Paint Paint Paint!

Chris and I finally signed on our condo in Reston! We settled and got the keys yesterday, and are so excited about it. We spent the whole day yesterday painting (thanks also goes to my Dad, the painting machine), and this weekend is reserved for putting together all the furniture we bought at World Market over the past 3 months. After living 6 hours away, then 2 hours away from each other over the past 4 years, we're both so happy to finally be getting settled as we start our lives together.

Kudos to all who've emailed me over the past week, and have patient enough to not complain at my slow email responses. Thanks for bearing with me!

In other new-house news, congratulations to our coordinator, Mariah, and her husband, Nick, who are holding their housewarming party this weekend! They recently became homeowners in the district, after renting an apartment just right up the street from their new home.

Update...

Well, it turns out that the office just didn't have the right feel to it. You know how you can see something just once and if feels like you've known it forever and it's 100% comfortable to you? Yeah, this space didn't have that feeling. Chris and I were both unimpressed, which meant that it's not the right move to make right now.

When the time is right and I have enough cash to be comfortable with it, then we'll continue to look at more office options. The mixture of location, price, size, and convenience are all so important to me that I don't want to settle for anything less than ideal. I just can't get the Old Town thought out of my mind (except Chris reminded me of flooding, which I definitely forgot about)!

For now I'm comfortable with figuring out where this business is going, and concentrating on making myself, my employees, and my clients happy. And that's truly what it's all about.

Office Space?

This morning I was scanning the Craigslist commercial real estate listings, as I've somehow gotten obsessed with finding the perfect retail space. I eventually want a wedding library, DIY workshop, a vendor meeting space available for my brides, and a little window for people to see the newest table setting I've created.

For now I'm happy running Soiree out of my home, my car, and every Starbucks in the metro area, but it would be nice to have an actual location the business could call home. So back to Craigslist. I saw a really neat opportunity, for an office at the corner of King and Washington in Old Town, Alexandria. It's a 2nd floor suite, with enough space for a few people and surprisingly low rent. I shrugged off the idea, wondering what the heck I was thinking and knowing that everyone else would think I was crazy for wanting an office.

So later in the afternoon, Chris (fiance) calls and asks me if I'd seen the Craigslist posting for Old Town already. Of course I had, but it was really funny that he also saw it and thought of me. With his encouragement and my excitement, I called the realtor and we're now going to go check it out this weekend! I can't help but think of all the exciting opportunties that go along with this, and am really anxious to get started and move in.

Never mind the fact that I have my own personal move next week, Chris' little nephew is due in 3 weeks, and we have our own wedding in 3 months....I might just go for it! I still need to run numbers and make sure it'll make sense, but Soiree might soon have a different address. I'm so perky right now I can hardly stand it!

More to come later....

Small World

So as everyone knows, I also hold a full-time job in addition to running Soiree. The building I work in is commonly referred to the "shopping bag building" in Tyson's, which happens to be a pretty nice building. A few times a week we have a live musician set up shop in the lobby, usually a piano player or a harpist.

This morning, I shared the elevator ride from the garage to the lobby with the harpist and her massive harp. So, being the wedding planner that I am, I asked if she had a card on her. I'd heard her play a few times in passing, and she's pretty talented. Sure enough, she's the SAME HARPIST that will be performing at the wedding I have this weekend! STRANGE!! We had emailed back and forth this weekend about the wedding already, but I had no idea that I could've just run downstairs to chat!

I guess it really is a small world.

PS- If you're looking for a harpist, she's Melissa Tardiff Dvorak.