The Glamorous Life of a Shop Keeper

We sell lots of small items and many of them need to hang on the wall - making one nail per item. And of course, you don't always get the placement exactly right and wind up with two or three extra small holes. And then you get in something new, and you need to find a place for it, so you move a few things around and the nails are never in the right place, so you take them out and hammer them in again two inches to the left. Or three inches to the right. This is all to say that after five or six months . . . . your wall is full of little holes, and suddenly, you think - I must spackle and paint. Then the question is how much of a project to make it - one entire side of the store or just a few spots? Last weekend, I decided I must repaint the back wall. And I was right - when spackled there was almost as much white as original color. I also decided to change the color - the whole procedure took about six hours. Then, a few days later, I decided I didn't really like the color everywhere, so decided to change part of it back, and while I was at it, paint a few other trouble spots. I left tonight at 10, vowing to return early in the morning to put everything back in place. I know I'll be glad I did it tomorrow, even though right now I feel kind of - tuckered out. And . . . so goes the glamorous life of a shop keeper. Holding a glass of wine in my paint stained hands, tired and blogging at this late hour.
(if you come in soon, please admire the back wall!)

I Come In Peace

Happy Easter, blog readers! and say goodbye to our giant bunny, who turned out quite a bit more scarey looking than we anticipated when we planned this window. That why he wears the "Peace Chicks" necklace - to make him a little less threatening. (We think perhaps he's related to the abominable snowman.) Easter is a funny holiday at Joie de Vivre - for many years we were open on Easter, on the theory that beyond enjoying dying eggs, eating jelly beans and chocolate bunnies, we personally did not celebrate the day, and that there were lots of non-Christians living in the area who might be walking around looking for something to do . . . but, as it turned out, with one or two exceptions, Easter Sunday was always a really slow day. And something about being open on Easter made us feel - wrong - money grubbing - hard to explain. So, maybe fifteen years ago, we were open on an absolutely beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon . . . and the person I was working with asked if she could leave to go to the park with her friends. After letting her go - I just decided to close the store, went home to hang out in the garden, and we never opened on Easter again. It's interesting too - all the big stores that open on New Years Day, the 4th of July, Memorial Day - days we swear we will never be open - are closed on Easter. I guess it's something that just isn't done!

If You Have A Lot of Time On Your Hands, Try This!

and if you don't . . . just enjoy the photo. I have a feeling making these "Peepshi" would be just a bit time consuming - and yet what a wonderful Easter treat, at the breakfast table . . . as a post dinner dessert . . . or maybe best, served up late afternoon with a cocktail of some kind. Who says sushi has to be made with fish?

Listen My Children, and You Shall Hear

of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. Here in Cambridge, it's now the midday ride of Paul Revere, we guess that works better for commemorative purposes - after all, who's up and watching for Paul at midnight these days? The first year Joie de Vivre was open, its owner, who grew up in New York State, and didn't really know that Patriot's Day existed, was quite startled on said day to hear the distinctive sound of horses galloping down Massachusetts Avenue. She rushed to the door in time to see someone who looked rather like Paul Revere, riding past the store crying "the British are coming!" He was accompanied by other men on horseback. Several local types advised her that this ride happened every year. Now, we expect it, and are somewhat nonchalant, but still try to get to the door in time to see the horses pass by. I'm sure the spectacle continues to confuse visitors and those from other countries who are here in Cambridge - but in a time when relatively little attention is paid to our history, I think it's rather cool that the tradition continues - even if they have adjusted the hour for better viewing!

A Little Bit of Advice . . .

If you come into Joie de Vivre and you have never been here before, wait more than 2 seconds before saying "I love this place -this is a really great store you have here!" And when introducing yourself and handing us your card, do not, even if you believe it to be true, introduce yourself as "the best real estate agent in Boston!" and ask us if we would like to hear you say that again. Then, after a brief discussion of the actual reason you have come into the store - be it an event you are promoting, or the desire to acquire a new client - don't say, "thank you and now I will look around this wonderful store," then look for approximately five seconds before heading for the door. Just saying . . .

Here Comes . . . Peter Cottontail?

We just put up our Easter window. We think it might be a little scarey - will post a picture later - but it's kind of in keeping with this website - Sketchy Bunnies. I came across this site one night. Yes, I am one of those people who sometimes looks at pictures of cats on the internet, and sometimes looking at cats on Cheezburger leads to Graphjam which leads to Fail, which recently led me to Sketchy Bunnies. We have been selling a book called Awkward Family Photos for awhile now, and one of my favorite sections in that book is the Easter section. When I started looking at Sketchy Bunnies, I was soon smiling, then laughing, then laughing until I was crying - it kind of has a cumulative effect. So - for those of you who enjoy a good laugh - visit the site. Then, when you see our window - tell us if you think we should submit a photo!

