Exhausting. That is what comes to my mind first when I think about this past weekend. But a good exhausting. You know that exhausting feeling you get after doing something extremely fun, rewarding, & something you have been dreaming of & working hard for? Yah, that exhausting. To be quite honest I haven’t fully grasped how I feel about the grand opening of The Found Cottage yet. I think it’s too soon to tell, but I didn’t want to leave you all hanging so I wanted to give you a short little update today. I wanted to come here to tell you how thankful I am. I wanted to tell you my thoughts of being a store owner just 5 days after the store opened. Since this is my blog where I share our journey I feel like that’s the appropriate thing to do. Well, the biggest feeling I have is thankfulness. I am so thankful for it all. The opportunity to open a store with two other amazing women who I look up to, the amazing vendors we have in our store, the supportive families we all have, my amazing husband who I wouldn’t have survived opening week without, all the amazing people who showed up to our grand opening weekend, all of the support we got from near and far from people who couldn’t attend, & so much more. My heart is filled with gratitude & I still don’t know how I deserve all of this, but I’m going to say the biggest thanks to the man up there looking down on me for this opportunity & I’m going to trust that He is in control of all of this. Can I get an amen? Amen. Now that the store has been opened for five days I can say this  as well. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! At all. I will be updating you quite often on shop life, but we had no idea how busy we would be along with many more things. So right away I have learned that this will all be a HUGE learning process filled with many triumphs along with many errors, but so far it’s been so fun.

A little recap of the opening weekend. It all started on Thursday night & ended Saturday night. Oh my goodness! It’s all kind of a blur. Everyone made us feel so cool. The lines at the door started an hour before we opened on Thursday & stretched all the way to the road. We were in shock. We were franticly putting last minute touches on the store & we opened the doors promptly at 6pm to let the crowds in. It was beautifully chaotic. Things started flying off the shelves right away & there was a line around the store the entire night to check out. The best part? I never heard one negative comment. Everyone was so kind & the energy in the store was amazing. Friday & Saturday followed suite with being just as busy & just as fun. Our friends & family came to help out & most of the vendors were able to join us & we all worked together to make it all run smoothly. We couldn’t have done it without the help. Each night I would go home exhausted, but as soon as we went in the next day & people came in it was instant energy again. Maybe that’s a sign I’m doing something that I love. The Found Cottage is more than a store to me it’s a passion coming to life. It’s a challenge I have always wanted to take on & it’s an outlet for my creativity & thirst for business. It’s a way for me to be in my community & be a part of it & to meet others who love what I love. The Found Cottage is a little dream come true.

By the end of the weekend I was so shocked that we even had anything left in the store because there were so many people who came & loaded up on some treasures. But by Monday our wonderful vendors had restocked the store, we had more goods on the way, & we re-styled the entire store so it looked totally different than the opening weekend. Such a fun thing to see it change in such a short amount of time. I’m so excited to see the store grow, change, & evolve over time. I’m already a little bit smarter & a whole lot more tired & that’s pretty rewarding. Thank you again guys for all of your support & love near and far. I can’t say that enough. Every visit to my blog, every like on my photos, every word of encouragement, every comment, every referral, every prayer, & every good vibe means so much to me & I’ll never be able to say it enough. I don’t deserve any of it, but I’m so thankful for it all. I’m off to bed now because I have to catch upon some sleep. Thank you guys & be sure to find The Found Cottage on Instagram [here] & Facebook [here] also you can find me on Instagram [here] & Facebook [here]. Love you all! Cheers to many fun days, many changes, & many amazing opportunities in 2016! xx

 

You can read my post about the Found Cottage the day before we opened [here]