people filling a time slot (like I did for years when Debbie coordinated the Open House).  I’m sooooooo proud of my daughter today, for stepping up to the plate and stepping into her destiny!  And I’ll be there to high five her at the end of the day!!  So Grateful for that!!!

 

 

 

Divine Reciprocity

It’s been 2 weeks since I wrote a post…that reflects how busy I’ve been…that and the cold that finally caught up with me last week prevented me from getting to this blog posting.  Last Thursday evening, after attending the annual “Imagine Bus Project” fundraiser (a charity that Words and Watercolors supports) I was inspired to write this post, it’s only taken nearly another week to commit thoughts to computer (as opposed to pen to paper).

The weekend before I’d been a participant at Open Studios at the Shipyard with other Bayview Opera House Artists.  We’d been together mid October weekend at the Bayview Opera House and we had the opportunity to use the Auditorium in Bldg 101 of the Shipyard the last weekend of October.  Malik, a renowned local artist, exhibited with me at both places.   Checking out the silent Auction items last Thursday, I bumped into Malik.  He was there because he’s one of the Artist’s that Imagine Bus Project hires to work with the kids.  He does alot of teaching/working with kids, I’ve learned, at different venues in the city.  I was explaining to him that I had been invited because of my belief in giving back, actually I was a donor.  I choose Imagine Bus Project along with ArtSeed as the 2 non-profits that I wanted to donate money to out of profits of Words and Watercolors.  I had been inspired by reading “Newman’s Own”, a book about the beginning days of Paul Newman’s food empire.  The conclusion of the book, at least for me, was that if you donate a % of profits (in Paul’s case all of them but I don’t have the same financial resources as Paul and his partner) it’s good for you and for your business and for the entities that receive the generosity.  I made a decision right then and there that if I could get my business up and running (this was while I was still in the what am I doing stage?), I would donate a % of profits to charities.  Believe me, it’s not alot right now but as Laura, with Imagine Bus, tells me it’s all put to good use and she appreciates my once a month checks, no matter the small size…they do add up.  So Malik and I are talking about all this and he’s nodding his head in the affirmative and then states “it’s all flow”.  He’s moving his arms and as they reflect the cycling in and out effect of that flow he says he calls it “Divine Reciprocity”.  I agree.  It’s all about flow and keeping things in the flow.  When you stop the flow then you stagnate.  I’m thinking to myself that I’m really beginning to challenge myself with this flow business as Words and Watercolors is growing, the last 2 months I’ve been a busy little bee filling orders, and yet I wonder how/when the flow turns into the Divine and can truly begin to support itself (and me!?).  Patience.  I’m trusting that Divine Reciprocity will work out….

The fun part of doing Open Studios is the chance to talk to the fellow artists as well as the people that come by, especially the ones that buy!  My “little treasures” photo reflects my inspiring walk on Sunday.  I hadn’t exercised in over a week with my cold hindering my efforts and being busy so it was delightful to be out in the sunshine of a Sunday afternoon walking and finding Feathers, Pennies and a Button all of which hold special meaning for me.  The Feathers remind me of Spirit/Angels; Pennies are my Dad’s way of saying Hi and reminding me that Abundance is everywhere and I also find buttons which remind me that my Grandma O’Grady, who had a big tin button box, continues to believe in me and most likely is trying to guide me (She being of that strong, Irish woman stock…having left Ireland for America in the early 1900′s).