SEPTEMBER; SUMMER HAS COME AND GONE!

SEPTEMBER?? SUMMER HAS COME AND GONE!! Well, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and since that has passed, I guess we can say good-bye to summer! Well, unless you live here! LOL it's almost always summer in Florida! I know my "monthly" newsletter has turned into an annual event, and I am sorry about that. My goal was to make it quarterly, and I may still get there yet! There just always seems to be so much to do! Please forgive me, and always, always feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to know if I have any sales, or news, or special events. Hey at least I'm not the kinda gal that fills your inbox!

What a year! This one is going in the history books as one of the most insane years of the past century for sure! I know we all have our stories – and just think about it this way, it'll give us great stories to tell our grandkids! Where do I start? Well first of all, I stopped working on March 15th – and have not gone back since! This has been a long, interesting journey to say the least! At first I was VERY angry, VERY angry that the markets and events all got shut down at the very hight of our season! Here in Florida March is the absolute best month of the year, with February second and January third. But most of us make double in March what we make in those other months, and almost everyone in Florida somehow makes our paychecks from tourism. I kept saying things like "the markets are outside, why can walmart stay open? The markets are in the sun – that's harder for the virus to survive!" I just could not get past the idea that the last 8 weeks of my season were torn away from me – and we were all doing well! Most of us need March for the summer months when Florida revenue is almost nil.  Then to add insult to injury, they tell us – even though you cannot work, and even though you are in Florida – NO BEACHES!!! And they actually had this enforced! No traveling – no seeing the GRANDKIDS!!!  Now what? 

Well, when I finally stopped steaming, and circle walking, and got out of my own way, I did what I figure everyone else did – projects! I did spring cleaning, I cleaned out every closet, I re-organized EVERYTHING, I rearranged stuff. I did another of the scanning projects I've been doing – you will be happy to know all of my grandmother's family recipes are safely on the google cloud, wherever that is. I shelled some more clay pots for more plants that we planted, I shelled more picture frames fro more pictures we hung, I had projects for everything! Well, almost everything. See, the thing is if we're being honest – those last 8 weeks, well that's where the "extras" come from. The "summer fun" money, the "I need more materials to cut money" the I need wheels and saw blades" to cut said materials" money- except those 8 weeks didn't happen. And even for the times when you did really well and maybe got to save for those things early, so what – every place you can go hunting or shopping or digging for materials was shut down! So the only "projects " I wasn't doing, were the only ones I really wanted to do; summer is my down time to go in my workshop and saw and cut and polish and wire wrap – all day, every day! Pure HEAVEN!

So NOW WHAT?? Well, let me tell you, you get VERY creative – and you get the heck out of your little comfort zone quick! Funny how the universe did that huh? Didn't even know how much of a comfort zone I had created down here, until now. So yes, I do have new pieces, yes I will always have some more materials – maybe I am currently out of or running low on some, but rest assured I have something new. As a matter of fact, my way of thinking was, if I cant have some wild new unusual materials to wow you with, I'll have to step up the wire work then. And I think I did!

It's a funny thing, but as soon as you accept what has happened and stop fighting the reality, great things happen. This is probably what my meditation teacher has been trying to teach us for years! I had so much aversion to certain technology avenues, and things I mistakenly thought were just for millennials – I never knew what I was missing!

I got on YouTube, and I am learning several new (for me) wire techniques, such as wire weaving, and I love it! You Tube is GREAT! I can't wait to show off my new styles when I go back to work in October. I have new earring styles too, some were ideas I've had for a while, some are spawned from things I've seen on new platforms.

 With the help (yes, another comfort zone buster; accepting help) of my daughter, I learned Instagram! I've only been on there a few months and I am already having a FREE GIVE AWAY to celebrate my first milestone of 500 followers! If you would like to enter, find me and the post, and follow my IG @ibuststonesforaliving but hurry, it runs till Monday (9/14/20) afternoon only! I post pics of my new styles on IG and FB first, so if you follow me there you will be most up to date.  Here are the links – even if you are not interested in the cabochons, I do appreciate anyone that would follow me, thank you.  

https://www.facebook.com/IBUSTSTONESFORALIVING/

ibuststonesforaliving

Also – if you like Etsy, I am currently filling a shop on that platform too!  IBUSTSTONES4ALIVING is how to find me there!

I am still trying to add pieces to my website on a regular basis, but I do have a lot going on! In the last couple months I have added about 30 different pieces. So I am making some progress! On another note – the UNDER $50 category now also includes $50 pieces. At the moment I have a tremendous SUPER SUMMER SALE going; so you should check that out, because I am offering 25% site-wide! 

So, at this point in time, many months after the initial Covid shut down; I can finally see the good that has come from the bad – because – yes – yes, there IS always a silver lining, a good to balance the bad, and everything does happen for a reason. If the pandemic did not hit, if I did not have the extra time off, I probably would not have learned all the different techniques that I am in love with, I may never have opened the doors I opened, I have learned so much, and and so much about myself!  Did you have the ability to do yoga more often? I did. Did you meditate on a regular basis? I did. Did you learn Zoom and Facebook messenger live video so you could see the grandkids and keep in touch with your groups? I did. These things are just the tip of the iceburg of what has happened over the last 6 months – but this is enough to discuss! So I guess we can all learn to accept and "roll with it" a little better, and I know it's easier said than done – but the rewards can be amazing! Until next time –

The most important thing I can tell you is to 

ALWAYS TREASURE THE REAL GEMS IN LIFE!!!! 

 

 

 

 

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