Open mouth, insert foot... or something like that

It's been one of "those" couple of days. I sort of ruined a pretty large piece of granite the Granite Guy gave me on Monday. He gave me seven different pieces of granite to carve and asked me to do a House name marker for his front yard and one for his neighbor. The large piece of granite was supposed to be for his yard. Oops. The good news for me is I did explain that I am new at this and that I couldn't promise what this particular color of stone would carve to. Also, if you were standing in front of his yard you would never see what I see. He will because he works with granite all day, I do because it's my job. But in the name of customer service, I will ask if he will let me re-do it. The really good news for me, is that the one for his neighbor turned out awesome and he happens to be the marketing director for a brand new hirer end housing development here in town. Yay for "free" advertising!

Two things happened when I was carving that piece: one, I was rushing it. I always want to do the very best I can at everything I do. This business means SO much to us and what it's potential is, that I have been putting SO much pressure on every piece. When the truth is, I am new at this. The second thing that happened is, the stone was too big for the machine. It was wedged in there pretty good. Anything bigger would not have fit at all. Unfortunately, the way it was wedged allowed almost no hand movement room for me. So the carving came out wicked un-even in some spots. After that epic failure last night, I made myself a margarita and decided I just needed to chill. I have been going, going, going, non stop 6am to 10pm almost three weeks straight working on the business. I haven't been sleeping well because I am putting SO much pressure on myself to make this work, I am even dreaming about it at night.

This morning, after another website-drop-down box dream, I decided a break was in order. I played with the girls for awhile this morning, got some website stuff done at my leisure. Then I made some masks, took my time and had FUN. After, I completed the masks, my friend and I took the girls to the lake and for a nice drive through the wildlife preserve and up Mt. Scott. I came to the conclusion while we were driving around that I was driving myself crazy. I REALLY enjoy doing this. If I kept up at that pace, I would HATE it in no time. The whole point of this business is for me to do something I enjoy. I was overwhelming myself for no reason. Worried about too many things that haven't even happened yet.

This week I made two mistakes. Today I learned two lessons. I need to breathe and relax and enjoy this. Take it day by day. And worry about what to do if it takes off, when it takes off. And it will if I keep taking my time on these pieces of granite. After bug went to bed tonight, I worked on the two I made the masks for this morning. I took my time and they turned out BEAUTIFULLY!

Lessons learned? I think so!