Winter, new year and planning

Did you ever have a time when you have so much to do and it’s almost overwhelming? This part of winter after the holidays are over is always a time of planning, taking stock of the past year, paying taxes, planning the new year in terms of applying for jury dark shows and some much-needed downtime to just get little projects at home done. On this snowy Friday morning I hate to admit I’m on my 2nd cup of tea, still in my jammies andWorking on a spreadsheet of upcoming events. Somehow I feel like I’m behind but yet I might be right on time.

This is the first January that I have the luxury of being retired from the day job and able to devote more time to the planning process. While I miss some of the wonderful people I used to work with, I appreciate the freedom and time that retirement is granted me to focus on the business. Recently I had lunch with an old friend and former coworker and I could see in her face the stress of office politics, of challenging personalities, and of keeping everything running smoothly. The politics I do not miss.

I have different kinds of stress. As you know the ArtCraft building was sold and is going to be turned into a police headquarters which means that by the end of March we have to be out of there. If all goes well we sign a lease for a new studio space this Wednesday. Having searched so long and hard for a new space and come to a realization that the size and location of our current studio doesn’t compare with what the market is offering which is smaller and more expensive. So we take that as a gift and move forward. In a small way it’s a little bit of a grief of loss of something comfortable and familiar. We even censored in the elevator operators who knows if their jobs are coming to an end as we move out. But I can’t live in grief and if there’s one lesson I’ve learned over my life it’sThe ability to develop a agile mindset where changes the norm and accepting change in learning how to dance around it is a bigger scale and more important in this time.

This is our future studio…currently being built out. It will be only 500 sq ft, but there is a view of the lake, and plenty of space for the soap making and storage. The building is doing a full build out- new walls, fresh paint, vinyl flooring. It should be a good location for us.. and our neighbors on either side are also from artcraft.

One of the big excitements for me is that our windows look out on the eastern end of the runway for Burke lakefront airport….so we will be able to host the air show watch party this year on Labor Day. It will be a tighter squeeze but we will have fun.

I will try to keep you informed as we progress with packing and moving. Did I mention we are hiring a mover? So happy about that.