maria taylor

officially addicted to Maria Taylor's new album Overlook.  Predictable to say the least, since I love everything about every song she has ever written.   Azure Ray was very important to me growin up.

AND she is really adorable and multi-talented.  When I saw her live the first time in NYC, she was singing, then playing guitar, then playing drums... love her.

overcoming dissatisfied customers.

When you think about it, being agitated with a transaction or confused at customer service in a walmart, grocery store, or anywhere else is something we have grown accustomed to.  Especially in terms of corporations, it seems each individuals' troubles with their service has nothing to do with the success of the business.

But let's get real,
for a small, tiny, miniscule business owner like me, one dissatisfied customer really brings me down.   Especially on online storefronts, such as etsy.

Search "Negative Feedback" in all the forum discussions and you will find over 100 different stories of sad, unmotivated, depressed sellers who received their first negative feedback.

And I am going to say it.  Today I became one of them. And now I fear for my shop and for my success.

It is like a punch in the gut.  I always refresh my activity feed and my shop at least a dozen times daily, and check new feedback.  Tonight was an unpleasant discovery.


The dark red color and the words on a page seem so much more painful than if someone was to pass judgement by word of mouth.

I am trying to find reasons to let it go and move on, but I am scared, sad, depressed, and unmotivated.  Trying not to be.  But I am.

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring better things.
On a lighter note, I began a new dress today that is inspired by one of my designs for my Fashion Design class last semester.  It is a little less edgy than the original, I will post photos when it is complete!

<3 sweet dreams

Chelsa

be brave.

In the past few months I have learned to be brave.

I have been brave in so many ways all of my life, I have stepped out on a limb for love, I have pushed my mother's boundaries growing up, and I have gone after what I want.  But the kind of bravery I am talking about is in how I present myself.  I never really appreciated the person I am.  I never even really thought about it too much until I moved to Iowa.

Maybe it is the heartland that did it to me, but I also think being in this place where everything is so humdrum and slow paced, it has given me the opportunity to be really express myself and feel like an individual.  Growing up in New Jersey, and traveling to Philly and NYC all the time put me in this world where I wasn't very unique.  Yes, I dressed differently, but there was a whole herd of people that dressed "differently".  There is a sort of charming thing about going into somewhere around here and asking for vegetarian options, & confusing the hell out of people.

In this place I did, I must admit, fall into a wear-sweats-to-the-store or don't-dress-up-ever or never-wear-makeup kinda lull for a while.  While it is totally acceptable to be that way, I am not happy that way.  I don't know when it started, or how, but I am really opening up in Iowa, finding my own way, and developing my adult fashion taste.  I think that is probably an important thing to do for an aspiring designer.

It all comes down to one thing.  Was I going to allow myself to wear the things I like without worrying about the discretion of others.  I am slowly wading into that mindset.  For example, I used to think I wasn't skinny enough to wear high heels..so what! who says.
I also never saw myself being able to pull off short blouses.   How ridiculous is that! now that I have gotten over myself, I am finding a love for clothes I never would have even considered before.  As my views of myself change, I can see that my taste is growing and expanding.

that is all I have to say for tonight, tomorrow is Monday and I have to wake up bright n early for classes!
<3 Chelsa