Luncheon at a yester years' toll house - Mrs. K's Toll House in MD.

I had a wonderful treat this afternoon- a luncheon at a great restaurant that was a toll house in another time.

Yester Years' Toll House is today's Restaurant

In the early 1900 this Tudor building functioned as a toll house.  The price to pass the toll house was 2 cents- same as sending a letter in those days.

It was complete with living quarters for the keepers and their families.  I heard that Blanche and Harvey Kreuzburg of Washington DC bought this house in  early 1930  and on April 1 opened their restaurant - Mrs. K's Toll House.

Mrs K's passion for antiques and gardening shows off in the ambiance.

We had a sit next to her amazing collection of Lutz glass, Blue Plates and Christmas ornaments of another era.

Antique collection of Mrs K behind us.

Lutz Glass collection

The garden with a cute white gazebo and water fountains with charming daffodils would make you feel like having a wedding party here.

Food was great.  My daughter, Rinti and I shared a delicious salad with pear and blue cheese ( I am starting to like blue cheese, hmmm) and a plate of crab cakes.  One should not leave Maryland with out tasting the crab - remarked our waiter .

He was cute and gave us a tour later on.  But before that I must mention the hazelnut latte I had - so mmm and also the dessert that we shared - a pastry with salted caramel.  Rinti told me ahead of time to leave room ( and WW Points) for the dessert.  She feels very discouraged when people shove away the dessert menu...that's the best part m-a-n!

YES.

Then we took a tour down the little steps, dark and spooky,  to the wine cellar and the little rooms  which are  now  open for cute dining corners.  In those days people slept there. It was magical going back to another era.

An antique cart

And then climbing up, we  passed the old cart and the vintage gramophone that played music on its own like a player piano.

Strange gramophone that played on its own

Then you come outside to the garden and take a deep breath.  What a treat!  Thank you Rinti.

Tags:  Holidays,  Washington DC, restaurants in DC, jewelry,  Lutz glass

FAITH - Focus on Life Week 13

This week's topic on Focus on Life by Sally Russick is FAITH

I had been out for a long time and got  kind of diverted from this 52 weeks' walk that I was committed to take  with Sally.

 I am back and will catch up with the rest.

Faith is a strange word.  Once I heard this saying -" Faith is something you believe when common sense may say otherwise."

I also often like the saying  - "If  winter comes can spring be far behind?- I don't remember who said that also.  But it gives me hope and faith.

Let me tell you what I have experienced in the last few days and how it relates to the topic of Faith.

I came to my grand daughter and her mom and dad to spend the spring vacation in Washington DC.  Last year on March 25, 2012 this place  was full of cherry blossoms.  See how Zoe and her little rag doll  were  thoroughly enjoying it.

This year on March 25, 2013  it snowed.  It snowed so heavily that  Zoe's school remained closed until10 am.  From their 9th floor apartment the nice parking lot  looked like this :

I thought we were doomed.  But the next day the sun came out and  there were only  few dollops of snow  left, not even enough to have a snow ball fight.

It was warm enough for us to go to the Martin Luther King Memorial place and then I was energized by- 

"Out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope "

I was recharged.
What a beautiful day we spent.  As I was heading to the car I was feeling that Faith is as natural as breathing to me.  How can one survive with out hope and faith?  But then,  I take it so much for granted.

When I came home we found Zoe is very sick.  She got a stomach flu bug from her school and it totally knocked her  down.  The chirpiest, most shiny  personality is so mellow today.  She can hardly keep drops of water even  for a couple of hours today  and we are praying that she recovers soon and we don't have to take her to the hospital to give IV.

One more time I face Faith.  As I look out the window I see the sky darkening with cloud  but  it is strangely lit with a silver line.

It is time for me to go pray .

 Thank you my readers.  Please check out all the other participants and see what they have for you on this topic of FAITH.

Five Most Important Marketing Strategies I'd Take for my Etsy business

Five  most important marketing  tips for my Etsy shop

Here  are the  five most important marketing that I have decided  I’ll take for my Etsy shop in the very near future.

Knitted Wire Jewelry with pearls and crystals in gold filled
www.alankarshilpa.etsy.com

 

Quality product

 STOP Facebooking, Tweeting and Blogging  says  Launch Grow Joy.

  Really!  I had spent an hour and a half  of my most productive precious  morning working hour trying learning how to revamp my Fan page in Face book from Handmadeology.  And now I get this new e mail that says -  Don’t  you worry about those!

Well it makes sense.  Do what comes naturally.  For me it is blogging,  rather than creating fan pages.  The writer from Launch Grow Joy  agrees with Black Baroque   ( who had more than 18000 sales in her Etsy shop),  that “ If your product is good it will sell.  If not, face it ( Facebook will not be able to help) and go on with life”. Facebook will not be able to help.      

Well, I am not   absolutely sure about that.  In today’s market those evils are a necessity. Even though I  must agree  that quality product is number one for success.

Quantity of product in your store

You must have a high volume of merchandise in your shop to show that you are serious with your business.  Look at the 100 best selling jewelry shops in Etsy  . One thing they all have in common is- they all have more that 100 items in their shops.  Some have 500, some over 300 and so on.  It is a lot of work , but that is what is takes to get there.  Therefore we must keep on listing and re listing as I have mentioned in my earlier blog

Work on your Niche Market

You must understand the concept of Niche market  and why you must focus on one group and let go of the concept of  making everybody happy.  There is that saying – “One who tries to make everybody happy can please no body”  This is more true when you are a jewelry artist, designer, entrepreneur who creates one of a kind hand crafted pieces that takes time, imagination and energy.  You can’t be Walmart, nor can you compete with it.  So you have to take a different strategy.  The key for jewelry business niche marketing is,  finding the line of product that you like to create, are passionate about,   and that satisfy the need  of a particular group or solve their particular problems.

