Being Sick on Vacation and Streamlining My Obligations

You guys. I mentioned yesterday that I was quite sick during the beginning of my trip to Florida last week, but that doesn’t even begin to describe how awful it was. I seriously don’t ever remember being that miserably sick for such an extended period in my life.

When my mom saw this picture on Facebook her reaction was “Oh honey, I can tell you don’t feel well in this picture.” Ouch!

I started feeling bad at the beginning of the week but figured I had caught whatever cold was going around the boy’s house. Wednesday I woke up with such a bad headache that I took my first sick day since I started at Arlington Home Interiors in April. I dragged myself to school and left early because I felt so awful, went home and promptly fell asleep at 6:30 pm. The next morning I woke up feeling worse, and to make things more painful, it seemed that none of my over-the-counter drugs were helping. My usual go-to for headaches, Ibuprofen, was useless. Finally I found that Exedrin worked a little bit. Since I was leaving in the morning for Florida, I went to the doctor to see if they could figure out my ailment and give me something, anything, to make me feel better.

The LPN I saw diagnosed me with a sinus infection and gave me meds. I went to bed hoping I’d start to feel better, but instead I was up almost hourly throwing up (should have warned you that this is a gross story). Friday around 5:00 am I called Kyle and told him I wasn’t sure I was going to make our flight to Florida, but by some miracle I mustered the strength to shower and get myself out the door. I felt so miserable by the time we got to the airport that the first thing I did when we arrived was puke in a trashcan. Like a small child. I seriously don’t think I’ve done that since I was about eight. Once we made it through airport security and to our gate, I basically just sat at a table and cried while the boy tried his best to get me to eat something so that I could take some more Exedrin to feel better. Half of a smoothie seemed to do the trick, and I was feeling well enough to eat a whole bagel (whoa craziness) by the time we touched down to catch our connecting flight in Atlanta.

At some point on our drive from the airport to our hotel in Rosemary Beach, the Exedrin started to wear off and I went back to the dark place. I got sick again right before we got to the hotel (so close!), and after not-so-discretely disposing of that in the fancy hotel lobby trashcan, I took another Exedrin, and laid down for a quick nap so that I could hopefully have a little time to feel better before the Friday night pre-wedding festivities. When I think about how terrible I felt at points on Friday, I’m amazed that I was lucky enough to rally for anything that evening, let alone a nice cocktail party (sans-alcohol for me) involving a LBD and heals. As I was getting ready for the cocktail party the boy noticed a small rash running along the right side of my back around to my ribs. I didn’t think much of it–probably connected to my mystery sickness, but nothing major.

Friday night into Saturday morning I was again in excruciating pain. I woke up and puked throughout the night and the headache I had was unrelenting. By the time the sun came up Saturday morning I knew I needed help. The sinus meds weren’t helping at all, and if anything I felt worse than I did when I walked into the doctor’s office on Thursday. Instead of walking around Rosemary Beach and enjoying the town on Saturday morning, the boy and I headed to an urgent care clinic in Panama City Beach.

By the time the doctor saw me I was starting to feel better thanks to my good ol’ Exedrin. I told her how I had had a miserable headache for five days, that I felt achey, nauseous, and that nothing seemed to be helping. And oh yeah, this weird rash popped up on my back yesterday. That little rash that I thought nothing of was the key to my misery. The second she saw it, I had my diagnosis. “Those are definitely shingles,” she said.

Shingles?! What am I, 65?! A little blood work and one trip to Publix later, I had my prescription painkiller, nausea meds, and the precious anti-viral meds that were going to make me feel so much better by the next day. I ended up missing the wedding ceremony of our friends, but I managed to make it to the reception.

Shingles is a re-activation of the chickenpox virus that causes deep nerve pain and a myriad of other symptoms, including the notable shingles rash that tends to run in a line around one side of your mid-section, and the migraine and nausea that I was experiencing. Shingles are pretty uncommon amongst young people, and they only emerge when your immune system is weakened for some reason. The lab looked at my blood work to make sure I didn’t have something else lurking like Lyme disease that was weakening my immune system, but everything came back clean. So this is where the scary reality comes in: I probably got shingles because of the insanely high stress levels I’ve experienced lately.

When I think about it objectively, my life is no more chaotic than a lot of other people’s lives, and I only have myself to worry about as opposed to a whole family. So this was partly my body’s way of saying I best get my anxiety level in check. But natural anxiety levels aside, this is my own fault. I have been operating under a “Say yes and figure it out later” mentality for the past six months, and it finally caught up with me. With working my day job, completing my homework, picking, painting, and setting up my space at the barn, and trying to find time to spend with friends and loved ones, I have been a mess. I thought I could handle it, but having my decisions actually affect my health in such an obvious, painful way was a real wake up call for me. I can’t believe I made myself that miserably sick and nearly ruined part of what was supposed to be a nice vacation for the boy and me. I can’t keep this up. Something has to go.

