A look back on a 10-year dream come true.

Sometimes you just need to stop and take a moment. Putting aside the endless pile of paperwork that has become a part of my new normal, I take a look around my store--a store I was told for the past 10 years was nothing but a pipe dream. Taking this moment, I let myself feel the excitement of our upcoming first anniversary this weekend. I am blown away by how fast this year went and where it has taken us! We always knew the first year of opening a business came with its own struggles, but boy were we in for a year.
 
For those of you who might not know Blue Dahlia Designs’ history, this store had been a crazy dream of mine for 10 years. It always felt so unattainable, and often I found myself fighting doubts and insecurities as well as many tears and sleepless nights. Alyssa and I consulted with many, many people in order to learn everything we could to make this dream successful. One of these people told me it would take “family, friends, or fools” in order to make our dream come true. And you know what, he was right about 2 of the 3! Without our friends and family, Blue Dahlia Designs would not have been possible. We were flooded with words of encouragement when doubt threatened to take over, our ideas were met with genuine enthusiasm which validated our hopes, and when it came down to it, they were there to pick up hammers and paint brushes alongside us. Like I said, NONE of this would be possible without them, and we will never be able to repay them.
 
From the first time we turned the key to the building that would be my store, every moment has felt surreal. When Alyssa and I first saw the space, we were both able to envision its potential. Looking back at what the space used to look like before our build out, it is pretty crazy that it’s the same space! We had such a fun time during our Grand Opening and all our fun events that followed! We have received so much support from the community and our customers, it was everything we hoped for! We loved interacting with everyone and helping our customers with their design questions, custom floral arrangements, and gift giving.
 
Then COVID came and put a huge damper on all that! We have worked more hours and slept a lot less climbing out of this, but hopefully soon we will see this part of our journey behind us! We miss our customers and hope to be able to see more of them soon, as well as have more of our fun events that we loved so much last year. We do feel blessed to have such amazing customers who have supported us through this challenging time by shopping our online store, sharing our social media posts, using Curbside Pick-Up, and being the first in line when we were finally able to open our doors! We are so grateful.
 
Even through all of this, the concept of what I dreamed the store would be 10 years ago was and still remains a place where customers could come and be inspired in their living and giving, while being surrounded by a friendly and home-like atmosphere. I hope each of our customers still feel that way every time they visit. We hope, God- willing, that we have many more years to strive to achieve that every day.
 
Thanks again to everyone who helped make Blue Dahlia Design’s first year an awesome journey! From the bottom of our hearts, we truly appreciate you!

Come out and celebrate our 1 Year Anniversary this weekend, 8/21/2020-8/23/2020!