I might just live to eat those words today! It seemed like a good idea this morning getting the kids in the car to come to work and them off to the cinema but I am wondering if I should have sat tight at home. We live on a very big hill and although I just about got down it I am not sure if I will get back up it! past experience has shown that many of us over the years have been stranded on our hill, including me!
Oh well, at least I have lovely neighbours with 4×4′s. The snow is still falling so for now I am carrying on with my day, if it gets worse I think  our Christmas break will be starting early this year!

Today’s wise words are the last for 2010. I thought today I’d base them on ‘looking to the future’.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy

If I am not in tomorrow,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! Karen x

I am a bit late today uploading my blog and because I am all on my lonesome today I have had to fall back on an old ‘what are we wearing at Lello today’.

Here I am wearing our antique finish bead cluster bracelet Blackberry, £7.99. I think I might just wear this one on Christmas Day! (my last ‘Wise Words’  for 2010 tomorrow).

In previous years we have been so incredibly busy at Lello in the run up to Christmas that I sort of thought this year might be a little easier. It is easier but there is still so much to do so the usual sense of urgency has not gone.
We have a lot of Valentines Card orders to get out and we are madly making up cards! to make sure they all leave this week. As the minute Christmas is over retailers like to have their Valentines cards on the shelves.
We have other projects on the go which require time and consideration and need to be finalised this week.
I am waiting to hear about my jewellery order which is due this week but I would imagine that if Heathrow is shut, then my jewellery will not be getting on it’s plane any time soon.
However what the past has taught me is that none of it is ‘life or death’ and you can only do your best and that’s what I am doing.
The phone is still ringing and customers are still ordering so until midday on Fri 24th, we will be here!

My days just seem too complicated at the moment. Juggling work with kids disco’s, carol services etc. but it is the same every year and it’s nice to get out of the usual routine for some ‘comical relief’. Cutting my day short again today in order to fit it all in, wouldn’t miss it for the world.

This morning now feels like a made rush to get my email blasts and mail shots out to our trade customers, check on our jewellery delivery arriving next week and ensure customers are not let down on their last minute jewellery top up orders.
Orders for our new handmade cards have surprised us all, which is great news, so it will be all hands to the pump between now and next Thursday.

To all those working and non working mum’s out there…… hang on, not long now till Christmas x

I probably spend too much time thinking about which quotes to upload on a Wednesday, but I am trying  to come up with new topics each week. With it being the season of ‘Goodwill’ I thought perhaps ‘forgiveness’ was a good subject this week.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
Indira Gandhi

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.
Hannah Arendt

Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
Gerald Jampolsky

It’s said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies – because you never know when you’ll have to work with them.
Lana Turner

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
Marlene Dietrich

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy

What are we up to today? sending out a mail shot to all our retail customers, it will be a challenge with a broken franking machine! patience is required……..

Today Fiona is wearing our ‘Josephine’ bracelet, £7.99 comes with matching necklace ‘Victoria’ £15.00.
Made up of numerous strands of dark grey chain with a circular diamanti encrusted disc, very pretty, ideal for parties and nights out.

I feel like I am in counting down mode now till Christmas day as I am sure many of you are. I am glancing over at my diary every hour to make sure I’ve not forgotten anything.
We have a busy week ahead of us at Lello and I have my fingers crossed we just get our shipment of jewellery in before Christmas eve, it should be possible, when it arrives many of the out of stock lines on the website will come back into stock, especially the children’s jewellery of new lines which have been long awaited.

I have snapped Fiona this morning wearing our much loved black and white Russian doll necklace. £13.00 and quite quirky, made from wooden and acrylic beads. Comes with matching bracelet.

(Log on tomorrow for another ‘what are we wearing at Lello today’.

I am greeted with this most mornings now from my 4 year old. Is it tomorrow she asks? how many sleeps? it has become a daily ritual.

We are going to be busy here at Lello right up until Christmas, up until 1pm on Dec 24th (when we will close for the whole week between Christmas and New Year) bringing in jewellery deliveries, still sending out orders for new and old cards and last minute jewellery orders for retail customers. I keep thinking I must take some time off to get a few things done at home but as with any other year this does not look very likley!

Like many people my diary is jamed with what’s going here at work and all the children’s activities and parties, there seem to be more each year and I just know I am going to get something wrong!! at least all my shopping is done.

Log on tomorrow for a new Friday Fashion find from OUTFIT.

Should I admit that I listen to radio 2 in the mornings? well I guess I just did.
The victor they have on the show was talking about how we had to find pockets of happiness in everyday. To learn to put things down and not make ourselves so busy all the time.
This is something I try very hard to do at home and any working mum will know how hard it is sometimes to just drop everything and sit down with your child to read, play, talk, whatever. Housework and tidying can wait but when you have been at work all day all you see is everything that needs to be done!!

So it’s with this in mind that I have chosen today’s inspirational quotes:

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. – Abraham Lincoln.

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.- Carl Jung.
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. -Bertrand Russell.
The modern fairy tale ending is the reverse of the traditional one: A woman does not wait for Prince Charming to bring her happiness; she lives happily ever after only by refusing to wait for him — or by actually rejecting him. It is those who persist in hoping for a Prince Charming who are setting themselves up for disillusionment and unhappiness.- Susan Faludi
.

People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made. – Joan Rivers

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.- David Steindl-Rast.

What are we up to at Lello? setting out our new show room bit by bit with all our cards and jewellery, hoping this will be open next week to trade and the public. Quite a few last minute jewellery orders which we are rushing to pack and dispatch everyday as all our customers want them ‘now’.

(sorry the first few quotes are bunched together, no matter what I tried this morning I couldn’t separate them).

Today Fiona is wearing our Alexandra brooch. Very pretty £7.99. The image on our website doesn’t do it justice as it was very difficult to photograph. Worn here on Fiona’s scarf for a bit of  ‘winter sparkle’

please click on the link below to view the short video.

2010-12-07 11 09 28

Log on tomorrow for ‘Wednesday’s wise words’ and to see all the pictures from our ‘Outfit’ fashion show last week.