Our Unacceptable Message

We have an email list and on the first of every month we mail them a link to our monthly news. Each time a few bounce back, old email addresses, or undeliverable for some reason but this month we had a first - we got one back for this reason: "Because the message contains inappropriate language that violates the Boston Public Schools Acceptable Use Policy(AUP) for Computer Networks. If you believe there is no inappropriate language AND the message is AUP compliant, please REPLY to this email and request that the message be released, and your request will be considered." I didn't even think twice - I wrote the text and I was 100% positive that there was no unacceptable language in our email. So I re-sent it. It came back again with the same message. I then decided to take a closer look at what I had written. Here it is - the preamble to our actual newsletter: "Dear Joie de Vivre mailing list, We wanted to let you all know that because it’s been a hard winter and we needed a little cash, we have sold our mailing list to QVC . com — we hope you don't mind. APRIL FOOL! (We of course will never ever ever give your names to anyone). Happy Spring! We’re loving looking out our window at pussy willows instead of Xmas greens buried under dirty, icy, snow. And loving seeing more of you come in the door... it’s much more fun here when we have customers!" And when I took a closer look, I realized what must have happened. Their screen must have picked out the X in Xmas, the dirty in dirty, icy, snow - and of course, the pussy in pussy willow and thus decided that our email was inappropriate. It's the only thing that makes any sense . . . . and it reinforces my belief that machines with all their artificial intelligence will never be able to do what we lowly humans can do with our brains!

Hotcake Heaven

I'm not talking about the International House of Pancakes ! The Joie blogger is in San Francisco, home of our beloved Hotcakes Design Jewelry, and yesterday I visited the store and studio. It is very close to the infamous Lombard Street, the one with the incredible view of the Golden Gate Bridge at the top . . . which I had to see and which was quite a climb. I was rather sweaty when I arrived at Hotcakes - hot as a hotcake. (I hate to mention this, but it's been sunny and in the 70s here the last few days.) Anyway, it was great to visit, and I got to see some designs that Caramia, (the designer/maker) doesn't show at the trade shows - so we'll have a few special pieces coming in soon. Her upstairs studio was mesmerizing, all the medallions for the pieces looked like they had been dumped right out of a treasure chest. I felt like a little kid - just wanted to scoop it all up and start stuffing it in my pockets. Instead, I did the grown-up thing and satisfied myself with doing a nice order of rings and a few necklaces for Joie.

Very . . . "interesting" . . . .

A customer just called me and she was kind of laughing. "I just googled you because I didn't have your phone number," she told me. "And guess what came up right under your listing?" I had no idea . . . I google us every once in awhile just out of curiosity and didn't remember seeing anything funny come up. "Um. . what was it?" I asked. "The next listing under your name reads "Porn for Women - Joie de Vivre and says Porn for Women available at Joie de Vivre, Cambridge, MA." I quickly went to the computer and put Joie de Vivre Cambridge in the search bar - and up it came, exactly as she described it. Now, Porn for Women is actually a funny and satirical book we've been selling for a few years . . . but why it came up so prominently is a mystery to me. Why not . . . the yodeling pickle or the dancing ballerina, which is in fact our most searched on line item. Who knows the mysteries of the web? It's very unlikely the publisher would be behind the placement as the book has been out for several years and is now considered a back list title. Anyway, it is kind of amusing . . . see for yourself ! And thank goodness, no one seems to be taking it literally - we haven't gotten any weird inquiries or phone calls.

Craft Boston

I went to a "craft" show in Boston today... and I use quotations because it's far from macrame and that sort of thing. More like breathtakingly sophisticated beautiful work - a lot of which I would have loved to buy for myself - but couldn't afford. Especially the jewelry which tends to be expensive when made with real stones and gold and silver. I did buy a funky shirt... and a present for my sister... and met one craftsperson who, though the show is national, turned out to be local, and whose work will soon be shown at Joie de Vivre. Also, you can see the work of Tomas Savrda - we carry his work, but not his more expensive pieces and they alone are worth the trip! Ultimately, this post is to say - if you appreciate beautiful handmade work - go to Craft Boston this weekend - it's at the Boston's World Trade Center - (who knew we too had one?) - and well worth the $15 admission. Say hi to Tomas, and enjoy the show!

Second Day of Spring

and . . . it's . . . snowing!

Of Spring and Seconds

It's the first day of spring ! and it's a beautiful sunny cool New England Day - a perfect first day. Today also marks the end of our "Wow, What A Winter!" sale - a sale we ran to make up for the awful days in January and February when our world was full of snow and ice and putting a quarter in the parking meter required mountain climbing skills. So, today I was thinking about sales . . . and how much people love them, and thought back to my woodworking days when my boyfriend and I sold our rolling pins and other work at a craft fair in New York City every December. We always had rolling pins that we considered "seconds" - a weird hole in the wood, or a little mistake on our part - just generally ones that we wouldn't feel right selling at full price. We often threw them in our wood stove, but this one year, we decided to take them to New York and try to sell them as seconds. We displayed them with the regular pins, just marked them down in price. The first day of the fair, a woman held one out to me. "Do you have any more of these?" she asked. I assumed she meant - that particular wood but a first quality piece. I rummaged through our stock and brought one out. "No, that's not what I mean," she said. "I mean - seconds!" A light began to dawn. "Yes, we do," I said and gave her a handful. She bought them all. Word seemed to spread through the fair - and by the end of the first day all of our seconds were gone, purchased by bargain loving customers. The ones we used throw in the wood stove. We were actually quite surprised but learned our lesson - never - never - never - underestimate the power of a bargain !