Whimsy is Open

I am now self-employed. YIPEE!!!  I think.... :)  The Whimsy Stores have a physical location, 111 Old Kyle Road in Wimberley, Texas.  I can now walk to work.  And use all of my creative force.  My husband and I are running the store and learning center together.  So far, really good!  I joined the garden club and the newcomers club and both groups have taught me something I did not know.  We also hosted the local realtors breakfast and joined them for a tour of homes for sale.  Again I learned something about our market and the community needs.  Tomorrow is a big shopping day.  We are not as visible as we would like but we are on the square so we are hoping for some good traffic.  We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of work to do.  But if we work half as hard as we did working for others, we should have a great business.  Keep watching the web site http://www.thewhimsystores.com/ and our facebook page "thewhimsystores" for our progress.  We need all the advice we can get so don't be shy!!! :)

Another Wild Whimsy Adventure - In Connecticut

Well followers, I now have proof that there are Wild Whimsy Women in Connecticut too!  My buddy and I left last Tuesday from Texas and found ourselves at the Chickadee Cottage in Old Saybrook, the home of Kathryn Hepburn, beautiful rocky beaches, jigsaw puzzle views of little boats and the great big sea.  We wandered through towns that were less than five miles apart, found whimsical stores with great ideas they encouraged me to use at the Whimsy Stores.  We met craftsman and writers, ate great food, rode a steam train, a ferry, a river boat, and climbed to the highest of the Seven Sisters hills to see William Gilettes (Actor who played Sherlock Holmes) home.  We also went to Tag Sales (Garage Sales in Texas) and found some stupendous surprises for the store opening in November.  All the people we met made us feel welcome and each one has planted a seed (or ten) of wisdom for the our new store.  One day we had a surreal experience when we introduced ourselves to a couple on the steam train and found they had just moved to Wimberley.  Later, we saw them again at the Goodspeed Theatre.  Carnival was showing and the star was from Austin, Texas.  The world is really small. 

For the next few weeks, we will be very busy making Whimsy bags, restoring French Country Cottage (alias: Shabby Chic) furniture, creating one of a kind jewelry from vintage pieces, putting finishing touches on our vintage chic chandeliers, finishing our unique game tables, writing manuals for classes, and preparing for the opening.  Remember, all advice is welcome. 

The Whimsy Stores

Well it is official!  My husband and I are opening a store in Wimberley.  We will continue to sell handcrafted and unique furniture and gifts, similar to what we offer in our Wimberley Market Days booth (#251).  But begining in October, we will also offer all kinds of classes for the community. 

We have both been teachers and love the classroom so it was an answer to prayer when we thought of teaching crafts, hobbies, tutoring, writing, business, and much more.  We will be building step by step manuals for every class and will offer the manuals on our website for those who cannot attend in person.  We are hoping that there are many "Wild, Whimsy Women" who will make The Whimsy Stores their destination in the years to come.

Last week we took the first steps.  We researched locations and decided on one, we negotiated the lease on the building, we added domain names to our portfolio and registered additional names with the Office of County Records.  We also met with City representatives about signage, occupancy requirements and more.  I have been working on the web site and class schedule while my husband decides on merchant services, insurance needs, and setup the bank account.  We will both be building the new class curriculums. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg,  Before we can open, we will need to implement our marketing plan, construct display and partitions for the store, negotiate with our artist vendors, scedule the intial artist showings and plan the grand opening, 

Remember, my plan to walk to work?  Well I have timed it and I will get a great 30 minute walk with many inclines.  We will be open Wed-Sat so we will still have time to see grandchildren/children, garden, and play. 

So far it sounds great but keep us in your prayers and send any ideas you have.  Wise ideas are always welcome. Long live "Wild Whimsy Women"!!!

