It's Hip to Go Square

Sunday, rain was in the forecast, as in a 60% chance in the afternoon, leading me to wonder how the sales would go. Wait--I'm always wondering--just more so when the weather is predicted to be iffy! The tent was all set up, including rain sides, when I arrived. From there I took over, hanging the pieces, albeit differently than Bruce normally does. I went with sort of a red theme, leaving the turquoise canvases in their box. As well, the take down was already on my mind because Steve and Barb's Christmas party was to be next on our agenda. Festivities were slated for 3:30-7:30 meaning we had to hustle getting out of the market and to their place in Lake Nona.

So, the day began with a blank slate and I mean that almost literally. I keep my sales in notebooks, which I know sounds old fashioned and all, but it's quite helpful for both ordering and as a history lesson. Using my last page of the old notebook, I bought this cute new one at Marshalls.

There it sat in all it's newness, however, not for long! Shortly after setting up a trio of lovely ladies arrived. As she was looking through the baskets, one of them was wild for "Aging Gracefully." Mentioning that I had a 20x30 canvas of it in a box, she said, "May I see it?" I'm no fool--"I'd love to show it to you." And so she bought it. Furthermore, she agreed to be photographed for this very space.

Apparently, the ring on her finger is also something new which her friends insisted I must include in the photo! I used the Square. It worked beautifully, requiring only a few swipes before it took. The thing is, you can swipe and swipe, each time it tells you to re-try. I never know what I'm doing right or wrong, but I will say, later in the day I was getting it to go on the second swipe. I'm here to tell you it is fantastic! Not only do I love it, but people are amazed with the speed and simplicity. I'm still having the customer type in their email address for the receipt as I've not completely mastered touch typing.

I am, on the other hand, getting the hang of my new iPhone 4S, using it to listen to music in the car. I was pretty amazed the other day while doing just that; Bruce called and when I touched the accept button our conversation took place using the car speaker! I'm successfully using the iMessage on occasion AND I used FaceTime with Matt. Pretty quick learner aren't I?

The canvas she bought has been wildly popular, something I can NEVER predict. Within minutes of taking the above I saw this scene and was sure it would be a winner.

Except it wasn't. I had one smallish canvas made of this and it took forever to sell until a man came along and bought it taking it to California. I learned my lesson. It does have what I consider one of my best titles: "Time Shares." Still, it doesn't sell. Oh well, there's plenty more to choose from. While looking at the St. Augustine album, I scanned some other albums from that time. I've never printed this one

however, I think it's pretty intriguing. I never really got the hang of the magnification filter I used on this. Maybe I'll pull them out, giving them another chance?

The Square came in handy a lot yesterday; in fact, it was the best day I've had in nine weeks. Early Christmas present it was. In all the years I've been using PayPal, I thought it was just fine. Sure, it extended each market day and I never knew if a card was good or not, but I dealt with it. Now however, I'm in LOVE with the Square. I can't tell you how good it feels to KNOW that a transaction has cleared at the point of sale. If only I had it back when that lady scammed me for $175. Plus, she took one of my favorite canvases. The meanie.

My last customer yesterday was a sweet young man who recently moved to Orlando. He's bought from me before (God bless those repeat customers), and he bought something again yesterday. This time he had his visiting Mother here. She was down from Saratoga Springs for his birthday. It was so sweet when he told his Mom that I was one of the first people he met in Orlando. Nice, nice folks.

Lisa surprised me with a visit, however, I barely had time to chat. After meeting Sean, my niece Emily's newish boyfriend and his daughter Emma, they all headed to the playground. I must have still been busy when they returned to listen to Joseph Martens, our fantastic entertainer. Early last week, my brother-in-law Danny had a heart catheterization and he's all clear. Very, very good news indeed.

Bruce arrived right around 4 and we took things down at a break-neck speed; within minutes of our arrival home it began to rain. Yeah for small favors! Driving to their home in the rain, we still had time to eat, drink and be merry with friends. Poured all the way home and into the night leaving our world very wet indeed. The skies are gloomy matching my feelings that Bruce will be gone for the week. I'll have no excuse not to have things looking spiffy upon his return Friday evening!

I sort of lived with this while Nancy was here, and in truth, I could use her presence again. Sitting down in the sun room just now I noticed my glass tables are lacking shine. Dust, perhaps?

Time to go unload a bit of my car from yesterday. Because we were in such a hurry, not to mention the rain, we left it as is. I must clear at least a bit of space for this week's shopping!

Happy Monday,
Gail