Summer Reading
I love books; I love books so much that I suffer from a perpetual bookshelf problem. That is, I never have enough book shelves for all of my books!
Not only do I voraciously love to buy and read books, but I (generally) feel a need to collect them. It doesn’t matter that I have read this book before; I must still keep it and own it. Owning books makes me feel happy - even if it does press upon my bookshelf space.
This year I’ve been forced to do a couple deep and hard purges to clear room on our poor overburdened shelves. I can’t tell you the sadness that comes from letting the well-loved (even if not recently read) books go. But, it had to be done. Now that the store is open (and I’ve moved most of my professional books there) I actually have space on my bookshelves (don’t worry, it won’t take me long to fill them back up).
Still, old habits die hard. I’m still catching myself weighing and measuring a book: was it good enough/liked enough to take up valuable space on my limited shelves? Hmm…
Recently I bought and read a novel that I enjoyed - I mean, it was well written - but I was a little disappointed in (I didn’t like the story, not the writing). I always pre-read my books (at least the beginning) before I pay good money for them, but you can’t always predict what you’ll think halfway through can you?
I finished the book a few weeks ago, but it’s still sitting on the floor by my bedside table. The other day it occurred to me that I hadn’t put it away yet because I didn’t really feel I wanted it on my precious bookshelves… what to do? I had paid good money for the book!
That’s when it came to me. I’ve decided to host a Summer Reading Swap!. I’m sure there are other bibliophiles out there who have perfectly good books that just didn’t measure up to their snuff, or maybe you just need to prune some space into your shelves too. So why don’t we trade books?
Here’s the rules:
You will sign up to trade 1-2 books of your choice (they must be in good enough condition to be read and books you feel are still worthy of reading). I will collect all the names and then post the swap information on the blog so you know who to send to. You and your partner will then swap books. That’s it!
No need to buy new books etc… etc… If you have more than two books you’d like to swap let me know and I’ll put your name in twice. Also, be sure to indicate if you aren’t willing to trade outside of the US/Canada.
Next Sunday (June 22nd) I’ll post the partners list, so you have one week to comment and let me know you’d like to participate in the summer reading swap. Looking forward to hearing from you!
I can hardly wait to read my new book!
Posted by Megan @
10:31 pm |
What’s the Family Discount?
You know, life is very different when you look at it from behind a retail counter. Or, maybe, it’s just that I’m made much more aware of just how many different people there are out there. I don’t know, but I have some weird incidences happen at the store.
For example, a few days ago, a man came into the store (an unaccompanied man is a strange occurrence - mostly it’s women who are interested in our shop), he walked right up to the Stainless Steel Water Bottle display and started looking at the prices of the different bottles (we sell a few different sizes). He finally settled on the one he wanted and looked at the price.
Then he picked up a second bottle (in the same size) and looked at the price again. (I of course have nothing else to do in the store but watch what people do, that’s why I can narrate this back to you in detail.) He hesitated and put the second bottle back. And then, this is the really strange thing, he looked at me and asked:
“Do you give discounts if people buy more than one?”
Isn’t that odd? I mean, who does that (outside of say China and the Caribbean)?
I laughed (he said it half jokingly) and then agreed, as if it were just between he and I, that if he bought more than one I’d give him 10% off. At which point he decided to buy three of them.
What would you have done? In my situation it certainly made sense to give him a few dollars off and make the better sale. Besides, I’m convinced he really wanted to buy two and needed some reason to give himself permission to pay for the other one.
But you know, he’s not the first person to ask that. A few weeks ago a man came in (it’s always the men!) he looked around for a bit and seemed like he wanted to buy a few things. He was looking at the Klean Kanteen Sippy Cups (always with the stainless steel bottles - you guys are going to think I sell nothing but those bottles) and taken aback at the price asked if he could have the family discount.
I chuckled (this actually was funny for two reasons, the first I’ll get to in a moment, but the second is that Wakizashi told his family that the family discount was plus seven percent), and pointed out that considering he was a considerably black man and I was what you might call “Lily White” I didn’t think he’d pass as family. To which he responded that there are lots of inter-racial marriages and we could be step-siblings (got to admire a man’s persistence!).
He followed that argument with a swift comment that he might work in the mall; don’t I give discounts to others who work in the mall? In fact, I do give discounts to others who work there (because they do the same for me), but I don’t really work in a mall - it’s more a hallway with a handful of stores in it. It’s technically called a Marketplace. It’s not like he could fool me into believing he worked there.
