Sweet Valentine

Would you be our Valentine??

I've been married to my Valentine for 23 years and he's a keeper.  We don't do anything fancy for Valentine's Day but we do exchange cards and sometimes a small gift.  We always make ourselves a special dinner and watch a Netflix.  I don't like going out to dinner on "special occasion" nights as I find it more special to spend quiet time with my mister.  But then I'm introverted so that kind of makes sense. The restaurants get crowded on those holiday nights and I get anxious around crowds so a quiet night in is just perfect for me and my man. Oh, and I usually get a back rub because my sweetie knows that my bad back is always hurting and I really couldn't think of a better gift than that!

We have a wonderful chocolate shop (The Confectionary) here in town so I usually treat my sugar loving husband to some type of chocolate goodness. Why is it that he can eat a whole box of chocolates and not gain an ounce and I can watch him eat the whole dang box and begin to feel bloated without even tasting one.  Darn him and his EXTREMELY high metabolism.  sigh. 

I thank my LUCKY stars that 25 years ago I was trying to make another boy jealous and in my stupid, young, semi-inebriated state I thought dancing with another boy at the bar / nightclub would do that.  (That's a whole different story.) And so to create this scenario at the club I told my girlfriend that I was going to ask "the next guy I saw" to dance and looked over to the wall and saw tall skinny guy holding a beer and thought to myself .... "he looks good."  I walked over and asked him to dance and dance all night we did.  Six months later we were engaged.  And flash forward 25 years ... we are so grateful to my crush at the time, Stephan, for making me so impassioned as to go and do something I never would have normally done and asked the world's shyest boy to dance.  We were destined to be together. 

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which came first, the chicken or the bag?

Chicken bags, jewelry, scarf, and shoes available at Moxie.  

A big thanks to Miss Stephenie for modeling and Miss Patty for Styling.  We always enjoy hitting the streets of DeKalb to make a spectacle of ourselves for our impromptu photo shoots.  This time as we were outside in the 20 degree temp with Steph in her shorts, we did indeed almost stop traffic. 

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hearts and quotes

"The heart has its reasons which reason knows not." .... Blaise Pascal

"A loving heart is the truest wisdom." ... Charles Dickens

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." ... William Wordsworth

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." ... James Earl Jones

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Wishing for Spring

Today is the first day in a week I've felt better.  The cold I came down with really set me back.  And as I stayed home and recuperated my poor team got slammed with box after box of the goodies I had just purchased in Atlanta.  They didn't complain.  They never do thankfully!  They did sound a bit harried by the end of my week off so I snuck in last night after the shop closed to work on some displays and help them get some of the piles put out.  And of course I snapped a few pictures while I was there.  

I am hoping to be back to work by tomorrow if I have another good night's sleep.

 

                                   

Can you tell we are ready for Spring  here at Moxie.  It was hard to enjoy 70 degree weather in Atlanta and then come home to the 20s and 30s again.  I've decided Spring is going to come early this year!  Yes it is. (But not too early as to hurt the crops ... I definitely don't want that!)

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Sid Dickens Memory Blocks - The Latest Release

Going to the Atlanta gift show is always an exhausting but exciting event for me as a shop owner and buyer.  It is 4 days of non-stop shopping till you drop.  We walk and carry inventories and catalogs on our shoulders from 7 am until 7 or 8 pm.  Often our lunch is whatever chips or drinks we are offered in various showrooms as there never seems to be quite enough time available to actually sit down and eat. Atlanta is a huge market and it really takes a LOT of time to write enough orders to fill up our 8000 sq ft shop.  

This past week we attended the Atlanta show for our 25th time.  Mr. Moxie is kind enough to go to the show with me each and every time.  He is my rock.  He has more energy than anyone I've ever met and his energy keeps me going and motivated to hustle and cover every square inch of the show in 4 days.

