New "Looks" for New Year, What's the harm in "creating?"

Hello all,

Well, today I sketched out some new design concepts for 2007. It's imperative for me to evolve as a jewelry designer, but to retain my fundamental style to keep my old customers while simultaneously gaining new ones. I am thinking of developing a signature line for retail locations--which is sort of evolving right now.

I am really happy, b/c a fellow Punahou alumni, and distinguished jewelry designer, has sort of agreed to be my mentor. It's funny reading her tidbits about Punahou and the accepted forms of success that we should conform to. It is something that I constantly struggle w/ as an artisan. As some of you may know, I am a law school dropout. I was on my way to Bay Area to begin my legal education, when I found out I was pregnant w/ Cade.

Cade just made the BIG 2 on Christmas Day. And even though two years have passed, I am still struggling w/ the release of my former ambitions regarding law school and becoming an attorney. When you graduate from Punahou, the only truly acceptible forms of success come in acronyms: M.D., J.D., M.B.A., or Ph.D. Well, I guess I should have included C.E.O. or C.F.O.--but it has to be w/ a Fortune 500 company. If we don't succeed in any one of aforementioned areas, we are perceived as failures.

No one really takes me seriously if I tell them that I make jewelry for a living. They think I do it for side money, or so I can buy a new pair of Jimmy Choo shoes every month or so I can get a new MacBook Pro. I used to get really annoyed, but I am sort of used to it now. I am not ashamed. People have told me that it's such a waste that I don't follow through w/ my original plans of going to law school. People have said I am wasting my intellect by doing what I am doing. And quite frankly, I am tired of defending myself and my choices. I have a beautiful son, loving boyfriend, supporting family (well, they are almost there) & friends, and I do something I am passionate about for a living. I love my life, and I wouldn't change anything about it--not for a six-figure salary, or the approval of others, or the prestige of an advanced degree.

Someone give me an "AMEN!!!"

"What is a Blog?" , Part 2: Cold Blues Go Away...

This is my first every blog post, so for those of you veteran bloggers, please be patient with this blogging neophyte. I am not even really sure what purpose a blog serves, so to make it easier, I will just define what I intend my blog to be for. Selling retail goods via the Internet sort of neglects the personal banter that goes on during a physical transaction. A big part of selling jewelry that I create with my own hands that I love, is the interaction I have with potential customers. A patron picks up on something about you...your wit, your humor, your intelligence (or maybe the lack there of), your appearance, your product knowledge, that is lacking from a website transaction. My blog seeks to provide a peek into my world, my life--some little tidbit or anecdote that I would normally share with a customer I meet. And in that instant, your prospective customer sees you as a real person. A person with a significant other, with a child, with hardships and triumphs, with goals and ideals...a person with life. And suddenly, you are no longer a faceless entity trying to peddle some useles trinket onto them.

So I want this blog, to give you the opportunity, or more, to give me the opportunity to share myself with you--whoever you are, wherever you live, why ever you are reading this. With that in mind, let me begin...

Happy New Year!!! I love, love, love the New Year. First of all, it's the start of the "easy" season for me being that another successful Christmas has come and gone. Hallelujah!!! I have to start planning my son Cade's 2nd Birthday party. He was born on Christmas Day, which makes it doubly difficult for Ed and I. Being in retail means hectic times from late September until Christmas, which in turn means another late birthday party again for Cade. Last year, we had his birthday party like a month after Christmas. Somtimes it makes me feel like a bad parent, but really when I think about it, parties for kids that young are just an excuse to receive another deluge of gifts. I am sure in his coming-of-age memoir, he won't be venting about his childhood trauma that stemmed from how his Mother gave him birthday parties later than all the other 3-year-olds at the day care center.

Speaking of Cade, he just got a little cold yesterday. We spent the entire day in the house, watching "Curious George" about 200x. I have to say though, that I was surprised at how much I liked that movie. I wasn't a huge fan of George growing up, but I really appreciated his tenacity and precocious nature in this movie. I also liked seeing the Jack Johnson video in the bonus material, since he was born and raised in Hawaii. Represent!!! He is so cute too in a natural, bare-foot, crew-cut, guitar-toting way.

So back to the "cold blues," my son Cade is an extremely good-natured boy...so the few times when he has and does catch a cold, he is unusually cranky and bratty. I am not complaining, as I know it is part of toddlerhood. But I try to find the balance of being comforting without being doting. And it is really difficult, being that I am not the most patient person. I can say w/ all honesty that Ed is the patient parent. But patience is one of the many things that I'm attempting to learn on this maiden voyage of motherhood. I am trying to be patient with myself, while I learn to be patient.

So, instead of being miffed that I don't get to spend a glorious day making beautiful jewelry for the New Year, I will enjoy another day inside. I will relish being buried in a pond of pillows and comforters with Cade as plastic animals are strewn everywhere and holding a half-drunken bottle of apple juice while we watch "Curious George" for the 201th time. I will laugh at Cade as he picks up the $5 ukulele his Popo bought at the Swap Meet, and strums imagined accompaniment with Jack Johnson--both of the them barefoot, with little hair, and cute as buttons.