Current Stuff

I love Alex Clare's entire album, especially Hummingbird. Mr. Clare recently tweeted that a second album is in the works. I can't wait!

My retail job carries these Rewined candles made with soy wax poured into recycled wine bottles. I love most of the scents, especially the Spiked Cider and the Mimosa.

I'm reading this book now. Once a year or so, I read a non-fiction, business-y book. I think my inner-overachiever makes me read these business-y books. This book is quite repetitive, possibly aimed at a lowest common denominator  of attention span. Like many business-y books, there are some broad generalizations, some glossing-over of facts, many footnotes, an appendix and motivational mumbo-jumbo. I don't know what my inner-overachiever hopes I'll gain from reading this, other than to realize how backwards most businesses are in their approach to goals. If nothing else, the anecdotes are interesting.

More Than This

About ten years ago, soon after I resigned my last retail management job, a friend asked if I would ever work in retail again. I replied that I would not, because people tended to grossly underestimate my intelligence and potential when I told them I worked retail,  or when they were standing on the other side of the counter or the other side of the dressing room door. I was so weary of being treated as if I was less than: deserving of common courtesy, a college graduate, a kindhearted person with strong ideals, a conscientious worker trying to do my best.

Never say never. Want to make God laugh? Make plans and proclamations.

I find myself in a retail way again. For the most part, I am surrounded by coworkers who have college degrees or who are working on college degrees. For the most part, we all get along and treat each other with courtesy. For the most part, we pull together as team players despite how we each might feel about our jobs on a given day. However, there are a few proverbial bad apples in every bunch.

One such Bad Apple often fails to take direction and/or performs his job with a marked air of superior attitude. He is currently a college student, and loves to say often to coworkers that his job provides motivation to stay in school and finish his degree. I made sure that this Bad Apple was in earshot several days ago as coworkers and I joked that none of us are exactly using our chosen college degrees in our current positions. Bad Apple was quick to stammer that he better use his degree after four years of college.

Good luck with that. I hope that the job market proves rosy and sunny when he's done with his degree. I hope that the clouds of The Great Recession have lifted. I hope that we all more closely approach our respective potential fulfillment.

Most people possess much more in the way of talents, interests and knowledge than a single job can express. I believe that's why many of my coworkers have second jobs, hobbies and active lives outside of work.

Another Window Display

I try to photograph the displays I make as soon as they are complete, because customers shop the items directly off of the displays pretty quickly. A lady squeezed into the window with me to grab enameled mugs, even though there were fifty such mugs on a table nearby. Seriously.

Here's the latest window display I made. Apologies for the reflection again. I need to drive back by the store after sundown to photograph my windows, but that would involve driving back after 9:00 PM. Not gonna happen.

Click each photo to make it bigger. 

I grouped cookbooks with the relevant tools to make those recipes, then had the far right section devoted to cleaning tools. My amazingly handy boss-lady built the shelves from scratch from a pile of lumber. Seriously.

I Made These

I made these pretty earrings at the blogger conference with the help of Sierra from Manic Trout. Sierra generously provided the supplies and know-how for a quick class. In my not at all humble and totally prejudiced opinion, my earrings were one of the coolest creations from the class.

Why do I Blog?

I attended a female-powered blogger and business owner conference this weekend. The demographic and emphasis skewed towards female fashion bloggers with sponsors, ads and lots of photos of themselves in trendy clothes on their blogs. Clearly, I am not this type of blogger. I sought out the workshops that were less about getting free clothes and having eleventy-hundred followers; but more about consumerism with a conscience, parlaying blogging experience into freelance work, making your own earrings and seeking out the best venue for publishing.

I met several ladies with beautiful, unique style and sweet, radiant spirits such as Tolly, Sierra, Jenni, Chrystine Noel, Janette & Merl. I also met some high-school-style mean girls with overly trendy outfits copied straight from the retailer who oozed gimme, gimme, gimme attitudes and ruthless narcissism. 

One gimme-girl saw the name of my retail employer on my badge, and her face lit up with the delight of opportunism. With little introduction, she thrust her business card at me and demanded an affiliate program sponsorship. Whoa there, Nelly!* That's not what I do. I just make the local store pretty. Even after I explained that I had no power to help her with her extremely lofty goal, she went on to threaten that if her one-month-old start-up didn't get an affiliate program sponsorship, she would no longer be able to showcase my employer's products. No, I'm not kidding.

