shiny little things

happy Tuesday-

Yesterday, I walked my daughter in to her first day of middle school. 

Yep. She's 11. 

When you own a family business, you can often date events in the business by the age that various family members were when they occurred. We moved from our old Glenwood Avenue location to our current home 12 years ago, when I was pregnant with my now-middle-school-aged daughter. We started the original store on a September day almost 15 years ago, right there on Glenwood, in a tiny space with a few shelves of beads. Three years later, we found this building, and I did all the planning and moving during my pregnancy. My husband built walls while I took naps. Staff members like Ndidi and Tracey kept me from lifting heavy boxes. Most of my pregnancy pictures involve the store in the early iterations. 

Time flies. 

Yesterday, we walked down the street to my daughter's new school. She was a bit worried, she was a bit excited, she was a bit nervous. When I went to pick her up, she declared middle school 'awesome' and told me she had made two friends already. That was awesome. At home, her sister (who starts back next week) spent the day reading Harry Potter. 

Time flies.

My oldest is in middle school. My baby is reading Harry Potter. And Ornamentea? This store will be 15 in September. It's time for a quinceanera*.  My party-planning hat is on...

I'll see you soon-

(This is my weekly note from our store newsletter. If you don't already subscribe to it, you should! Join up right here.)