glassybaby tales

Blue Sky...Big Birthday...Field Trip Generosity...BP

   Yesterday the Seattle sky was either the color of a Big Sky glassybaby or a Blue Bird glassybaby. We have arrived...glory hallelujah.

  I had the delight of fielding a customer inquiry this week. A gentleman was calling about our rental program. His wife had just celebrated her birthday, welcoming a new decade into her life. For the momentous occasion her children bequeathed her with glassybaby (thanks to dad) and she was 'over the moon' for them. Speed forward and her husband, speaking to me, was stealthily setting up a surprise glassybaby rental so that gathering for a birthday party on Saturday with 100 dear friends will be lit by the light of glowing glassybaby. Swanky choice, wise husband. And as our conversation wound down, he added a line that made me chuckle:

'My wife requires the kids to use both hands when holding glassybaby...because if they break one they are out of the will.'

Happy Birthday from glassybaby.

   Another adoring customer called ahead of visiting us. She provided me with her credit card number. Her plot was to bring in her visiting cousins. They had fallen in love with her glowing dinner table glassybaby. She knew that they would choose to buy glassybaby. At check out, I could box them up and say: 'The bill has been taken care of.' That is just what happened. So sweet and generous. Their thirst to learn about the glassybaby process was wonderful. We stood by the shop window...watching our production line and I gave them the glassybaby 'crash course.' Then they were off...their glassybaby field trip was complete.

   Other field notes. The BP Cherry Point refinery, our northward neighbor in Blaine, Washington, contacted us with a lovely order. Dozens of glassybaby were purchased as employee thank you gifts. The mix chosen was very colorful, all over the color spectrum. One directive of the order was to include all of our giving colors. They were drawn to the 'givers.' One footnote to this wonderful transaction...of all the colors chosen...there was a specific request to include one black glassybaby. So, in went one Black Cat glassybaby. When I reconciled with the BP accountant he mentioned that this Black Cat glassybaby was his request. Later, musing upon this large order,  I had to smile thinking of the accountant choosing the black glassybaby over the possibility of a red glassybaby. Priceless. A rousing thanks to BP for the order.

   Until Next Time, Nicola

Flowers...Desperate Housewives...Akira is Here-a...Reconnect and Renew

   Madrona is really verdant and stunning right now. The mornings glisten and this week brought the return of the hanging baskets...think a cornucopia of flowers. They are lovely. Like the boughs and twinkle lights in winter, the hanging baskets magically appear and line the corridor of Madrona's commerce district, which we are lucky to be a part of.

   With the flowers came a new graffiti, squarely landing on the canvas provided by the old shed just across the street from our store. This one was painted by a graffiti artist named 'Ajar.' I have to admit it is beauty and bother simultaneously. The latest image seems to be a mouse on wheels, stylishly done in black and white. We await the graffiti Sergent...a 'clean as a whistle,' tow truck looking vehicle will arrive soon emblazoned with the business moniker:'Graffiti Buster.' The Sergent of this modern business will spray the offending graffiti with some sort of solvent...then a day later he will come back to pressure wash mousy away. It is fascinating, effective and ongoing.

   Speaking of modern phenomena...we are almost positive that a recent episode (Sunday May 10th) of Desperate Housewives had a Terri Hatcher scene with glassybaby lining the top of her wicker chest of drawers. From a glance at the scene the glassybaby color appears to be burnt sugar, or maybe bark, or perhaps rootbeer. We are unsure and heretofore have not been able to confirm with the Desperate Housewives Set Decorator the veracity of this wonderful stroke of product placement. We will keep you posted on this one.

   We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Akira...baby of our adored Coco and Robin. He is here. Safe and sound in the loving arms of his parents. By all accounts he is perfect. Welcome baby.

   End note...MTM Luxury Lodging, a wonderful local hotel management group, approached us with a superb idea. Five of their luxury hotels are featuring a hotel package named 'Reconnect and Renew.' Customers who partake in this delightful package deal go home with a glassybaby. In the spirit of partnership and giving...glassybaby will donate 10% from the MTM sales to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (an inspired MTM idea.) If you are moved to 'reconnect and renew' 5 times...you will gain a stunning mixture of 5 glassybaby. Here is the line up:

• Willows Lodge..........grass
• The Woodmark...........periwinkle
• Hotel 1000.............cognac
• Cave B.................kumquat
• The Sorrento...........burnt sugar

Thank you MTM. We like your style.

   Until Next Time, Nicola

Mister...New Colors, New Names...Gratitude for Marie

   As previously reported, many times, we are a doggy bunch. Dogs are welcomed and encouraged at glassybaby. It is a business bi-law. For some reason we have a gravitational pull toward miniature, long haired, dachshunds. Historically there has been both Stella and Linc in this category; and I had to smile when Sophie, our darling, sparkling, intern asked to leave early. Why? She was off to dog sit her friend's brand new, miniature, long haired dachshund named: Mister. We are in love already.

   Other notes, upon arriving Monday morning my eyes fell upon two of our 16 pack boxes chock full of new, sample, glassybaby. The thrilling part of the sight?...Little, hand torn, paper tails peeked out of each glassybaby, which meant that glassybaby sages, oracles and muses (including Lee) met over the weekend for a top secret naming ceremony. The new colors are marvelous and the names...stellar.