The Power of God

Well fellow seekers, instead of writing or planning the last few weeks, I have been resting and enjoying my family. God always knows what we need even when we don't.  But now it is time to fight.  Today I am writing to all the prayer warrior women out there to ask that you join me in a fight against powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in high places.  A little boy, 7 months old, is fighting for his life right now.  Little Holden has been diagnosed with ALL.  I know that God gives us life and life abundantly and that Satin comes as a roaring lion to kill, steal, and destroy.  So God's word, coming out of the mouths of His sons and daughters is the powerful weapon needed right now. Lift up Holden and his parents in your prayers.  God will be glorified and Satan will be defeated.  Our God is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.  He has given us His name Jehovah Rafah, the God that heals us.  God says that His Word is published by a great company of women, a sword coming out of our mouths, so join us in praying for Holden and the promises God has made concerning him and all of us who know and love the Lord.

Camp Week with the Whimsy Woman

So this week my husband and I have had 7 kids aged 8-14 at my house for Cousin Camp.  We have had a great adventure and I am now exhausted! We have gone tubing on the river, had intense croquet tournaments, water baloon/gun fights from the roof, hide and seek in the dark, jumped from rocks into an aquifer fed well, put on a melodrama, explored an old west town, and learned to play pick up sticks and spoons.  You can understand why I am tired.  Two days to go and we have had soo much fun. Every once in a while it is really good to play the way you did as a kid.  We end the day with laughter and wake up with anticipation.  My muscles are sore but my brain is alive and I love it! Tomorrow we are going to spend the day at another river.  We will slide down the tube shoot, ride a zipline into the river, play putt-putt and just enjoy our last day together.  I am adding playing with kids often to the list of things I want to do.

11 Things I love about Wimberley

I love my little town.  It took us 30 years to get here and it was worth the effort.  1. I love Wimberley because I can float the river from my park for an hour and then take a 15 minute walk and be home.  2. I like spending weekend nights at, The Corral, the outdoor walk-in theatre, watching the latest family friendly hits for 5 bucks and munching on popcorn, candy and coke for a dollar each, or 3. watching Shakespeare Under the Stars at the outdoor Emily Ann Theatre.  4. I like eating ice cream and playing arcade games at 7-A Ranch and then playing in Pioneer Town (I wish they would still show the melodramas and have the train ride). 5.  I like swinging into the creek at the Blue Hole and 6. having lunch with friends at the Leaning Pear.  7. I love Market Days on the first Saturday of every month and 8. having quesadillas and sangria on the deck at Inoz listening to local musicians.  8. I like finding every thing I need from great clothes, to comfy, beautiful shoes, to great food and wines on the village square (and at Dove Tails). 9. And I like the awesome products made locally from ClimbOn cream that heals everything, to the beautiful lighting created by glass blowers at Wimberley Glassworks. 10. I love rocking on the patio and eating breakfast tacos at Mima's.  11.  And best of all, I like sipping margaritas on my patio while my husband BBQs and friends hang out on Wimberley time.

Planting Seeds

Well, family and friends, I had an epiphany today as I start my 6th day at the beach.  I am not going to worry about what I will do next.  I am just going to plant seeds for the dreams of others. As I help other women acheive their dreams,  I believe God will clarify a "witty, wise invention" for me too.  But in the meantime I can rejoice in supporting other tender plants and make sure the ground is fertile and there is enough water to ensure the women in my life will succeed.  This epiphany occurred when I visited a massage therapist, Christine, at Positive Energy.  As she massaged me and shared her awesome life story, I starting thinking of all my friends and the wishes they had and decided to focus on their visions instead of my own and I just got happy!!!  The rest of the day was just perfect!!! Tomorrow I am spending the morning at the beach with a great book written by one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith, and in the afternoon I am working on my own book tentatively titled "Strength to Choose Life Abundantly", a book of remembrance to remind me that God is GREAT and has always led me well.  Keep trusting dear readers.  Good things are coming!

