Use the dang quilt! Celebrating my momma

A year ago today I sat in complete silence, stunned and trying to figure out just what living my life without my momma in it would be. How would I go on? Who would I talk to everyday? Who would tell me I could do it all and be my biggest fan? Who's advice would I pretend to ignore and then secret implement it?

I have been dreading this day all year. Knowing I had to face it sooner or later. It haunted me. I have already made it through her birthday (just 2 weeks after she passed), my birthday, every major holiday and Mothers Day without her. This was the last big one. Or at least that is what I tell myself to make it through.

But today I decided to celebrate life instead of focusing on her death. I am still here and I can still partake all of the joys she can no longer experience. She first and foremost wanted to teach me how to have joy and love life. So here is what I did to make her proud.

I Spent some time working on my big dreams. She was so proud of my business, my work ethic and
that I could make a living at doing something I loved. I worked on finalizing some displays for Market. She was usually my sounding board the one I would discuss every last detail with. She would have loved being involved in all of this!

I found a few more of her wooden spools and I added to my collection I have of hers. She was an amazing seamstress and keeping her spools where I can see them make me feel close to her.

Then it was time for a little fun. We went to dinner at The Olive Garden. Mom... I know you loved this place, but next year we are finding a different restaurant to celebrate you!  The food was bad, but we laughed about how Mom always swiped the cutlery. She only needed to go to Outback Steakhouse one more time of have a whole set. I blame this on my step dad influence.See the billiard balls in the spool photo? Those were my dads. He never had a pool table. So I am assuming he swiped those each time he went to play with friends. Oh mom and dad.. you were funny and quirky.

Some mini golf with the family and the first real snow cone of the season was perfect for this day.Time with family was what she asked for every holiday and what she loved the most.

Then there is the quilt. 

My mom made this for me when I was 15. I cried when I got it. There are pieces that are less then a square inch! She stayed up late for months after I went to bed to surprise me with this. She was so proud when she gave it to me and I can still see the look on her face in that moment.

I quickly put it in my cedar chest where it has sat for 17 years. She always gave me crap about keeping it in the chest. I told her I didn't want to ruin it. As I got older she bugged me to use it again. I still did not want to ruin it.. and it did not exactly go with my color scheme. She laughed and told me there was no point in a quilt sitting in a chest.

Well tonight I took it out and I will sleep with it. Knowing her hands made this with so much love will be so comforting. Living in the moment today, loving my life and using the quilt will be my way of telling her she taught me well.

I get it mom. Life is short. Chase your dreams, know what matters and use the dang quilt.

xoxo
Nikki

Random facts about me and my journey

Me.. Nikki Halgren, AKA the Gleeful Peacock

Hello! I thought it was long overdue to share a few facts about myself. I think that sometimes knowing a little more about the person behind that blog, business, or product lets you see the point of view that it all stems from. So.. here is a little bit about myself. Maybe even more then you ever cared to know.

• Born and raised in Utah. 
• My earliest memories are watching my mom making, sewing or creating. She was crafty long before crafty was cool. I come from a long line of crafty, creative and extremely hard working women. I try to live up to that legacy on a daily basis.
• My mom was an amazing seamstress. She made gorgeous wedding dresses, quilts and all of my clothing. 
• I hate to sew because of the reason above.  I knew I would never be able to get to her level.
• Moved to Tulsa a little over 5 years ago, so that my husband could attend Law School. He was a lawyer for a year.. and is now a cop. More on this later.
• Married for almost 13 years. Marriage is dang hard work and being able to say this is a huge accomplishment for me.
• I have a desire to seek out vintage, colorful and happy things. To surround myself with them in life is one of my missions. 
• My dear husband lets me decorate anyway I want. So.. I do have a turquoise table and a yellow couch in my house. 
• I collect frames, tea cups, succulents, and anything that makes my granny aged spirit happy.  I am trying not to collect furniture.. but it at times is a loosing battle.
• I have a 10 year old daughter who is kooky, silly and scary smart. She challenges me on a daily bases in every aspect of my life. 
• I had a tumor the size of a football when I was pregnant with my daughter. No one ever thought that either of us would make it. I have many scares to show for it, but I also have a amazingly brilliant daughter as well.
• Rae has a tick disorder. She has amazing grace and confidence when dealing with it. She loves herself and knows she is beautiful, smart, strong and just happens to also have ticks. This is my greatest of all accomplishments.
• I adore turquoise. I have to tell myself to stop working it. Second color love is yellow. I have to force myself to work with purple and pinks. Although I do love coral.. 
• I have been every size from a a size 22 in women's to a 10. I usually float around a 14.. but it is a constant battle. My love of food and my desire to create all time can make this difficult. I am however working on body love. I am determined to love and accept my body.. scares, stretch marks, weight issues and all. 
• I love to set goals, challenge myself and compete. I am super competitive with myself. This can be a downfall. 
• I hate following trends. Always have.. always will. 
• People think I am super social. I am in fact a homebody. The older I get the more I want to just stay home. I have to force myself to go out to events and parties. Since loosing my parents this has been even more of a issue. When I get stressed it is the worse. Working on this area of my life. 
• I love unicorns and narwhals.
• I invent holidays. There are just not enough of them in my opinion.
• I always knew I was supposed to have my own business. But it scared me to pieces to admit it or pursue it. Then one day I knew it was time. It has been the most rewarding and challenging journey of my life.
• Right now I am wondering why I am writing this and who wants to read about it.. but I will hit publish anyway and just let you read it if you wish.

