I just couldn't blog my way through the shop closing: it was too damn depressing. If we hang out together on facebook or twitter, then you know what I mean. I flailed, I was graceless, I was sad, I was mad, I was tired, I was self-pitying, I was cranky as hell.

We had great last holiday push ---- my customers are were wonderful and so sweet to me.  I will miss them. After New Years, we cleaned up and cleared out for the end of January. I should say Stuart cleared out and cleaned up. (Thank you, babe.) I tried, but I pretty much either became filled with crackling rage or dissolved into a pool of tears when I tried to do anything there.

Yeah, good times.

Aren't you glad I spared you?

Well, it's all over now  and I am starting to emerge from my self-imposed hibernation.

I am working part time at my old day job---- I'm the in-house artist at an embroidery and screenprinting shop. Pretty much the rest of the day I am the gym.

For realsies.

I knew I would kinda fall apart without something positive to focus on after the shop closed, and my stress and sadness was pretty high, so I thought it would be really good for me to focus on my health and fitness for a while while I'm recovering from the heartbreak.

So far, so good! I am going to start blogging about what I am up to---- I hope you will enjoy it and maybe join me in kicking some A!

For motivation and inspiration, I started a pinterest board called BadAss-piration. Like "Thinspiration", but not creepy. I post cute workout clothes, pics of women that motivate me to get my butt to the gym, quotes that I like, etc.

I also started a tumblr called yummyfitness, where I post my own illustrated or lettered pictures and quotes. I can't decide where I want to do my fitness bloggin', so for now I will do a little here and a little over there. Sometimes they will cross over, I'm sure. Bear with me while I figure it out!

This was my first tumblr post:

I really need to do an illustration for that!

In other news, yes, I am working on more fabric! And I may have a silly book idea percolating up in my brainbox.

And, yes,  I am still loving on the Hot British Guys. My current fave is Jason Isaacs--- or as I like to call him: Hot Lucius.

I had always disliked him -----since way back when he was in The Patriot! But this fall I caught him in Case Histories and he totally won me over.

I've done a fair bit of pinning in his honor.

Well, I just wanted to poke in and say hi and tell you that I miss you and I'm still alive and I am taking good care of myself. I will be around more often now.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support.

xoxox

melissa

I'm closing up my sweet little gift shop on Cape Cod after three years in business.

(Yes, we'll be open and fully stocked through the holiday season, so I'm hoping to see you around  if you are local!)

Let me tell you how this came about, ok?

Well, you know that it's been hard going for a while. I mean, I started working a part time job a year ago to be able to keep the shop open. And then you know about how it was a rough summer.

Within days of writing that summer post, I was offered an opportunity to take over a local gallery, a well established, succesful business in a prime location. My ship was sinking and I jumped on that life raft. We decided to close Yummy Goods and move into this bigger and better opportunity in January of 2012. September and the first half of October were spent talking, writing up points for a contract, looking at all the details and possibilities, negotiating. We took a little bit of a break around the wedding, naturally.

The day after the wedding, Stuart and I had our first big discussion as husband and wife: is this really the right move for me? If we took away the  money part --- and there did seem to be a great possibility of finally making some --- is it really what I want to do?The answer was no. I didn't want to run someone else's business. What I love about having a shop is that it's my shop, my vision. The point was to make money doing what I love, and if it's not what I love I'm not going to be able to stay excited about it and put my heart into it.

Sigh.

Cue the dollar signs in my eyes turning into cloud puffs.

It was definitely the right decision not to go forward with the gallery. I feel good about that.

But now what? We had already decided to close Yummy Goods. It felt ok when it was to move on to something concrete and seemingly better. But now? Just closing? That's a whole other thing.

But we have to, sadly. The location is just not right for us. Not enough traffic, too out-of-the-way. Can we change locations? Sure. Eventually. But if I am going to pour my heart into something again the way I have with my shop,  we need to be pragmatic about it. So, we do plan to have a shop again someday, somewhere. But we aren't going to jump right back into an across-the-sea voyage in a leaky boat, you know? I need to regroup.

But first, I need to grieve and get through the next couple of months of running the shop. Christmas is the only time we've done well, so we are going to finish up our time there fully stocked and ready. Oh you guys, it's so much fun when it's busy and people come in who get it. I will miss it so much.

I'm sure sometimes I will feel really down about it, sometimes I will feel ready to let it go so something better can take its place. I want to honor what it has been to me and to the community that has developed around it. I want to acknowledge and celebrate the parts if it that were succesful and learn from what wasn't. I want to make a scrapbook of it. I want to have a party there.