But, after telling him I didn’t think he could have hidden from me at the other stores (he was a big, black man who clearly worked out a lot), I did tell him that I’d give him the discount if he really wanted it. Apparently, this made him really happy because he proceeded to make a huge purchase (he was making gifts for some women he knew).
I didn’t really think about it with the first guy, I knew it had paid off to extend the discount to him (he came back again to buy more for the gift bags), but I hadn’t really thought about it. It wasn’t until the second guy, the stainless steel guy, that I really thought about what had happened.
The first thing that popped into my mind was: Hey, why has it never occurred to me to ask other small store owners for discounts? I bet most of them, like me, would agree in exchange for the business. Which made me realize: You never know what you can get until you ask for it!
I mean, it’s just not a normal occurrence to think we can walk into any old store and ask them to charge us less than they are charging other people. But there are a lot of other things that we don’t get simply because we don’t ask.
Maybe you could be living your joyous and abundant life right now if it had occurred to us to just ask God for what we wanted instead thinking it was improper to ask. Maybe, we’d be getting the 10% discounts and the free family benefits if we’d just piped up and said, “Hey, do you happen to give out careers that involve creating, and being with people, and are a ton of fun?”
Truth is, you don’t get anything you don’t ask for. Sure, God knows what you want, but that’s not the point (after all, every one wants to save 10% - that doesn’t mean I’m just handing it out to anyone who walks through the door!), there’s a powerful shift that happens - even just inside of you - when you draw up the courage and ask for exactly what you want.
That reminds me… years ago when Wakizashi graduated university he started looking for a job. Five months into the job search he had no bites; he’d been doing a temporary contract but hated it and wanted a real job. He was truly frustrated and angry and only had a month until he had to pay back his student loan.
I remember we were driving in the car and he was venting and complaining and I, calmly (I’m sure I was calm about it), asked if he’d tried, maybe, just asking for a job. Didn’t it make sense to ask God for the job?
He was so frustrated he looked right up at the top of the car and yelled something along the lines of, “Can I have a d@*& job already.” (I’m paraphrasing, it has been twelve years since then ya know.)
It was quite amusing that within the week he had a response to a resume he’d put out a while ago, went in for the interview and was offered the job. (He worked that job until it led to a better one and he’s been at the better one ever since…) I’m not sure which one of us was more surprised at the speedy response.
And the lesson in this is:
How to Change Your Life Lesson #3: ASK!
Unless you’ve said it out loud, written it down, or phrased it as a specific question then it’s safe to say that you haven’t actually asked for it yet. You can’t get what you don’t ask for so go ahead, stick your head out there, and let the Universe (God, Spirit, or the World at Large) know that you want that thing (gosh darn it)!
Asking is always the first step to getting - no matter what it is you’re looking to get (material or immaterial). Remember to be specific, and positive (i.e. ask for peace, not for the end of war), and most importantly expect to get an answer.
(This is why the Wish List is such a great activity, that’s just one of the many ways we go about asking for things we want!)
If you decide to take part in my How to Change Your Life series, or if you are declaring today to be your new beginning I’d LOVE to hear from you. Post a comment or shoot me an email (muse @ flamingrenaissance dot com) and I’ll be sure to join your personal cheerleading squad! If you are up to sharing you goals, and hopes and dreams feel free to put them in your comments - or better yet - blog about them yourself, be sure to include a link for us!
Read: Lesson #1 & Lesson #2
Posted by Megan @
2:01 pm |
Wishing’s Final Day
Megan’s Final Three Wishes
1. I wish I was more aware of and in-tune with my growing psychic gift.
2. I wish I was still losing weight and feeling healthy.
3. I wish I was taking a painting class.
You’ll note that my phrasing of these wishes has been refined and altered since my initial wish list. I was trying to find the easiest way to sum up the core of what I really wanted without stumbling over too many adjectives. Also, a few days into the process I decided that I could roll two wishes (I wish I painted one painting a week and I wish I had a painting teacher.) into one… My theory was that some kind of weekly class would have me painting regularly (my true goal in the first wish) and mean I’d have found a new teacher.
Also, even though I feel that making a difference in the lives of, or teaching, women is my purpose in life I knew it would do no good to put down what I thought I “should” be putting down. If I was going to do the exercise properly I needed to be true to myself and record the things that were really most important to me right now. As much as I want to make a difference in women’s lives, I know these are the things that would make the most immediate difference in mine.