By the People For the People

Wow!  Alvin Greene wins a Democratic primary without spending millions and the Democrats are coming unglued.  And if it had been a Republican they would be acting the same way.  Professional politicians will fight to maintain their power base and some upstart who gets elected without a bankroll is a real threat to thier futures.  But I am cheering.  Our country was built on a government by the people and for the people.  We need people, the ones working or trying to work, raising children, retiring, teaching, and dreaming of a future to stand up and express their beliefs by running for office.  And there is no reason, with the social media network, that the face of our congress and senate cannot change to reflect the multifaceted beliefs and concerns of all Americans.  I am not sure how Alvin Greene will fare against the political machine we have all had a hand in creating, but I hope he has started a small flame that will turn into a wild fire!  We need independent, caring, honest people to run for office and we need to use the social networks to promote the people we know.  We need to stop voting for permanent politicians.  They have lost touch!!!  It is time for every American to choose to serve this country in office.  That is the only way we will see a return to true representation of American values and beliefs.

A Month of Rest

Well fellow seekers, I am no longer employed.  I am really on the path now to discover a better way to live and work.  I started my new adventure by spending a week in France with one of my best friends.  We laughed and explored and my mind was so full of the experience, I had no time to dwell on the business I had left or the crazy schedule I have lived with for so many years.  It was a time to take a breath and enjoy a beautiful world.  That trip was a God given gift and just what I needed.  When i got home, I had to consiously say to myself, "do not look at your blackberry or email every 2 minutes and don't think about what you will do next!".  It was really difficult.  I threw myself into landscaping the backyard and building a patio with my wonderful husband.  The physical exercise is good.  And I have been walking every day and eating better.  I am committing to be open to possibilities and not making any commitments until the summer ends. 

At the end of the month I am attending a home school conference.  I love teaching and supporting parents who want to teach their own children.  So I am going to look at curriculum and try to understand the challenges.  I few years ago, I worked with a home school group and taught creative writing.  I think many people are not aware of the extensive network of relationships available to parents and children who chose to homeschool.  One of the "negatives" espoused by some people is that home schoolers don't have activities and relationships with other kids, but the opposite is true if the home schooling family is part of a local group.  The parents plan activities and incorporate much more hands on into the learning experience.  The kids spend less time listening and more time doing. 

I am also spending some time this month practicing my shabby chic refinishing skills.  Lee and I have a booth at Wimberley Market Days (the first Saturday of each month) and we sell refinshed furniture.  I like taking things people throw away and turning them into something special again. I

I have read a lot about going into business for yourself and the large amount of advice says get your business going before you quit your other job.  I chose a different path.  I need to clear my mind and be able to commit myself to make my own business succeed.  If you are following this blog, I will let you know how it works out.

Keep Planting even when the Ground is Dry

Today I am getting ready to leave me current company. This is a huge step and a hard one.

"For many people a job is more than an income - it's an important part of who we are. So a career transition of any sort is one of the most unsettling experiences you can face in your life. ~Paul Clitheroe"

This is a perfect description.  And to compound it, I am not at all sure where this transition will lead.  I am frustrated at what I have not been able to finish. And I will really miss many people who have had a positive impact on my life. I want to leave well. I found this article that really echoes my beliefs and commitment to continuing to plant good things even after I am gone.

But I am ready for some freedom. That is a little scary. I am a worker and not sure what I will do with myself when I don’t have 10 balls in the air at once. I am committed to starting something of my own. But before I do that, I am taking a break to relax, read, write, play at the river with my wonderful husband and take the time to plan. I am so cognizant of the risk. But life is really a gift and I want to figure out how to enjoy it before I jump back into a fire that burns out the important things.

So I planted a garden this spring. Since I live in the hill country I am really working on a close to xeroscaped garden. Water is in short supply everywhere but it is really tough to drill a well through solid rock. I love flowers and want to have blooms to enjoy in the yard and in the house. So far I have purple bearded Iris, red Poppies, and garlands of bride’s wreath spirea covered in little white flowers. The hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies are already sprinkling themselves across my yard, taking advantage of all the blossoms.

