Moving On

An early New Year's Resolution? Why not. I have been waling around for far too long, carrying about thingsand peope that I simply cannot change. There are times when I realy beat myself up about it and lately I have decided that it is simply sucking too much energy out of me. I am far better off working on things I can change and focusig obn making my life as nice as it can be. Why did it take me so long to kearn this lesson? Never too late I suppose...

Kindness

Sometimes an event will happen that really makes you take a look at your partner in life and either realize you are with the right person or it will make you wonder what the heck you are doing with that person. Last night I got even more confirmation that I am indeed with the right guy. We were off to Wal-mart to get a birthday gift and card for our neighbour's daughter. It was just getting dark when we got there but our daughter spotted a man with his dog in the parking lot and commented on the cute dog (she is three and she gets very excited when she sees dogs, cats, squirrels etc). I will admit that I noticed the dog but not the man. As we started towards the entrance (Bob likes to park a mile out at all times) the man approached us with his dog. It was then that I noticed his shabby clothes and scruffy appearance. He was walking his dog with a rope as a leash. He asked if we could do something to help him. Both he and his dog were hungry. Without hesitation Bob asked him if he could stick around for five minutes so we could grab something for him. The man was very thankful (but just a little worried he would get in trouble for hanging around). Bob and I hauled it into Wal-mart. He went for dog food and I went for people food. We ended up gathering bread, juice, lunch meat, cheese, breakfast bars, grapes, apples, cookies and dog food. Bob asked them to double bag it and ran it out to the man. He was very, very thanksful. I am so glad that I spend my life with a man who doesn't think twice when someone needs help. I am the exact same way and sometimes I take flack for it. When I drive into Toronto there will often be people begging under the bridge. I ALWAYS give them $5. Usually other people in my car will remark that these people probably use the money for drugs, or why don't they go get a job etc etc. The bottom line is that I believe they are there asking for money because they truly NEED it. If I am getting played, so be it. If I am actually helping make someone's life a bit easier than I am happy to do it whenever I can.

Lessons Learned

I like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded person. I don't have to like everything that a person does or agree with everything that they believe in, in order to like that person. I hope I am raising my daughter to feel the same way. I find that keeping an open mind also allows me to learn life lessons. This has been happening quite a bit lately for me. I have realized that sometimes I can be quick to share a dilemma with people and see what their point of view is. Then I find myself replacing my judgement with theirs. Usually it doesn't feel good in the end. Lately I have realized that I need to absorb the facts, sit back and listen to what my gut tells me. I used to be a good judge of character and I used to confidently make decisions. Over the past few years I find that this has not been the case and I want to get back to that. All life lessons, I suppose. Speaking of a life lesson, a few weeks ago I posted about my daughter being naughty in dance class. We missed dance last week because we went to the Royal Winter Fair instead (we both loved it). Last night was our first time back to dance after that last, bad, class. Piper and I have spent quite some time discussing the importance of listening and being respectful in the past few weeks so I felt like I had sort of gotten through to her (keeping in mind she is 3). Lastnight we went into dance, got there a few minutes early and she apologized to Miss Jennifer (dance teacher) for not listening and not behaving. I was quite proud of her because she sounded quite sincere. Her dance lesson went MUCH better. She participated more, listened more and seemed to have loads of fun! I won't say she was perfect. There were moments when she went a little rogue and did her own thing but the improvement was big and hey, Rome was not built in a day right?

The Future

You never know what your future holds. You can do your best to set goals, make plans etc but the truth is...the future is a hard thing to predict. The reason for this post is that a few years ago I had no idea that I would be a jewellery designer and that I would have my own studio/shop. As I was driving into the studio this morning, and into the little town of St. George, I was remembering all the times in my past when I had driven into St. George. It was usually to meet friends for dinner (St. George has an awesome little pub that we used to frequent). It got me thinking. I wonder how many times I looked at the building that I now rent and work in every day. I had no idea back then that I would be where I am today. Back then I didn't even make jewellery and while I was always creative and while I always wanted to be self employed I would never have guessed that this is where I would be eventually. It made me feel pretty lucky for the life I have....

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! It is indeed a happy day for me. First of all, my daughter is going out as a kitty cat tonight. She had me do her makeup and put on her costume for daycare and I have to admit that she is the cutest kitty ever! She is so excited that we can't help but be excited too:) In other happy news, I have found a distributor! They are on the west coast and we are just finalizing the last of the details and then I will officially announce our partnership. I am very excited though! It's just the thing that I need to shake things up in my business right now. I definitely think it is a step in the right direction. On a side note...I got an iPhone 5 last night. I have been a Blackberry user for years and didn't want to switch because I enjoy a keyboard and buttons. I wasn't a big fan of the touch screen. I have had my iPhone for about 14 hours (most of which included sleeping) and I have to say...I kind of love it!! I also chose a wicked, gold glitter cover which pleases me to no end.

Cheeky Child

My child is cheeky. Anyone who has met her, knows this. In most situation she is well-behaved and a joy to be around but she definitely has her own mind. She can also be as stubborn as a bull. Last night her father and I got a bird's eye view of her being overly cheeky and I have to say, we kind of had our eyes opened. She has been in dance class for the last 6 weeks. We weren't expecting miracles. After all, she is only three. We just thought it would be a good way for her to socialize more and learn something new while also getting some exercisse in and having fun. Up until last night she was in a studio where the parents were not able to watch. There was a tiny window looking in and the dance school had put blinds up so the kids would not be distracted. Last night they moved us to a different studio with that glass that lets the parents see in but the kids could not see out. We were so excited to finally see her progress and I will admit, I may have been a little over confident thinking I would see my little angel in there acting like the perfect student and just being the cutest little dancer ever. Ummmm...not exactly the case. She was definitely cute in her little dance outfit with her hair up in a bun BUT she was somewhat of a terror for the poor dance teachers. She totally ran her own agenda. While they tried their best to keep her on track and to encourage participation, she just did whatever the heck she felt like doing. On top of it all, she tried to get some other dancers in her camp as well. She was by far the worst behaved tiny dancer in the studio. I said to my husband "they must just cringe when they see us walk in". So, it has become abundantly clear that we are up for our next challenge with the little lady. We really have to get her listening better, respecting more and behaving better in general. She starts school in 11 months and I think we have a lot of work to do in the mean time. She is one cheeky child for sure. Speaking of cheeky, here is the latest in the Piper Shaw Line for Girls. I would say it is reflective of the young lady the line was named after...

Cleaning House!

It is absolutely gorgeous out today. Like 22 degrees of gorgeous and we are nearly into November. That is unbelievable! I am in a t-shirt today with no jacket or sweater. This makes me very happy! Happy enough to want to clean in fact. I have gotten rid of a bunch of junk in the shop, moved some things around and got caught up on my pricing. It looks great! I did squeeze in a little jewelery making this morning though. Some sassy, blinged out, friendship bracelets!