After almost a month of tumbling into the abyss (starting the day after my wedding! my poor husband!), I am finally beginning to resurface. I am listing some of my jewelry online, starting here on my own site for now and eventually I will incorporate etsy in to the mix.

I will be adding paintings and drawings.

I will make up and list some fabric bundles, maybe even some supply packs or destash, maybe something of a Yummy Goods Flea to share my secondhand finds.

I think I might list some gift bundles too, stuff from my shop for those of you who don't live around here.

Also, I'm going to try to do this:

Over the next couple of months, I will share my process about all of this. Thank you for being here with me. Your support is huge, seriously. I'm not just saying that to be nice. I get a lot of support, strength and understanding from you guys.

So don't go anywhere, ok?

xo,

melissa

(amazing photography by my pal Stacey Hedman, from a shoot we did in August)

I went to a Circus-Sideshow-themed ball and I went as 'The Painted Lady, Literally.'

More detail pics to come, once my dang camera battery is charged!

xo,

melissa

(photos by Michelle Law)

I'm sure she will go into some fun detail on her own blog about the official paperwork and character references and gold seals she had to deal with to get the one day commission to do our ceremony! (Plus the lovely, dainty pulsewarmer mitts that she made for me, but it was too hot for me to wear them!) Thanks, Beth!

Fun Fact #1: On the Intent To Wed form, Hobo Porch was listed as the facility name and location of the ceremony.

In the picture below, Stuart and I stare/gaze at each other as Beth makes some welcoming remarks to the other five people in attendance: My good friend Su, Stuart's good friend from high school, Bill, and Stuart's three kids, Meredith, Camille and Zach. (Did I do those commas right? That's a hard one.)

It was avery short ceremony. Probably no more than three minutes with the pauses and recitation and laughing! We wanted it to be really simple, so kept it short, sweet and to the point.

I love that we have this shot:

Stuart will be chagrinned that I am telling you this, but the very best part of the wedding was when he got all choked up while saying his vows after putting the ring on my finger. Oh my god, best moment ever. It was like we all held our breath while he gathered himself enough to say the words. My eyes were brimming and my heart was soaring. Love that guy.

And here is when I had to literally shove the ring over his knuckle!

That's Bill's hand there, offering some drips of water to help!

Fun Fact #2: I totally forgot to use my bouquet until well after the ceremony!

 Isn't it pretty?

Fuschia and orange roses, dark pink heather and a few stargazer lilies.

(Arrangement by my friend from bikram yoga, Michelle Tokzco who works at Vintage Flowers in Osterville.)

Fun Fact #3 Beth had to tell me "hold your horses" when I leaned in to kiss Stuart after the vows!

And then I finally got my kiss after she pronounced us husband and wife:

Fun Fact #4 Right after hugs went around, I turned to Stuart and said, "Holy shit! We're married!"

Mr. Stuart Schulman and Melissa Averinos-Schulman:

Oh, yeah, the boutonniere! Isn't it great?

Here I am before the ceremony attempting not to skewer my husband-to-bewhile pinning it to him:

Oh my god, he is so cute!

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And now for some miscellaneous pics!

Me and Stuart and the kids: Meredith, Camille, and Zach:

Me and my fiend, Beth:

(Beth, even you have to admit that this is a lovely photo of us!)

Me and my honey:

And Bill, who jumped in front of the camera saying "PHOTO OP!"

Me and my honey again, goofing:

Just a couple more posts about it to come, including the food and Su, decorations and dress! The blog is pretty much going to be our wedding album, so bear with me!

xoxox

melissa

(photos by Beth Dunn, Su Wasseluk and Meredith Schulman)

The kids and Stuart mixed up some Pillsbury cake mix.

Here is my (!!!) stepson Zach, being very helpful by cleaning the bowl.

Zach has always been my buddy. I have known him since he just turned FIVE! And now he is taller than me and a sophomore in high school!

Stuart and Meredith (aka Mem) try out the frosting, while Zeus looks on:

And when cake was done baking and cooling, I assembled and frosted it:

I love how it came out!

The day before, I made these little cake topper figurines of me and my honey:

Don't they look just like us?  I love them!!

And yeah, that is a bottle of Dom Perignon! It was given to us a couple of years ago and we saved it for a special occasion.

It was pretty special.

FYI: It's really fun to lounge around in a pretty dress and drink champagne.

 xo,

melissa

(pics from several different sources including me, Stuart, Beth Dunn, Su Wasseluk, and Meredith Schulman!)

And it warmed up to 75 degrees and was perfectly sunny and summery, which meant I got to go barefoot.

