Waaay too long...butters&beans kids has been busy!

Holiday holiday holiday! Merry Christmas all, and I'm so sorry for not updating on a regular basis - I think about it often, but then get a little ADD and get distracted by something that typically takes priority. It's been a busy holiday for us, but I'm going to give you the scoop - I'm going to stay recent since so much time has passed.

Store - We have taken on SEVERAL new designers! Some national, some local, but all amazing! Pictures speak louder than words, so here are some of my favs:

From new designer Gitchee

Backpack by Home Grown Sewn

Leggings by Twisted Trees

Holiday dress by Viola Mae

Baby shoes by Tweed Baby

A hair found in my Wheat Thins

Aviator hat by Marigold Baby

Leggings by The Farmer and The Belle

Home: Jaxie (AKA Butters) is T-W-O! Can you believe it?

"Don't sing Happy Birthday to me!"

I'll stop there. If I went any further, this could be a novel, and that could be a long day for both of us. :) I'll try to be better about updates.

Sooooo....

To market to market....again. But on the OTHER side of the aisle this time - way more fun, and WAY less stressful (especially if that silly thing called a budget didn't get in my way). There is sooooooo much coming - you guys will totally love spring 2012 at b&b kids! We will of course maintain our best selling brands - Isobella & Chloe, Twirls and Twigs, Tralala and Decaf Plush - PLUS we'll be adding several more, starting with SWIM in January! The. Cutest. Little girls swimwear. Lots of big floppy flowers and tutu-esque skirts. Here's one pic, but it just doesn't do them justice at ALL...

Just wait till you see them in person - I totally died - I had NO intention of bringing in swim, but just had to have this line. Sizes start at 3 months (be ready to omg over these) and will go up to a 10. And Mamas - they're affordable, I promise (but they don't look affordable - I promise that, too - wink). The whole line is adorbs, and will start rolling in in January for vacation season.
Another new line is Limeapple - all girls 7-14. Yup - 14. THIS is the line that convinced me to carry up to a 14. It will be here in February, and I totally fell in love with it. I'm not going to post pics because I'm not a huge fan of their pics - you have to actually see it in person to love it. Again, another one I had no intentions of so much as looking at, but I happened to whirl through it and L-O-V-E-D it. And I KNOW you all are dying for an alternative to the J-word store...well, this is what I'm bringing you (for now, anyways). I actually had to shop at the J-word store once - for some photography styling. Now, I left there with two complete summer outfits and had spent $120. That's $60 per outfit. We all know their quality is terrible, and the style is...well, not really what we want for our kids. Limeapple is much cuter, higher quality and definitely less...Britney Spears circa 1998. AND - lower pricepoint per outfit. Win-win-win-win, right? I certainly thought so.
Next is the one I'm MOST excited about - Baby Nay. OYE. Love it. I actually made the poor rep stay past their tear down time so I could place my order. I really wish they went higher than a size 6, but no such luck, and I HAD to have it regardless of WHAT sizes it came in. Bright green and pink with grey funky florals and a "crayon" art pattern - super funky and very b&b kids. I also added a couple sets for holiday - so we will have some pieces in shortly! One of them is pictured below (gasp!)

Now for boys - I did not completely disclude boys - I found Bobinette. I only brought it in in sizes 4-8, because that's what I liked it for, but I absolutely adore how chic yet simple it is. The designer was brought up in Paris and her upbringing really shines through in her designs. Tres magnifique! The pic below shows one of her designs from last spring/summer - she is well known for her classic shirt and shorts that utilize unique but durable fabrics...a little shi-shi for boys, I know, but the price point is reasonable for this age group for one of their "nice" summer outfits, and the line is obscure enough that it is fitting for b&b. I really fell in love with it...

Well folks, those are a few of the lines you can expect to see this spring (and sooner)....and of course, expect some surprises along the way! I have at least six new designers coming in within the next three weeks that are NOT on this list!

Major wow today!

I got a huge surprise in the mail today when I stopped by the store (on my one day off per week) - a feature in Earnshaw's!

Having the line recognized by such a huge trade publication is absolutely a-mazing!

The store.

Well kids, the store has been crazy busy.
This post will be short and sweet, and again I know I've taken forever to update everyone. Twirls and Twigs and Isobella and Chloe have been selling like mad, and I'm loving the Decaf Plush (corduroy dress below sold out quickly).

I also brought in a new brand called Tralala:

My personal fav brand though will always be Twirls and Twigs - Shawna Dalton, you rock:

I just can't say much besides I love the store - I love my customers, I love helping them find what THEY love for their kids. I've both worked hard and been blessed with a few opportunities - and that combination has put me where I am today. Every day that I go to work I feel lucky to do what I love.

Just thankful.

Well folks, it's been awhile AGAIN. I could give you a gazillion excuses but I won't because some would be good, and some would be bad. Instead, I'm going to sum up the last few weeks real quick-like.
The store: B-u-s-y. Any of you that have worked in retail know how dynamic this field is, and I'm still doing most of the work by myself. Now, this isn't to downplay the help of Windy, my sidekick/therapist/Auntie/sales assistant and Carol, my very part-time personal assistant - they are both amazingly helpful. However, the major stuff like purchasing, budgeting, scheduling, visual, maintenance (think plungers - yes, plungers), inventory, sales and not to mention working the store close to 60 hours/week....all of those things still need to be done by me. And that 60 hours doesn't include the HOURS of research and what-not that I do at home until the wee hours...if I want to get real about it, I probably work 100+ hours per week, and that's no exaggeration. Yikes. Doing the math on those hours just gave me (more than) a little agita and made me realize it's time for some more delegation. (Sidenote - Agita is one of my favorite words, but most Minnesotans don't know it. You can find the definition here.)
The line: Market was awesome in every way. We picked up some accounts, learned a TON and made some great contacts. Going into more detail on this could take up paragraphs, so I'll leave it at that. I know that's a little anti-climactic, but we'll all be ok. This, however, is what our booth looked like!

