I’m back, bitches! Kind of left you hanging the tail end of 2009. Well, the world didn’t stop spinning for any of us, so here’s the run down….

The crazy holiday schedule at Gifted kept me from blogging. I maintained the online store at first, but as the show got busier, I just put Etsy on vacation. Had too many sales go through of things I had already sold in person.

So, was it all worth it? The 5 weeks and 2 months of preparation? The moving pets and everything down to Brooklyn temporarily? Money wise, of course not. Yeah, I made money, but when you look at the bigger picture, not worth all the trouble.

However! It was worth it because it was a blast and it helped with some decisions.

This temporary Full Time Back to Brooklyn thing was a test to see if we really wanted to move back as we have been thinking about. Answer=Abso-f*ckin-lutely! It’s a long term plan, long term being less than 1 year. Once again, we have to finish renovating a house only to put it on the market.

It’s unfortunate that I’m in love with the house. It’s my dream house and this will be a sad one to let go. But that’s what I have to do….Let go of the house. Let go of the overpriced antique furniture we bought for the house. Let go of the thousands I spent on that Bradbury wallpaper. Oy. No, let it go!

Beacon itself? We can visit friends and they can visit us. Can’t say we’ll miss the suburban lifestyle though. It’s not for us. Took us 5 years to come to terms, but put a fork in us, we’re done.

So, that’s what’s been going on here.

What other news is there?

We said goodbye to Bed Stuy Banana at the end of 2009. She just couldn’t keep up with the blog. She will be missed.

Another NY landmark bites the dust. Goodbye, Tavern on the Green.

Let’s end with some good news.

Brooklyn Flea is taking on the Williamsburgh Savings Bank at 1 Hanson Place. It’s a gorgeous indoor location. The market starts this coming weekend without moi as I need to get my act together and regroup.

Happy 2010!

A long, long time ago I hooked up with an illegal Irish immigrant I met in an East Village bar. We had a brief fling just before I had planned to move to Germany. He went back to Dublin, then on to London for work. I met up with him in London where we lived together after only having been a couple for 8 full days before I left NYC.Christmas 1987 we sat in a Dublin pub and this song came on the radio. We weren’t too happy in London and wanted to get back to NY. He promised me that the following year we’d be back in NY-together-for the holidays.

We were. And 22 years later, we’re still living in the states. Only he’s legal now because I married his foreign ass so he could stay in the country.

We’ve spent Christmases in Dublin and Hannukahs in NYC having Chinese and a movie. This year it’s Dublin with the promise of a full time Brooklyn Christmas next year.

Every year for the past 20 years I’ve made my own holiday cards (minus a couple of years). It’s too hectic this year to photoshop my pets into a witty picture so hope you enjoyed this little story.

If not, happy holidays anyway.

And may all your dreams come true.

(PS: How about that Brittany Murphy, huh?)

 

That’s it! I’ve done all the creating I can possibly do before the holiday market starts. It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I now have to start packing and getting ready for the big move down to Brooklyn (yay!). BTW, we are celebrating our vegan Thanksgiving with the Boston friends tomorrow so we can get more prep in on Thursday. Such is life.

Instead of putting my store in vacation mode, I left the listings up with a note NOT TO BUY! Hope that works.

Hey, enjoy your bird carcass while celebrating the massacre of our native peoples!

Well, it’s no vacation, but I can’t keep up with the blog at the moment. Been burning the candle at both ends trying to make enough crap for Gifted. If anyone wants to push their related merch or NY event, send a tip! Heck, write your own article and I’ll post it.

If something interesting comes up, I’ll definitely be here, but for now, I’m warning ya….I won’t be posting every day until after the New Year. Just had to let you know so I don’t feel obligated.

See? That’s my post for today. Lame. But enjoy the photo of my dog with her head up her ass.

 

With the holidays just around the corner, I’m starting to think about small, gifty merch. I had fun yesterday creating pendants out of found objects. Maybe I’ll even do my own advertising and wear them. If I ever left the house.

 

Mwwwhhaaahhaaahhaaahhaaaa! Look what I scored last week! I hit some garage sales over the weekend and fell in love these spooky plastic beings.

The woman who sold me the dummy told me he’s famous. I forgot his name though. Anyone?

The clown is from the same woman. No, it’s not Bozo.

It’s Jaaa-aaack! The original!

Her dirty hair, her oversized filthy dress. Love it.

I dunno. This couple just scares me. They look all, like religious or something. They’ll be made into an art piece, as will dirty ho. I’ll obviously keep the others as is.

 

Two and a half years ago I had my mid life career crisis. I shifted my focus from photography to a web based business. Reclaimed Home was meant to be a totally different beast, but I went with the flow.

The mission statement back in August of 2007 was pretty off track. There were to be four functional sections of this website…..

1. The Blog. Ok, still going strong! My initial goal was to keep up the 5 posts per day, 5 days per week. I’m now down to one post and that’s a struggle. It’s just waaayyyyy too time consuming! I guess I was hoping for more tips and guest bloggers. (hint)

2. The Forum. Yeah, nobody bothers with that and I haven’t done anything to promote it. I’ll probably make it disappear real soon. It’s stale.

3.  The Store. The bread and butter of Reclaimed Home. Or is it? Well, not the Reclaimed Home Store. I don’t love the software, so I’ve been ignoring it and uploading everything to Etsy. Question to any Etsy folks out there….Do you only have an Etsy store? Do you think it’s important to have my own store too? I’m debating whether or not I should kill my own store or shift to a different software.

FYI, initially I had wanted to represent other creatives here and NOT MAKE ANYTHING MYSELF!! I had difficulty finding reliable artists (I know, an oxymoron) and said “Screw this. If I want something done, I have to do it myself.”

FYI again, I had absolutely no intention of becoming a flea market vendor. It just so happened that Brownstoner held a salvage fest the week before I launched and I did so well there, I jumped on board when he started his Brooklyn Flea.

4. The Listings. Hmm, the FSBO listing service is not exactly working out as planned, but the real estate photography is doing just fine. I love shooting houses. It’s easy. It’s fun. It pays. What more can a gal ask for?

So, what does 2010 hold in store for Reclaimed Home?

The universe has been telling me that I shouldn’t have been so quick to abandon the photography. Luckily, I didn’t and I’ve been incorporating those skills into this business.

The universe, or rather, my pocketbook has been telling me that I’m nuts to pay $200 per month for a storage space. I’ve made a decision to cut out furniture and just deal in small handmade items. It will probably be an entire season before I rid myself of everything, but look for a sale this coming week.

And that’s about it in a nut shell. My biggest disappointment is that I’m not earning enough to hire help. I thought I would be by now, but I’m still working it out, doing everything myself so I can take a profit.

Goals: Organize, for f*ck’s sake! And try to take on some more tag sales.