Confessions

I've been debating about posting about this for the past several weeks, but finally just need to get it off my chest:

A few weeks ago, I was considering giving up on my business.

Seriously.

I was feeling so rotten about it.  Lack of sales, retailers returning stock to me, and dwindling funds made me question the legitimacy of my business.  Not only my business, but my path in life.  If I'm not making enough to help support my family, is this really my calling?

But it's not as if I went into this line of work for the money.  And thankfully, my mister has a full-time job that allows me to keep doing what I'm doing, so most of the money I make goes back into the business or else covers things for Whitney and occasionally goes towards some household bills.

Let's face it, though.  My full-time gig right now really is being a mom.  Take today, for example.  We booked a nanny to look after Whitney, since Matt is busy working on a film and I had hopes of getting in more than 3 hours of work.  But due to unforeseen circumstances (a car accident - no major injuries, I think), the nanny couldn't make it and my plans went out the window.  I could have made a stink about this.  Instead, I see it as a sign that today was simply meant to be spent with Whitney.

These years with her are so precious - though they don't always seem so - and I need to remember that I won't be able to get them back.  She won't always want to spend this much time with me.  

So, what it basically comes down to is that I have to remember not to be so hard on myself.  I am a full-time mom, running a part-time business.  No matter how much money I make, I don't want to lose the love for what I do.  And I am NOT giving up.  It just may take me a bit longer to get to where I want to be.

On the bright side, I finally designed some baby congratulations cards, currently available in my etsy shop and also at Kid Culture.

And I am looking to expand my list of retailers this year, particularly in Canada, so if anyone has suggestions for cool shops to approach, please do share.  Thanks for listening.

Recapping the Past Few Weeks

It's been a little while since I've taken or posted any photos of our kitties. Leave it to my mom to be the snap-happy photographer while she was here a few weeks ago.

Here, she caught Dex in the midst of his bag antics. He adores cloth bags and will literally jump in one if you hold it open for him. Then he'll proceed to attack it. We discovered this one day after coming back from the grocery store. He now has his own bag(s) since they quickly became fur-lined.

Suki is a little more serene and ladylike when it comes to bags. Here she is on the same bag.

And some more photos from my mom's visit:

outside of our loft building

the view from our rooftop

Mother's Day cake

on a walk

Matt says I look like a love-spy (whatever that is) in my heart-shaped glasses and trench coat. I'm loving my new trench, that's for sure, which my mom treated me to when she was here. It was such a steal from Jacob, reduced by more than 50%.

This past week, we also had a sort of surprise visit from my dad, who had some research he was doing in Ontario. Unfortunately I didn't take any decent photos since he was only here overnight and we were all a bit exhausted from work.

But here's a photo that my dad took of his research:

I have no idea what that is or what it does, but luckily my dad does. He is a professor of Chemical Engineering, and from time to time also does consulting for different companies, which brought him to Lakefield (about a two hour drive from Toronto) this week. We enjoyed a yummy dinner in Chinatown and even scored a free parking pass from a kind man who happened to be leaving when we arrived at the parking lot. He said someone else had given it to him, so he was just passing it on. Reminded me of that movie Pay it Forward.

The rest of the week kind of flew by without me getting much done. I made a new screen and have printed some shirts which still need to be photographed... the screen itself was kind of a nightmare but I like the new design and hope it's a hit.

I'll leave you with some lovely treasuries that I was made aware of recently. Thank you to the sweet folks who took the time to curate them and also for including my goodies. And thanks to everyone for your kind words about my new stationery set.

Back to Work... finally

Photo courtesy of now vintage

My mom's visit was lovely and involved lots of eating, plenty of relaxing and a bit of shopping. As suspected, she was not thrilled with our digs, nor with the cats, though I think she had warmed up to them by the end of her visit. Dex certainly didn't let her feline distaste deter him from jumping on her lap on several occasions. (Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, but my mom took quite a few that I will share once she sends them to me.)

I was sad to say goodbye to her on Monday. Happily though, we will be seeing each other again in a few months when we meet up out east at Matt's parents' place to celebrate a number of milestones.

Naturally, I put off doing any work while my mom was here, so now I'm playing catch up. I've got a new stationery set or two in the works, a new print that still needs to be inked and painted and a new screen that needs to be made so I can print up more cute tees. I'm also doing some design work for this sweet friend. At least this little deer (pictured above and my most recent purchase on etsy) is keeping me company while I work on the computer .

I'll be back later in the week with some progress shots, hopefully.

All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

After months of waiting, I learned some wonderful news this past week.


Last Fall, I had several potential new creative ventures, but there was one that I hoped would pan out the most. And at the end of the week, I found out that this new "project" is finally coming together. To put it mildly, I'm totally thrilled. I know I'm being rather cryptic, but I can't yet reveal all the details.

Soon, though, I hope.


In other news, it is now t minus 3 days until my mom arrives for a visit. It'll be the first time she's been to our new home - the home that she and my dad helped us buy without their seeing it in person - so we're trying to get everything cleaned up and organized just so for her.

Here's a sneak peek of what we've been doing today:



Or rather that Matt has mostly been doing :)

(It was his choice though, as he's the more experienced wall painter and the roller we got "is a bit tricky", in his words.)

I'm not that worried though, since I already know she's not a fan of open concept living, and there's not a whole lot I can do to sway her opinion once she's made up her mind about something. Plus she's not a cat lover and she's never met Suki or Dex, so really, there's no point in stressing out. Easier said than done.

At least we'll be celebrating Mother's Day together for the first time in many years. I'm looking forward to that. The challenge will be deciding what to get her, or what not to get her. If you are Asian or know anyone else who is, then you'll understand what I mean.

This cartoon sums it up best though.

Get your own cool wallet right here. Or not :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!