We've officially rounded the corner toward 2023 and I want extend my deepest gratitude for everyone who helped make Pottershop Studio a reality. It was only around this time last year that I had even considered moving into my own space, but something like this still felt like a distant pipe dream.

This week, I renewed my lease for another year here and I absolutely could not have made that happen without the support from all of you! While Pottershop is still growing into what it is meant to be, this labor of love has been worth every minute of effort. I don't recall ever having put this much work and love into anything and that's a bold statement from someone who doesn't do anything with less than her full heart.

Now that a lot of the foundational work is done, here are some things I look forward to next year:

- Building a creative community with artists from a variety of disciplines who want to learn from and support each other. This includes creative forums and masterclasses offered at the studio and online.

- Continuing to teach movement to individuals, advocating for creative process as a component of our overall health.

- Adding CranioSacral Therapy to the services I can offer individuals to support healing and creative growth.

- Working with a branding and website designer to make the website more cohesive and user-friendly.

- Producing a dance film.

While I have never been big on holidays, New Years is my favorite. I love the excitement of a blank slate, fresh with the potential and limitless possibilities!

A quick note for those of you with a four-leaf clover locket on the way: I finished those during the holiday and they will be sent out this week! Due to the heatwave, this summer yielded fewer clovers than I was hoping for, and the ones I had took a while to press and dry, but they are ready to go and you will receive those soon.

If one of your rewards is a one-on-one movement session, you can schedule at your leisure through my website. If you're not in Portland, just select the Zoom option. If you are in Portland (or vicinity) and are interested in a CranioSacral session instead, just drop me an email and we'll sort that out. Please note that I won't be able to offer CST until I finish the certification process and if you are in Seattle, we just may have to be strategic about scheduling. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season, celebrating in whatever way sparks joy for you and your families. 

Love,
Erin

Good morning Everyone,

Well, Home Depot and Lowe's tied in the race! Not only did both orders arrive on the same but at the SAME TIME! My plan was to keep whichever order came first and then cancel the other, with about a 70% expectation that one of them would never show up at all.

I was so wrong.

Since I was at work that day, I asked both companies to make sure someone called me when they were about 5 minutes away so I could pop over and let them inside. Lowe's called me around 2:00 to let me know they were on the way, so I took my break and headed over to the studio. When I got there, three boxes from Home Depot were propped up against my door. I was mildly annoyed that they hadn't called me, but also grateful nothing had been stolen or broken.

Now I had twice as many mirrors as I needed, but not a bad problem to have! By the time I got the Home Depot boxes inside, the truck from Lowe's had arrived and everything hauled in. I quickly signed the papers and trotted back to work, excited to tear open the boxes when I got home!

I decided to keep the Lowe's order and return the ones from Home Depot, mostly because they came in smaller boxes and would be easier to fit in my car to return. (They were close enough in price that it wasn't really a factor.) When I cut open one of the Lowe's boxes, I realized why the boxes were bigger:

Each box had two mirrors in it, not one.

That meant I had THREE TIMES as many mirrors as I needed! After all the struggle to get them in the first place, I was beside myself with an abundance of supply. I could just hear the Universe saying "well, you said you wanted mirrors. . . "

Next step is get them installed! The studio is really coming together and feeling more and more like home every day. 

Dear Donors, Friends, and Everyone who has supported in Every Way,

This past week, my focus has been on getting mirrors for the studio. I've been pretty patient about finding the right ones, but patience has limits and this week I found myself very committed to finding and purchasing The Right Things for the South Wall.

A friend of mine sent me the link to the mirrors she bought for her studio at Home Depot which I'd attempted to order online several times. The scenario went something like this:

Home Depot website: "Add to Cart"
Me: *click.*
Home Depot: "Sorry, this item is out of stock. Check nearby stores?" 
Me: *click*
Home Depot: "The Dalles location has 5 stock. Order now?"
Me: *click.*
Home Depot: "Sorry, this item is out of stock."

I called Home Depot to see what was up, but their phone tree took me in a loop and I wasn't able to talk to an actual human. I called it quits at tried Lowe's instead. 

Lowe's had exactly three of the item I was looking for and could deliver the next day! I hit "purchase," and looked forward to having this part of my studio complete. In the morning, I woke up to an email that the delivery had been delayed until the following day. Then, a phone call came. It was Lowe's with an update:

"So sorry. Your order was delayed because, well, we couldn't find it."
"You couldn't find it?"
"Yea. We don't know where it is."
"Okay. . . "
"Also, it broke in transit. Yea, I think it's broken."

I'm still not sure whether the mirrors from Lowe's were lost or broken - or both? And I'm not at all convinced the person on the phone knew, either.

Turning to Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, I did find one listing for something very close to the exact thing I was looking for and was about the same price as the original ones I'd found at Home Depot- also free delivery! I reached out the seller who said he would be in touch later in the week to set up a time for delivery. When I didn't hear from him for two days, I followed up and got the the "sorry, I can't today, maybe tomorrow" answer. Same thing the next day, and the next- then finally, one last message letting me know he had sold them to someone else who had their own truck. 

I checked the Home Depot website a couple times a day during all of this, thinking maybe something would be back in stock but still found myself playing the same "in-stock/ not-in-stock" game. I started a live chat with a customer service person to find out what was up. He assured me the item was in fact in stock at the Hillsboro store and that it could be delivered tomorrow.

"Great, let's do it!"
"Wait. . . " he said. "I'm getting an error message. When I try to place your order, it tells me it is not in stock. You'll have to call the store."
I called the Hillsboro store while I was still on chat with him and got the same phone tree loop. I explained that calling wasn't working, either, as I'd never able to reach a human, and he graciously offered to call on my behalf and set it all up. I still had to call the store to set up delivery but at least I knew which buttons to push to bypass the phone tree and was able to talk to someone who could help.

Fingers crossed, they will be delivered this Tuesday! I'll keep you all posted.

Love,
Erin