One of the best things about this job is being able to have in my possession all the cool things I used to long for when I was a teenager! Seriously, in addition to the regular gemstone stuff, I always enjoy adding non-gemstone items, and these items are more often than not things I coveted in earlier years which I can now justify buying wholesale for the purpose of selling. Take my Silk Purses, for example. More then a decade ago, I actually paid $6 for some of these, just so that I could have them. I didn't have much use for them, but I collected interesting and exotic things, and they were perfect. When one of my wholesalers started offering these exact purses, I just could NOT pass them up! I have a huge plastic ziplock bag full of silk purses now, and I love to just open the bag up and breathe in (I love the smell of pure silk!).

Similarly, a long time ago, I acquired a set of the Chinese Reflex Balls I talked about in the New Items above. I originally paid about $6 for my set, and thought that was a pretty good deal (I had usually seen them in New Age catalogues for $8-12). Just last week I located some in bulk, and simply could NOT pass them up! I still have my original set, but seeing those rows of new ones in their shiny brocade boxes just makes me happy!

The same goes for quite a few of my products. In fact, some items are acquired purely because I loved them in the past, even if they don't really flow with the theme of my store! The fact that I have an allocation to get pretty much whatever I deem reasonable is a great incentive to fill my shelves with all the stuff I longed for in years past! (And it doesn't even matter to me that I am merely holding these treasures until I send them to their new owners--simply seeing the lovely things is enough for me.)

For your interest, a few of the other things I loved long ago were incense, brass singing bowls, those lovely teakwood boxes filled with Amber resin, solid perfumes in carved Soapstone decanters, and brass statues. So don't be surprised if you see some of these things in this store in the near future!

Suzanne