New Office Space

by Brigid McAlpin July 6, 2025

I have leased an office space for Brie's! The lease started July 1 and I was able to receive access to the space on Monday afternoon. It is located just 1.3 miles west of home base, at the Central Park Office Center on Central Rd. I did not look anywhere else because I was already well familiar with this building and very happy with what I saw. Our landscaper has an office here and I visited many times picking up meals from Seattle Sutton for Mother and me. The building has about 20 small businesses so it is perfect for us. For one price everything is included - utilities, internet and cleaning three times per week. All I need to do is buy a router to facilitate internet access. The owner and in-office contact person are both really nice and easygoing. Our space has three sections - side by side offices where one will be an office for Sue R. and the other will be for storing estate sale supplies. The front space will be a combined live sale and showroom area. It will be so nice to have a professional space that clients and customers can visit, and where we can have meetings, interviews etc. I paid extra to have a space with windows and it is located a short walk from the front door and very close to a back door, either of which work for bringing our supplies in and out. We are also next to the shipping center where we can have packages packed and shipped by UPS. I am sure I am going to wish that I did this a long time ago. I have plenty of furniture including a really nice-looking office set so I will not need to buy anything. Now to decide exactly which furniture I will move there to decorate the front room.

We left a keypad lock with the office building on Monday for their handyman to install for us and went to check on it Tuesday. It turns out that it was installed but not set up for the landlord to gain access. Luckily the locksmith just happened to be there and had time to set up a master key for them. After that, we went to Schaumburg because Kuochun's car was in need of an emissions test. I was surprised to see that the line was out in the street on a Tuesday. It was the first of the month so maybe that had something to do with it, people who were a day late getting their tests. After that, we went to lunch at Chandler's at the golf course. I ordered a Caesar wrap with blackened shrimp which was good.

I did not take as good of care of the area rug in my office as I should have so there is a worn spot where the rolling chair is located. I ordered this decorative chair mat on Amazon to cover the area and also to be able to navigate around better. It was supposed to arrive July 9 but ended up arriving on July 3. I just love the mat and would highly recommend it. The mat works on any type of flooring, even plush carpeting and there are lots of styles to choose from.

I originally thought I was going to have a week off from the newsletter but we ended up rescheduling an estate sale at the last moment. Since we were basically gone all day running errands it was a very late night to get the newsletter done.

In spite of the hot weather, Kuochun and I started taking loads of items over to the new office on Wednesday evening including a lot of estate sale and office supplies. Even in the evenings it was hot but being the holiday weekend it was the best way not to disturb any of the other tenants. It was also a good time to be purging my office because there were items in there that can go to the new office. My goal is to totally empty the garage so I can have it power washed. Both outdoor patios need power washing as well. After our move, we ended up grabbing a late night dinner at Raising Cane's, it was my first time to actually go to the restaurant in Mount Prospect which is so close by. It is not large but very nice! We split the Caniac meal so I can keep the calories down.

I spent the July 4 holiday alternating cranking out listings and going through papers in the office. It was nice to have a day off from phone calls but it was not a total day off from messages because estate sale work requests were due. I was able to cut down the paper that I need to keep by 80%. For some reason, there was a combination of papers in the office from 2006 to 2018, the other years must all be in the basement. It was kind of an emotional roller coaster going through the papers and seeing customer chargebacks I had to address and disputes to solve over time. On the plus side, I found $79 in various increments mixed in here and there, including $8 worth of dollar coins.

In spite of everything that was going on, I was still able to post 17 pieces of jewelry online, all vintage Native American except for a set of salt and pepper shakers. One piece I think that is beautiful and perfect for summer is this Santo Domingo 3-strand turquoise and branch coral necklace with heishi.

Many of the pieces I posted were a combination of turquoise and coral chip inlay, which came into prominence in the 1970s. This cuff bracelet is a small size but for the right person it is very cool.

This cuff bracelet was created by Navajo artist William Singer, brother of the legendary Tommy Singer who is credited with creating the chip inlay technique and teaching it to his brother. I think he learned very well, this bracelet is so charming! It actually fits me but I am not a red person. I am a little behind my posting goal for the month but it could be worse, I will work to catch up when I can.

The new listing activity did help generate three sales this past week. This green turquoise heishi necklace is so finely done, it felt like liquid when in motion.

I also sold this interesting composite turquoise bracelet on Sunday. During the day, a customer asked several questions about it which I promptly and thoroughly answered, and also shared a bit about my background so she could understand why I think this piece was created in the 1980s. Within three minutes, my listing popped up in one of the Facebook jewelry groups with this same person asking some of the questions I had just answered for her. I have never had anyone call me out in public like this, questioning if a piece was real and if the price was any good. I pride myself on presenting complete and accurate information so I chimed in and said it was my listing and I had just answered the question by private message. Most of the people agreed with what I wrote but a couple of them did not. I do not care to get into arguments with keyboard warriors so I did not engage with them. I only answered one person and said it was fine if she wanted to ask but I felt I needed to stand up for myself. Interestingly enough, another customer came forward on Sunday evening and offered to purchase the bracelet, no questions asked. I think it was a coincidence and do not believe she saw the group conversation because she first inquired about it on Saturday. I am glad it went to someone else because I do not believe someone who is new to turquoise should be buying a composite piece, which is smaller pieces of turquoise which are fused together and stones cut from there. They are pretty and popular right now but do not have as much value. I did give her a discount because I promised it from the start but I asked her to purchase through my website to minimize the fees I pay.

Goals for next week are to get the office fully set up so we know exactly what we are keeping and what we can let go of. I am looking forward to having a clean, clutter-free garage once again! I do have four estate sale packages to complete but I hope to catch up with my listing goal as well.

Until next time!