Sunday Reflection: July 26th 2020

Sunday Reflection: July 26th 2020

July 25, 2020

On Sundays I reflect. 

 

I didn’t drink alcohol this week. I quit a few years ago, and in many ways it has changed my life. I haven’t had a hangover in years. I haven’t ever used alcohol as an excuse for any are of my life in years. It used to be so easy to rationalize everything in my life. Now I find myself taking more accountability for my actions. At this point I rarely think about having a drink, and when I do the temptation is fleeting. I have channeled the energy into self-improvement and building my business. Those two things consume nearly all of my time.

 

I have a great group of friends that I am in constant communication with, and video chats with them lately have created a space for me to exist unrelated to my work which is basically non-stop if I am awake. I try to call my friends in the early morning when I wake up before I have the motivation to work out. Sometimes I catch them late at night when I get home from the studio, but often they are asleep by then. 

 

I haven’t had time to read much this week, except for a few chapters from “How To Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi which I have been struggling through for months. The biggest problem is finding time to read when I am not exhausted and burnt out from work. I find that when I can get a chapter or two in the morning is when I am most able to digest the content, but my mornings are always a crazy rush for 3-4 hours in attempt to get to the studio as early as possible (and I always feel like I am late).

 

I don’t even remember when my workout routine began to take shape, but I feel like I have been in the groove for a few months. I have adapted my routine a bit since then, which my acupuncturist helped me to create in the first place in order to reduce my shoulder pain. I was alternating opposing muscle groups in four sets of twelve before moving on to the next pair of exercises. Now, in addition to increasing my weight a bit I am also doing circuit training and running a set of twelve reps on each exercise before restarting the entire routine. I enjoy the circuit training more, as I feel very accomplished after a full round, and once I start a round my mind doesn’t even consider stopping or taking a break until the round is complete. A friend told me that now that I have bulked up a bit I should switch to lower weights and higher reps to build muscle density and increase my strength as well as endurance. Maybe this week I will shift my routine a bit again.

 

These days, when I walk into the post office most days carrying five to ten packages between my arms and my chin I wish I had an extra arm to capture how ridiculous I look on my camera. I was decent at tetris growing up, which I played on my family’s original Nintendo in the 90’s. I think my mom was the best at it so maybe I got it from her. Anyways, if you ever find yourself outside the Avon or Minturn Post Offices when I pull up prepare yourself to see some of the most impressive box stacking and carrying you have ever encountered. Every day while I carry these boxes, I remember when I couldn’t sell one cup a day. I remember when I couldn’t sell a cup a week. Yesterday morning I woke up to a website sale to a person in Guam, and admittedly I had to look it up to see exactly where Guam even is. I don’t think I ever imagined I would be sending cups to an Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and I can’t even imagine how a person there found this brand. I am continually astonished by what we have accomplished, in creating a cup culture around the world. 

 

The main thing consuming my energy over the last few weeks besides shipping and sourcing cups, was planning the Vail Valley Partnership Mixer I hosted on Wednesday evening in my parking lot. I signed up for this role last summer, obviously not anticipating the virus and its effect on society. Everyone wore masks and maintained social distance, Five people were allowed in the studio at a time to see Rob @logglass demonstrate our process while I showed two people at a time the inventory in my office and made a few sales. The VVP is a local chamber of commerce that I joined a few years ago, and through the network I have met countless local partners that I have worked with on a multitude of projects and events. I am always looking to support local and collaborate with locals before trying to go elsewhere. Among so many other benefits, I believe this fosters community locally and strengthens each of our own projects as we support others. 

 

Speaking of sourcing locally, I have been working with a glass blower who lives 45 minutes away in Leadville in order to train him to help me with production. Seth @boomer_glassworks has just gotten me his first batch of cups which will be available soon. These cups are little experiments in the style of cups I want produced with some of Seth’s own marbles incorporated into the bottoms of the cups. Definitely stay tuned for some auctions and flash deals on our Instagram page this week featuring some of the new work!

 

On Friday Bibi @_barelyb and I went to Aspen for a photoshoot with our buddy Sam @myshiftdrink who creates our cocktail of the week Shift Drink Saturday blog. Sam got us access to a bar his friend works at that was closed and we had a private set for our shoot which was so much fun! A few of Sam’s friends came by to model for us and unlike most of my day-long shoots we were in and out in three hours. The real privilege was driving Independence Pass from my studio to Aspen and back (and my car not dying on the way)!

 

CUPDATE:

 

We are almost caught up on photo edits with Skinny @skinny18 and I have been uploading fresh products to the site as quickly as I can. After being long sold out of Rob’s @logglass cups despite him making them for me almost daily, we have finally built up enough stock to get them listed on the site. The tumblers he makes have become one of my fastest selling items lately, with at least one or two selling almost every day. These 8-12 oz. cups are durable and feature Rob’s own custom color patterns, each of which are limited release. He has made me a few 16 oz. tall boys as well, and hopefully we will see more of those soon!

 

Speaking of best sellers, I restocked a few items from EWGG @edwolfesgotglass including the Blue Fadez tumblers and some mugs. We are currently at least a week out on another batch so get those while you can!

 

There are a few boxes of fully worked pints from Freeek @freeekglass that landed yesterday and half of them already found homes! He sent one a few weeks ago that is currently listed on the site but he had to finish a few other orders before he could get the rest made for me. Scott is also working on a blog interview that we will release when we get the rest of his cups live on the site!

 

I don’t have any fresh work from SALT @saltglass but he did finally answer my interview questions so hopefully his blog interview will be live this week. I learned a ton about Luken and his art from his answers, and I know you’ll enjoy reading this very special interview soon!

 

My buddy Justin @littlebglass recently got me a batch of fume and clear beer glasses that have been selling since we uploaded them on the site. Yesterday two of them sold and one is heading for Guam! 

 

So things are busier than ever and I am doing my best to keep up! It is a very exciting time for me and my business, despite the unrest going on all around me. I still don’t have the words to address the problems going on around us right now, but I am working on these things internally every day and trying to figure out how to be on the right side of history myself. I wish I had the energy to go in depth here about what I am thinking and feeling about racism, authoritarianism, and wealth inequality. Unfortunately, I feel like I need to continue educating myself more before I can really address those issues and others. I hope you are also doing the work yourself to make things better.

 

As always thanks for tuning in,

BB



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