The Monthly Edit: September 2019

September 16, 2019 Alyssa Nguyen

Happy middle of September friends! I swear having a long weekend to kick off the month kinda threw me for a loop and I promise I had the very best intentions to have this published earlier this month. But here we are… it’s September 16th. I truly do love sharing these months posts with you guys and hope I can continue to hold myself to doing this monthly. So if you do love reading these, let me know in the comments below :)

xo,

Pei

A QUICK LOOK BACK AT AUGUST:

1. Unpacked so many boxes of stationery and goodies for y’all - we welcomed a several new designers into our shop and they’re amazing!

2. We welcomed the fourth member to our team. Y’all, these women who run our shop are fellow paper lovers and if you haven’t already met them, be sure to say hi when you come in next. I feel so blessed to have all of them as a part of the P+CP.

3. Okay so really it was end of August/early September but we closed our shop for the entire Labor Day Weekend so we could all enjoy a full weekend off! As a small business who operates in retail + workshops, we are open every weekend so it’s such a treat to get an entire weekend off :)

THINGS HAPPENING THIS MONTH:

PLANT SWAP PARTY

What we’re excited about: we’re hosting our first ever plant swap party/community event. Everyone will bring a plant to swap, mix, mingle and make new plant friends as well as get entered to win a super amazing plant themed raffle! The ticket for this event will be 100% donated to Urban Roots.

NOT ONE BUT TWO OUT OF STATE GUEST INSTRUCTORS!

What we’re excited about: we have so many great workshops weekly an we love all our instructors. However, it is a super special treat when we have instructors who come in from out of town (and out of state!) to share their knowledge with you in our studio!

It really is such a treat (not to mention a huge HONOR) that we get to host some insanely talented artists and women in our studio from all over the U.S.A.

If you love positivity and lettering, you need to know about Shelly. And if you love travel and painting, you need to know about Chelsea. Go give them a follow :)

SO MUCH NEW STATIONERY

We have been unpacking and unboxing so much paper goodness I can’t even begin to tell you about them all! From brand new designers that are making our card wall look extra good, to new planners for all you paper planner people, and even more scissors and desk goodies! So if you haven’t been by the shop, you’re going to want to!

CURRENTLY LOVING

BIRD BIRD BISCUIT

Dangerously close to the shop + studio, I cannot believe I just discovered this place. Probably because I have been on a gluten free (99% of the time) diet since 2006-ish. But lately I’ve noticed it’s not been affecting me and I’m not reacting with my usual symptoms when I have gluten. I’m calling it my new found gluten super powers haha

p.s. They don’t serve matcha here, this was “delivered” to me by my favorite matcha maker in town :)

LIFE LATELY

You guys, I’m in my third trimester. OMG. I feel very large and very sweaty all the time. Being pregnant in the summer in Texas is B-R-U-T-A-L. I’ve been feeling insanely grateful to have such a solid foundation with the business, through almost 6 full years of self-employment and small business ownership to be able to really slow down even though I don’t want to. I’m grateful that although I am definitely always going to still be learning and growing as a business owner, I have grown to a point where I feel (mostly) confident to take a little bit of a step back and have faith that the business will continue without me being 100% in it all the time. I say mostly only because you can never quite let go completely, I truly just love everything about having a shop, studio and small business so much.

To think when I first opened the shop I was the one working every single day, which I loved but also burn out is real you guys! And now although I’m not there every single day, I know you guys are still getting the very best experience in our shop through our small but mighty team. Not physically being there during shop hours has allowed me to work from my office in the mornings (so I’m not stuck in traffic, because having to use the bathroom every 20 mins sucks when you are in traffic haha) and it has also allowed me the flexibility of going to pre-natal yoga classes, doctors appointments, or even just being able to rest after staying up all night feeling sick or uncomfortable.

Anyway to keep this short, I wanted to share just a few fun updates:

So far, no one has tried to touch my belly. Besides the dogs who like to snuggle me and Evan when I give him permission to feel a kick :)
The hardest thing I feel like I’m dealing with (amongst quite a number of things) is unsolicited advice…. I’ve gotten (and trust me I’m getting a ton of it and I’m trying to just brush them off because OMG, people need to really think before they speak sometimes!). This has happened with friends, family and strangers alike. Sometimes saying nothing is best even if you think you have the best intentions.
The weirdest symptom currently, I swear this changes weekly, is insane join pain in my right hip specifically. It hurts to walk at the end of the day or even go from sitting to standing. I think its the gravity of the belly pushing down on my pelvis all day? Who knows.
The best thing that’s happening is that I feel like it all feels a little more real now that I can feel it move a lot more. I know Evan gets a kick (pun intended) when he gets to feel it move. One time it kicked/punched so hard that it made Evan’s hand on my belly move completely off!

Thanks for taking the time to read this late monthly edit post - I’m going to go ahead and congratulate myself for at least getting it done in the same month ;) Also, this marks our 6th consecutive monthly edit blog post so that’s also something worth celebrating right?