breakage

first broken item by a customer (that i know of). a little tealight holder in ceramic, shattered all over the floor. it was an accident and she was very sorry. so was i! ah well.

today there is a big picture of the shop, with me fuzzy in the background, in Time Out NY. press is cool because it makes the shop more legitimate somehow? anyway, everyone came by today mentioning Daily Candy. that really is the bible for folks!

party tomorrow. how am i going to chill the wine? and other issues...

press

daily candy is featuring my store today. yay press!

already there are thousands of hits to the site, and people with products emailing me, and a request for samples from the Daily News. press begets press, which is very nice at this time of the year.

i am somewhat freaking out about the party but i shouldn't, right? i should instead freak out about getting a tooth crowned today and not having insurance :(

visitors

today i wrote about the good kind of visitors on the other blog, here i will write about the bad sort. well, not bad, but weird. a man came bursting in with maybe a 12 year old boy behind him. he walks right up to me and starts asking for money for his family, his baby etc, he has a laminated card that says 'i have no job, i am hungry'.

now, being panhandled on the street is one thing. i don't even think the NY ones are as aggressive as in SF. but when someone is entering my space, where i am generally by myself, well, i get a bit nervous. especially considering the approach (walking straight up to me and getting in my face) which the average person entering the store doesn't do. i am getting used to it (lots of characters like to chat w/ the shopkeeper, evidently) but it tweaks out my comfort level, definitely.

one of the aforementioned characters, Jack, even suggested that i put a buzzer on the door to let people in. i really don't want to do that. we'll see.

visits

the famous ms erika of mellifluous couture visited today with her adorable family. i can't wait for her to start sewing again! when she feels better of course.

tomorrow i visit 3 showrooms to look at bags. it's an obsession. i haven't done a showroom visit before and am a bit nervous that i will be spending an incredible amount of money by accident or, er, salesmanship.

ugh

last week i saw a dad and son outside, the dad was on his cell phone and the kid was bored. i saw him rubbing at my chalkboard sign. BUT because the dad was there i figured he wasn't doing anything bad.

of course he was erasing letters. pretty harmless but why didn't the dad stop him?