Leaf Chronicle article for Sunday, Mar 20, 2011

Each week, our city newspaper is kind enough to publish an article I write.  I’ve decided to post them here on Mondays.  I hope you enjoy them.

I have had such a wonderful week at the shop I thought I’d share a little bit with you.

First, I should start by letting you know that I have been tethered to the shop all week—no wonderful Patty to run the shop while I gallivant around Clarksville visiting with clients or shopping for their home decorating projects. Let me tell you, the prospect of being “stuck” at the shop for three weeks (yes—she’s gone that long!) was not exciting me. Thank goodness for the weekend and Jennifer! Yet, I’ve had a wonderful time.

(I’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with the shop and my customers—my favorite part of the business!)

I’ve done all kinds of things that normally get added back to the list of projects to tackle tomorrow. I’ve actually been working on some creative projects at the shop, finishing some long ignored organizational projects—although you wouldn’t know that if you were to look at my desk right now—and I’ve had time to catch-up on some inventory issues. While these projects sound somewhat mundane, I’ve been happy to have time to finally accomplish them.

Second, I’ve also had the opportunity to meet some great new customers. I’ve had people in from Indiana, Florida, Illinois and Montana, just to name a few. Some have been here visiting family, but the preponderance have just been visiting Clarksville! I love visitors because they always love the downtown! They rarely, if ever, complain about the parking, they always have something positive to say about our downtown area and how much they’re enjoying visiting our city. Also, those folks that are here visiting with family—guess why the family brings them to the downtown area? Go ahead—I’ll give you a minute. It’s because of the unique shopping, dining and entertainment! Go figure.

Aside from the nice folks I’ve met, it has just been wonderful to see so many of the locals coming out of hibernation. The nice weather has brought a lot of people onto the street—if not into the shop—and it is just so nice to leave my front door open and hear the street alive with activity.

And, finally, I was able to run back to Atlanta to revisit some of the vendors I had been thinking about adding to our product line. I’ve been struggling to determine if now is the time to add a new line of bedding to our already extensive offerings. But I guess the struggle was the due to the fact that I hadn’t found the right line. I’ve finally found it. No struggle. I’ve ordered a nice sampling of these beautiful new duvets, quilts, shams and matelassé coverlets. You won’t believe how beautiful, yet practical they are—all machine washable! I hope you’ll stop in to take a look—they should arrive in the next week.

Speaking of next week, I think that I share ideas for dressing your bed. I’ve mentioned that I’m not a fan of the “bed-in-a-bag” plan for dressing your bed, so I think I should give you the tools you need to put together a look that will express your unique style. I look forward to sharing some ideas!

 

Thanks for your indulgence!