North Carolina

With Christmas rapidly approaching, business was booming for Wexford Accessories.  What is Wexford Accessories, you ask?  It is the love child of my incredibly talented and creative sister, Julianne, along with my business-savvy and math-brainy sister, Kare.  Julianne is the designer/creator, and Kare is the marketing and sales chick. Together they make and sell fine handcrafted jewelry.

Since Julianne does like 95% of the actual crafting of the jewelry, her orders were piling up with the Christmas rush.  So Kare and Alli and I felt that because of Julianne's dire need for assistance we should take it upon ourselves to leave the children home with Charles (except for Kaylee... she had work to do to) and fly to North Carolina so that we could be of service.  It was a huge sacrifice to drop everything for this Girls Trip--I mean "business" trip.

Look at me sacrificing.  I could only imagine how much easier Charles was having it at home, alone with 5 kids to wrestle and play with.  For days.

Bryce picked us up from the airport and took us straight to his new campus: Duke. This was his first semester of going back to school.  They had just moved to North Carolina from St. Louis where Bryce is now sticking-it-to-the-man and doing what makes him happy instead of wealthy.  It's a breath of fresh air to see Bryce this way.  He's so relaxed and smiley again.  We've missed him!

So we had a tiny tour of the campus on our way to Julianne's office.  Julianne works in Duke's School of Economics department where she... does really important things... and stuff.  Bryce and Jules can eat lunch together everyday if they want, or go on walks during their breaks.  It sounds rough.

We went to see the cathedral on campus too.  We went inside and listened to their choir sing a little bit of Christmas music.  I love how it echoes inside and you have to have words in front of you to understand what they are singing.  I think it makes me focus more, I don't know.

And I had to keep reminding myself that this was not Notre Dame, so not to look for shadows of a hunched figure in the bell tower.

The next morning we got to work.  Check out Julianne's workspace. This was all just a living room.  But she goes and throws in some bookshelves and some curtains, and viola! She has created a clear and eye-pleasing division of space!  Not only that but she doesn't have to be all secluded when she works.  She can still be with the family, watch TV with them and have conversations with them.

Also, please notice 2 more things:
#1.  Julianne is using a hammer.  It is loud work.
Now please notice #2:  the pink shape down in the bottom left.

The most popular items this Christmas season were the stamped bangles and rings.  Kare was already a pro at this because she has her own supplies in Arizona and will sometimes do these from there.  But Alli and I had to learn.

First we had to place and stamp each letter of the phrase that the customer ordered, onto the bangle or ring.  "I will love you until my bleeding heart is still." Or, just straight up "I like you."

Yep.  I was a natural. Impeccable aim.

After the 5th bangle has been tossed and the the stamping is complete, we move on to polishing.

Pretty sure this part was Alli's specialty.

Or maybe it was holding the thingy still while Jules worked on the scary expensive kinds.

Here is an example of a finished product.  I made this for Sherrie. Yes, it is supposed to be crazy-looking and all lower-case.  It's a the style, people!

After the polishing comes the packaging, the weighing and the shipping.  The "shipping and handling" if you will.

Throughout all of this madness, Kaylee was a trooper.  While the adults slaved away Kaylee was busy.... falling asleep in various parts of the room, watching Thomas and Friends on Netflix, building train tracks, pulling Bryce to take her to play in the backyard, and eating an entire Costco-size box of fruit snacks.

And playing duets.

We may have worked like honey bees, but we ate like royalty.  Nothing beats Caprese. Unless it's pizza from Settebello... or Chocolate Malted Krunch ice cream... or those chocolate truffles from Whole Foods... Other than that, nothing beats Caprese.

When the work was done, we couldn't even shut the mailbox.

Then we went on a walk.  Well, Ethan went on a bike ride.

This place is gorgeous. Look at this beautiful path just right by their house.

Kaylee sure was happy to get outdoors.

And to celebrate a productive trip, we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory... and put it on the company card.  That's right.

Since Alli and I haven't had much to contribute to this business in the past, we took on a job to help with future sales.  We became photographer and model.  Did you know that ever since Alli was a little girl, she had always wanted to be a hand model?  Dreams do come true, my friend.

Since Jules was just opening a line of little girl jewelry, Kaylee became the Top Model for her age group.

More pictures here

One of the last things we did before leaving North Carolina was visit the temple.  But Kare wasn't with us because... I think she was taking a nap... or trying to get Kaylee to take one... or something.

Since we were on Temple grounds, we figured we should act appropriately.

Do you know how hard it is to get that shot?  Especially when you have no one else there to take it.

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.

Thanks Charles for taking time off work to be with the kids and Nathan while we played--WORKED!