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I finally caved and joined twitter yesterday. You can find me @karawilliamson. I have a feeling that this will quickly become an unhealthy addiction.
It has been so slow in the store lately and I've been glued to the internet. I also read four books in five days. Yeah...it's been reallllllly slow. Right now, I'm working on Kate's traveling scarf and jamming out to Eurythmics on the light rock station we have playing in the store.
The song "Here Comes the Rain" is quite appropriate, as it has been continuously raining for the last week. I'd like to blame the lack of sales on the rain, but the truth is the island seems abandoned since Easter. Things should pick up again this weekend because Memorial Day is Monday. Rumor has it that the resort is close to sold out in June and July. That'll be great for business.

It's a gorgeous Saturday...

And no one is shopping! Everyone is at the beach. :(

I've been here at Fresh Squeezed for 8 1/2 hours with another 2 left. I am bored. I haven't had a sale since 11 o'clock this morning. Hopefully I'll have a 6 o'clock hour like last night...I sold over $1000 in one hour. It was a great way to end the night and start the month.

On the bright side when I leave tonight at 7:15, I don't have to be back until 1pm on Monday. Yay for half of a weekend! I'm going to check out Summit Church again in the morning. Afterwards my condo is in desperate need of cleaning!

I am NOT a Lilly Girl

Annie lent me this book, "Love Walked In" by Marisa De Los Santos a couple of weeks ago and I finished reading it a few days ago. There were some points in the beginning, (that really didn't have much to do with the plot) that really struck a cord with me. They put words to ideas I've always known.

"There was a clothing boutique her mother called "Instant WASP" that sold crisp, expensive clothes in candy pink, daisy-eye yellow, tree-frog green, and also sold matching mother-daughter Lilly Pulitzer dress that made Clare and her mother roll their eyes at each other and say, "I wouldn't be caught dead!" (pg. 56)

I am not a Lilly girl. I never have been. A part of me always wanted to be a Lilly girl, but it wasn't written. I've wanted to identify with some sort of group, but never have. I've always just been me.

I'll never forget the time in high school when one of the so-called "Goths" declared, "If the Preps can do it, so can we!" as I entered through the exit door of the lunchroom with my friends, Beth and Nicole. It was the first time I had been labeled. It made me laugh a lot. Me? A prep? I liked having a category despite it not accurately depicting me. Perhaps that day I had been wearing a polo shirt, but I assure you the next day it was something entirely different. I wonder what that kid thought when later that year, I dyed my hair black and had a pixie cut?!

You see, I can never stay one thing for too long. I keep trying new looks, longing to find my place in society, when all along it's been there. My fashion sense is as eclectic as my taste in music and that's okay. I don't need to fit a mold. I rather like the fact that my Vera Bradley hipster is covered with "Go green", "Hot Hot Heat", and "I'm Betting on Alice" buttons- it throws people off.

I've been searching for the "real" me for some time now (and not just with fashion). I have a BA that I haven't put to use. I've worked various jobs in the three years since my college graduation, but have yet to find my calling.

"The truth was, I was treading water and had been for some time. If you're wondering why a thirty-something woman who had gone to all the trouble of attending a university and slogging through medieval allegorical text had risen no higher on the career food chain than cafe manager, I don't blame you. I wondered myself. And the best answer I've come up with was that I hadn't figured out anything better- not yet. If I were to ever have a full-fledged vocation, as opposed to a half-assed avocation, I needed to love it and, in my experience, it isn't always easy to figure out what you love." (page 5)

Okay, so I'm only twenty-something, studied Latin American History and work in a Lilly Pulitzer boutique, but the semblance is there. I haven't figured out anything better- not yet. But I am getting there...

South Seas

Nearly two years ago, I swore that I wasn't going to work in retail again. I had to take back that statement "due to the current state of the economy" (haven't heard that enough lately). I am happy to have found employement after being laid off on December 1, 2008. Although, it's not my ideal job, I'm still one lucky gal. The unemployment rate in Fort Myers is roughly 10% which is 3% higher than the national average.
I got word of the Retail Sales Consultant position through one of my former student's parents. I was babysitting Charlotte one night in early January when her mother, Jackie, asked me how my job hunt was going. We started talking about what I had done prior to teaching. She told me that she was pretty certain her husband had a retail position available. David is the Director of Retail Operations for South Seas Island Resort.
One thing lead to another and now I am joyfully employed.
I currently split my time between South Seas Island Outfitters and Fresh Squeezed. SSIO is located on the Yacht Harbour and sells mostly logo apparel and fishing gear. Fresh Squeezed is a Lilly Pulitzer Via Shop located just outside of the resort.
Despite it being a retail position, it is also a resort position. I have follow the retail procedures as well as the resort's procedures which is proving to be quite interesting.