I met a girl today named Zoey. She is 3 months old and has a very serious blood disorder. Her mom and dad came out to the store today to get away from the house and she mentioned that she was taking her time to look around and to enjoy herself. She also mentioned that she read some of my blog and laughed because I dropped the F bomb in my writing. These are the people who touch my heart. Visitors who want to step into my store because they are drawn to it. My store has a soul, as big as mine, because my store is me and a lot of other women who I know and admire.
Dear Zoeys mom.
I admire you for the smile you have on your face when you are faced with such a serious issue.
I admire you for being able to give a compliment in an authentic manner.
I admire you for being a woman, wife, mother and friend.
I admire you for the strength that you have.
Hold on and just BE!

Xo
Ang

Holy &@^$#% ! It's fall and it's the largest inventory purchase of the year, as it is for most retail stores. This is the time when the stress levels rise for small business. We pray we have a good season in order to pay the bills. A bad season can hurl a small business into unwanted shark waters. This season I took a chance with my products. I have brought in a higher quality of scarves, clothing, hats and so on because I was tired of all the shit out there that is so marked up in the first place. Higher quality items means longer shelf life but it also means higher price tag. Globally, the economy is still down, locally we are doing OK. Lets roll the dice and see what happens. If I was in Las Vegas this gamble would be much more fun. I would be drunk and dancing on a speaker at the Palms night club.

I am giving out the best shopper award this week and it's only Tuesday.

First place goes to 3 fun and fabulous ladies that were"shoinking" definition-shopping while drinking. lol
Second place goes to the 40 women who were business leaders with the company lia sophia, these ladies made my week. Thanks for the great 40 minutes of powers shopping.

Last place goes to the man who walked around my store popping out his dentures, yes I just said that. Gross who does that!!!
It's only Tuesday...stay tuned for more interesting people.

Ahhh summer, it's finally here. We all look so forward to this season and in my opinion it is always a disappointment weather wise. So I took my sons and we went to Invermere BC for a week of heat, poolside relaxing, wine on the patio and boating on the lake. I had 2 girlfriends and their kids visit us and we had a blast. But now it's back to work. With summer being tourist season this is the stores busiest time and for 2 months I work my ass off along with my fantastic part-time staff. My days are long like all working moms. Start the day at 7am get the kids off to camp, work until 5pm, get home to go back into wife/mom mode until 9pm then I relax. I stare at my deck with longing wishing that mosquito's would become extinct and that the moths would die, so I decide to chill out on the couch and watch HGTV. Yup it's summer time...

Happy belated Canada Day. I had a fantastic Canada Day celebration. My community hosts a wonderful family event and my boys are at the age now where they can be on their own and only have to check in with me every hour or when they need food or cash. I volunteered this year to bar tend and my one hour shift turned into 3 hours and lots of wine while I was working. Great time I must say. After the party we ventured down to my girlfriends house for more cocktails and food. She had a diverse group of guests over and I found myself sitting and chatting with an eleven, twelve and fifteen year old, all girls for the majority of the evening. Wow!! I was so impressed by these young women and very willingly engaged in what they were saying. I remember what it was like at that age when it came to social dynamics but I don't remember the pressures they have on them selves when it comes to appearance, boys and sex. At 42 I don't even have those pressures, I never did. I stayed true to my beliefs and did what I felt I could emotionally handle (I still follow that system). At 11 pm when dragged our tired asses out to go watch fireworks at the local field, a great way to wrap up an amazing day. What's the purpose of this blog? Nothing, just chatting.

When a husband loses his wife he is called a widower. When a wife loses her husband she is called a widow. When children lose their parents they are called orphans. When parents lose a child there is no label because how can you label something so incredibly tragic. My friend lost her 12 year old son on Sunday night. As a mother my heart shattered for her. She and her family will never be the same. How do you wake up every morning and put one foot in front of the other. My God the pain must be so intense. Really just speechless and stunned! Bragg Creek is silent today. I'm closing shop early. Want to see my boys.

My Tuesday rant.
So tommower I am hosting a Business to Business networking event on behalf of the Bragg Creek Chamber of Commerce. A fellow director and I have started a sub committee that focuses on the small business of Bragg Creek. What I am baffled about is the lack of store front owners that are not attending. We have 40 small business owners attending and only 4 are store front owners. Do these people not realize that they are the commercial core of the Hamlet and that they are the ones that are directly impacted with all the shit that is going on. Most of these businesses are feeling the economic crunch yet are refusing help. As business owners and community members we are all responsible to help each other succeed. That is my unimportant rant. Besides all the crap I played in my first womens soccer game last night. It has been 25 years since I played goalie...can we say shut out!!! So much fun but my ass is sore today.