Grand Opening!

Visitors to our Grand Opening enjoyed face painting, balloon animals, snacks and a Barbershop Quartet. Sally Lynn prepared two yummy make and takes. There was a little, teeny-tiny, worried part buried deep in side that breathed a sigh of relief at the end of a very successful and enjoyable day.

Opening Day!!

Yesterday we opened, albeit with lots of blank spaces on the fixtures! It's slow going to enter all the new inventory into our system, but it'll get done soon enough. My Dad (and number 1 employeee) took lots of photos.

Two Steps Forward and One Step Back?

Since I last posted, the wiring has been done, the drywall installed and taped, and the walls painted. Flooring installation started last week, and there we hit yet another snag. Partway through the installation, the flooring contractor realized he'd been sent someone else's, shorter, piece of carpet, and the carpet company was being less than helpful about getting us a piece in the correct size. That was Friday afternoon.

This morning, the flooring contractor told me that a new carpet was on it's way and should be here by the end of the week. If that's so, we're still on track to open on the 19th of May. We are all crossing our fingers!

Construction Update

Now we see the bones of the future store.

Top to Bottom:

• My sweetie as seen from the work room into the retail space - you can see the openings for three sets of French doors.
• The new wall between the work room and the storage area. The plumbing for the clean-up sink is roughed in, and the walls are reinforced for the cabinets that are coming.
• The permit!!
• The permit and my "coming soon" sign.
• The retail space - my office in the back corner, and the new column is where the check-out will be.
• The retail space from a different angle.
• From the side of the retail space into the work room.
• From the back of the retail space looking towards the work room.

Under Construction Finally!

The building permit was finaly issued and construction is under way. It's very exciting to see my vision take shape.

From top to bottom:
The retail space post demolition
A Dumpster! With trash in it!
Ellen breaks down walls!
An actual hole!
Running the plumbing for the workroom sink.

"Signs" of Progress

My exterior sign has been installed! I took some photos this morning and it looks great!

On the bad news side, the carpet I chose is discontinued - and we can't get the building permits until the fire marshal signs off on the flooring materials. Yikes!

On the good news side, my trademark was approved by the government and I can now put the little R in a circle next to my "momento" logo. That little task took longer than a pregnancy to complete - good thing I started last year!

Friday afternoon, we're off the CHA. I can't wait to see all the new goodies!

Who is Dumbledore?

Dumble is our family's newest member - a little Yorkshire Terrier. He's sweet and funny and cute and we all adore him. As a matter of fact, one of his nicknames is Dumble-dorable!

Dumble just luuurves people. When my older boy (19) has company, Dumble practically wags his back end off and becomes a squirmy little bundle of worship.

We got him to be company for me and I was planning to bring him to the store so he wouldn't be lonely when I started working full-time. But I worried that all the people in and out of the place would be overwhelming for the little guy.

Then in mid-December we had a holiday open house at our place, and after the first few people arrived (and were appropriately fawned over,) Dumble calmed down. He didn't bark when the doorbell rang, or when people let themselves in. Instead he busied himself doing an impression of a roomba. He did try to plant himself in my Mom's dinner plate when she left it too close to the edge of the coffee table, but mostly he foraged for crumbs around everyone's feet.

I think he's going to love being a shop-dog. Now if I can just get him over the car sickness...

The architects plans are awaiting landlord approval and will soon go out to contractors for bid.

Ellen