Driving down I5

Driving during the holidays is always gonna be crazy but this past Thanksgiving weekend was just horrible.

We drove from the Sacramento area down to the San Diego area. We left the Saturday before and it was smooth sailing almost all the way down. There are two major areas that you can stop in for food and fuel. There are of course gas stations along the way but pricier and food is very limited at other exits.

We passed thru the 'Grapevyne' without a problem. Whats the Grapevyne? Well on the way down I5 between Bakersfield and Los Angeles is this beautiful mountain range you have to drive thru.  Your ears will pop!  As you drive you climb and climb and on the other side you fly down the road!  Have good breaks! lol....  I think the locals call it that because on the base there is an exit called Grapevyne.  Once on the other side you hit the LA area and thats when the traffic started.  Whats worse was the rain that came and went throughout the day!

The Mountains

The clouds over the moutains.

According to the GPS our total trip was 517 miles and it should have taken just 7 hours. I used a regular GPS because last time we took the trip our phones lost signal during most of it. Our total trip took us 9 hours door to door because of Los Angeles traffic.  Its strange traffic, it wasn't like there was an accident or active construction or detours... it was just stop go traffic that didn't make sense.

So we spent Thanksgiving week in San Diego and decided to return on the Sunday after the holiday.  What a mistake that was!  We figured if we left before noon we will get home at a decent time, wrong!  LA was so horrible it took almost 5 hours to go barely 150 miles! Once we hit the Grapevyne traffic was moving again and we were excited, but delayed.  Until we get to the other side and once again there was traffic, stop and go and stop and go... the volume was ridiculous!

Traffic didn't start flowing smoothly until we were almost in the Merced area, by then it was so late we were dying... a total of 13 hours driving to get back home. We finally arrived home at midnight.  Next time I don't think we will leave so late next time wait until Monday lol.

Crazy Holiday Season

Its been a while and so much has happened I think I will have blog content for weeks!

That should be great!

Shortly after my last post the holiday season officially kicked in for me. My online sales went thru the roof!  I did exceed my last year sales but I think I shot my self in the foot because of fear and not having faith in myself.

I constantly purchase a low quantity of products. Mainly because Im afraid they will not sell, I am sure you know what I am talking about. That product that has been sitting in your store for months and has not moved. The clearance table that seems to just be growing bigger and bigger and the same stuff is in there! I cringe when a minimum order is in the thousands or the quantity minimum is in the dozens. Is that me thinking small? Fear of success? Costly to advertise and show others what you sell?

I am so tired of putting everything on sale to draw people in!  So how did I shoot myself in the foot?  Well I purchased these beautiful items in 3s and 6s cause of course what if they didnt sell and I would be stuck with these items! Well imagine my surprise at the speed I was selling them in! The worst part, this company was closed for the holiday! There are many companies I know that close for the last three weeks of December so nothing gets shipped.  Imagine how frustrating it is when these items sell out within a week and you cant get more!  Its even more frustrating when you do get a replenishment of a popular product and they dont move!

In any event we shipped well over 1000 orders this holiday season, its not a whole lot compared to many other companies but for a single person operation I think it was fantastic! It was very overwhelming for me but I managed.