I don't blog to get freebies, sponsorships or make money. I blog to keep in touch with family, friends, fans and frenemies. I blog to remember struggles, triumphs and ideas. I blog to exercise my brain and to exorcise some of the mental noise.

After a weekend of strutting in my most dangerous heels and least comfortable, but most stylish outfits, you do not want to see a photo of what I'm slumming around in today. Trust me, it's not pretty.

____________________________

*Her name is not Nelly, though she did have a long mane of My Little Pony type hair. Uh-oh! Some of the high-school-style meanness rubbed off on me.

String is the Thing

We needed to prettify a large wall in the bedding section at my retail job. We had some plywood, burlap and lots of twine, rope and string. We're also selling geometric string art at my retail job right now. Thus the inspiration for giant string art. I wrapped burlap around the 44 inch square of plywood after embroidering triangles onto it. My boss-lady added the rope triangles to tie it all together... literally.   See?

More Pre-Dawn Merchandising

For six days in a row I got up hideously early at 3:45 AM to make retail a prettier place. The photos I share on the blog are instances where I had to improvise the merchandising, meaning that I did not have corporate directive or blueprints for the placement of products. I made it up to make it pretty. See?

We ran out of bays and apothecary carts, but still needed to place some pillows and homeless vases. These old spools worked great to get merchandise placed near respective color palettes, and keep that urban, repurposed vibe going. I aligned the spools at a diagonal to mimic the diagonal offset of the layered rugs next to them and the diagonal lines in the tasseled pillows.

These office products had to move out of the stock room and off of the too-small rolling shelf into which they were stuffed. I grouped homeless decorating books the store sells low for shopping. I also carried the use of strictly-for-visuals books into the high shelves. I didn't want these books where guests could reach them and think they were for sale. I carefully selected grey, blue and black spines, then aligned the books by height for an organized look. Books were used in the directive in other bays, but more haphazardly with page sides facing out mixed with spines facing out, with titles running north to south and south to north. In the office section, I made the choice to keep the books super organized for an air of efficiency.

Making it Pretty at the Break of Dawn

I'm a lifelong night owl, but I'll get up ridiculously early to make retail a prettier place. See?

I think guests in the store were a tad timid about shopping the succulents. Go ahead and take some home! Just don't mess up the visual mojo.

 The sea glass bottles and ceramics started selling like gangbusters after I prettified them.

Merchandising Maven

As a vegetarian and indoor activity enthusiast, I don't own a grill. However, I can style grilling tools and cookout paraphernalia as if I were a sun-loving, carnivorous, fire-cook. See?

Chandelier: Done!

I've kept all three of my readers in suspense long enough. Here is the chandelier Chad and I chose: the Mischief Chandelier from Lighting Direct. I love it! It's everything I hoped it would be: eccentric, beautiful & affordable. Even the name is great.

I'm waiting for a sale on curtains at my retail job to address that dated tab-tie-top situation over the window. Reserve judgement for now.

_________________________________________

Update: I painted the ceiling ring glossy black to match the chandelier. It lends more visual balance and makes the whole set-up pop.

Non-Union Rates

I got a casting call email today for a prime-time network TV show filming in Austin. They need female extras to play prostitutes. The project offers non-union pay rates that will be "at least minimum wage" with "overtime pay after eight hours." Extras must be available for twelve hour shifts with most scenes filming outside on these hot summer days.

I hope that real prostitutes don't have to work twelve hour shifts in Texas summer heat, and that they make a whole lot more than minimum wage. (Naturally I wish that no one had to prostitute themselves or others.)

Though my retail job is no gem, I'll stick with it for the time being if this is the quality of acting work that Austin has to offer now.

Real Nice

When I come into my millions, this is how I'll roll:

Range Rover Evoque Pure

Trip Which Light Fantastic

The pendant light over our dining room table gave up the ghost, dropping one of three pendants, and stripping the wiring in the process. The light fixture had a good six year run sporting three different pendant styles. If I'm honest, I never loved the old light fixture. Cue the perfect excuse for a new chandelier.

Light A is a knockoff of a chandelier I found on a much more exclusive/expensive shopping site for about 1/3 the price. Chad and I find it charming and funky. As you know, we love Halloween and this chandelier screams haunted house chic meets old world charm.