If there was a theme to this wedding, it was Low Stress. I just wanted it to be simple and heartfelt.

I could have gone really all out with the DIY stuff, but I intentionally kept paring it way down to the basics. If anything started to stress me out, it went out the window. Like, I wanted to make a music playlist but my external drive where I keep all my music was acting up. Eff that, I decided just to play my Old Timey Hobo Porch Music station all day and it was perfect. We made our own cake, but it was from a box. With frosting from a can. And you know what? It couldn't have been more perfect.

Including me and Stuart and his three kids? Only 8 people. A micro wedding.

It was silly and sweet and fun and cute and simple and heartfelt.

And I totally married a guy I am coo coo crazy about.

So, you know, there's that.

More soon!

xoxoxo,

Melissa Averinos-Schulman

Well, turns out it wasn't just for show.

We are getting hitched in two weeks!

Back in January, we decided we wanted this to be the year. Winter passed and spring was full of preparing the shop for the season. The year was half over and we were like, yeah, guess we oughtta pick a date? Or something? Is that what people do?

Eventually we settled on Sunday, October 9.

(Fantasy Shoe Shopping: Wouldn't these be just darling as my 'something blue'? Yeah, too bad they cost more than twice what I spent on my dress. link)

I've never been a dreaming-of-my-wedding-day kind of girl, clearly. I guess I never really thought about getting married at all. I mean, I am a long-term relationship kind of girl, and could see being with someone for the rest of my life, but I've never been one for big events and awkward family moments. I kind of hate that shit. 

We are having a tiny wedding. No, seriously, teeny tiny. When other people say that, they are like, 'Yeah, we had a small wedding. Only had 75 guests' and I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? Beacause that  sounds like a lot of frigging people to me!"

(These could be my 'something new', right? Link Except that they cost two and a half times what I spent on my dress. Which was twice what I have ever paid for a dress. Which is really treally cheap for a wedding dress. Actually, it's a bridesamid dress. That I got for half off.  )

So, when I say tiny, I mean ti-ny. We could easily have just gone away somewhere and gotten married by a JP in our jeans. (I mean, we would be in our jeans, the JP wouldn't be in our jeans. I'm pretty freaky, so I can see how you'd be confused, but no. The JP would wear whatever they wanted, that they owned.)

But, we felt it was important for the kids to be there with us, so we having a little ceremony so we can share it with Stuart's three kids: Meredith, Camille and Zach. Beyond the five of us, there are just five more people coming ---  including the photographer and the officiant!

(It's too bad I haven't already had these for years, because then they could be my 'something old.' But they cost two and a half times what I spent on my dress. But, they are handmade in Massachusetts!)

Where are we having this little shindig? Why, on the hobo porch, of course! (But if you hang out with me on the facebook, then this is all old news to you!)

(If you bought these in my size, I could borrow them for my 'something borrowed.' And then you could give them to me, because you're nice like that.I mean, it's not like they cost two and a half times what I spent on my dress or anything.)

More details soon!

xo,

melissa

Remember I made a little slideshow about my experience of it ? Well now you can watch the video and see what I was talking about!

Eeeee! I didn't die!!!

Thank you so much for your love and support. You all help me just by being here with me.

xoxxoo

melissa

ps, extra credit if you know where the title of this post came from (without looking it up!)

BUT.

Great weather is not so good for retail. When every day is a beach day, that doesn't leave much time for shopping days.

I spent the spring getting the shop ready, placing orders, arranging displays, doing all the stuff, and then....

>crickets<

Feels like getting stood up for the prom! Ahhhh, retail. That wiley bastard.

We have yet to have a great summer season here and it's been three years. When we opened, we thought summer would be our big time. But it turns out that we actually do better at the winter holidays. And I mean we do better than the summer, not that we do great.

**********************************

I know many people who would say I shouldn't say this out loud. Or write it here for the whole world to see.

Well, F that S.

It is a sensitive subject, and I do feel awkward about it. But you know I believe in not fostering illusions about this stuff. Does me talking about this make my shop any less awesome? No, it doesn't.

Writing about it here helps me to regroup and rally and take some of the sting out of it. Talking about the reality of  small business ownership might make someone think about supporting their local economy a little more, or might comfort another business owner who is struggling. Totally worth it.

**********************************

I love my shop, I love what I'm doing---it is a dream come true.

AND.

I have yet to take a paycheck from it and I get very discouraged by it sometimes. I give up about ten times a day, I really do.  But then a customer will come in who loves the shop and tells me that they are inspired by what I'm doing and I remember why I'm here.

