Tis the Season of September

Greetings, SL’ers!

Can’t believe another month has flown by and we are officially into the fall season here in Cape May! Last month was kind of a recalibration where I did a lot of reflecting on my brand’s identity to figure out a clearer sense of direction. I concluded with the sentiments of simplifying, focusing in on core successes, and trying to be more forward thinking.

Expanding upon our original @freshcannolis design! Trying out some natural canvas tote bags.

So here we are! My initial observation for this month is that fall is actually much busier in terms of pop ups and festivals compared to summer. If I had to guess why, I think the area leans on festivals more this time of year to draw in tourism as the beach season wanes. Summer surprised me. I thought I’d have a lot more going on for SL than I actually did. It’s tough because that is the time of year where friends and family want to visit, and selfishly I also wanted to enjoy my first season as a resident here without feeling overwhelmed. I also think there are inherent challenges as someone without a brick & mortar. There are recurring markets to potentially tap into but ultimately if the weather is nice, people are beaching it and generally are not shopping as much. If you don’t have a location that naturally picks up on summer foot traffic, it’s kind of tough to find your place. It’s like the town is over saturated in the summer and I haven’t cracked the code of where I fit in yet. Now that it’s fall though and things have leveled out a bit, we’re out here grinding!

This month I feel like I am finally achieving more consistent momentum. Two pop ups rather than the usual one and done, a new sweatshirt launch, and a collaborative Instagram giveaway that has gained me hundreds of new followers, woah! I laugh because I started my account in 2017 so it’s taken me a solid 7 years to get to 2,000 followers but who is counting? While the giveaway has been awesome, I felt a little intimidated by the surge. If anyone is new here, welcome and thank you for reading my blog! <3

Besides all of that, I’m in the midst of figuring out holiday plans. What events will I participate in and what will the assortment look like? How much merchandise do I want to invest in to carry me through one of the busiest retail periods of the year? I’m still learning as I go, but it does feel good to get ahead of these things more than I was able to last year when I was first starting out. Late October was when I formally launched the e-commerce site, so we’re almost at our 1 year anniversary!

Looking forward to cooler, less buggy walks through Cox Hall this fall!

On a personal level, it’s interesting going into year 2 of living here as well. Last fall, I was a little apprehensive of the slow winter season looming ahead. It was unknown territory for us. Ultimately, it wasn’t terrible and we found it to actually be pretty peaceful. By the end of February, there were definitely weekends where I craved interacting with people because it was always just me and my husband doing everything together. I love him dearly but hey, we are social beings and it’s nice to branch out. I knew that there was a novelty factor to the first year of being here too. Everything was new and exciting. This year we don’t have to worry as much about the unknown but maybe things aren’t as shiny and new to us either. The good part of being more tenured is that we’ve met more people and hopefully will have more opportunity to be social, but will the magic we felt last year be more diminished this year? That remains to be seen, but it’s kind of this underlying anxiety swirling in my head. Did I appreciate walks along the bay more last season than I currently do now? Is it less special or is it the same? Another year 2 curveball is the development happening behind our house. Feeling the entire house vibrate and hearing machinery day in and day out is kind of a damper, but I try not to dwell on it because it’s out of our control. I’m probably overthinking all of this but again, it’s just a unique factor that comes along with living in a vacation town that ebbs and flows over time.

Kind of a funny photo since my eyes are closed, oops, but a snap of the new sweatshirt I designed with Philly artist, @keithwarrengreiman - LOVE! Also, how cool are these moss paths at Sperlak?

It’s funny because now when I am in Philly, I really cherish it because I know my time is limited. Similarly, that is how I used to feel about being at the beach! I would soak it in as much as I could during our short vacations, but now I have full access to it. I guess all of this teaches a broader lesson to practice gratitude and not take things for granted, because life is ultimately transient and what you’re experiencing now will likely be different in the future. I’ll keep that thought in my pocket as the fall turns to winter and things continue to change around here.

Until then, we keep grinding! :)

Xo,
L