Friends, I’m sad to announce that this weekend’s December sale at Sweet Clover is going to be my last. My job is a must and school is a must, but the barn is the one thing on my list that isn’t a necessity. As much as I love picking and working on furniture, knowing that I need to get a great dresser within the next week so that I can put something in the barn Saturday, even though I have class every night but Friday-Sunday and a project due Monday, stresses me out so much. Leaving the barn after a bad month where I hardly even made rent while living off my severely cut salary that I took to get a job in interior design stresses me out so much. Not ever having an entire weekend to dedicate to chores and schoolwork stresses me out so much. The reality is that I don’t make much money at the barn, and that I can put lots of work into something with no guarantee that I’ll see any profit from it–in fact, the only guarantee is that I’ll spend money doing it. This is not a shock to me, I knew it going in, but I guess I didn’t realize how much of a weight it would be on my shoulders.

Please please please know that this is by no means a knock against Sweet Clover. It is has wonderful business owners who work their tails off for the business and it’s full of amazing stuff created and curated by very talented vendors. It’s just that the nature of the handmade marketplace is that there’s a lot of investment of time and money up front and a lot of uncertainty in the sales and profit. That’s a little different than selling a service like interior design, where you have more certainty that you’ll be paid for your time and your profit doesn’t hinge upon you investing $X up front to buy and resell something.

If I had more time and if the boy and I had weekends to spend out in places like West Virginia and Pennsylvania I would expand my picking efforts and put another 6 months into this effort, but my reality is that I just can’t. When I look at my various business opportunities, I realize that given my busy schedule and my limited resources, I’m probably wiser to provide a service than to try to buy and resell stuff. I’m not the first person to face this kind of a decision.

When I first realized I needed to let go of my space at Sweet Clover and perhaps my furniture refinishing obsession altogether, I was really bummed. I don’t like to admit that I can’t handle everything because I know there are so many intelligent women far more organized than I am who handle ten times what I do. But this is what will work for me, and the more I think about it, the more relieved I am. I can get off this merry-go-round of trying to find great stuff and painting it and hauling it and hoping and praying someone will buy it. I am ready to stop hoarding craft supplies and fabric and materials just incase I need something for the barn. I am ready to organize the wayward “stack” of magazines cascading from the side of my bed and to have clean underwear before I’m forced to wear my least favorite pair and to get my life in order.

The thing I’ll miss most about being part of the Sweet Clover market is the very reason I got into it to begin with–the community. I have met great people there and I will miss seeing them on a regular basis and collaborating with them to make the business great. I will definitely keep in touch with those people and continue to shop at Sweet Clover, and I hope you will too!

Speaking of shopping, the good news for you is that my stuff will be on sale this weekend in an effort to get rid of as much of it as possible, so come get something if you like it! All the stuff in my booth with a red bow on it is on sale, and I’ve marked down lots of accessories too. Many other items will be on sale this weekend throughout the barn in an effort to clear out things that have been sitting for a couple months and make way for fresh, new pieces for the January sale, so it’s a great time to come snag a deal. Hope to see you there!

Barn Sale This Weekend

Hi friends! If you haven’t seen already on my facebook page, the Sweet Clover Vintage Market is open today – Sunday, 10am – 5pm! I really love all the pieces in my space right now, even though I know that they don’t necessarily all quite fit together. That’s OK…they’re all representative of my personal style, which I’ll tell you a bit more about next week. I styled this really cool navy blue campaign chest as a sexy mid-century bar, complete with vintage whiskey bottles, champagne glasses with gold trim, brass swans and a shiny trophy-style champagne bucket.  This Duck Egg blue dresser is actually quite old. You can tell because it has pin and crescent drawer joinery, a style that was used as an alternative to hand-cut dovetails before dovetailed joinery was mechanized. It likely dates to the late 1800s, and I bought it from someone who pulled it out […]

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Decorating for Christmas a Week before Halloween

This weekend, November 1 -3 is the Holiday Market at the Sweet Clover Barn. It coincides with the Holiday Market at Chartreuse & Co. (another awesome barn a few miles down the road), and I know a bunch of places are having holiday open houses this weekend too. It seems early, but for a place that will only be open a handful of times before Christmas, we want to give you as much time as possible to prepare for the holiday season! The Christmas season starting early is no foreign concept for me. Even though I enjoyed Halloween candy as a kid, I was never super into a holiday that centered around scary stuff–to this day I’m not a fan of scary movies and you definitely won’t catch me at a haunted house. I was known to play a Christmas song or two on a rainy day in September when […]

