Seeing Beyond The Dot

There's so much going on with the shop move and all of the meetings, emails, planning, and oh yeah, painting, that I am feeling a bit like a spaz.  Going with the flow is crucial as is compartmentalizing and scheduling priorities, but to be completely honest here...I've been feeling a little like this:

In times like these I revert to my nighttime vigil.  I'm a reader.  Instead of downloading a good book on the Kindle, I instead lay there in the dark and research everything til a million o'clock in the morning.  

Lately it's Google Fest 2013.  I will Google anything and everything, reading blogs of others in this business, products, self-help tips, whatever my all-over-the-place brain wants to see.  Like, it's sick.  

When Google is your life coach you may need to re-evaluate some things, right?  Don't judge (wink).  

My vigil usually ends around 3am or so, once I am full to the brim and feel like I learned something new or saw something from a different perspective.

I've needed some perspective lately as we are building toward the crescendo of moving both our residence and the shop in the same month.

Yup.

But, when opportunity knocks you don't squawk about the timing.

  You answer the door and greet the challenge.

And now that the time is coming and it's real...my inner voice is being kind of a jerk.

Doubt is creeping in.

Am I good enough?  Can we do this?  Will we be ready?  What will happen?  Will everything be awesome?  Will it look like amateur hour?  Will we make friends?  Am I worthy?  Am I making a mistake?  How will it be?  

And let us not forget:

People are counting on you, so don't screw this up.

*I know that there are many people that think those are thoughts best kept to myself.  But I'm a regular person with fears and doubts.  I'm not going to hide behind the "I'm a fearless business owner" thing.  Or some asinine idea that I'm perfect, always have the answers and am without flaws. That's not me. I identify with real.  I identify with others that know themselves and are true to that.  I'd much rather be imperfect than boring, after all.*

 Back to my nightly Google vigil.  I found something (that I'm sure a jillion people other than myself are familiar with) that resonated.

I'm paraphrasing it, but basically the idea is this:

A professor stands at a chalkboard in front of a class and wordlessly makes a dot on the chalkboard.

He then asks the class what they see.

In unison, everyone says, "A dot!".

He asks if everyone agrees.  And they do.  Because it's a dot, right?

Duh.

He then asks if they see the classroom, the chalkboard, the person in front of them, the ceiling, the floor....

Simple.  But blew my mind.

I have to see the big picture, not what my jerky inner voice tells me, not what is put right in front of my face, not the distractions, not the doubts, not what someone else wants me to see.  The whole picture.  

Pretty simple, right?

Seeing beyond the dot.

I can get with that.

Here's part of the big picture:

The new shop will be located at 1117 Main Street in the amazingness that is Downtown Sumner, Washington.

Opening weekend is the first weekend in april.

Our hours will be Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12-4

Typing that just made me smile.  

The picture is getting clearer and I can't wait to see all of you in it!

XO

Mandi

Oregon Coast Pickin' and Regrouping

Things have been pretty awesomely wild and crazy the last few weeks here at the shop.  

I signed the lease at our dream location on Main Street in Sumner (grand opening April 5th-7th!), which is the thrill of a lifetime and I'm so excited to get there!  Lots to do and plan.  The warehouse clearance sale we had was an unexpectedly fantastic success, and we've had quite a few painting classes as well.  At the same time, we're packed to the hilt with more custom orders than we've ever had at one time, and on top of trying to stay on top of those and restocking the shop...things are, um, BUSY.

We'll be at the Hope Helpers Spring Soiree Benefit Bazaar on March 24th in full traveling show form, and will reopen at our new location about 10 days later.

I'm over the moon about all of those things and more.

This is not to say I get much sleep or can shut my brain off for even one second...cuz I can't.

There's too much to DO!

So when a wonderful customer presented the opportunity for a stay in her Seaside, Oregon cottage at the exact time I actually had two days off...I grabbed Ma, the customer's hutch, and we were outta here.  Mom and I took off last Monday and had a lovely, rain-free drive down I-5 and hit HWY 30 toward the beach.  A little more than 3 hours after we left, we were there!