  Gift buying isn't his thing.  He stands patiently by my side (which is NOT easy for a high energy person) as I peruse showroom after showroom looking for the best fits for moxie.  He doesn't mind the looking as much as he minds the sometimes painstakingly slow process of finding someone to take our order and hoping that their scanner will work.  You'd be surprised at how many showrooms have problems with their scanners and Mr. Moxie has been known to ask if he can see it and often gets it to work for them.  I guess it's all these years of looking over their shoulders as they use them that has taught him how they work.  Sometimes they are so relieved they just hand him the scanner and let him take the order.  I think he likes it.  Actually I know he likes it because he hates standing around more than anything. 

One showroom we look forward to seeing each show is Sid Dickens.  We have been stocking his beautiful memory blocks since 2000.  He never fails to amaze us with his art.  We are always excited to see his new release at every show.  This time I asked his team if we could snap a picture and they said yes of course.  So taaaa daaaaa!  The above photo shows the upcoming release which I believe they said would be shipping some time in March.  Aren't they gorgeous!  I'm in love with the peacock.  Such vibrant and striking colors.  Sid's showroom never takes us long as we simply take everything new that he has to offer and stock up on other tiles we love and we're good to go!  His team has really got it going on.  They are a well oiled machine.  We love that!

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Tyler Candle Giveaway Winner is .....

Congratulations to commenter # 18.  Holly at Damita's Pretty Wrap.  A big thanks to all who participated.  Have a happy week everyone.  I'm under the weather right now so I'm heading off to get some sleep!  Hope you all stay healthy!

P.S... Holly, you can contact us via moxieindekalb@gmail.com to let us know if you will be picking up your gift or would like us to send it to you. Pin It

Tyler Candle Giveaway

Me and the mister just arrived home from our trip to the Atlanta Gift Show.  Whew .... not the best trip we've ever had in terms of things going our way on the travel front but in terms of ordering up lots of goodies it was pretty darn fantastic!

I won't bore you with all of the gruesome travel complications but let's just say on Tuesday at 3pm we received an email from our 3 month in advance pre-booked hotel saying that they had to cancel our first nights reservation along with 200 hundred other gift show attendees.  Ok .... good thing we even read the email because usually days go by without checking emails and then we along with 199 others had to scramble to find a room (they offered us a room 20 minutes north of where we always stay) .... uh no!!!  Luckily Mr. Moxie was able to miraculously find a last minute cancellation at another hotel for the first night.  The replacement hotel was a claustrophobic tiny room with a saggy bed but at least we didn't end up sleeping in Centennial Park next to the water fountains.

We shopped til we dropped (literally) for 4 days and then today our travel experience was a bit rocky, smelly and annoying.  But then flying these days can be that on a good or bad day.  To sum up today  briefly.  The mister and I both got the pat down.  He got his bag searched.  Everyone boarded and buckled up only to be announced that there "was a problem with the plane", the young lad in the seat directly behind me pooped in his pants and the poor mother was trying to deal with that which as it turns out she had plenty of time to work on the situation at hand because we sat on the runway for another hour before taking off.  There were very odorous peeps in our near vicinity (in addition to sir poopy pants) and the aforementioned lad punished me and his super sweet mum the entire flight by kicking the back of my chair about every 15 seconds.  I thought she was going to break into tears at any moment so I gritted my teeth and did what any self-respecting traveller would do.  I took out my huge scarf and wrapped it over my eyes, mouth and ears and kept it there for the entire trip home as I hunched forward with my elbows to my ribcage and my hands resting over my ears in as close to the fetal position as I could manage in my little piece of real estate.  Before covering up completely I managed to squeak out the message to mr moxie .... I don't want anything.  Which is a little funny because looking back on the day I do remember seeing a little fear in his eyes as I said those 4 little words.  My interpretation of that fearful look would be him thinking  .... ut oh.  she doesn't want ANYTHING.  She doesn't want the 4 tiny pretzels in the little ridiculous bag.  She doesn't want water.  She doesn't want a sprite.  She's bouncing forward every 15 seconds.  It seriously smells like sh_t in here.  She's wrapping her entire head in a scarf .... oh my gawd ..... she's gonna blow!  I do recall at about an hour into my escape into the glorious darkness that was my scarf I could feel the mister putting his huge wool sweater over my right side as if to say .... here, have a part of me that might comfort you.  And even though I did not come out of the scarf at that moment, I did smile inside of the scarf.  It was hot and stinky in the plane and the sweater didn't really help but I kept it there because it came from a really sweet place.

