Monday, August 22, 2011

Growing Pains

  I always loved that show. :)  There is nothing like a little Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold!  Im not really sure what quite spurred that thought...other than I feel like thats what our whole family and our little business has been going through recently. My son Nate is 7, and started 2nd grade...he is growning like a weed and always complaining about leg pain. My husband is away at school right now, and I am adjusting to dealing with bills and all the busy day to day stuff that we have not had to deal with before now -- all on my own...my daughter broke her arm this week...fun times.  After moving here and being so glad to be close to my Mom again after nearly 5 years of being halfway around the world from her, and to be able to work on our business as a team for once...she decided to move to work on her marriage (thats a whole nother story) so here I am working to improve, revamp and now pretty much run it all by myself.  That my friends, is Growing Pains...pain in the butt and pain in the neck...LOL!!!
  But, its moving right along!  I decided to upgrade our space at the antique mall...from a tiny booth to one nearly double the size.  I took a full day and cleaned, painted, moved, and set up our new space...and it looks AMAZING.  Im so happy that people can actually walk in and look around in there versus just peeking in. There is plenty of space to separate boutique items and little girlie things from our vintage stuff...and they blend quite nicely.  It makes me really excited about the later half of this year and what the Holiday season will bring for us. 
  Change is tough, and yes, sometimes it hurts.  But, I guess the point of it all is when its all said and done, it makes the end result that much sweeter.  Things will get easier...my son will grow, my husband will be home (and I should just be thankful that he is away for school and not deployed again), and my mom will get her act together before she is 70...HAHAHAHA!!!  You dont know what you are capable of until you are pushed out to that limit...and you dont fall. :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

You Gotta Start Somewhere...

Hallo, and Welcome to my blog, Vendel's Heritage! My name is Sarah Kirsch...and if you wanna know more about me, read my profile ----> over there.
A few years ago, my mother decided to follow her love of the antique world and start an business...as she was digging around for names, I offered the name Vendel's.  Knowing that was the name of her BELOVED Grandfather, a sanitation worker in in Pennsylvania, who brought my mom and aunt treasures home that he had found along his route. She could not resist, and so Vendel's was born. Boasting the heritage of a man who LOVED unendingly, gave wholeheartedly, and was taken too soon. (He was run over by his best friend in the garbage truck they were working in when my mom was 10 years old). He loved his granddaughters, and always found the treasure amongst the trash that was just thrown out weekly to the curb.  I think now, having named it that, we have both really found a love of "trash" of our own, and its something that we want to continue to be able to pass on...
Newly back from living in Germany, I am still experiencing some culture shock being thrown back into lower Alabama and the way that people in the U.S. live. How did we all get so busy??  What could possibly be so important all day everyday??  I certainly dont know, nor do I really see the draw to Wal Mart, and mass market items anymore. We didnt have 24 hour stores for nearly 5 years and did just fine without it. The only thing that has kept me sane is my sweet hubby, my kids, (yeah, imagine that...) and yard sales, garage sales, estates, and flea markets. :) I CANNOT get enough!!! Lucky for me, my mom did open a booth at a local antique mall here in Dothan, Old South Antique Mall, so now we have this amazing outlet and have added an Etsy as well.  (if I can figure out how to add a link or mini etsy on here, I will totally do that) I am hoping to at least be able to write on here at least once a week, and including pics of our booth, craft tutorials, posts about travel and the amazing places Ive been, photography, special finds, and lots of fun bits of random information...we would love for you to take some of our heritage with you after you read. :) Just fair warning though...I am a HUGE nerd...and it does show on occasion. :D