I read a tech article today that made me think about long, LONG ago...when melange4women.com was first created. Eight years ago, I was a fresh and young thing (all of 30 which now seems awfully young), living in LA, had just stopped practicing law and was teaching legal research, and trying to get pregnant. My mother owned Melange, and was selling the business, and I needed a career change. Thinking it would be a good "family life" job, I bought the business. A year later, and three painful miscarriages later I was seriously, seriously depressed. Since I couldn't sleep, ever, I decided that I would teach myself how to build a website, and put Melange on the web. I totally immersed myself in the project because I really couldn't bare to think about anything else. Honestly, when the first order came thru I was shocked. "What? You mean I might actually sell something too??" I think building the site was more a distraction than anything else, a way to channel my energy and do something creative. It took most of my brain cells to figure out the whole tech thing because that was never my thing. The only thing I've ever claimed to be is really fast at typing.
Which all leads me to how I came to be thinking of our roots today. Because I had no real "plan" when I started the site, and no experience. AND because I was working on it in the middle of the night under all kinds of emotional stupors, I didn't really pay attention when I created a name for the site. I named it laurenvisco -- a combo of my first name and part of my last. I didn't realize that the "name" for the site would actually show up in the order name. Oops. Of course, by the time I realized that this was the case, I had already done a ton of work, and we were getting orders. Too late to really start over and change it (there was no way to easily change it, I would have had to build from scratch). So to this day, "laurenvisco" remains in the order number/store name part of your orders. I've always thought it was so unprofessional, so "amateurish". The article I read talked about changing the store name, and I realized that I've come to appreciate the fact that we have that touch of humanism in our store, that it represents my hard work (and my stupidity), and in a way all the hard work of the people who've worked with me thru the years that have contributed so much to the site. None of those people were professionals either, but all were passionate and creative, and eager to learn. Oh, and as a sidebar....www.melange4women.com, I chose that URL because melange was taken (of course), and there are 4 sisters in my family, some who have worked with me on Melange, and all have been my inspiration from day one. A bit of a double entendre right?
So tonight I'm toasting our home-grown site, all the people who've contributed, and who've added their personal touches to our store. I am also celebrating how much life can change, and how grateful I am that 8 years later I'm happy as can be and the mother of 3 little terrors. :-) I still find myself having trouble sleeping, but now it is because there is laundry to wash, and blogging to be done.
Thanks to all of you who read this and understand it. And to all of you who contribute to our happy little site.
Signed, ME {lv}
