Tuesday, May 6, 2014

on small business and being wrong.


Yesterday I shipped out my very first Etsy order! I was all aflutter, a mixture of nerves and excitement and worry. This is the first time I have made artwork to sell. For a stranger. I even felt a little anxious about how straight my packing label was (not very). But there was something very thrilling and satisfying about holding that thick envelope filled with something I made that someone else wanted for their wall!

Thennnn I had the heart-sinking realization that my descriptions were inaccurate. Ugh. (Apparently "archival" and "acid-free" don't mean the same thing. Or so says this guy.) So I had to backtrack. I just finished writing an apologizing-and-explaining email to the very nice man who bought a portrait from me. I pretty much felt like a moron/charlatan. Not great.

Anyway. Being wrong gives me a stomach ache. But this whole small business thing is all a learning process, right?

My baby is awake and needs a snuggle. At least I've got that skill down pat. :)

Friday, April 25, 2014

Your heart home.

Do you have a place where your heart feels at home?

I'm not talking about the place you grew up, the place you called home for the first time or even the house where you keep your honey and your pillow and your stash of chocolate hidden in the corner of the pantry. I'm talking about that place that, when you go to it, when your body crosses a border--city, county, state, country--into it, its like your whole soul breathes a sigh of relief.

I grew up in Orange County and for the past five (five?!) years we've lived (and worked, schooled, dreamed, snacked, loved, befriended, played, and grown by two babies) in North Carolina. And while home to me at almost-twenty-nine is really more a person (or people) than a physical location, I have to admit that sometimes my heart longs for a cool summer breeze blowing in through the car window as we drive down an almost-empty Saturday stretch of the 5 freeway into San Diego.

I don't even want to calculate the years it has been since we were last there. It is too many. Life is good here--spring, birdsong, green trees, and sunshine--but tonight I am homesick for my heart home.

If you happen to be crossing the county lines into San Diego sometime this summer, please eat a taco for me. Make it a good one.