Are you a "cave dweller?" I used to be a cave dweller. I would wake up in my "domestic cave" (my house), get into my portable cave (my car), drive to my business cave (my store), stay there for 7 or 8 hours, get back into my portable cave and drive back to my domestic cave. This all started to change earlier this year. I discovered that meeting other business people early in the morning (or also at lunch) could help my business as well as theirs. My days have changed so much - most weekdays, I am up and out of the house several hours before I open my store - how alive I am! (Although it still bothers me that an employee at an adjacent business loves to tease me about my "bankers' hours" as I enter my business every morning). What major change have you made in how you schedule your time?

Do you have a favorite quote?

I've had a favorite quote for years - I have it framed and hanging on the wall behind my checkout counter. It's by Thoreau - "We are constantly invited to be what we are."

That might mean different things to different people, but to me it means - if you're a good person, you're invited to do good things; if you're a bad person, you're invited to do bad things.

After thinking about it, what does this quote mean to you?

Charity of the Month This spring I started a Charity of the Month program. Each month a different non-profit organization is selected to receive either a financial donation (via a portion of sales on designated days) or donations from customers of needed items. One month, for example, I collected household cleaning supplies and baby items for Bethany House, a local shelter for victims of domestic violence. In July, a portion of sales over two days was donated to Harbor Behavioral Healthcare, a local non-profit that provides mental health services. How do you support your favorite charity?

Do you have to do something regularly that you just hate? Almost daily, I have to tell someone that I won't be accepting an item (or many items) of clothing that they've brought in to consign. It's no problem if it's because there's a stain or a missing button, but otherwise it can be quite traumatic for some women. Clothing choice is quite personal for many of us, so maybe my unwillingness to accept an item is taken personally also. Do you ever have to do something in your job that you just don't want to do?

We do MATERNITY! Did you know we have the largest selection of maternity clothes in the area? And the selection gets bigger every day - just like my customers' bellies. Because I not only sell maternity clothes, I also buy them . And we have hard to find sizes, especially plus sizes - and lots of brand new items with tags on. In fact, I am in the process of a buy-out of a local upscale maternity shop. So there's something new in the maternity department every day. For the past week, we have been pulling out the hundreds of fall and winter items that have been stored in the back room. Like it or not, cool weather is coming.

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