Almost Famous

Some exciting and unexpected news today: Chelleline Cards was featured on The Global Morning Show in Toronto! You can view the segment here. Sarah Kelsey of the Huffington Post Canada mentioned several Canadian-made gifts on the show this morning, and my cards were one of them. It was very exciting! Thanks, Sarah!

Getting back into the groove

I'm slowly getting my energy back. We were in Quebec City last weekend for a much needed rest. We saw the medieval art exhibit at the National Museum, stopped by a book and record fair as well as a vintage postcard, coin, and stamp fair. I'm still working on orders. They continue to come in, and I continue to fill them!

Mitya has also finished his 2013 Montreal calendar! You can see the calendar in its entirety on Facebook, but I've posted a preview above.

They're currently on sale at the Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal Boutique. I'd been hoping to use the Puces Pop Fair as an opportunity to get most of our sales, but when I received no e-mail from them this Tuesday, I realized I'd have to hustle (which I was planning to do anyway, but the need is now more urgent). Let that be a lesson not to put all your eggs in one basket.

Yes, we did - again!

I've been disappointed in Obama. I'm not afraid to admit that. I know that it was hard to clean up after Bush, but there were some things that were in his (Obama's) control that he could have pushed harder on. Providing a government option for healthcare (if you don't have this, then what's the point of universal healthcare?) and solving the debt ceiling crisis by imposing higher tax rates on capital gains earnings rather than shifting the burden onto students are among some of them.

When push comes to shove, though, I know that Obama is trying his best within the limits of the current system and I know that he's better than the alternative. That's why I voted for him.

And last night, when he won the election and everyone in our little room in Montreal exploded into cheers, I could forget, for a few seconds, the disappointments of the last four years and see him as I did in 2008, as the candidate of hope and change.

Running on Empty?

I knew that working - and working hard - while being sick would take a toll on me, and it has. About a week and a half ago, my body revolted, and I just could not get myself to work. I'd been working without a break for over two weeks at that point. Since then, I've been working more slowly. It's slower than I'd prefer, but I'm still getting the orders done in reasonable time.

Latest news: I signed up for StitchLabs, which I hope will help me keep better track of my orders and invoicing than my current system, which is entering orders on Excel and then transferring them to Word. Very "I'm working out of my basement", I know. And it turns out that I was consistently leaving things off of invoices - which is why I switched. Mitya said to me, "It's a good thing you don't have a boss!"

I've also been researching charities because I've wanted for a while to donate some of my profits to charity. I prefer small organizations because I feel that my money can make more of an impact there. I'm considering donating to the following: the New York Aquarium (which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy), Elijah's Promise (a NJ organization that runs a soup kitchen, pay-as-you-wish cafe, and offers culinary training and cooking classes for families), and the Tanzania Heritage Project (a non-profit in Tanzania dedicated to preserving Tanzanian musical heritage by digitalizing many years of archives of Radio Tanzania). If you have any suggestions for charities, please send them my way!