We finally made it home and how sweet it was to walk into our front door!  I know my story is nothing compared to some travel nightmares I've heard of but it was enough to tire this gal out!

So back to the giveaway .... We received lots of fun samples and goodies from some of our generous vendors and we will be doing some fun little giveaways this week.  Today we are giving away 3 fabulous Tyler candle votives and an adorable votive holder to match.  We've carried Tyler candles for 8 years and they are awesome.

If you'd like to be entered in the giveaway please leave us a comment about this blog post or Tyler candles and we will pick a winner based on your comment number by using a random number generator on Wednesday January 16th.  Deadline for entry is Tuesday January 15th at 11:59 pm.  One winner will be chosen and announced here on the blog Wednesday.  Thanks!!

Want to see all the new and wonderful goods we found at the show as they start rolling in??  Then please follow us on Facebook as that is where we will post the photos as the goodies arrive. Pin It

hello old friends

Um, it's been a long time since I've blogged.  The holiday season blew thru Moxie like a confetti filled whirlwind.  It's pretty much the same thing every year.  It starts out with the set up in October and then moves into November which is busy but manageable.  We make it thru our two big parties and still keep on ticking and then December 15th or somewhere thereabouts arrives and I don't know what the heck happens. It's a combination of the shop being REALLY busy (thank you!!) and our own personal lives needing massive attention to try to get all of our own family shopping, baking, wrapping done and you mix in working schedules that are ill-advised at best and wham..... weeks go by with no time for blogging.  Or maybe there was time, but in my case there was no energy left at 10 pm to do it! I wanted to do it.  I told myself I would do it.  And yet, it did not happen.  I'll try to forgive myself for not accomplishing the task but it won't be easy as I'm famous for my die trying personality. (also ill-advised).

Here is a super simple summary of what happened over the last few weeks ....

• team moxie gift bagged their booties off
• lots of fun happened with cute and sweet customers
• re-decorated the shop daily to keep it looking good
• noticed that our downtown is really hopping lately ... more shops than ever before!
• managed to get all of my own gifts procured and wrapped in time.
• hosted Christmas Day at my house without any cooking disasters ... yes!
• snuck away for a 4 day New Year's retreat with mr. moxie to rest and rejuvenate before heading off to multiple back-to-back gift shows
• non-stop planning, dreaming, and imagining in order to start out 2013 in the best possible way!

I am currently sitting amongst stacks of my inventories thinking about the past year and making plans for the new one.  One thing never changes and that is the gratitude I feel for my family, friends, staff and customers.  You each make this possible.  I couldn't imagine doing any of it on my own.  I really have the best support team in the world.  Thank  you, thank you, thank you!!

A little photo I took while on my winter retreat.  I enjoy serenity and quiet as much as I love the color, lights and whimsy of the holiday season.  It is nice to rest the mind and body after such a crazy three month retail period.  Good for my soul too.  There is nothing like a quiet walk in the woods with my dearest to just breathe and think and listen to the wind thru the pines.  It was just what I needed.  And now, the gift shows are almost here and I'll be heading off to far and wide to procure what I love and hope you all will too.  Wish me luck!  And wish me loads of energy too .... those gift shows are grueling!  And you thought shopping was all pure fun .... oh no, when you shop with Mr. Moxie, you shop till you drop (literally).  But he carries all the catalogs and after 12 years I've finally convinced him it's ok to stop and eat lunch.  Especially after I told him how a hangry wife (hungry + angry) is not a happy wife and as we ALL know, happy wife = happy life!!!!!!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and wish you all a healthy and happy New Year! Pin It