glassybaby tales

Thanksgiving

   A dynamic duo...Amy and Cindy...always come to our store together, just great friends who have struck up a glassybaby codependency. I love to see them and they are perpetually coiffed and gorgeous. I swear there was a faux fur skirt involved in my last encounter with them. As we bantered recently...we joked about their glassybaby 'stockholding' status. They plead mirthfully for a discount...just on the principal of their vast and continuing purchases. And Cindy quipped, not missing a beat: "Not to mention our glassybaby evangelism." I just loved her turn of phrase.

   Store passages from the week...Two scarved women came into our store, both statuesque and somehow celebratory. One chose a glassybaby and the other bought it for her... an instant birthday present. Before they whisked away to a birthday lunch...we fixed the birthday customer's failing pant hem with clear, wide, box tape. It was charming...gabardine pants, high heeled boots...hoisted onto our white 'check out' table for the fix and then...they were off.

   A curious site on Wednesday...two men, on foot, parked themselves just outside of our store window. The November day was gorgeous. They seemed captivated by the glassblowing beyond the store. And I could not help but notice the plumes of cigar smoke dissipating around them. After some time...I could wait no longer. I poked my head outside of the store and inquired: "Do we have a baby?" One of the gentleman said: "Yes we do." Then I said:"Congratulations. Is it a boy or a girl?" He said: "One of each." Marvelous moment. They stole away...probably back to the hospital.

   We give thanks for so many things. Among them, of course, our dear customers...the friendship we witness, glassybaby evangelism, new twins, glassybaby tape tailoring...the littany goes on and on.

  Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at glassybaby.

  Until Next Time, Nicola

Jimmy Carter Tears, Northwest Afternoon, Luminarios

   Tech support was just in to set up an audio visual center in our store (translation: Kobi, our beloved former shipping agent, reincarnated into a college student, glass blower, glassybaby tech support...borrowed a T.V. from our C.O.O. Jeanine...hauled it over to the store...plugged it in.) All this...why? We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of 3 O'Clock when Lee will air as a featured guest on a local favorite T.V. show, Northwest Afternoon.

   Since the Northwest Afternoon segment was shot earlier in the week...we have been privy to early reviews of Lee's debut. Mary our extraordinary PR rep from Limelight partners gave us a glowing review of the interview. Lee had two words for us: "I cried." (We all know Lee can charm the wallpaper off any room she steps into, even if there is no wallpaper. Tears? No problem.) Besides, here is the further charm of the anecdote. Marvelous Kent, who in part hosts the show, explained: 'The only other person who has openly cried on the show is none other than Jimmy Carter.' What an honor...to join the very small pantheon of tears with President Carter. We have all been smiling ever since.

   A tangent...My sister shared a wonderful story of candlelight with me this week. Whether it befits the glassybaby blog or not...I am compelled to convey this Luminario tale (luminario...the age old relative of glassybaby... ahhh...candlelight...nestled into sand in a paper bag.)

   A very dear friend of my sister's was to undergo surgery. At 9pm on the evening before the surgery took place, she heard a knock at her front door. She opened the door and her eyes fell upon a sea of luminarios lining the street and driveways where she resides. Her cherished and familial neighbors were standing en masse among the candlelight, wishing her well on the eve of her surgery. Not only was she 'serenaded' with candlelight, she was literally serenaded by their collective voice...they sang a rousing rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" to her and beckoned her safe surgery passage. It was just the utter beauty of this moment which lead my sister's friend to these spontaneous words: "This feels like a biblical miracle." She was truly touched..which took the shape of tears. Endnote...as she and her husband pulled out of the driveway at 5am the next morning...3 luminarios were still aglow. As they turned the corner of their block on a vector to the hospital...one luminario was still glowing. Gorgeous.

   Until Next Time...Nicola

Hustle Bustle...Warm Gravy and Curious George Has Been Found

   There seems to be a quantum leap just after Halloween that puts us right smack dab in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Here we go.

   Thanksgiving is my personal favorite. I love that we have a glassybaby called Warm Gravy... and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I love philosophizing about the myriad virtues, options and consistencies of the edible version of warm gravy. To giblet or not to giblet? Don't even get me started on oysters in stuffing. I digress...back to glassybaby.

   Precisely as I write this blog entry...the finishing touches are being placed on a lovely evening party hosted by Tamara Marson, a wonderful local Windermere Real Estate agent. She has rented our space for her fete. The party ingredients?...appetizers and libations, glassblowers and shopping. Shopping for glassybaby as well as gorgeous hand crafted jewelry imported to our store by Maria's Designs. The jewelry is stunning...befitting of Cleopatra...and wonderfully presented...partially by the dreamy light of lit glassybaby. Our space is glowing... a unique place to host a party. Tamara is offering two door prizes: a pair of glassybaby and an earring/necklace set by Maria... two lucky winners will go home with a prize. All this fanfare...Tamara's way of thanking her clients...classy with a capital "C."

   Just a sweet endnote. I received an urgent phone call this evening. It began with these words: "Did you find...?" I interjected: "We have George." Her response: "Oh, I am so relieved." A sweet little 3 year old girl had been in our store with her mini Curious George among other sundry key fuzzy guys. George had silently fallen to the ground. We found him...he is safe and as the Mom explained to me: "If it had been 'Bear'...I would be driving back to you right this second. For George...I will come tomorrow." So sweet...George spending the night amidst a glassybaby menagerie.

    Until next time, as giving thanks...beckons us all, Nicola

Uhaul...San Francisco...12 and Under Story

   Greatest visual of the week?...Our wonderful owner Lee and Debra (a tenured glassybaby muse and friend) driving a Uhaul truck, on a bead to San Francisco...straight to a Log Cabin in the Presidio. (I love that sentence.) This is signature glassybaby essence:

• adventure
• driving acumen
• merriment making
• fund raising
• candlelight

We filled the Uhaul with 4,000 glassybaby (we think.) The counting became esoteric at some point. Robin, one of our glassblowers, and Celia, sales queen, created a complex system, almost macrame, of rope to hold down the precious cache of glassybaby. My simile would be Spiderman casting a rope web over all of the glassybaby...a web never to be replicated I am sure.

   The San Francisco effort is a marvelous one. We are hosting a quasi party/fund raiser for two amazing nonprofit organizations:

• The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (www.foodallergy.org)
• The Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation (www.andreriveroflife.org)

Check out their websites...such worthy causes. We will donate $4.00 from every single glassybaby sold in San Francisco.

   End note...we giggled over this...Jacqueline (outside sales/ team glassybaby member) received an earnest inquiry today. A customer's daughter would like to be a part of the kid contest...on the kid blog... which is for kids under 13...winner to be announced November 12th. Here was the serious question: "My daughter turns 13 in November...is she still eligible to partake in the contest?" A resounding "yes"...especially since this entry would mark the first and only that we have received. Wonderful.

   Until Next Time, Nicola