Miscellaneous Monday - We're back!

Hola!  We have returned from our week long siesta :)  We all had a fabulous vacation and feel relaxed, reenergized and are ready to face the next several super busy months head on.

We started our first official day back to work with a visit to Simply Southern Marketplace!  We were bummed to be out of town when the doors were officially opened to the public on Saturday, September 29th, but we were so excited to go today and check it out in action.  In a week we sold many things and we couldn't be more excited about the positive feedback the store and Embellished Living have received.  While we were in today we saw some customers that stopped in that were visiting here from another state.  They had been in last week as well, but wanted to stop in one last time before they left town.  Yay!!  How cool is that?  If you are local make sure stop by the square in the 'Boro and take a peek. Hours are Monday-Friday 10-6 and Saturday 9-6.

Also, while we were gone the totally awesome Riki at Crazy for a Deal hosted a giveaway for one of our rosette wreaths.  Congratulations to our winner Renee!!  Welcome to all of our new followers both here and on Facebook that came to from Crazy for a Deal. Thanks Riki for hosting our giveaway!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Vacation!  It's the word of the day here.  My last order is boxed and ready to ship and everything else will have to wait until we get back.  I'm looking forward to some rest and relaxation, and then returning home rejuvenated and ready to work!

While we're away, a review/giveaway is going on at Crazy for a Deal.  Riki has a great blog where she runs lots of giveaways, offers advice on frugal living and couponing,  and shares tidbits about life as a work from home mom with two kids.  She reviewed our Cream Felt Rosette Wreath and is hosting a giveaway for a cream or grey felt rosette wreath.  Check out her blog and enter to win!

And now, a bit of housekeeping, our Etsy Shop will remain open while we're away, however, orders will not be filled until we return on October 8.  If you can't wait to get your hands on a wreath, Simply Southern Marketplace is scheduled to open tomorrow morning at 9 am.  The store was looking good when we were in there yesterday, locals, check it out if you're near the square this weekend.

Have a great week!

What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to you!  I hope each of our readers is having a wonderful start to this week's hump-day.  Unfortunately, the signs that I've been in denial about the last few days have hit me hard, and I finally have to face the fact that I am sick.  My immune system clearly did not get the memo that now was an inappropriate time to fail me, and thankfully, it seems to just be the common cold.

Anywho, the above is what I've been up to just in the last few days (with some Kleenex and Germ-X right beside me).  The top left photo shows a few orders that are ready to be shipped later this afternoon.  The photo to it's right is how I spend my time in the car rider line picking up my kiddos from school - packing up orders to be shipped on the way home.  Hey, you have to use the time your given!  The bottom left picture is of a Name Light Block that I whipped up for a local, rush order, and last but certainly not least, we have a Purdue inspired Monogram Wreath.  Go Boilers!

Next week, October 1-5, is our school system's Fall Break, we will be taking this opportunity for some rest and relaxation! If your order is placed on or before 9/26, it will be filled before 9/29. We will begin to fill orders and respond to convos received after 9/27 after October 8th. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Miscellaneous Monday!

I know it is almost over, but Happy Monday!  Today I spent most of my day running around getting some much needed errands done, all in preparation for next week.  You see, here in Tennessee our kids all have this wonderful thing called fall break.  When I first heard about it, after growing up in Ohio where there is no such thing as a fall break from school, I couldn't believe that kids needed a break after being in school for less than 2 months.  I mean, Give. me. a. break.  Now, however, it is my FAVORITE thing ever!  I love fall break.  Not very many places offer this so it is the PERFECT time to take a vacation.  We have enjoyed many family trips over fall break through the years.  This time I am pulling out my passport and along with my hubby and some good friends (Chandra included)  heading to Cozumel, while my kiddos get some special time with my mom who they don't get to see very often.  It is win win!  So Saturday afternoon I will be here enjoying the beauty of the Caribbean 

source: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g150809-d939910-Reviews-Aura_Cozumel_Grand_Resort-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

Before I get to enjoy all of that, I have to finish all of this.  I got 8 wrapped today but still have to add  the finishing touches and get them shipped to their new owners!  Plus a couple other orders that have come in.  We want to get all the current orders shipped before we leave!  We are running out of time! Orders placed prior to this Wednesday will be filled before we leave on our trips, all other orders will be filled when we get home :)  

Have a great week!  Miscellaneous Monday posts will be back on October 8th :)  

Read

Today is Read to Succeed day at my kid's school, so I went in and read to my daughter's class this morning.  One of her favorites is Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

I love all of his books, my kids do too.

If you have young children and haven't heard of him, get to the library.  Or,  just go to the bookstore, you'll want your own copy.

On the Embellished Living front, we're so excited for tomorrow and the opening of Simply Southern Marketplace.  Our little portion of the shop is ready to go, after lots of hard work over the last couple weeks.  Stop in and check it out if you're near the Square tomorrow.

Edited to add: Due to unforseen circumstances, the store won't open tomorrow.  Since you won't be able to check it out, go to the nearby library instead and find a good book to immerse yourself in!

What ye be doin' Wednesday

If you can't tell by the title, today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, AND it's also my birthday!  It's been a fantastic day filled with friends, family, and yummy treats from Ganache Desserts here in Murfreesboro - my favorite bakery.  Birthdays, for me, are a time of reflecting on the blessings of the past year.  A dear friend of mine calls this the "Year of Favor" for my family.  My family and I have been able to do a lot of traveling, including to China, have a lot of fun, see extended family, see each other grow a bit (my eldest son and I now wear the same size shoe!) and watch Embellished Living grow by leaps and bounds!  It's been a fantastic last year, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us in the coming months.

As Jacy mentioned on Monday, we've been hard at work crafting and setting up our first display in a brick and mortar retail setting!  We are so excited to see Simply Southern Marketplace open sometime this coming week!  Be sure to like their Facebook page to be updated with the exact day of their soft open.  We will be sure to post it on our page as well. 

 For now, enjoy the pictures of our "store within a store"!

Miscellaneous Monday

Whew!  I am super tired!  We have been quite busy here at Embellished Living, and we are just starting our busy season!!

We had our first show of the season on Saturday!  We are alway really nervous going into our first show after not doing one for a while.  In this case, we hadn't done a show since November!  We always feel like we don't have enough inventory, we forget half of the things we need, we remember tricks we had completely forgotten about.  Getting this first show out of the way with this show was great.  It was a smaller venue so it was perfect to work out the kinks so we know what needs to be done for all of the big shows coming up.  We had a good time, met some sweet people, and helped support a good cause. Special Kids does a lot of great work and we were happy to be a part of the event.

After barely catching our breath from our show, we had to load up our cars again today with our products for the new store opening!!!  We are so excited (and I personally have had complete moments of total panic and had freak out mode fully set in) to have our products in a retail store setting.  It is looking really good but you have to wait till Stacie's post to catch a glimpse of our space ;)  Local folks can check it out this Thursday when the store will officially be open to the public!

So in a nutshell, we are super busy (and our blog is likely to take a hit over the next several weeks) but we are having such a great time and loving how fabulous everything is going!  At the same time when we are all sitting on the beach in 12 days... yeah, we are going to be really enjoying every minute of that too ;)