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Sweet Clover Fall Sales and Special Blogger Event

Please forgive me if you’re sick of the Sweet Clover posts…with school in full swing, I’ve hardly had time to do any projects except those that end up at the barn. But I am working on something for our house that I hope to finish and share with you sooner than later. For now, here’s another Sweet Clover update. First, we’re having a couple events this fall, which means we’ll be open more! Here are the sale dates through December: October 5 – Special event, details below.  October 18-20 November 1-3 November 15-17 December 6-8 On October 5, Sweet Clover is sponsoring the Hometalk Halloween Hunt, a special blogger barn tour presented in partnership with Hometalk. The event features the Sweet Clover Barn, as well as three other local vintage markets: Chartreuse & Co., On a Whim, and the Old Lucketts Store.  You’ll start your day at Sweet Clover, where […]

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September Sweet Clover Barn Sale Preview

Hi friends! I’ve been crazy busy with school and work lately, but I wanted to stop in and show you a few pictures of my space in the Sweet Clover Barn in Frederick, Maryland. The Barn will be open this weekend and will feature many new vendors in the newly renovated upstairs portion of the barn. I won’t make it to the sale this month but I definitely encourage you go check it out! The barn will be open Friday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm. Happy treasure hunting!!

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Fresh Air, Clear Mind

Committing to be part of the Sweet Clover Barn Sale means I often take two-to-three trips up to Frederick, Maryland every month from my house in Falls Church, Virginia. It’s about and hour away without any traffic. The thought of that is a little daunting, but as I get closer and closer to the barn, I always get happier and happier. There’s this stretch of I-270 as you approach Frederick where you crest a hill and the mountains (mountains? hills?) are right there in front of you. Every time I see those mountains I take a deep breath and smile. As I near the barn, the views get better. The very last stretch of the trip involves winding through an industrial park but don’t let that mislead you. Behind those buildings is a gorgeous view of Springdale Farm, the property the Sweet Clover barn sits on. And check out those […]

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August Aqua Dresser

Last month I did a pretty dresser with a mirror in ASCP Duck Egg blue and absolutely loved how it turned out. Something about aqua over dark wood is just gorgeous when the wood peaks through a little bit, and I’m noticing that Duck Egg has a really nice depth to it. Given that one of my favorite colors is aqua and my space at Sweet Clover is full of bright colors, I couldn’t help but do another one this month. Aqua in a room is kind of like a great pair of blue jeans — it looks good with just about any other color and works with many different styles and ages. To paint this piece, I removed the hardware and drawers and gave the entire piece two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg blue. I tried to go light on the areas on the side […]

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Mint and Brass Table

I’m a sucker for furniture with great brass hardware, so when my mom found this table with great brass pulls and caps on craigslist, I eagerly snatched it up. It sat in my living room for a bit while I debated what color to paint it. I even asked everyone’s opinion on Facebook and got a few votes for emerald. Loving the green and gold combination, I decided to mix my own emerald green ASCP using the combination I used on my Eastlake table. My original mix was Antibes, Florence, and Aubusson, but I didn’t have much Florence, but I figured that Antibes and Aubusson would do basically the same thing. Unfortunately it turned out much smokier than I intended, so I decided to go a different direction and make a mint by adding some Pure White and Provence. It was a happy mistake because I absolutely love the way the […]

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Chairs and More Chairs

For some odd reason, I have a habit of picking up random chairs from thrift stores, yard sales, and auctions. I end up accumulating them in my basement until I have the energy to take on another upholstery project. So it seems natural that my space at the Sweet Clover Barn should be overrun by chairs. This month I have four in my space itself. I have a pair of these really fun cane-back armchairs on casters: I also have this cool mid-century channel-back armchair with funky orange upholstery, which is in great shape. And do you see that little high chair peeking out from the right side of the photo? As if those four weren’t enough, I also have two upholstered chairs out in the cottage behind the Sweet Clover Barn. Every month, Sweet Clover will be featuring a theme in the cottage, and will use pieces from a […]

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Duck Egg Blue Dresser

Last night I finished setting up my space at the Sweet Clover Barn in preparation for this weekend’s sale. We’ll be open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 am – 5 pm. Hope to see you there! I only added two pieces of furniture to my space this month. The first is the herringbone table I showed you last week, and the second is a gorgeous antique dresser that I painted in ASCP Duck Egg. I gave it two coats, but I went light around the details on the drawers because I like the wood to show through a bit. The detail on the front was missing in places, but I think that adds to the interest and texture on the drawer fronts. I stole this photo from the Sweet Clover Facebook Page since Cassie of Primitive and Proper is a way better photographer than me! I finished this dresser with wax, […]

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