I feel like these wishes, as I’ve written them here, are the most true and effective wording I’ve used through out the whole process. That they are my real right now wishes. I’m truly glad I did the exercise because I’m positive those wouldn’t have been the three things I had written down if I had been told to simply state my top three wishes.
Sometimes we need time and repetition to peel through all the layers and discover the truth about what we need in this moment.
So, how’d the wishing exercise go for you? Did you find it insightful? Inspiring? I’d love to hear your final three if you feel brave enough to share.
Posted by Megan @
12:20 am |
Why the Kung Fu Master Needs a New Friend
(If you are wondering what the heck the whole wishing thing is about, or would just like to get the instructions from the beginning just visit If Wishes Were Horses - An Assignment to get all the details!)
You see, I set out with the best of intentions to post my wishes each day and then life comes along and happens and now you had to wait a whole day (again) just to see the next list of wishes. I’m sure you forgive me though.
I thought maybe today I’d tell you why I’ve been wishing for the little Master to have a new friend.
You see, ever since we moved here a year ago the Kung Fu Master has been lacking in the friend department. Moving here meant leaving his neighborhood friends behind in a small village outside of town. The plan (I suppose - not that we thought it out) is that he’d make new neighborhood friends here. Well, that hasn’t happened.
The boys in our immediate neighborhood are more the “stand around looking cool while swearing and smoking” class of boy rather than the “go for a hike, climb a tree and ride our bikes” kind of boys that the Master is used to spending time with. It only took him three or four days to decide he didn’t want to be friends with the boys he was seeing hanging around our neighborhood. And without a major catalyst to force him on to broader territory to meet new people he settled for what he had. Boys at kung fu, occasional visits with the old pals, and himself the rest of the time.
This plan worked until kung fu was suspended (lack of space for lessons) in January. Two days after I started making the Wish List (on Day Three) the Kung Fu Master got into trouble. Seems he was lonely and bored (having me gone all the time was a bit of a shock to his system I think), and instead of telling someone he was lonely and bored he started getting himself into trouble.
We, of course, punished him, but then we asked why he’d done it in the first place. I had been wanting him to make a new friend, but I hadn’t realized how much he really needed said new friend - I also hadn’t realized how hard he found it to take the first steps alone. So, feeling something had to be done to provide him with new opportunities I took action. I signed him up for the YMCA and took him to an event that very night.
When he came back from his Youth Fit program he was practically bouncing he was so happy (in fact, I think he may have been literally bouncing, come to think of it). He’d had a good time; he felt energized; he got to try something new and, oh yeah, he met a “dude”. So now, the Master goes to the occasional event and he’s making friends with this other new and teenage thing called a “dude” - which is good.
Now the “I wish the Kung Fu Master had a new friend” wish can be crossed off the list. It’s already done.
Shortening the list doesn’t necessarily mean that you are removing a dream, hope, or desire. We aren’t trying to eliminate their possibility. No! In fact, even though the Kung Fu Master’s friend was doomed to come off before I reached the final three God saw fit to fulfill it anyway. (This story is also a good lesson on how sometimes the crap has to hit the fan - i.e. KFM getting in big trouble - to make room for the good things to come in. It’s good to bear that in mind because I guarantee “things getting harder” is going to be an early result of working to change your life.)
Like I said, just writing the things on the page imbues them with a power and makes them more likely to happen. God won’t consider your decision to short list that item early on as an indication that you don’t really want it - and you shouldn’t either. The only purpose of shortening the list is to help you focus and really pinpoint those things that are most important to you right now. It’s more a “What to do First” technique rather than a “What do I Not Want?” thing.
Don’t consider the seventeen things that get left by the way side write offs; work on your top three and keep your eyes open for opportunities to grab a hold of the other seventten should they happen to come along. I think you’ll be surprised how many of your original twenty are crossed off over the next few weeks!
Five Wishes on Day Five
1. I wish I was regularly presented with opportunities to change women’s lives.
2. I wish I was taking a painting class.
3. I wish the store consistently made $2500 a week.
4. I wish my psychic gift was active and growing.
5. I wish my body was balanced, healthy, and whole.
Technically today is Day Six of the wish making assignment and as such the wishes should be reduced to four. But, wouldn’t you know, I can be inconsistent (despite best intentions) in all things, and not just with you. It turns out that Day Six was the one day I was so busy I couldn’t find the time to journal and therefore didn’t reduce my wishes down. (See, turns out that it’s ok I missed yesterday’s post - it all evens out in the end.)