Light B is more mainstream, more traditional meets modern. As for the price, that 40% employee discount across a number of brands from my retail job makes the pricing the icing on the tasteful vanilla cake. 

Our dining table has a weathered ebony finish with red leather-ish simple, high-backed side chairs. Chad and I both think either chandelier will match just fine. 

By the time you weigh in, we'll probably already have the new light installed. A bee in the bonnet of two over-doers buzzes insistently. Leave a comment, so we can at least see if you guessed correctly which we chose.

Put a snail on it!

At my retail job, we borrow a catchphrase from the show Portlandia, and often say, "put a bird on it!" Birds were all the hotness a few years ago in everything from fashion fabrics to decorative accents to wallpaper. Sadly, their are still too many birds gracing pillows, bedding, bowls, dishes, mugs and cake-domes at my retail workplace. It's over, guys. Move on.

A few months ago, I predicted to Chad that snails are the new hotness in design. We have one ceramic snail on our bedroom dresser and one small ceramic snail in a terrarium in the dressing room. I found sparkly snail ornaments last Christmas. Indeed, I've seen snails popping up on fabrics and wallpapers too. Not so much gracing food serving pieces, unless you count escargot served on dishes. Eww.

I've been struggling with working 37 hours a week on average, but with no employee benefits other than my meager hourly wage. My retail workplace got fussed at by corporate last week for scheduling too many of us more than 29.5 hours a week consistently without giving benefits. Last week, I only worked (surprise!) 29.5 hours over five workdays. It was pretty nice. I almost caught up on housekeeping and actually cared for the pets properly. Next week I work (surprise!) 37 hours again.

A coworker unwittingly informed me last night that the full-time visual merchandising position for which I thought I might apply is already promised to someone else. The past month that I've been working with the visual merchandising team I was (unknown to me) merely serving as a placeholder until the other person can start. SURPRISE! & EWW.

That other person can have the full-time visual merchandising position. I've had a taste of that job. Very little of the work is actually creative. Mostly the job involves cleaning the store, making sure proper signage is in place for constantly changing sales, doing markdowns, toting 30 pound shelves up & down 12 foot ladders and dribbling water into dying plants.

I'm going to put a snail on my retail job, figuratively speaking, and slow down. I'm going to limit my available hours so that I'll truly be working part-time, hopefully 25 hours over four workdays per week. Maybe if I don't give so much of my time to a job I don't even really like, it won't feel so taxing. Maybe I'll have time and mental energy to find a job I like better. Maybe I'll just have more time to myself.

Three Days Off Both Paid Jobs!

I had three days off in a row from my retail job and my acting job this Memorial Day weekend. It was awesome. A girl could get used to that whole sleeping late, not studying scripts and not going to work routine. I read a magazine and started a book. Crazy party girl, that's me!

Of course, I used a good portion of that time to get caught up on my housewife and pet-guardian chores, but I consistently like being a housewife and pet-guardian.

I did not paint my nails, which only happens a few times a year in response to insomnia or extreme boredom. I also did not paint any walls in the house. Maybe these luxurious projects can happen next time I have three days off in a row from both of my paid jobs. Place your bets now as to when that might happen!

Chad Eats Stomach Bugs for Breakfast

I had a nasty stomach bug this week. According to my friend from work, Nurse* Sabrina, if it's coming out both ends, it's food-poisoning. If it's only coming out one end, it's a stomach bug. I had to text my make-it-pretty boss-lady at 5:45 A.M. Wednesday that I'd be out sick. I was seriously sad to miss a make-it-pretty shift, but would have gladly missed a sales shift.

Wednesday I had six rounds of stomach bug symptoms and four naps. It was pretty miserable, but a darn fine excuse to eat nothing but mashed potatoes for dinner. I felt a bit achy and weak the next day at work as I hauled thirty pound shelves up a twelve foot ladder.

Chad did not get sick. He has a stomach of iron. According to Chad, he, "eats stomach bugs for breakfast," with no ill effects. Lucky.

*Nurse Sabrina is not actually a nurse. I assign the nickname Nurse to anyone from whom I glean medical information. It makes everything a tad more legit in my mind.

