carrie came to town

Love that Carrie Underwood! We saw her open for Keith Urban several years ago - her first tour, where she sang beautifully but was not very comfortable on stage at that point. A gazillion awards later and performances too many to count, she is now extremely comfortable on stage and gives the audience a great show. Her Play On tour came to Rochester on Wednesday and we were there. We had great seats (yes, in the fan club section!) and enjoyed every second of it. She must have gone through 20 costume changes and even sang from high atop the audience, traveling in style in a blue pickup belting out "Country Roads." Loved it!

spoiler alert

Read ahead only if you want to see some new pieces that will be coming from California artist Shirley Price...

I had a great time choosing from Shirley's new collection while at the ACC show in Baltimore. Here are two new designs that will be available in early April at the new JOOLZ location:

Emperor's Sunset

Turquoise of the Sea

Gorgeous!

brrrrr!!

I think we're in southwest Florida, but looking around, it's really hard to tell...

• the car thermometer says it's 56 degrees outside
• the guy directing traffic on this no-stoplight island is wearing a winter jacket, gloves and a wool hat pulled down over his ears
• several of the (very) few people walking the beach are wearing ear muffs
• we're sleeping under a heavy duvet at night and had the heat on inside the condo yesterday
• I often wear my fleece jacket while inside
• the library was filled to overflowing today - everyone wants to be inside, including me

We have company arriving on Sunday. Let's hope it warms up by then...

baltimore beauties

It's been a nasty winter - cold, snowy and grey. It was time to leave town, head south and work on some serious R&R. But before vacation could begin, we needed to stop off in Baltimore for the American Craft Council show.

We last attended the show three years ago, right before we opened JOOLZ. We found some great artists at the show in 2007 and were pleased to learn that many of them would be at this year's show. While e-mail and phone communications are good, in-person is best. It was time to chat with the artists, see their new work and plan for some new pieces to be delivered before our grand reopening in April.

While I had the best of intentions to get photos of all our artists in their booths, I managed to take pix of only two of them. Here is glass and silver artist Kristin Perkins with Bill:

and Jane Bohan in her booth, surrounded by lots and lots of gorgeous gold joolz:

Apologies to all our other artists for forgetting I had the camera in my purse. But it was great to chat with them all and I am thrilled with the new pieces that will be arriving in the spring. JOOLZ is going to be Sparkle Central.

last chance

Last chance to get in on the JOOLZ 15% off storewide sale - Saturday is our last day at the old location and then it's time to pack it up and move up the street.

While it's not even a tenth of a mile away, it feels like we're moving to California. Finish the reno, move the phone lines, move the alarm system, pack it all up and then unpack it all again. I'm pooped just thinking about it.

We reopen at the new location on Tuesday, April 6. Updates forthcoming...

tv time

At the suggestion of another downtown merchant, I had a nice conversation with her cable tv ad guy today. You may remember my first tv ad experience this past holiday season - 5 seconds of me waving in front of the store for some pretty big bucks, considering the time on screen. But it was a good way to dip my toes in the pond, and now that I'm a veteran, I'm going big time...

Big time will be a 30 second ad that we'll shoot after we move into the new store in April. We'll feature the interior of the store and show some of our joolz and I guess I'll be talking this time. It's all about making the connection with the viewers. The ad will run locally on several women-friendly channels - HGTV, Lifetime and Bravo, along with the History Channel for the men. It'll be interesting to see how we do with tv time, both as an advertising medium and with me as an actor. Hope you'll tune in!

the home stretch

It's been a whirlwind month of decision-making and it's certainly paying off. The new space is looking absolutely gorgeous - clean, graphic black and white paint on the walls and trim, a gigundo mirror on the long wall with two new sparkling pendants hanging in front (to be centered over a new showcase that hasn't arrived yet), electric connections waiting for the shadowbox cases on the new back wall and new track lighting to shine on the bookcases and (new) wall shelves. The finishing touch goes in today - yards and yards of new grey carpeting to pull it all together.

We had our best January yet. Does that mean we're finally seeing an economic upswing? Or does it mean that everyone likes a bargain? Our storewide sale continues through Saturday, February 13, when we will close the doors at 237 South Main for the last time. We're definitely on the home stretch!