Monday, October 31, 2011

an early birthday present :)

For the past 2 months, I have been working on a gift for my husband's 30th birthday. I've been sneaking behind his back, making secret phone calls, putting things on my business credit card and basically lying through my teeth to him...
the foundation of a healthy marriage.  

His bags have been packed (and probably with 5 pairs of shoes and no underwear), the flight & hotel are booked and he has NO clue (muhahahahahaha) :)
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WISCONSIN!!!
Ok, not really but when I was looking up images to put on the blog Wisconsin actually looks pretty nice. Possibly our next vacation spot?

 We are actually in...
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NEGRIL, JAMAICA!
My main goal here was to cross one of the items off his bucket list: to get his scuba diving certificate.  Tomorrow we hit up the Ocean (we don't look so cool scuba diving in the hotel pool)!

Have a great week everyone!





Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Highlights of Chicago

Last week I was lucky enough to go to Chicago (for the first time!) for the StyleMax Spring 2012 trade show.  It was definitely a lot easier for me to transition into the spring mindset with the unseasonably sunny & warm weather in the city.  The tradeshow was a big success, I got to see some amazing new lines.  For the spring line I've signed on 4 new labels for langsura, all of which I am VERY excited for and will be previewing in an upcoming blog!


There were many things on my list of things to do eat which included: Italian beef, overstuffed sandwich & deep dish pizza.  To sum up the trip it was full of food (maybe too much), shopping (again, a little excessive) & lots of time with my family (not enough).


Chicago style deep dish pizza from Giordano's.
We pulled a completely glutinous move by ordering a large.

Spent the day walking around the many parks all over Chicago

The Architecture Boat Tour is a MUST to see all the stunning buildings in the city 

A beautiful day at Navy Pier



Monday, October 17, 2011

a happy October


{skull head above the fireplace}
After spending almost 6 hours at the mall cancelling my phone plan last Friday, I decided to stay in & decorate my house for Halloween.  It's feeling much more like fall now: my "fall" cold is right on time, it's dark by 6pm, I've pulled out the Apple Cider Spice candle from Bath & Body, and my blue flannel 2-piece pajama set is on heavy rotation (yes, my husband is a lucky man).  Despite my cold, I am really looking forward to the rest of the month ;)  


{webs around the door frame}
{purple net cloth}
{please disregard the book called "Teenage Hackers"}

{the two best accessories for Halloween}



Monday, October 10, 2011

things to be thankful for...

having him in my life 
the most amazing person i have ever met 
my always supportive & loving husband




friends that make me laugh so hard 
that my abs hurt the next day



a family that makes me feel blessed everyday <3 






happy thanksgiving















  

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

ohh what twitter can tell you. a great lesson learned

One of the perks of starting a business is that you get to pick the people that you want to work with.  The tricky thing is, how do you know who the good ones are?  To be honest, I don't have time to call their references and really, how do I know I'm not calling their best friend?

After I look at their portfolio there are 2 things I usually base my decision on.

1) my first impression of the person/my intuition/gut feeling - friendly demeanor, smile, ease and confidence.

2) twitter



You generally DO NOT want to work with a person who: 

a) uses the F-word to replace nouns, verbs and adjectives

b) thinks of twitter as a virtual "Burn Book"
{Mean Girls reference - please see movie}

c) is starting a project that is very similar to your own. 
Oh yes, this is what happened to me and twitter is how I found out... thanks twitter.  

twitter is definitely not meant for everyone.