   To describe a few...my personal favorite is: devil dog (close your ears Stella, Linc and Mister...don't even think that way.) Devil dog is a dark red, think burgundy or maroon. Its tag line is: 'sinfully rich red velvet.' It is gorgeous and intense. Then...dial down to the sublime and 'easy on the eyes:' thistledown.  Thistledown is a pearlescent, light, peach that falls somewhere between our colors ballet and comfort. Looking at this color just makes you exhale and thistledown is poetically described as: 'flying destiny.' Another favorite color from the incubator is called:'gratitude.' It is a pale, lovely, green, familial to our key lime and mint. It's tag line is: 'count your blessings'...a great life guide post.

   Speaking of gratitude, we were moved to receive a beautiful message within a web order. Marie has graciously allowed me to share her heartfelt and very soulful message to us:

I first heard about you through a leukemia patient/friend Mary. She gave our daughter Liz, seattle sunset. Liz died of leukemia in December months after Mary died. We received a number of glassybaby since. They speak where there are no words. They hold a spirit with beauty and grace. Our daughter Angela gave us three and a friend has used them for illness, birthdays and anniversaries. We are fans...

What moves us to gratitude are the personal stories, histories and memories that are shared with us like Marie's message. We feel both gratitude and reverence; and we give thanks for this profound meaning that is given to glassybaby.

   Until Next Time, Nicola

Wedding Post Script...Bird Smote...Welcome Sophie

   Since wedding bells will peel soon, it is serendipitous that we received a rejoicing email from a dear, newly wedded, customer. Kelly has gracefully allowed me to share the below wedding photograph as well as an excerpt from her sweetest email message to us:

"...When I saw the decorated room at Palace Ballroom it took my breath away. It was even better than I could have imagined. People wanted to take the glassybaby home with them! We want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your beautiful work and your support in making our wedding dreams come true!...P.S. My husband even surprised me with two glassybaby for Christmas that he bought before our wedding day! I love, love, love, love them and can't wait to get more! :)"

I really love emails that use the word "love" with reckless abandon and include the energy carried by many exclamation points; and I adore emails populated by winking smiles crafted from the typing of colons, semicolons and parenthesis marks. Kelley's email made our collective day. Swoon over her dreamy pink 'petaled,' glassybaby rich wedding photo. 

    Weddings conjure the visual of white doves somehow, and white doves lead me to a glassybaby bird tale in our recent history. Ryan, Production Manager, Trouble Shooter extraordinaire, awoke Monday morning to a phone call from our furnace 'light up' person. One of the glory holes was not lighting up properly...the normal combustion that lights our fire for the day's production...was not occurring. Nothing phases intrepid Ry, she easily channels her inner Sherlock of glass production. Various phone calls were made. Plumber Steve was summoned. An ascent to the rooftop ensued, where air and gas lines safely reside. This time, in the world of smote, the birds smote the air line. Steve, found aloft, the clear tracings of a bird's nest in our essential air line. The nest was summarily removed (no birds were harmed in this process.) Our air line flows nicely now and we are back to 'light up' normalcy. And Ryan took off her purple Sherlock hat.

   End note. Sophie is in the house and we welcome her. To explain, we have acquired a, soon to graduate from High School, intern. She has great ideas and energy and will be in our midst for one month. Task #1: "Sophie, would you please explain twitter to me?"

   Happy Mother's Day. Thanks for loving your Mom with glassybaby. Praise to the blooming lilacs surrounding us. Until Next Time, Nicola

Auntie Called...Lascaux Great Oak and Twitter

   Sometimes it is just the simplest passages that highlight the week. An adoring customer phoned in an order from our nearby sister city...Bellevue. She had received our E Blast, touting free shipping until midnight on Mother's Day (I bequeath you with the promotional code that lands you free shipping...just type in 'mom' and voila...shipping is on us.) She was ordering 1 Peony glassyaby, acting as a personal shopper for her 13 year old nephew. He had called his auntie life line saying: 'I need a Mother's Day present...please help.' Having free shipping on her mind, auntie suggested her 'go to ' gift, glassybaby; and the deal was sealed. We both paused on the phone at the time of her ordering to delight in a 13 year old's strategical planning to get his mom a Mother's Day present. Infinitely Sweet.

   Another passage. A gentleman entered our store on an express to buy his wife a glassybaby. I am not sure if it was Mother's Day inspired, but my hunch is it was a May birthday gift. We plucked various colors to consider, one of which was Great Oak. To sing the praises of Great Oak is to celebrate the random black veins that often are embedded in the circumference of the glassybaby somewhere. This is just the sublime, beautiful nature of Great Oak. The one we gazed upon had a black line 'drawing' that made me think of the 16,000 year old French cave drawings of Lascaux. With the internet at my fingertips in the store, Wikipedia provided a kind of cross reference for the Lascaux glassybaby. Although our dear customer did not choose this transcendent Great Oak...we had to marvel at the dimension of Art History meeting glassybaby (possibly a bit of a stretch, but fun nevertheless.)

   Speaking of cave drawings, the blog seems archaic and dark aged compared to Twitter and Facebook. What a great opportunity to reach our glassybaby tribe through these alternate medias (that frankly still mystify me.) Marissa, our darling of marketing, has launched both a glassybaby Facebook page and a Twitter account. I, ignorantly, love it. For now I remain a Facebook and Twitter nubie...in the near future I hope to twitter and tweet and 'face?' often. To be continued...

   End note... a passage into glass. Ryan our wonderful Production Manager and Melanie our scheduling everything, both spear headed an evening of glass blowing for our sales team, a hands on glass blowing tutorial. Ryan stepped forward to explain the process of making a glassybaby, something we all should be versed in. Then we each got to try our hand at pipe meeting molten glass. It was thrilling and very hot. We have all been baptized into glassblowing. (Thanks Ry and Melanie.) It was wonderful, and anything hot is very medicinal right now.

   Until Next Time, Nicola