I'll only be new at this once

I'm supposed to take solace in this - that I'll only ever be this green and naive for this short period in my life. At the same time, I'm trying to remind myself that if I trust my intuition, it has yet to lead me astray. It's very much like making my way through an unfamiliar room in the dark, arms flailing in front of me, not knowing what I'm about to bump into or even what it looks like. I wish I could say that I find this exciting, but I do not. The unfamiliar is frightening to me. And the untried is nerve wracking; I much prefer to have a dry run of just about anything, please, if possible!

We have found the work-around solution for being able to do credit card transactions at the upcoming show. We'll be able to run paper copies through a chit!chit! machine (isn't that what they're called? That's what they sound like!) and call for phone authorizations, then process the days' transactions on the TIAS site each night. I know that being able to offer the convenience of credit card transactions will be a plus. Have to make certain that we get the necessary details for each sale as backup information. When I first looked into the possibility of offering the convenience of CC transactions, I really didn't think that it would cost so much more to lease the necessary equipment - it's really outrageous for small, stand-alone businesses who only do retail shows several times a year. It just not cost efficient to rent a wireless unit for - get this - $169!! to do a single show. Plus the fee per transaction that we're charged as a merchant. Very expensive for a one-off show. Doing it in this caveman manner is a sensible solution that I think should work out just fine.

I've sent away for a few jewelry display pieces that will help protect the few items that we'll be bringing to the show. We spoke to a lovely lady at the St. Pete Antique show last weekend, Ruth Simpson whom we've bought from in the past and who offered us some sage advice for the Tampa show, particularly with regard to protecting jewelry items from theft. She sells the most beautiful costume jewelry. We'll have to seek her out after we get set up there.

Today's picture is of a Gloria Gladwyn teacup and saucer, made by the Myott China company of England. The Gloria Gladwyn Production series remains somewhat of an enigma to Myott collectors, as it's never been clear whether she was an individual designer, or a name assigned to their team of design studio artists of Art-Deco themed series. When the Myott factory suffered a fire in 1949, all records of their productions and designers was lost, so the mystery remains to this day. We really like the colours and shape of this teacup and saucer, whomever Gloria Gladwyn might have been!