Dreams do come true

This has been a dream week for all of us at Spark, so much so that we've had a hard time focusing on our work. We already were featured in the Destination Weddings issue of Martha Stewart Weddings on page 4 next to the fabulous Darcy Miller, but we didn't know that it could get better.

Today in particular, one of my professional (and a little bit personal) dreams came true - having something we created at Spark shown on the Martha Stewart Show. I've been tweeting about it and posting on Facebook and basically telling anyone who is willing to listen about our news.

I've always said that I would love to have some of our work on national television. But to have anything we've done held and complimented by both Darcy Miller and Martha Stewart, two women I admire greatly for their brilliance and contributions to the wedding industry, it just doesn't get better than that for me. Sure it's a quick few seconds out of an hourlong show, and of course I'd love to meet Martha and Darcy in person. However, I truly appreciate their sharing a bit of Spark with the Martha Stewart Show viewers.

Because of this recognition, we have had two articles in our local newspaper and we were featured in a local news story on our NBC affiliate, KDLT. We also found out that a few more of our designs are now part of a new image gallery featuring destination wedding designs on marthastewartweddings.com (we're numbers 22 & 23). The cool part is being featured alongside other designers we admire.

One of the best things about all of this hoopla is bringing recognition to the great people I work with each day. First and foremost, my husband and lead press operator, Jim, who is currently stressing over all of my 32 new suites of wedding and social stationery. My sister, Diedre, who somehow manages to work alongside me every day without strangling me for my oddities, such as verbalizing what should be my inner monologue and second-guessing every last design decision. And don't worry Mom and Craig - I didn't forget about you. Without your believing in our business we wouldn't be where we are today. My mom in particular has been striving to connect us with new retailers and she takes care of the financial side of our business that I work hard to avoid. We also are fortunate to have a wonderful staff who supports us in our efforts each day with great enthusiasm.

I'd also like to thank our current retailers and future retailers (hint, hint) for supporting Spark.

And lastly, in case you are someone like me who often wonders if all of this hard work and passion for what you do will pay off, the answer is resoundingly yes.

Have a great weekend!
Valerie