Kindred Spirits

Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with another person;
having neither to weigh thoughts, or measure words,
but pouring them out all right out, just as they are,
certain that a faithful hand can, and will take them.

- Dinah Craik

Welcome to my new blog!
Another way to connect, another way to share life. I think that the blog will give me a little more freedom to write than the journal. I hope to develop some dialogs here that weren't possible on the website.

The weather here in Moose Jaw hasn't eased up. It's still frightfully cold and since we are set up to receive a lot of foot traffic, the store has been quiet. Although I am missing the visiting, I am getting a lot of opportunities to be creative, with long stretches of intense focus. My store is coming alive with all of the care it's been given. I am having so many ideas for the future of my store, events and new products, new art pieces.

I am planning a collection of papers. It is very exciting. My husband Danny has been so helpful and so full of ideas. What a team we make!

I've started the valentines for February and exploring the romance that my little shop had suppressed to accommodate Christmas decor, a sacrifice that I won't let it make next year!
I'm really enjoying making valentines for other people to give to their loved ones. I feel a bit like Cupid!, "This one is bound to go straight to the heart!" Imagining a man giving it to his beloved, on a park bench, out for a walk after a romantic dinner. She's crying, "It's beautiful!" sniff "Oh darling, I'll treasure it forever!". He picks her up, and twirls her around. Her high heeled foot bent up. She later places it in a box of love letters, hangs it on her dressing mirror, or if it's one of my detailed tiny heart wreaths, wraps it in tissue and places it in a box to be brought out next February as part of that couple's traditions. "Or!... Or!... Someone could ask me to make a special valentine, where I paint a photo of somewhere they'd been to together on their first date, or where they first met, and he asks me to write in it for her, "From the first time I saw you leaning over, tying those ice skates, I've wanted to... " Anyways... Men will be always be men. He could have me write, "From the moment you slipped in that mud, and decided to have dinner with me even after ruining your dress, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. There's no one else like you in the entire world. Whatever I am is ten times better with you! Will you marry me Sophia?" "Oh Tod!" bawling...
Okay Shelley. Stop swooning. Back to the real world. (I tend to do that.)

Looking ahead I'm envisioning spring in my fresh, bright, little storehouse. This room was made for spring! What a delight when the snow has gone to be able to decorate the outside as well. To open the low windows let the two spaces meet.

Well along with the quietness I am really finding that the people making their way through the cold to find out what that quaint little shop is all about are real treasures. It brings me so much joy to see their faces light up, as they discover the details I have spent so many hours creating. We talk about decor and art and I discover something as well. Often the people who like my store are like me. "This is my kind of store.", Bev said. "Mine too!", I replied.

We share this love for things are earthy, natural, timeless, humble, rustic and yet mixed with imaginative, beautiful things. Not glitzy. Not trying to make a statement in itself. Pretty little things that shyly ask to be tucked into your life somewhere. To be a part of what surrounds you.
These kindred spirits that I'm meeting most often than not leave a way to connect. An email address or what have you. Which got me thinking... Here are a group of ladies that not only have common interests with me bit most likely with each other. I would love to introduce you all. (I haven't been open too long. At this stage it may still be possible!) So expect to receive an invitation in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for all your support!

Shelley

mjstorehouse@gmail.com
(306) 523-2113 Office (Regina Number)
(306) 684-1939 Cell (Moose Jaw Number)

http://www.mjstorehouse.com

The Moose Jaw Storehouse
630 1st Ave NE
Moose Jaw, SK
S6H 0Z2