A fond farewell...

To my dearest supporters, followers, customers, family and friends,

It's been a while right? Sheesh, I know. Well seeing as I have had a good few months break, I now have a fair bit to say (how unlike me!) so I guess I should just start at the top.

As most of you know, I moved to Sydney in September last year and since making that decision I have been thinking long and hard about what path I wanted to take in life and especially, in my career. I took into consideration what I wanted to achieve, where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be. Obviously, what I wanted with gran's loose change was at the top of my mind.

The successes I achieved with gran's loose change completely blew me away. The support, the PR, the press, the customers - they came out of nowhere and I truly never expected my little online store, based out of my home in Mount Maunganui, to ever become what it did. As well as running the store and everything that comes with it, I had to work full time, (I've spoken a bit about that here), which means I never got to give gran's loose change my full attention.

Which leads me to my next point...

I spent two blissful weeks in Bali before the move to Sydney and really thought about what I wanted for gran's loose change. I did my thinking alone on the beach while JM surfed, I did it while I slurped cocktails poolside, and I did it whilst snorkeling in the depths of the waters on Nusa Lembongan island. Put simply, I didn't bloody stop thinking about it.

The conclusion that I kept coming back to, was that I never wanted to own a retail store, and that's ultimately what gran's loose change was/is. If you know me well enough, you'd know that I like to create. I am an ideas person. I am a dreamer, a thinker, an executor. And here, I had created something amazing, but I didn't want to run it.

So where did that leave me? The way I saw it, I had two options - I could either invest everything I had into the business and continue to grow it to the point where I could hire a manager. Or, I could take the site down....

So, you ask?! What did I decide?

Back to this in a sec.

Lets just take a sideways step for a minute.

You might have noticed that I don't blog anymore.

One reason, is because I feel like I lost my mojo. Like, seriously. Something you may or may not know about me, is that I want to be a writer. I have since I can remember and my 'personal' blog was a space where I could write openly and candidly in whatever manner I pleased. It kind of started as a diary following a very bitter and hurtful breakup, then an outlet when my mum got cancer and finally, into a series of love notes as I grew stronger and happier and fell in love again. It lost what it was intended for in the first place and just didn't feel right anymore.

And the gran's loose change blog, well, she came to a halt because I wasn't sure what was happening with gran's loose change. The blog was always secondary to the store and I feel like it never really reflected who I was and what my intentions were...

And so here we are. Thursday the 29th of March, 2012 - just shy of two years to the day I started this beautiful thing.

But today, I am telling you that gran's loose change will be no more. (Gasp! Shock! Horror!....c'mon, you all knew it was coming didn't you? Didn't you?!!)

Following my move to Sydney, all directions point one way career wise. And it's not owning my own business. They point in the direction of my humble beginnings in PR. Fast forward six years and I now have marketing, strategy, design, digital and advertising experience. And with that, I have accepted the role of PR Manager at ModelCo, where I can create, strategise and execute to my heart's content. I am so excited to bundle all of my skills, passion, drive and determination into driving PR for one of Australia's best known beauty (and beauty solutions) brands.

From the bottom of my heart, I give thanks to every single person who has been involved with gran's loose change, (I wrote a love note to some of these people back here) and hope that you understand my decision.

The blog will stay up so you can read back through the archives but you won't find me here anymore. As for my personal blog, I feel like it's time for a fresh start, so pop on over sometime soon and you will find my new hiding space. Until then, become a fan of ModelCo here, follow us here and add this to your daily reading.

With that sales plug, I shall now leave you with something heartfelt - some of the best advice I have ever been given: 'I don't think, I feel'. I encourage you all to do the same.

xx Kelly