you know all those things you've always wanted to do? you should go do them...

i wanted my own clothing store since forever...  this has always been my dream.

by the early fall of 2011, i was living in astoria 8 years, with my bf philip, and working as a freelance fashion stylist.  

i was always obsessively researching / reading about / thinking about / dreaming about opening my own store, & it was right around that time things began to get a bit more serious.  

i decided to  start to look into the possibility of opening a boutique in astoria.  but the more i looked the more frustrated i got.  seriously - i thought at the very least a landlord was required to provide you with a least 4 walls, a floor and a ceiling.  well no.  not in NYC. silly me.

one sunny day i got home and was searching craigslist while complaining to philip,  hopes crushed, after viewing yet another delapidated hole commercial space in astoria.  philip - offering comfort said we should go somewhere relaxing upstate for the weekend.  we'd take the train.  so just then, on craigslist, i clicked on the 'hudson valley' tab.  as i did my previous search of  'main street storefront' returned results for the hudson valley:

'mainstreet storefront available.  beacon, ny.'

it was the first thing that came up, & i clicked on it.  there was an adorable picturesque little main street storefront in the photo.

beacon.  so we booked a room at the swann inn bed & breakfast in beacon for that thursday and headed up on the train.  it was gorgeous early fall weather, sunny and warm.  a perfect setting to highlight just how adorable i thought beacon was.  we have to stay more than one night i thought.  sure, there was talk of hurricane irene coming this weekend, but in truth east coasters are always talking of storms last i noticed.  i never took it so seriously, being from iowa's severe weather and living in new york 8+ years, i learned to just kind of tune it all out.

friday came and the weather was still so gorgeous.

but by saturday people really did start to make quite a fuss about the storm-- before there was even a drop of rain.  then they shut down the metro north train line pre-emptively which meant we couldnt head back to the city.  

i actually didnt mind though.  i was loving beacon and so was philip.  we felt so at home.  well that saturday night the storm hit and it hit hard. 

by sunday, then monday, still no train service.  wandering down main street that monday after the rain, we were glancing in the window of jon-car realty at the photos of the available homes and peggy came out to introduce herself.  oh, no-no, we were just looking.  but then it became something more. she said she could show us around town a bit if we ever wanted.  not at all pushy.  

by that tuesday the trains were still down, so we were headed back to the city in a taxi ($249+tip) and by then we both kind of knew it.  something had clicked.  and we were supposed to end up in beacon.

fast forward almost exactly  a year.  i ran into peggy on mainstreet.  i was chatting with her about how she should really come see the house she sold us, post remodel... and in our conversation, i casually mentioned i was still thinking about opening a store.  she said that coincidentally she just might know of a little one that just

became available on east main street.   did i want to check it out?  yes.

and that was it.  within that week i was signing the lease and putting down the deposit.  about two and half weeks later (no joke) i was opening my store.

8 months later here i am... 

loving it. still trying to be sure this all really happened.