PotW 11/20/12

Good morning, All!
 
Along with everyone else, I am scrambling to get ready for the big eat on Thursday, so I thought I would re-share this Thanksgiving-related story: 

(If you recall this story from its original 2009 distribution, GOOD FOR YOU!  Pat yourself on the back and scroll to the bottom for a special announcement*)

 
Our tale began over 170 years ago, on the island of Nantucket in a small, family-owned shop.  The young hero of our story, Rowland, though from a comfortably prosperous Quaker family, was determined to strike his own path in life, and at the age of 15, left his father's business and set sail aboard one of the many whaling ships that called Nantucket home.
 
After 4 years at sea, during which time he acquired a tattoo that we have all seen-- (I'll get to that later), he returned to Nantucket and worked in his father's shop for 3 years, until the tired of island life and moved to Boston.  There he opened his own needle and thread store, which soon went bankrupt.  Determined not to return home and to make his own way beyond the confines of Nantucket, he tried selling dry goods, but this store, too, went bankrupt.  Grudgingly, he worked briefly in his brother-in-law's Boston shop, but fled to California when the gold rush began in 1849.
 
Finding no wealth out West, and having lost a substantial amount of money on a land investment scheme in Wisconsin, Rowland returned to Massachusetts in 1851 and in partnership with his brother, opened a dry goods store. The store was a modest success, but Rowland was soon bored with small town living, and moved to New York City, where he opened a small shop in a low-rent neighborhood, a fair distance from the prosperous retail district of town.
 
Rowland's store became known for its then-innovative policy of marking prices on items rather than haggling with customers, and advertised its prices in eye-catching newspaper ads which featured the store's logo--a replica of Rowland's tattoo (more on that in just a bit).  Shrewd with public relations, Rowland made sure that reporters learned that he had promoted a floor saleswoman to the position of Store Manager in 1866, making her the first woman to hold an executive post with a major American retailer.  In another clever marketing move, Rowland employed the first in-store Santa Claus, and is credited with making Christmas a major retail event in the U.S.  By the late 1860's, the store's sales were thousands of dollars per day.
 
By the time of his death in 1877 at the age of 55, Rowland's store had added multiple product lines to its offerings and had bought up 10 neighboring buildings, creating what was dubbed the first "department store". 
 
In 1896, Rowland's business was purchased by the Straus brothers, who moved the store 20 blocks uptown.  There, it continued to grow and prosper, again buying up surrounding properties until it occupied all of a single city block...almost.  You see, there is a little brownstone whose owners refused to sell out as the retail giant gobbled up everything around them, instead negotiating a VERY lucrative annual lease with the retailer that continues to this day.  If you've ever been to Rowland's store, you know exactly where this little brownstone hold-out is, even if you don't realize it.  It's hidden behind a giant banner with Rowland's tattoo (more on that very soon!) and the words "The World's Largest Store". 
 
So Thursday, when you are stuffing your turkey and watching the Under Dog balloon as he rounds the corner into Herald Square--where you see the large banner with the Red Star (Rowland's tattoo)--feel free to go all "Cliff Clavin" and amaze your family with this bit of retail trivia about Macy's department store and what lies behind the banner!
  

 Until next week-- Listen to "Alice's Restaurant", count your blessings and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Kim

www.twowillowsjewelry.com

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PotW 11/14/12

Hi Everyone, and Happy Wednesday!

Hear that humming in the background?  Not yet?  Listen carefully...its the unmistakeable sound of the holiday treadmill warming up...going just a little faster each day, until it hits warp speed and all of us are running around out of breath.  Next week is Thanksgiving, for Pete's sake!  How did that happen?  Makes me wish that life had an emergency stop button like a treadmill.  

This is the time of year that I start kicking myself for not starting my shopping earlier, planning menus sooner, etc.  Each year I swear that I will take more control and procrastinate less, and breeze through the Holidays with a beautifully decorated house, special appetizers, cute cookies, stylish outfits and aplomb.  Just like all those people on Pinterest do.  You know Pinterest?  That place where all the Martha Stewart wannabees and food bloggers post photos of their latest creations to show us all how we should be living?

Hear the humming yet?

