Help Out Special Deliveries!

I stumbled upon this site - Boutique Critique - it's a directory for online boutiques! It's free to list a business, but of course they want something in return.

In order for my ad to move higher in the ranking, I have to send visitors to their site. So, if you want to help me out a little, click on this ad, which will just take you to their home page. But it will give me a vote. It's only per unique visitor, so doing it 50 times is just as good as once.

(if you want to find my ad, I'm under "baby")

Thanks!

Open for Business

Check it out!!

Feel free to spread the word to anyone you know who's having a baby or might be throwing a baby shower.

Coming Soon...

A lot of times in January I feel like - well now what is there to look forward to? December is usually pretty busy and then things just die in boring January.

But there are two things in the very near future that I am excited about.

First, a week from today we'll find out if I'm cookin' a boy or girl. I am dying to know, because then we can put more of a face on this baby. The suspense is killing me. Also, it's impossible to start considering names because I need more focus on either just boy or just girl names.

Second, I plan on opening my online store in just a few days! I haven't decided if I'll do it over the weekend or on Monday, but it'll be Monday at the latest. I just need to take care of a few more details and then I am ready to go! The closer I get to officially starting this the more excited I get about it!

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Today has been pretty quite (especially right now because Erin's asleep and all I can hear is the heat running). My only plans are to take a trip to the grocery store (exciting, I know). I was going to do that this morning, but we've had snow flurries on and off all day. I don't know why I'm waiting for it to heat up outside, considering the high today is only 25 degrees. I guess we'll go after Erin wakes up.

Oh-Ten

It's crazy that Christmas is next week already. The year is pretty much over. It's funny how I've heard a lot of people call 2010 "oh-ten." Is that what we're going to call it? It sounds weird to just say "ten" I guess. And what is the decade going to be called that we are just finishing up? 80's, 90's, ???

Erin is doing well, growing and learning like crazy. The past few days I have been able to put her bowl of Cheerios down in front of her and she can eat most of it by herself with the spoon. I only have to help at the end when there's like 10 left.

Among her expanded vocabulary is Itsy Bitsy Spider - which sounds like apple cider, and Christmas - which sounds like kisses.

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I have also been working hard to get Special Deliveries up and running by early January. As of now it looks like I'm on track to do that. There are a few big (and small) things to get done and then I can start selling!

I really have no idea what to expect as far as volume of customers. I know it will be a slow start - and that's perfectly fine. But a year from now, will I have 10 orders a month or 100? I also hope I'm not getting into too much with a business and two kids. I guess I'll just have to figure it all out.

Go Away Bugs, We Don't Like You

Going for a flu shot this morning. Never had one before. Just like donating blood, it's really hard for me to volunteer to get a needle in my arm. Although, I'm a lot better with them than I used to be.

I think possibly the cold bug that Erin and I shared has been given to the third member of this household**. This whole thing has been bad timing, because next weekend is his second comp exam and there's still lots of reading to be done for it. And colds are just more annoying than anything. You still have to go on with daily life, but you feel like crap.

Things are slowly progressing with Special Deliveries. I mapped out a timeline to when I can get this thing up and running. It's looking like the first of the year, unless I can work faster than expected. And the beginning of a new year sounds like a good starting point.

**he's not sick :)

Sepcial Deliveries - Under Construction

I've been debating on when to "go public" with what I'm up to...and now is as good a time as any.

I'm starting a small business! Something I never thought I would do.

About a month ago, I was trying to figure out a way to bring in some extra income and still be able to work from home. Since my background is in graphic design and I have a new life in the world of moms, I decided to design and sell birth announcements, baby shower invitations and thank you cards. Thus, the idea of Special Deliveries - a web based business - was born.

It's a slow process getting the ball rolling. I'm still several weeks away from being open for business. I can get a little bit of work done here and there during the day, and then I maybe get a couple hours in the evening. But it's a lot of fun and I am enjoying being able to do some design work everyday.

Right now I'm mainly focusing on the actual product - the cards and website. I've never built a website from scratch, so I'm teaching myself Dreamweaver - a skill I have kept on the back burner to learn. Maybe this could lead to future website projects. Who knows.

I'm also working on ways to keep my designs original and not just like everyone else's contemporary style - like these, for example. They are all great, and I will have some in that style, but I also want to bring photography into it (my own). I've never come across any announcements that use photography, it's all flat color (maybe they're out there and I've never seen them). So this will hopefully be a way to stand out a little. And of course, customers will also have the option to do a full custom job.

I hope to get things up and running soon. And now that I've told people beyond just immediate family, I guess there's no backing out now!