The next steps are finding out this group and finding out your competitors who are in the same boat and how they are doing. I have to find that out.  Not yet there, my friends.

Pictures say a thousand words

Especially this is true when you are selling on line.  There is always room for improvement and I think I am going to pay extra attention to improve my skills in taking and editing photos of my jewelry.  I found a few good sites  and articles  that I am happy to share with you.  Again, I have no monetary affiliation with any of these.  And I want your feed back in this journey too.

Cohesiveness in your shop

It is important to show your customers that you love your product and you love your shop.  You are clear about your brand and your values.  You take time to create a cohesive shop. 

What do you really mean by a cohesive shop display?  Which shops have it and which ones don’t and how can you bring it in your shop?

 Does your shop really needs to be cohesive?  Go to this discussion to understand this concept if you are still confused like me regarding the terms. They'll explain how similar things are not necessarily cohesive, and how you can create or destroy cohesiveness in your shop display.

Well, this is enough home work for me for now.  What do you think?

I’d like to hear your comments.  What are your marketing strategies?  What worked for you?  What did not?  Remember your comments with your links give the readers a chance to know you, your values,  exposure to your shop and what not.  Thank you for stopping by.

 

Tagua bead giveaway

I came to know about an interesting give away from Pearl's blog, my favorite one.

Check it out if you are interested in these unique $40 worth of Tagua beads that resemble ivory beads but are much kinder in spirit!

Do you want to know more about these Ecuadorian  Tagua beads ?

 I was so intrigued to learn that these beads are made from plants - the tagua trees or  plants and there has been quite some work going on to protect these plants and the rain forest too.

 These beads, carved from the tagua plants resemble ivory and so I am quite fascinated to these these wonderful beads.

Wouldn't it be nice if more people are conscious of these natural beads, integrated them in their jewelry making and appreciating them?  I am very thankful to Pearl and the Ecuador Hands for giving us this give away opportunity.

What should you do?  Go to Pearl's blog and the detail instructions are there for you to win.

Bead soup ingredients sent

I am so out of blogging.  I went to India and was out of my computer, which taught me some new things.  Some of them are good and some not so good.  One big disadvantage was I got way behind my blogging schedule.  I hate to disappoint my readers who come and keep their kind words in my comment box and  they'll find that I have nothing new for them. 

I looked at the calendar and felt OMG!!!  My soup packet needs to be sent to my partner Iveth.  Well, we  still do have some time as we are supposed to show our creation on the very last revealing date on April 12, but still she needs to get it, think about her creation and post it.

I remembered her in my India trip and did buy some artisan  beads for her, but where are they?  I topsy turvy my suitcase that is still not totally unpacked yet. 

Yes, here they are.

I added some other beads from my stash remembering now that she loves blue and green.

No, I am not going to show you all that I have sent her before she gets it.  But I can give you a quick peek.  Here it is:

Bead Soup ingredients peek

 

So I head to the post office and mailed her packet  last Wednesday.  Hopefully she has gotten it by now, or who knows, she is probably opening it just this very minute.  I am at Washington DC now - couple of thousand miles from my home in California.

Week 7 FOCUS ON LIFE - Flower Power

Flower  is the topic of this week's post.

 I joined this journey with Sally Russick On Focus on Life and that is what we are focusing on this week.

Somewhere I read that  Flowers are Mother Earth's smile

I love that quote.  I don't know who said that though.

Flowers are hopes to me.  You plant a seed and when you have almost forgotten about it, little flowers crop up and say -   Hey, remember once you wished me... Here I am.

It gives me  confidence that things will turn out just right when I am least expecting it.  It reminds me that the things that are important are:

* taking  action - plant the seed
*being  consistent in nourishing it - water it
*relaxing  - just having  some faith.

These I apply in life too.

So, as I take my walk, going on with my life, I remind myself to pause and stoop down to appreciate a smiling flower some times.

There are surprises in each nook and corner .

When I reached home I found that the cymbidium orchid near my door steps are in full bloom now.  I love their peridot color and the tiny brown dots inside.  What a color combination!  I'll have to remember this when I work with my peridot beads.

And I thought it is too cold for orchids to bloom now.  I lost all hope and put them outside.

 How much do I know!  Mother Earth smiled one more time at my ignorance.  Here are my cymbidium orchids.

You know what?  Today is our anniversary.  38 years of togetherness in the journey of life.

To celebrate that we have bought many things on this very date through out these years.  Some are  expensive, some not.  Now if you ask us we may not remember those things,  but do you know what stood the test of time?

The flowering cherry tree we planted on our third anniversary.

Thirty five years every spring it blooms  profusely and smells so heavenly  that when I look up I remember one more time that it is Mother Earth's way of smiling to me.

Please visit all my other friends' blogs and see what they have shared.

Week 6 - Focus on Life

This week's project is to find LOVE and capture it.

Sally, our friend who has started this fabulous journey on Focus on Life says
 " ...since love is in the air ( this is February), breathe in all that love, feel it and capture it in a photo."

Here is mine :

I love this quotation of Emerson - his Definition of Success:

To laugh

often and much,
to win respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics

and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others;

to leave the world a bit better

whether by a healthy child,

a garden patch, or a

redeemed social condition;

to know even one life

has breathed easier

because you have lived. This is to have succeeded

 especially, I love the third line... the affection of children.


Please visit all the others who are also in this unique journey of 52 weeks with Focus on Life.