Let's Talk About My Ennui

en·nui

 [ahn-wee, ahn-wee; French ahn-nwee]

noun

a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom: The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui.

Origin: 
1660–70;  < French:  boredom; Old French enui  displeasure

I now work thirty seven hours a week on average at that retail place. Pretty sneaky how they don't give me a full forty hours, so they don't have to give me any benefits. Employees are dropping like flies at that retail place. There was a mass exodus of five different managers over the past six months. Only the poor, pitiful, beat-down store manager remains with a few new managers who are still struggling to find their footing. About six weeks ago, I gave my two week notice that I wanted the heck out of Crazytown. (Crazytown referring to that retail place.) After some wailing, gnashing of teeth and negotiating, I was persuaded to stay in Crazytown with the understanding that I would work visual merchandising (a.k.a. the make it pretty team), and help with sales "once in a while". I currently spend about two-thirds of my work week doing sales (Heaven help me, how I loathe working sales) and about one-third of my work week making it pretty. This is not cool, and not what I bargained for. 

I'm so tired from my physically and emotionally intensive workplace, that I have little energy for housekeeping, grocery shopping, pet care and general fun-having. 

My sweet husband, Chad runs his own successful business. It takes many, many hours of work each week. I feel terrible asking Mr. Workerbee (a.k.a. Chad) to do chores or pet care beyond walking our sweet, pesky dog. He also has very little free time, and very little energy to spare.

I don't like my car, but count my many blessings that I have a car to drive, and am not stuck relying on public transportation (not one of Austin's strong points) or biking (bike lanes also not one of Austin's strong points).

Austin has too much traffic and too many people. Sometimes I feel a tendency to become a very happy shut-in, until I remember that I don't really like to cook. I need to get out to restaurants and salad bars, because we can not live on Luna bars alone.

I love my four pets, and am so happy they are healthy and still with me. However, there are too many pets and not enough of me to give them all the attention and care that they deserve. Of course, I'm keeping them! Friends for life, and all that!

I tried to arrange a monthly outing for the friends I wish I saw more. The first outing drew five people out of twelve invited. The second outing drew three people out of eleven invited. The third outing drew me and only me. I felt like a jerk trying to reserve a table for five at a not-very-busy restaurant, sending texts of the where-are-you variety and leaving in defeat after it was clear that no one else could attend, and that the server wanted me out of there. So I stopped arranging the monthly outing. I got one email wanting to know if I would revive the monthly outing, to which I replied, "Nope, but you go ahead and try. Good luck."

In short, I am running with the rats in this crazy race. I am tired. I should be enjoying my many blessings, but I don't have enough time or energy. I think many of my friends are in the same boat. I'm crunching numbers and brainstorming on how to make day to day life better. Send me happy thoughts.

Wishing you peace, prosperity and enough time to enjoy your life.

Flower Power Pow-wow

Saturday I led a workshop on flower arranging along with other members of the make-it-pretty-team at my retail job. We referenced The Flower Recipe Book, and used peonies, carnations (a lovely & much under-appreciated flower), Bells of Ireland along with pink and green berry sprays. The berry sprays for the store's bouquet got swiped by class participants, but I promise they were pretty.

Workshop participants went home with their own floral arrangements, a cute Weck jar, pruners and a copy of The Flower Recipe Book. I must say that each arrangement was prettier than the next!

Fancy Hoses

I made a window display for the gardening supplies and plants sold at my retail job. You need fancy hoses? We got 'em.

Click on the photos to make them bigger. Apologies for the reflections of the window.

Making It Pretty

I am one step closer to officially joining the visual merchandising team (or as I call it the "make it pretty squad") at my retail job. I'll still have to work sales twice a week, but will spend the majority of my time off the sales floor away from the cash registers and constantly ringing phones.

When tempted to find greener employment grass, I count my many blessings in the form of short commute to work (less than 5 miles) in the downtown design district, free garage parking, creative coworkers who I like a lot, generous employee discount across several brands, and within walking distance to my favorite shopping spots: Whole Foods, Book People and Anthropologie.

Being a full-time gym-bunny/trophy-wife/lady-who-lunches isn't an option at this point in my life. I have to work for my mental health, financial health and socializing health. Plus I usually grab a salad from Whole Foods for lunch for my physical health. Mmm... Whole Foods salad bar.