My week started off in a completely surreal way.
My Monday morning started with a breakfast meeting with my creative team to go over the final details for our Halloween decorating. Have I mentioned how over-the-top and completely unexpected it is going to be? I know you are thinking white pumpkins and fall leaves…but believe me…that is the last thing you can expect. Anyway, I was feeling so grateful that I am surrounded by these amazing, creative people who have so many awesome ideas and can help to not only organize the ideas but actually implement them.
THEN…
I got to greet my two Monday interns who started working on some really off-the-wall projects with me in preparation for our Christmas decorating. I know…Halloween and Christmas in the same day is enough to get any one’s head spinning. Anyway, we dyed some wood thinga-ma-jiggies that will be cool tree embellishments and started glittering…glittering…glittering. I was sooo grateful for their help!
THEN…
In a completely unexpected twist, I met Chloe!
I got, yet another taste of the strangeness of social media and was introduced to an intentional visitor from up-state New York (as opposed to an unintential visitor from out of state who just happened upon the store)! I say “social weirdia” because though I just met Chloe for the first time today, she has been following our story for over a year. It was weird…cool…unexpected…hard to wrap my head around. I know I write a blog post every once in awhile, and someone out there in the big ‘ole world might read it…BUT, to actually meet them face to face…well, that doesn’t happen often.
I was thinking about how I would react to “Miss Mustard Seed,” or “Funky Junk Donna,” or Kelli from “Restore Interiors” if I met them in person for the first time. I feel like I know these women…their families…their children…their lives…their struggles…their successes. I read their blogs regularly, weekly…sometimes daily if time allows and can relate because they are just ordinary woman doing extraordinary things…that they love…which includes and involves their families, church groups and neighbors. Not much different from myself! Yet, they don’t know me…at all…in fact, it would be darn right weird for me to go up to them out of the blue, give them a hug and ask, “how are the kids?”
Anyway, Chloe was in LA working and visiting friends. She hung up her work hat, ditched her friends and braved the LA traffic to drive all the way to podunk Glendora. Yep…it took her two hours, to which I said, “WELCOME TO LA!”
It was such an honor to meet her. It motivated me to want to write more, share more pictures of the store, write more tutorials, show my home projects more frequently.
It was a good reminder that there are, like…I don’t know…a dozen people truly interested. 🙂 OK…maybe more than that! And, someday I might meet more of you. Heck, just last year I got to meet Fiona all the way from Australia who (intentionally) visited knot too shabby while she was staying with friends in the area. Now, I follow her blog and we even have the occasional social media conversation. It’s great to put a face to a comment!
I am no big-time-get-a-show-on-HGTV-or-write-a-book-blogger! And, when I’m feeling slightly inadequate, over tired, over worked, not quite good enough or under appreciated, the Lord sends a gift in a stranger like Chloe…or Fiona…my creative team and my interns… It is these wonderful women (and the occasional gentleman) who give me that extra boost of confidence to carry on with my day…do something meaningful, and I mean more than painting furniture or the occasional crafting project…but relate in that everyday, “I’m just a mom trying to keep up with my house chores, kids homework, personal fitness, cooking dinner…oh, and running a shop” sort of way.
Yep…it’s not that grandiose. In fact…it’s entirely and utterly normal. But hey…that’s what makes it real!
So, as I hustle my kids out the door in the morning, cram a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in their lunch box and stuff their backpacks in the car, I can go on with my day knowing that perhaps God has something wonderful in store for me, much like our unexpected visitor from across the country…who, completely humbles me in my everyday life and causes me to want to smile more, complain less and greet everyone that visits with the kind warmth and enthusiasm that I greeted Chloe.
Seems like it should be second nature, huh?
If you could visit us, where would you be coming from?