I DO get a kick out of Pinterest.  I especially like reading the short snippet comments below the pictures about how this or that is "literally so good that your head will explode".  As if that would that be an incentive to try something?  Sounds painful to me.  Perhaps I am taking the comment too literally.

It's my new favorite grammatical pet peeve.  Literally.  Every time I read or hear someone say something like "I literally fell out of my chair", I think to myself:  Did it hurt?  Maybe they just felt silly and literally wanted to die of embarrassment.

I am still annoyed by the mis-use of your and you're.  I get riled up about the improper employment of their, there and they're.  Don't get me going about to and too or its and it's.  These little trip-ups literally make me insane.  Well, maybe not literally.  (Or maybe yes, literally...I am not a qualified diagnostician).  But nothing has come close to my new obsession with the epidemic mis-use of "literally".

I literally want to pull my hair out.  I could literally shake these people until their eyes pop out of their heads.  

The point is, literally should be used much less than it is these days.  And then, only when the speaker is trying to paint a graphic mental picture of what REALLY happened or what they REALLY want to happen.  Literally.  Otherwise, what is probably intended is "figuratively".  Not as sexy a word, I'll grant you that.  Literally doesn't roll off the tongue quite as smoothly.  Perhaps "metaphorically" should come back into vogue?  At least that one sounds brainy.  I have promised to re-pin any recipes or pictures that use the word metaphorically in their description.  Whether I like the featured food or not.

Anyhow....I have literally thousands (yes, literally) of pictures and recipes to hurry up and pin so that I know what I should look like, how my house should smell, and what I should be serving my guests as the Holiday treadmill picks up speed.  So I will close this message, with a reminder to get started on your shopping...place your custom orders soon to ensure they will be ready for Christmas.  Shop local whenever possible----you will literally have the thanks of your small business owner neighbors. 

A new Piece of the Week is posted.  No particular tie in to this week's message.  An unusual pairing of pearls with copper---avant garde styling that goes perfectly with cookie baking, garland-twisting, cranberry sauce making, light stringing, card signing, gift wrapping and all those other things on your to-do list.  Or Pinterest boards.  

Hear that humming sound yet?

Kim

Two Willows Jewelry

http://www.twowillowsjewelry.com

POTW 11/8/12

Hi All-

I was trying to think of an appropriate post-election offering for this week's feature---but I don't want to make any kind of a "red" or "blue"-aligned statement in the process.  We all have our opinions.  Some of us woke up to happy news yesterday and some of us didn't.  Yesterday morning the negative ads on tv were gone (finally, thank you), but taking their place in the steel cage match of opinion were the negative and gloating comments on FB and the Tweet-o-sphere.  

I opted for a status update quote from the Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want."  It may apply to you.  It may apply to me.  It is neither a red comment nor a blue one.  It's just a statement of fact.  You start to learn this lesson as a very young child.  You spend the rest of your life practicing your response to it.  I retreated to the studio for the day until the malay subsided.

A friend reflected on yesterday's lack of civility thusly:  If we can't get along and set aside our differences to find common purpose, how do we expect our elected officials to?  Very insightful.  Begs the question:  Are we setting the example for them or are they setting the example for us?   Think about it.

The only thing I know for sure is this: We are all in this boat together, and if we could stop bickering and start rowing together, we might actually get somewhere.  Or, we can sit stubbornly, refusing to row anywhere because it is "our" direction, and continue adrift.  Complaining all the while, no doubt.  Some that others aren't rowing at all or enough.  Some that we don't want to row 'in that direction'.  Some that we are rowing harder than others.  Who would want to Captain this crew???

If WE, the People, are sincere in our pleas for compromise, for civility, for a change of 'tone', for reduced rhetoric, for productivity, for RESULTS, then, perhaps, WE should set an example for our leaders.  Set aside the labels of red states and blue states.  All that does is help tv producers whip up some snappy graphics.  Personally, I prefer the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink white.

It's time for some new colors.  Something less blue than navy.  Something less red than a fire truck.  It's time for.........

The Piece(s) of the Week.  See them on the website--link below my signature.

Until next week--Promote civility.  Elect to be kind.  Choose softer words.  Set the tone.

Kim

Two Willows Jewelry

http://www.twowillowsjewelry.com