My D Day

So I've decided on my "D Day" - the day I will open my web shop...it will be August 8th! I'm so excited, but at the same time, I'm a bit nervous. I have this feeling that once I open my shop, I can't go back.

My website is almost ready. My sister in law (aka our "shop advisor") checked my website today and gave me some really good feedback. She is a super woman! She teaches graphic design at uni and also has her own furniture business. She designed our shop logo too! There are so many benefits I got from my husband Paul since we met, but this sister Maria is definitely one of the top benefits (I didn't marry him for his sister though!). Even before I met her, Paul predicted that Maria and I would make very good friends..and now our sons (only six months apart) are destined to be best friends/cousins.

As I mentioned before, I've worked as a web designer for 12 years, but I've never been formally trained in Design/Art, so I don't have confidence with my work. Some people say they like my style, but I'm doing a lot of stuff just based on intuition, so for me it can feel a bit groundless. I choose colours, layouts and font sizes pretty randomly, according to whatever I think looks good. But Maria always gives me professional feedback about those things. It's a good thing that her tastes and mine are pretty similar, so I can trust her as a design mentor. I think I'm very lucky to have her around me :)

Well, I can talk more about her some other time. So why did I pick August 8th for my shop opening day? Because I heard 8 is a lucky number in China ;) I am pretty simple aye! Japanese people use Chinese characters in their writing too and the number 8 is written as "八". The number 8 is considered a lucky number because of its shape, which spreads out wide towards the ends, so that it has a feeling of increasing success. Also, I checked the Japanese calendar (although our writing is the same, we have number traditions that are different to China) and August 8th this year was also a very good day, called "Taian 大安". It's supposed to be the best day for travel, moving, marriage...and new businesses!

I still have some time before the opening, so I'm thinking about preparing for our  "handmade section". Once Paul goes back to his work, it will be difficult for me to have enough time to set aside to do some of my own hand made things, so I'd like to make the most of this precious time now.

I hope I can launch my handmade section at the same time as the shop opening. Wish me luck!

With love,
Allie