Love, 

Nikki

Harry Potter Birthday Party - Epic Level Achieved!

Harry Potter has been an obsession of Rae's for the last year. I have to admit I never read the books, but when she started reading them and showing all signs on obsession, Mik and I agreed that we could either be participants or mere spectators. Given my previous Halloween post... you guessed it. We choose to be participants and enjoy the obsession with her while we could. 

She tuned the big 10 this year. I am not sure how many more theme parties she will allow this mom to host, but we decided if this was the last we would try and go out with a bang. She wanted a Harry Potter party and this is a little glimpse into our interpretation.

When the kids arrived, they were broken into houses using a sorting hat. Yes.. we got it to talk with the help of two cell phones (one tucked into the hat) and a quick footed Mik that made a quick getaway. Yes... we are nerdy enough that that the two of us practiced this before hand and he worked on his 'sorting hat voice'.

We held the party at the park. Because Mik insisted on having a full Tri Wizard Tournament and he needed the whole park to make this happen. The Pavilion was decorated using my old school hot glue and felt tricks. We had a table for each house. On the table was house flags for them to cheer on their houses, sashes (so we didn't forget who was in what house) and a house shield ring.

 The tournament was a huge success. Mik had it all planed out, kept a board with house times and we had the kids running, chasing and hunting things for quite a while. We wore them out... which I owed the parents since I fed them so much candy and sugar!

Before the kids got to it.

I was told I was off on the colors for potions. But she agreed not to tell anyone else.

 We also had a potion class. They got to pick what their magical potion did. We heard everything from '6 lives' to 'I can run through anything'. It was a huge mess... and a huge success in the fun category.

Then there was the Honey Dukes table. Maybe this is where I went overboard. Yes I did collect all those jars just for this (but I am reusing them and will show how in a future post). We had everything from Ice Mice to Acid Pops. This kids had a great time trying everything... and it was easy to pack them up a bad as a party favor.

The most important part was the Rae confirmed that we did reach 'epic level' party status. She has a memory and Mik and I got to be kids again while we schemed and planned the whole party togehter.

Rae got a Bertie Bott's Centipede flavored bean. Yuck!

 Here is to making memories and being a part of the adventure of their childhoods! 

Nikki

What is your favorite party memory? Mine was when I was 15. My mom planned a huge Halloween party for me. She even got my aunt to come and pretend to read our palms. I will never forget it. I guess those memories are what makes me want to create them for Rae. I just hope she has the same warm fuzzies when she is an adult and recalls her childhood.

A Year in Review - This Means Business

I can hardly believe that a year has passed since I walked out of my then job (with a few months’ notice and proper training of my replacement, of course) and started my venture of being a full time small business owner. I remember the call I made to my mom. It was her 25^th wedding anniversary so the date will always stay with me. I thought it was a perfect date to pick to be an anniversary of mine as well. I remember how proud she and my step dad were. She more then him, since she always loved entrepreneurship and he was pretty scared of the whole idea. All she said was 'I don't know why you waited so long'. Thanks mom, you never doubted me. 

It took me about 18 months to take the idea of even starting a business into one that enabled me to work full time at it. I could hardly believe I had done it, and truth be told I spent many hour wondering what I did and how I could possibly make this work. But I honestly believe that if you are doing something you love that you can find a way to make it work. Plus, I had been lucky enough to be surrounded by people that never doubted me.. well at least they put on a good face and kept cheering me on! 

Well a lot has happened in the last year! Here are few of my most memorable milestones! 

 Thank you to everyone that has ordered, followed me on facebook, came to a show or left me a encouraging comment. You all rock! I love you all and I appreicate every last one of you. 

Now to se some goals for the next year.. 

hmmmm.. 

Nikki

Good Karma Project

I sent this package off today to a unsuspecting person. I am calling this my 'Good Karma Project'. When I feel stressed or need a smile, I am going to find someone that would enjoy a little surprise glee in their lives. Can't wait to hear what they think of it!

Love, Nikki

Stewardship - Grow something amazing!

Print by Helen Dardik on Etsy

Lately I have been thinking allot about the word stewardship. Wikipedia will tell you its used to describe taking care of resources, and before recent times it was regarding the person responsible for taking care of domestic affairs. It is a word that I repeat to myself often. Why? Because to me this word symbolizes what we all are. We are stewards of our lives and until our children are raised, their lives as well. Nothing has taught me more about the immortality of life, then this last year. With those feelings of immortality come a realization that you want your life to mean something. Stewardship is my something. This word reminds me that I am a steward over my family, my body, the earth and my business. The one thing I can do in this life is to grow something or if I am lucky a garden of lovely legacies.

Right now I am working to grow a confident and interesting child, a small business, a happy marriage and hopefully a really awesome Nikki by the time I am through. Hopefully someday a great garden and many other things.  Each day I am going to try and so something that contributes to the growth of these things. Some days I might do more harm then good, but I know that if in the end my goal is to be a steward over these things, that good things will happen.

How to grow something:
1 - Feed it often (with love, imagination, resouces)
2 - Give it room to grow (do not limit the posabbilites of its growth)
3 - Give it Sunlight (let it bake in positive thoughts)
4 - Harvest it (reap the rewards and enjoy your hard work, this will help you to keep growing)

Happy growing lovely folks!
<3 Nikki

A Market Experience

the elevator shot

Months back I can remember having no clue what Market was. I was asked to do Market by some scouts that had found me at some Dallas area craft shows. In fact, they had asked me several times. Each time I took their card and thought there was no way I was going to do a craft show in Dallas for four days! Then I was told what Market was (thank you to those friends that are way more savvy then I). I researched it and got really scared of the mere thought of doing Market. I promptly did nothing about this information and pretended it never happened. Then they contacted me again. This time I felt it was meant to be and I should probably put on my big girl panties and take Gleeful Peacock to Market.  For those of you still wondering what Market is, it is a ginormious set of buildings that are set up into areas and showrooms. Some businesses have permanent showrooms at Market. Then there are floors of 'Temp Finds'. These are the people like me that come and set up for 4 days or so. I was in the Vintage and Handmade section.

The shot above was taken while I was in the elevator (please forgive the blurriness). This building is 18 floors of nothing but shops set up to sell to buyers. Buyers from mom and pop stores, boutiques and huge department stores are all walking around trying to find the brands that can make their customers smile. Every brand you can think of in the home and gifts business was there meeting with buyers. Tobe honest, I was pretty impressed that I was among them.

handmade and vintage area of market

The problem with doing something as big as Market for the first time is that you have no idea what you are doing, but you don't want anyone else to know that. Due to show season ending the week before Christmas I only had a few weeks to put together my product line, photograph it, make a catalog, a line sheet, a postcard and design my booth. It was so crazy and the most intense thing I have ever done. I couldn't have done it without help from my friends. A big shout out to Rebecca of ChickeeBoom and Tiffany from LivyLu! I am such a lucky girl to be surrounded my ladies far more talented then I.

Here is a photo of the finished booth. My sweet husband deserves a prize for being okay with it being set up in my living room for the entire week before Market. I decided my theme was granny chic. Since I feel like I am an old soul, I felt right at home in booth. 

Here are a few of my displays. 

necklaces in an old trunk

 

 

an old shelf on it's side with some knobs

vase, flower bud vase, spoon collectors display, books and mailbox for headbands

So here are a few things I learned about Market.

• Be prepared. As my momma taught me, it is always better to be over prepared then under prepared. I know this in ingrained in me because I want to pack back-up everything for everything I do.
• Have lot's of material for buyers to walk away with. I had a catalog, a postcard and business cards. 
• Some showrooms sell off samples. If there is a 'S' on the door you can get some amazing deals! 
• Talk to everyone you can. Every contact is an amazing opportunity. I am still crossing my fingers for a certain account that if landed I got from visiting their booth.
• It is the most exhausting thing you could do to increase business. But it is an amazing experience. 
• The last few hours of the last day most vendors will allow cash and carry. You can actually buy things for wholesale. I got some amazing things and would take advantage of it even more next go round.  
• Bring along someone to help. My friend and helper was delightful, a hard worker and so helpful. Not only that, but she had experience with Market and that was so valuable!
• Know what you want to accomplish before you go. What type of stores do you want? How much do you want to grow? What are you prepared to handle when you get back? 

I have decided to go at it again in June. I think this one was a training ground for me. So, between now and then I will be working on organizing my business more, getting a bit more help and making the accounts I have turn into gleeful groupies.

best booth award

Oh and the cherry on top was that I won best booth for my vintage and handmade! I was so excited I squealed. Mainly because my one main goal was to appear like I knew what I was doing.

The funny part was that I almost backed out a few weeks before. I just could not fathom the thought of all the work and exhaustion I knew laid ahead. I have to thank my sweet friends that told me to keep going and believed in me and my business. Looking back I would have missed out on so much if I would have let my fears and the exhaustion win out. Thank goodness for friends that kick you in the rear when you are being a baby. 


As I got all set up and I wanted to cry in exhaustion and emotion, all I could think was a quote that my step-dad always said to me. "Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true." - Albert Camus. In the end I am so happy I had this experience and that I did the hard work to accomplish what I wanted.