ON Jan. 1, East Oahu resident Sandy C. McKee made the career move from lawyer to happiest working woman in Hawaii. It's not that she hated her 13-year job as an estate planning attorney. But her demanding, stressful profession meant 12-hour days at the office and too little time with her kids, ages 5-14, and her husband, HPD Sgt. Tasman McKee. A new dream job, thanks to the Internet
Sandy, 39, mulled the alternatives. What could she do instead?
Well, she would like to utilize her creative writing skills instead of churning out staid, legalistic jargon. She loved shopping for collectibles from the Victorian era but, like most modern-day women, didn't have the energy, opportunity or patience to prowl the malls and antique stores with regularity.
And while Sandy was a bit intimidated at first by the complexities of the personal computer, she knew that the online market had an avid following and huge growth potential, especially among female users.
So on the first day of the year, while other Oahu residents were saying aloha to 1997, Sandy said goodbye to her law practice. She launched Celeste Galerie, an Internet "store" featuring gourmet foods, jewelry, handmade soaps, fine papers and cards, an online auction and a library of old books. There's even a "Good Works" department in which money can be donated to Hawaii charities with the click of a mouse.
This wife and mother of four is having way too much fun with her website (http://www.Celeste-Galerie.com), which has already won an award for design excellence and been accepted by the MasterCard "ShopSmart!" program.
And the irony is not lost on her that Celeste Galerie, which specializes in selling aged artifacts, has a home on the high-tech marvel known as the World Wide Web.
Since more and more people are too busy (or too tired) to walk the length of department stores, the popularity of online shopping sites can only rise. Now working men and women - whether at home or imprisoned in the office - can fulfill their needs and wants on the computer and have them giftwrapped, packed and delivered to them or their loved ones, pronto.
The website is hosted by an imaginary character named Celeste, whose words are penned by Sandy and whose silhouette was designed by Mary H. Young of Kahaluu. In her welcoming letter, Celeste describes herself as someone who "takes tea at four, hand-writes notes to friend, wears hats and searches the antique stores for vintage jewelry...I hold firm in my resolve to bring back what has been missing from society since sometime around those dreadful 1960s: charm."
THANKS to ads in "Victorian" and "Town and Country" magazines, online orders are finding their way to Celeste Galerie. They are filled locally by Sandy and her six employees, and on the mainland from a North Carolina fulfillment warehouse, run by Sandy's parents.
But the best part of this new adventure in business, says the fledgling entrepreneur, is that Sandy is home every afternoon at 4 - helping her children with school work or just enjoying family time - until the kids are off to bed at 9.
That's when Sandy goes online, checking e-mail from venders around the world, answering messages from customers and learning the identify of the latest bidder on a one-of-a-kind Limoges porcelain pin.
Forget "shop 'til you drop." With online retailing, it's more like shop 'til you fall asleep.