A Home Office Pro and Con Minute (Plus, Support Your Favorite Entrepreneur at No Cost to You!)

One of the really good things about being self-employed, and having a home office, is that when I wake up at 5:30 in the morning and I can't sleep, I can get right down to business, in my pajamas even!

The con is I can start my workday at 5:30 in the morning, and I can often work until 9 at night, if I don't cut myself off and use some discipline. And while there is nothing wrong with getting a lot of important work done (the kind that pays the bills and enriches my existence and what-not), it's also important To Me that I work to live, not live to work. Even if I do find my work incredibly enjoyable. (Which I do! Yay!)

The pro is though, that I have the freedom to do what I did yesterday: hang out at Redwood Park all day. There was a festival going on there, and we sold some glass, but we also just hung out and had ourselves a picnic in the sun. It was an all-around glorious success of a day. And we worked solidly through the weekend in anticipation of it. So, that flexibility is a really nice thing that I never experienced as a nine-to-fiver.



You know when the weather is nice and you are stuck in the office and all you want to do is go to the beach?

Well, I can do that.

But I also am playing all the roles: I'm the office manager, the HR person, the boss, the peon, the supply orderer (or would that position more aptly be called the inventory manager), the accountant, the tax preparer, the web designer, the photographer, the photoshopper (why does Blogger keep saying these aren't real words, whatever, Blogger, I'm the boss!), the (eBay and Etsy) store manager, the appointment coordinator, the ... well, you get the idea, and I could literally go on like this, but what would that accomplish? I have so much work to do!

Check out my latest blog post at http://openfireglass.webs.com/apps/blog/, featuring a discount offer to all members! If you are not a member, why not join?

And tell your friends: The Goal (one of the many) is to get Mike's art into every gallery across the nation. We want his name to be a household name. We want people to see his art in a store or on the neck of a passerby and say "That's a Mike Warren piece." And you, my lovely, lovely loved ones, can help us with that goal, without any cost to you! Just pass our website on to your email address books, to your next-door neighbors, your cube mates, your coworker down the hall, the stranger on the street, and tell them about your hardworking entrepreneurial family out here!

Oh, and if you do manage to find the time to do this for us, THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! I love you all!

Published! Plus other stuff about my artist.

Hey Family,

Here's some super fantastic news I want to tell you:

Mike Warren is in the Spring 2009 issue of The Flow.



I don't own a copy of the magazine yet, so I snagged the front cover from their website at theflowmagazine.com. You can see Mike's name in the bottom right corner (fourth name from the bottom).

The Flow is a magazine for the lampworking community (I believe I borrowed that wording right off their front cover). The article featuring Mike is about his seashells, and how he makes them.

Here's a photo of the featured shell (and one of the photos from the article):


The photography and text for the article are by Yours Truly, which technically means I'm published too. It's exciting, y'all. And we have even received a few emails from people who saw the article and want their very own seashell!

(The photos throughout this post are all in the article, but there are many more pictures that you will have to see the article for yourself to be able to view.)


Much more exciting times ahead. More to tell you about, but it's late and I gotta get to bed. Tomorrow we will be at a festival selling our wares.



Oh, and in other, slightly related news, I am working hard to get our Etsy store going. For those who don't know, etsy.com is an artsy eBay-esque website where artists sell their handmade art. We are planning a jewelry line to begin with to be available ASAHP (that's As Soon as Humanly Possible).



Our seller name there is openfireglass as well. I'll post another note here when items are available, but you can feel free to pop over and check it out anytime you'd like at OpenFireGlass.etsy.com.

So, if you'd like to know Mike's secrets about how to make a glass seashell, some of them are available in the spring issue of The Flow magazine.

Happy Trails,

xxoo

To Do List

It's been so hot here that part of my to-do list was to help get Mike out the door as early as possible so he can get as much work done before it gets way too unbearable to be on the torch. He was up and out the door with a thermos full of coffee by 6:45, so that's pretty good.

We are dog-sitting Baby this week and next while Josh and Kaya are visiting their grandma (Mike's mom) in Baltimore. Baby is in heat. So a lot of my time is spent literally babysitting her. She is the sweetest dog in the entire universe (I'm not one of those annoying dog lovers that thinks that about my awful dog; anyone who meets her and/or spends any amount of time with her comments on how well behaved she is - she doesn't bark, she does exactly what you ask of her, and is an all-around very happy, social dog who just wants to be friends with everybody and their dog or uncle, literally), but I will admit I'm looking forward to when she is done being in heat. It's time-consuming to keep track of her so she doesn't make a mess in my house or have a neighborhood male dog impregnate her.

I also need to get my taxes done - I filed an extension because life was crazy hectic during the jazz festival and aftermath, and they were too confusing trying to figure out the state taxes, having moved to another state partway through 2007.

I have lots more marbles to list on eBay and have already taken many photographs that now need to be adjusted.

I need to research and contact three galleries that came recommended by one of our local gallery owners for Mike's work; one is in Dallas, one in D.C. and one in Colorado. Operation Mike Warren Next Dale Chihuly continues (clunky operation name, needs work).

And before the day gets too hot, I need to ride my bicycle. I've been working hard to be active everyday. I've also been trying to master push-ups, which is tough! But I will do it. I will do it. (I have an email support network of three girlfriends from Wisconsin, which is definitely motivating! To strong women!)

I also need to keep working on my writer's resume - it's tough! - but there is a lot of local freelance writing jobs to be done, and I'm trying to see if I can score any of them. That would be so awesome.

BUT FIRST! I need to eat some breakfast! (My usual top priority.)