You on the other hand, should in fact be writing out four wishes for today. Tomorrow’s the last day of our wish making assignment so be prepared to wrestle it down to the final, passion-filled three wishes!
Posted by Megan @
10:40 pm |
Cliff Diving
We had a small incident at the store last week. Wakizashi’s been making quite a few sales through his work since the store opened. People looking for stainless steel water bottles (and a few other odds and ends) know he’s the man to get them from. At least once a week I get a call at the store asking me to bring home this or that so he can deliver it the next day.
Then a few weeks ago he got a major order. It turns out that his company sponsors a Dragon Boat team and the ladies in charge of the sponsorship wanted to buy a stainless steel bottle for each member of the team. It was an order for fifty stainless steel bottles. That’s a lot for a brand new boutique like us!
I called my supplier to make sure they had the order in stock (I can’t tell you how hard it is to get your hands on a stainless steel water bottle - the suppliers are selling out like crazy and stores just can’t keep them stocked). It turns out that they did! So I placed the order.
A week later when my order arrived, it appeared a little small. Five boxes too small. My fifty water bottles weren’t in it.
I called my supplier to find out what happened. The bottles were out of stock.
“But,” I objected, “they were in stock when I ordered them. I called to confirm that before I said I could fill the order.”
Well, it seems that my supplier doesn’t hold product until the order is ready to be shipped. So, while they were in stock when I ordered, they’d been shipped out with another order that got their delivery before we did. There was nothing left in stock, there was nothing they could do.
To say I was upset would be an understatement.
The store’s been holding it’s own, but the last few weeks have been slower than I anticipated they would be and I had been counting on that order to boost our sales (and my confidence).
Under Wakizashi’s direction I started hunting down alternatives. (I did mention earlier that all the suppliers for stainless steel bottles are having a shortage, didn’t I?) With some persistence (read: by being very annoying) I finally found someone who could get us fifty bottles, and just barely in time too! I got my hands on a sample and sent it into work with Wakizashi to get their approval.
They hated it.
Instead they wanted to know if we could get the big 40oz bottles - the ones we get from the same supplier that messed up the first order. The guys who were sold out.
I knew that my supplier had actually been out of 40oz bottles for a few weeks and had just gotten their refill order in that week, which meant there actually was a chance that they’d have some in stock. But fifty of them?
I called, they had them. (Insert happy dance here!) I ordered them and made sure to request they be put on hold for us immediately.
Two days later Wakizashi drove to the supplier’s warehouse and picked up the bottles. He delivered them to the ladies at work that day.
The moral of this story is to keep an eye on, better yet, release your expectations.
You see, the original order that fell through was for 33oz bottles - smaller bottles mean a smaller price. Turns out we actually made more money (and proved we were willing to go to the wire to fulfill our commitments) because the initial order fell through.
You can make a list of wishes, dreams, goals or intentions - and you can be as lavish as you like with them. I assure you: God wants to help you see them come to pass. Just…
Maybe not in the same way you thought they would. Maybe not in the same order, or maybe not without a few bumps and bruises along the way.
Actually, come to think of it, I’d have to say that most of my bumps and bruises have been a direct result of my holding more tightly to my expectations (of the how, and when, and where) than to my dreams themselves. When I truly trust God to follow through, then I don’t need any expectations (because expectations are nothing more than us trying to plan and control our own futures - and control is never a result of trust) - I’m just set free to enjoy my life as it unfolds in front of me.
Which is not to imply that this is easy. If you ask me, releasing your expectations after taking the risk of writing the list of dreams down in the first place is kind of like hiking all day to get to the top of a cliff and then… throwing yourself over the edge.
Which reminds me of a Curly Girl card we sell at the store. It says:
“Faith is believing that one of two things will happen,” she said. “That there will be something solid for you to stand on. Or that you will be taught to fly.”
Go ahead, Jump!
And while we are here, here’s Megan’s Wishes on Day Four:
1. I wish I was actively changing women’s lives.
2. I wish I blogged regularly.
3. I wish I had more painting opportunities.
4. I wish my psychic gift was growing and active.
5. I wish the Kung Fu Master had a new friend.
6. I wish I had a healthy, whole and happy body.
7. I wish the store was making $2500 a week.
Tomorrow, there’s only five wishes left!
Posted by Megan @
10:23 pm |