I have also planted green beans, edamame, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers. Asparagus is in its fourth year and the first that I have had enough to harvest for a meal. If you did not know, aspargus will come back every year but it takes a few years to get established.  We can eat asparagus every other day right now. Terrific!!!! At least I can be nourished for a while until I decide what my next earning adventure will be.

My Business Blueprint - What is Important?

As I started the research phase of defining my at home business, I thought the first step would be to figure out what kind of business I would want to run. The business needs to reflect my values, the work/life balance I desire, and utilize my strengths. Then I found this article on WITI, Selling a Business and Designing a New Life: 10 Questions to Your Best Future and it helped me realize I need to first decide what I want my days to look like. By defining what I care about and want to spend my time doing, I can begin to list the characteristics of a business that still lets me live.


So I am making a list of what is important to me. I want to be with Lee (my hubby) every day. We really like each other and I am lonely when I can’t talk to him or see him. I want to be able to find a group of people to pray with and to praise God with. I want to be able to walk in the country every day. I want to be able to cook in my kitchen, garden in my garden, and play in my river most days. I want to be able to have my grandchildren staying with us and be able to take breaks for adventures with them. I want to write poems and stories and songs. I want to travel sometimes, and don’t mind working on the trip, as long as I also get time to really play. I want to be able to help my kids with their kids and opportunities that come up in their lives. I want to hang-out with my girlfriends and work from the beach a couple of times a year with my buddy. I want to be involved in community activities, especially in non-profits locally. When I look at this list, I have no time to work. Ha Ha But the truth is I love working, solving problems, motivating and empowering others, and learning. I want something that inspires me and makes a difference.

Money used to be really important because we had four kids to raise, but now we can live off a lot less. We don’t have a lot of debt so we can make some choices. A (very) few years ago I read a book, One Acre and Security, an instruction book for how to live simply. That year we grew a big garden and had chickens. We hunted deer and turkey, and I made fresh bread all the time.  We loved that year accept for the chickens.  Lee will veto chickens forever after that experience. But I have always liked knowing I could live with very little and like it if I needed to. I think this is a good mindset when I start a new business because success will not happen overnight. We need to be ready to live lean (for a time).

I realize as I write this, I am fleshing out a blueprint for my life and a new business will be only one piece.  This process is not going to be a straight line.  I will proabably take a lot of side roads and walk in a few circles, heh that sounds like my life story up to now.  But I am getting more excited about stepping out and finding the next path.  Thanks for walking with me.

The Work From Home Dream

I have dreamed of really working from home since my children were young. Now I have 12 grandchildren and I still am trying to figure it out. I have daughters and friends struggling to figure out how to use their talents, support their families, and be home. If I figure this out, then maybe i can help them too. I may not be like all women, but I like being in the nest I have feathered. I want the time to have friendships and dream and find new adventures. But I also want to use my talents and make a difference.

The world has progressed since I was young. Companies, like Alpine Access, want to use at home workers to meet the growing corporate service demands. And sites like The Work At Home Woman provide links to potential employers.  This is on shore sourcing at its best. And after building a call center in Bangalore, I know the cost is comparable and the employees are more loyal. While these jobs may be great for women who need flexible schedules and just want some extra cash, I need something more.

I have so many experiences, sales rep, educator, manufacturer, business owner, corporate trainer, IT guru, process and operations consultant, software implementation director, operations VP. Surely I can find a way to create an enterprise in Wimberley, Texas that is fun and still leaves time for life!.

So this is my mission. I will one day leave the corporate world to develop a business from home. I may find that it is an impossible dream. That is OK. I have always believed that it is better to risk and dream than never to try so I guess this is just my next leap. If you have already found success, your advice is appreciated. If you are also thinking of taking the leap, I hope my journey will help you.

First step, Research.