I've been to the Oregon Coast in the winter, but never on a weekday.  Seaside is pretty much a ghost town on a Monday in February, and let me tell you what...that's reason enough to go!  It's peaceful and feels much more quaint than on a weekend.

After a recommendation from a trusted source we hit McKeown's for lunch.  This place is a gem, individually owned and beautifully appointed.  Antique buffet as a hostess station?  We felt right at home and had the place pretty much to ourselves for our late lunch.  A really nice bowl of chowder and a chopped Caesar was nicely priced and delicious.  They serve breakfast late and have a well stocked bar and Irish pub.  Lunch for two was right around 20 bucks.  Yay!

Go to here!

photo: tripadvisor

Fed, we were itchin' to get pickin'.  Who knew there were thrift stores in Seaside?  Not us!  This little thrift  was just down the street from McKeown's and situated right on the Necanicum River in a cute plaza.

http://seasidespayandneuterthriftshop.com/

We didn't happen upon any treasures on our visit, per se, but we did grab a few littles to support their great cause.  All proceeds from the shop help the welfare of area dogs and cats, they provide discount spay and neuter certificates and the like.  The shop survives fully on donations, and the shop is staffed by volunteers.  It's a REAL cool idea and I wish we had something like this here in Seattle/Tacoma.

I also made sure to snap this pic of Ma down by the river (to make her crazy):

We walked toward the beach and stopped into the few shops that were open.  One of which is an adorable place that will remain nameless...it's amazingly gorgeous and completely filled to the brim with cute.  It's quite expensive and every single thing was made in China.  That bummed us out.  No thanks!

On we went to the famous Seaside turnaround to see the pretty ocean and clear our heads.

 Okay, ocean.  We have work to do.  So we hit the next place on the list.  This fantastically funky little find:

Rag and Bone

I'm a sucker for a good Willy Wonka font so I knew I would love this place.  And I did.  Mostly it's totally a military/junk store, but there were some seriously cool finds here and all superbly priced.  We took home an old wood waterski, an ornate footed display, some wall pieces, and other little treasures.  The regulars keep the owner pretty busy but she was lovely and super helpful.  They definitely have a ton of militaria, which isn't our thing but pretty cool nonetheless.  Check this place out if you're down for some quirky weirdness (I always consider that a compliment).  It's located right on the main highway near the Outlet Mall.

And yes, we hit the mall...but the only store we actually went into was Eddie Bauer.  Goodies for our husbands were found and great sales meant we took home 4 zip-up pullovers and a couple of thermal shirts for about 50 bucks.  Yay!

Guilt free and happy as clams, we sped out of the lot and down to the beach to catch this sunset:

  Ahhhh.  That's the stuff!

We found out pretty quickly that there aren't a whole lot of places open for dinner on a Monday in the winter in Seaside.  So we hit the main strip and had a nice dinner at Twisted Fish Steakhouse.  It was so wonderful  for us to just sit and reflect on the triumphs and heal some of the tragedies of the past year.  Mom and I work together a lot...but we don't always talk about the stuff that matters, or all our family has been through in the last 13 months.  There's always something to do, after all.  We did some really good open heart-talking during that long dinner and it was awesome.  The food was super.  But the company was the BEST.  This place isn't cheap, but it was worth the price of admission for sure.

Fast forward through a great night of girl time and a great sleep at the comfy beach cottage.  We awoke to SUNSHINE!  And we headed South.  First stop:  Manzanita.  It's our favorite little town on the Oregon Coast, and is about 20 miles or so from Seaside.  The beach there is amazing and so gorgeous.  But first!  Breakfast:

The Big Wave Cafe makes we wish I had more hands, so I could give it more than two thumbs up.  All the way up.  It's, like, amazing.  Their bacon is magical.  I don't know what they do to it, but it's so woah.  Check it out...I had stuffed French toast.  It was the best thing I've ever eaten for breakfast.

AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE FRENCH TOAST!

There's no bacon in the picture because I ate it in about a nanosecond.  It was too good.

If you go to this place (and you should), no matter what you get...get bacon on the side.  Trust us.

Ok, in a nutshell the rest of the day went pretty much like this:

Manzanita beach

One of the best parts of being at the beach?

Looking like a couple of hooded hobos and not giving a rip!

Back in the car and further South on 101 you'll find this gem:

Hope Chest

Again, a few littles purchased here for the good of it.  Found a metric ton of embroidery hoops that will be a part of our new shop's first window display and got them for a song.  A completely true not-for-profit that has raised over a million dollars for local charity since they opened their doors, the finds are good but the people that volunteer their time here are even better, so stop on by!

Next stop, Nehalem.  Now, I had heard there were "lots" of antique shops there but there is only one that remains...the rest are full of China-made junk.  Pete's Antiques in Nehalem is a treasure trove.  And Pete is a national treasure.  Please go buy some things from him, we did!  It's a mess in there, to be certain, but in the best way.  We found Pete reading an old National Geographic and he gave us some lovely deals.  Wish we would have brought a rig big enough to haul some of his goods off...some exquisite pieces mixed in there.

Then.  And only then.  We hit Wheeler.

When you pull into town it looks like a half dozen antique shops in a row.  Exciting!

Come to find out it is TWO GIANT STORES. EEEK!

Great finds at Old Wheeler Antiques.

But OMG, you guys.

This place is THE place:

Wheeler Station Antiques

IT IS CRAZY AMAZING.

It's CRAMAZING.

It's HUMONGOUS.

IT NEVER ENDS.

I started to panic a little...because once you get in you get so turned around you cannot get your bearings.

I was junk drunk, panicked, and considered just laying down on the ground to calm myself.  I lost Mom sometime in the first half hour, and just kept finding little rooms and nooks and crannies.  Now, there's some over-priceyness on a few things (mostly items up front) but really, you can find SO many deals.  We bought a lot here, and I would have bought so much more if we had a trailer.

PS:  Please buy me a trailer.

Exhausted and dehydrated, we emerged two hours later with our purchases, and headed back to Seaside for dinner at Norma's, as Mom required much seafood after our exhausting day.  Not one to argue seafood needs, I was right there on the same page with her.  We kinda went crazy and it was a crab crackin' mess.  And it was sooooo good.

Local stuff, nice folks, great food and great service, reasonably priced for seafood too!

We stopped at a few random spots on the way home the next day...nothing of note.

Not until Astoria.

We had a flipping awesome lunch at Fort George Brewery and Public House.  Have the chips and homemade salsa to start and the chicken bleu cheese sandwich.  It's to die for.

NOW.

Walk down the street and go here:

photo: vintage hardware fb page

There are really no words for the feeling of falling in love.

But I fell in love real, real hard with Vintage Hardware.

Oh my dear lord.  It's 12,000 square feet of an old hotel, full of salvage, hardware, and great old stuff.  There's painted furniture and retail stuff too...but dear sweet Jeebs...the stuff in the back is the sweet spot.

When I grow up I want to be that place.  Until then, I want to shop in it, live it, breathe its lead painted dust, and roll around in the rust.

You will super not be disappointed.  If you are?  Get your eyes checked!

I really needed that trailer.

What a way to end our little trip.  This little break was a much needed regroup and reconnect.  I needed that,  even more than a trailer.  I needed that fun time with Mom where I'm the daughter and she's the momma, and we laugh all the time and give each other crap.  That was the real treasure that we found.  Face time.

Thanks to our wonderfully generous customer, Heidi, we found that time to just breathe and steep in the goodness.  Now we can get through the next big crazy couple of months.

Thank you, Heidi!  Thank you, Mom!  Thank you beach!

Thank you all!

XOXO,

Mandi

(Look at that cute Mom.  Is she not the cutest?)