*In 2013, I got an amazing employee named Olivia. She really helped take the store to the next level. She found new products, she was great with merchandising and promotions. She brought great energy and enthusiasm to the store. She helped me get organized (no small task). She also taught me some of her wonderful Danish euphemisms and turns of phrase that still delight me.
*Got a jewelry apprentice, Barbara, in late 2013. She started assisting me in my studio making North Carolina Necklaces. The next year, I brought Barbara in full time to work at the store. Barbara's specialty was in creating window displays and cool wooden fixtures for the store.
*During that wonderful trip out West, one of my best buddies killed himself. I was so glad that I had two employees, because it was very difficult for me to be at the store. Marc made all my signs, the vinyl on the windows, raised the floor in the back, and helped me build displays and salvage supplies. The store was so full of his presence. Although heartbreaking to be around at first, now it is a wonderful reminder of my friend. However, I found that suddenly I couldn't deal with the store very well. I couldn't deal with people very well. In fact, the only thing that I wanted to do was walk outside. Fortuitously, another friend asked me to join her on a very long walk, an invitation I gleefully accepted. I began training immediately, putting together a long distance walking schedule from things I read online. My first week of walking in January 2015, I was just able to walk 8 miles, and I was totally exhausted for the rest of the day. As the weather warmed, my walks lengthened, and my heart healed. Our long walk ended up being a 50K (31 miles) on May 30, and we were joined by her cousin. It was an amazing experience that has altered the trajectory of my life-- in a very good way!
*Mid-2015 Both Barbara and Olivia moved away to different states and I decided to come back to work at the shop full time. My wonderful mother stepped in to help me one day a week, which became my studio day at home. We had the best holiday season ever at the shop this winter.
Which brings us up to now, April of 2016, and my fifth year of having the store in Carrboro. It has been amazing to be back at the shop full time. I am getting so much done! I have time to work on projects, the supplies for which I have had here for years. It feels so good to work through my stash of supplies and papers and to be creating things all the time. It's nice to be around the shop and interact with my wonderful customers. 99% of the time it is incredibly inspiring and makes me so happy to have this store. I am excited to come to work every day, and I feel very lucky indeed.
I haven't lost my love of endurance exercises though.. This January, I started a new running schedule, and it is proving to be as amazing an experience as walking was last year. I can't wait to see how far I can go. In fact, I'm toying with the idea of starting a blog to document that experience... Let's see if I can be better about updating both of them!
Thanks for following along~ Ginna
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