Lots of thinking time this year...even with a busy, wonderful wedding season...it has been quite the year. I always seem to have a mission, a cause, an irritation, a passion, a something...it is always something. This year, I spent more time reflecting all these somethings that come and go. I have come to a few conclusions. Let me know if you agree.
What happened to simple living? Everything has to be BIG, and BIGGY size. Our houses, our cars, (I mean, if I have one more black Silverado on my VW bugs rear end when I try to turn in my driveway, REALLY! - see, already irritated.) When asked if I want to BIGGY SIZE this, I just want to say, "are you kidding me!" How about we simple-size this!! So close to building that TINY HOUSE and hooking it up to the VW bug and boogie on down the highway to whatever green space we have left in this country. On an editorial note..now I hear that the Buffalo Baptist Church just a few miles from our home, is going to be demolished...so those simple days when Blairs Ferry was speckled with old farms are just getting bulldozed away. It is simply too much for this ol' girl.
Mid-summer I had a little tap on the shoulder and I listened. I was walking around our property gathering bits of nature to make a wreath. I looked at my gathering and thought, this is the most beautiful bunch of nature, everything I needed to create a little magic. I looked at the completed wreath and felt, well, peaceful. Would the wreath work in a great room of a BIGGY size home...no. But is sure looked at home in my old 1846 farmhouse, and would look grand in my dream TINY HOUSE. Guess, you can interpret that tap on my shoulder for yourself. I just think simple is peaceful.
I have had many opportunities to "pay it forward" at the studio this year. Yes, we are in business to make money (I have to remind myself of this every day) but I love to surprise our studio friends with a little something... and just being old fashioned in a sweet way. There...I am going to use that word again...sweet. It seems to describe a lot that goes on in the studio. I had lunch with a friend who is in marketing and she asked me to describe the Garden Wren customer. My response was, "creative, loyal, hard working, simple, and SWEET. She asked about income brackets, age, sex. I could answer some of that...but seriously our customers are really sweet. More often than not, I have used, heard the word sweet to describe something going on in the studio, or someone that has been inside the studio. (or on most days, the word describes the sweet treats I bring in, but it is really much more.)
It may be an off the wall business model, but I am going to do it. There have been little signs all year pulling me in this direction. Here it is...SIMPLY, SWEET, SWEETNESS, Really wraps up in one little package...why I opened The Garden Wren in the first place. I want to believe that in the 10 years since we have opened, we have whispered this little model...but now...that tap on my shoulder tells me we should turn up the volume...in a simply, sweet kinda way. :)