I want this. I love it. I love my customers who come in just to be uplifted by the atmosphere. I love it when people walk around the shop and giggle to themselves at some of my silly stuff. I love it when they  tell me they keep up with what I'm doing on facebook. I love this community and I want to invest in it, build it up into something that sustains me. I want to connect with people and bring something to the table.

I want that, I crave it and it is worth working for.

We are committed. We have something unique and wonderful to offer. We are just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other. People do love the shop when they come in, we just need to get more people inb the door. We'll figure it out and the economy will shift and things will get better. (right?)

One thing to celebrate: we won the Silver Award for Best Gift Shop on the Mid-Cape in the Cape Cod Life Magazine Reader's Poll! That's kind of a big deal around here. Thank you SO MUCH if you voted for us!

If you love a local business, please GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to support it. If you can't patronize it yourself for whatever reason, please GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to send your friends in. Even if you think they don't need it!  Make it your mission to help your favorite businesses survive!

..............................................................................................................

I am using this time to  rethink some things, examine what I can do (in addition to working a part time job, which I do) while we work toward our goal of having the shop be successful and profitable. Who knows, maybe I'll do something really awesome and I'll be glad I had to rethink things.

And yes, I have been painting a lot while it is slow. And I have been selling many of those paintings in a gallery (omg, yay!)--- which I will write about soon. The response to my new work has been awesome and it is inspiring me to do more and more. I think I'm going to reopen my web shop so people can shop for them online if they like. See, good stuff.

So.

I am just going to keep plugging away until the next time I give up (probably in an hour.)  And then I am going to (eventually) regroup and start again.

And now I am going to blow your mind by quoting Jon Bon Jovi:

"Success is falling nine times and gettin up ten."

 xo,

melissa

P.S. Awesome photo of me and my honey Stuart by the amazing Stacey Hedman!

Are you ready for a Yummy Goods Hobo Porch Upgrade?

A month or so ago, my friend New Cindy (not to be confused with Old Cindy aka Original Cindy aka Extra Crispy) invited me over for a movie and Hobo Snacks. We had never talked about Hobo Snacks before but I knew exactly what she meant. I grabbed two Hobo Beers from my fridge and headed over.

Hobo. Perhaps not technically the right word to describe it, but that's what we've come to call anything that is making do, or piecing together from what is on hand, all that good stuff. See, we are both financially strapped at the moment.  It started off as us saying "We po'." But now we say, "We hobo!" and we are having entirely too much fun with it. Everything is Hobo now. Hobo Snacks. Hobo Beer. Hobo Gardening. Hobo Fun!

More on all different kinds of Hobo Livin' in posts to come, but since I have been pretty much spending all my non-shop time on my porch lately, I thought I would show you the totally cost-free , one-afternoon makeover I did to get my porch so cute and cozy.

See how sad it was to start off?

I mean, the furniture is pretty cute - all thrifted or yard saled.  But  it wasn't very inviting and we never went out there. You know how I've been trying to do more summery things, and one of those is to spend lots of time outside, of course. I got a bee in my bonnet on the fourth of July and spent the afternoon foraging for blankets and pillows to throw on the furniture. I scoured my garage for all my kooky thrift finds and extra chairs. I grabbed my dozens of wilty, sad-looking perennials that had been divided and were waiting in pots to be replanted.

This is what I did:

-I watered those poor bee balms, catmints, bleeding hearts amd annise hyssops and tucked them into all manner of pots, tins, plastic jack-o-lanterns and enamel buckets. Annuals, schmannuals!

-I auditioned unused comforters and too-many-too-fit-on-the-couch-anyways throw pillows on the various couches and chairs until I found the combinations that I liked. I wrapped uncovered or ratty cushions in cute vintage sheets I stole from my sewing room.

-I hunted for candles in jars and put them all together on a free-shop-at-the-dump candle holder stand.

-I borrowed some white lights from the Christmas junk in storage and strung them haphazardly.

-I played old-timey music on Pandora. (my current fave is the Charles Trenet and Django Reinhardt channel. I  renamed the station Old Timey Porch Music For Hobos just for you.)

- And I don't exactly remember, but I probably drank a Hobo Beer.

And now I have, like, a whole other room that is outside!

I plan on doing tons more to my cozy outdoor nest, and you bet I'll be blogging the heck out of it. Like I am right now: with my twinkle lights on, barefeet kicked up on the table, and Old Timey Porch Music for Hobos playing.

Have you hobo'd up anything lately? Would love to hear about it!

Now, where my beer at?

xo,

melissa