dear universe - i want to open a fabric shop

The other day I posted the above question on facebook. I was curious to find out what my friends dreams were and what it would take for them to drop what they were doing to pursue them. At first most of the answers were pretty vague and then after a little more questioning people opened up.

The interesting thing about finding out what people dream of doing is that thinking about what I know about these people compared to what they dream of doing, I see that for most of them their dreams are just that...dreams. It's something they've tucked away and maybe think about occasionally, but aren't pursuing them in any manner.

But, there were one or two who are putting in work towards making their dreams come true and that's encouraging and inspiring. And I think it's good to have people in your life who are pursuing their dreams. It gives you the energy to do the same.

My magic number to drop everything is about $100K. Enough to pay off my student loans, live comfortably for a year (bills paid on time, food to eat, etc.), start my business, buy a car (because getting work done is much easier with a car than it is riding the bus everywhere) and maybe go on a vacation so I can start refreshed and inspired. I'd settle for about $5K though to get my business started.

The business? A fabric shop

Working for myself crafting has always been my end goal, but I've wanted to open up a little fabric shop for a while...the urge to do it sooner rather than later has become much greater with my new found love of simple clothing construction and all the beautiful quilting possibilities.

Then Cotton + Steel happened. First their video about how fabric is manufactured (this video is great. I love seeing how things are made/work) and then their spring collection preview. Fabriclust in full effect.

It ignited something in me. I want to be able to share fabric with others. Sure there are tons of other fabric slingers out there, but I want to be different.

I've already started working on my business plan and been keeping a list of ideas of how I want to run things and what not. I've also done a little bit of research of how much I'll need to get started and what things I'll need. I'd eventually like to turn an online shop into a B+M shop. Where, I'm not sure.

How can you not fall in love with fabric and all it's possibilities?


C+S Spring Collection Preview from Gregory Miller Pictures on Vimeo .

I think finding funds is going to be the hardest part. (I'm easily distracted by pretty things - currently wanting the new HK Vans). But I will slowly be putting money away to pursue this dream. I'm also asking the the Universe for help...maybe a nice lottery win and/or some big successes in the making crafty things and selling them. (It's the beginning of summer, but it's almost time to think about the holidays.)

What would it take to drop what you're doing and start pursuing your dreams?

reading - Success through Stillness by Russell Simmons This post brought to you in part by:

strange dreams and my latest obsession

this photo has nothing to do with this post, but I want one of these. it's a pomsky
So yesterday morning before I was rudely awakened by a text message I was in the middle of a super long dream where I was pregnant. I hadn't had sex in 3 years, but some how I was pregnant. Also, before I woke up I was dancing around to Call Me Maybe and my friends were cracking up at me. Sounds about right.

It doesn't bother me that I was pregnant. I'd wanted to have two kids by the time I was 35 (don't see that happening...maybe one, not two at this point). It bothers me that I don't know who the father was and that I was pregnant without having had sex.

What does it all mean???

Okay, sorry about that. I've composed myself and now I can talk about my latest obsession...mystery shopping. I plan to do a more in depth post about this in the future, but for now I'm just going to say how much I am enjoying doing this. I've been mystery shopping since October/November of last year and have done about 8 or 9 so far.

I'm learning more and more about mystery shopping daily and have signed up with probably 20+ companies. There are jobs/shops out there for just about everything. Preschools, automotive shops, hotels, high end restaurants, fast food joints, banks, storage places etc. So far I've done phone shops for a hotel, eaten at a sandwich shop and shopped a couple of retail stores. There's a lot involved, but it's fun and you get to do fun stuff for free and sometimes even get paid.

I think it's a good way to earn extra money (you could probably make a couple hundred dollars a month if you set them up right) and if you're single/dating  it's a good way to go on dates and save money. Ha!

Anywho, yeah that's it. I'm off this weekend and have a couple of shops I hope to get assigned to me so I'll be doing those and if I'm not I'll be hiding out at home hopefully being productive. Hiding out at home is my new thing right now.

Okay, bye!

reading - The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan This post brought to you in part by: