And so it begins

This, my favorite month of the year, has gone by in a flash, mostly a good flash. You know when you start something big and something new and your mood can swing from totally, utterly overwhelmed complete with tears of frustration to peace and confidence – all in the span of forty-five minutes? That has been my month. But I am so grateful for new challenges and complexity and my little family. Friday I was able to walk downtown, stop in at the Bread Peddler for a morning roll and coffee and then open the shop. There have been some really, really lovely hours this month.

A quick run-down then we will consider ourselves caught up and I can keep the blog moving forward:At the beginning of the month, the girls had a joint birthday complete with school friends and grandparents and cousins and a bounce house. Cate came up with the theme – a crab party! – and we had an ice cream cake with a crab on it (get it – crab cake?) and the kadults (as we call them in our house thanks to Jane) actually had real crab cakes as well as ice cream cake. I also never thought we were the type of people to get a bounce house for our girls’ birthday party but you know what? Jumping makes kids tired! Totally sold.

George has been a total handful this month. This used to be his dog bed!
My favorite person turned 35 this week. His birthday week coincided with a week of a vacation. Sounds nice, right? Well, he has proceeded to work on the bookstore with me and pretty much do all of the parenting while giving me the time I needed to actually make some progress. He has painted and made window boxes and is generally the most helpful and kind person around.
And I tell you, after this week, I am at the place where I am feeling less panicked about what I have done to our lives. There are so many moments to keep me humble. I haven’t worked a cash register since college. I get so flustered so easily and quickly. There is so much I don’t know about running a small business, about books I have never, ever heard of and will never read. I have two male employees – young guys – that don’t know what to make of me exactly. To be truthful, I am a little confused by them but I actually need them to make this work. The previous owner and I are getting along so well. It’s wonderful to have her around and she seems to be taking the changes in stride. We even danced around the possibility of her staying on into the new year in some capacity. At one point I asked her if we were the same person separated by a few decades. She hates the space program too! She also is a pragmatist to the end!

Last note: the totes came in. Thanks again to my brother-in-law Nate for designing the logo. I absolutely love.