This is Colin and I at Ceasars - I know it's SUPER blurry, but it is literally the only picture we took while we were there:

I'm wearing Custo and 6" sparkle stilettos, and he's wearing jeans and a Yankees hat. Gotta love it!

Personal: We. Are. Finally. Moving. Yay! The kids will finally be in their own rooms (and own bathrooms!) and we will be on a much quieter street so playing and riding bikes won't be quite so complicated and limited only to the backyard.
Jax (aka butters) is absolutely hilarious and is quite adamant that he knows how to talk. He CAN shake his head yes and no finally, which any Mom knows is a huge help to figuring out their little toddler-brains, but we're pretty limited on the vocab right now. His favorite words are "no" and "mine" - imagine that. He has about 20 or so other words that are clear, and the rest is just gibberish. I have to say, I'm a huge fan of gibberish. When a toddler just jabber-jabber-jabbers and looks you right in the eyes like you know exactly what they're talking about? Not too many things cuter than that. Definitely enough to give you the warm fuzzies.
Logan started school again, but at his age they just kind of get right back into the swing of things. His case manager says he's doing well, and I even got a cute little note back last week saying he had a great day. He initially didn't take well to the idea of moving as he has to switch schools, but he's coming around quickly. I think the idea of barricading his brother out of his room is unfortunately what is most appealing...but whatever works I guess.

I titled this post "just thankful" for a reason. With work and the kids it's easy for me to get so busy that I forget to slow down and appreciate everything I have. I think sometimes we all need a reminder to take a minute, look around and thank God for everything we have. I am not a highly religious person, but I am spiritual, and I read something yesterday that reminded me that the most important thing today is not how much I sell at the store, or what store picks up my line, or what kind of car I drive, or how big my house is. It's the people around me that matter - those are the only things that aren't replaceable. So today, I am thankful for my beautiful, precocious children, and all the other people in my life that are amazing in some way or another. Click here to read what I read, but I'll warn you, there will be tears. If you read further into her blog though, you'll see that she really is a remarkable woman with a huge amount of courage that has taken the worst scenario possible and tried to help others...major kudos to her.

Two days...

Two days from now I will be at Paris showing the line. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 7am, so I'm guessing I probably will only sleep for a couple hours being that I'll have to be up around 4:30ish - If I sleep at all.
So, I'm nervous. Very. I have a lot on the line. Enough said.
One of the worst parts of this is that I don't get to see Jaxie for a week. He's going to come to the store today to visit for a bit, but then I won't see him until next Saturday as he's going to New Jersey to visit his grandparents for a week. I've never, ever been away from him for more than a day, so I just can't imagine not seeing him for an entire week. I'm praying that I'll be busy enough at the show that I won't think about it that much...
I need everyone's positive thoughts and prayers. Just a little positive energy from all of you that read this...

Oh boy.

An over-achiever I must be.
Somehow I don't think the average Mom of two starts a clothing company, a year later opens a store, and then three weeks after opening the store takes original said clothing company to market...I just don't think that's normal. Now, nobody thinks it's normal that I work until 4 or 5am sometimes. I guess I don't think much of it - who else is going to get it done? It's kind of like changing a poopy diaper. Somebody has to hold their nose and do it, or there's going to be a lot of screaming to listen to later...
So, I'm going somewhere with this. Market is stressing me out, probably more than opening the store did. SO many details - and being on the selling end of market is an unknown for me, whereas the store is something I've done all of my life and is extremely familiar. In the store I'm (overly?) confident that I could handle anything that happens - market, I'm nervous. I called Paris today, where our show is and also where I am staying, to ask what happens to packages that we have shipped that may arrive before we do. The woman at the front desk laughed a little and said they go into a big room, and that they come in by the truckload this week. She said when we get in, we get to venture into this "big room" and find them. I'm assuming she meant find them ourselves. Fan-TAS-tic. Because that's exactly what I want to do while I should be setting up my booth. And when I'm nervous as hell. Search for a needle in a haystack. Outstanding.
I also realized today that it might be good to have something to hang our garments on when we're showing them. Hangers, maybe? Whoops. Silly details.
Progress has been made on the line sheets - this was one of those instances where you have know when to throw in the towel and pay a professional to do it for you. Thank goodness for Molly, my new handy-dandy graphic design whiz (and yoga princess). She whipped something amazing up overnight, and it's just a matter of plugging in the right information and pictures. Molly, you're the best. Maybe she can give me private yoga lessons too, being that I haven't been to the gym since I started the first company last year...

To market, To market...

To buy a...wait. To SELL many clothes.
The collection is beautiful. Just beautiful. Even since our photo shoot, changes have been made, details have been added and final touches applied. I can kind of tell what our big sellers will be, but I've been in this industry long enough to know that not everybody's eye is the same. It's a wait and see game at this point.
My nerves are definitely a little racked and I'm kind of pushing my body to its limit with lack of sleep. But, this is how I do. I'm a "do-er" in the twelfth hour. Not that most everything isn't done, because the majority of it is, but I tend to go over and over things until the last minute (little bit OCD). Don't get me wrong, I have a list, probably a longer list than I would like, of things that still need to be taken care of. Samples are still being made. Paperwork is still being formatted. Our backdrop was just ordered today. Considering the situation though - just having opened a store and all - I think I'm on my game.
The store is fantabulous. Couldn't ask for more. The support of my friends, the community and the press has been amazing. With the only problem being I can't seem to keep merch in long enough, I think I'm doing okay.
Jaxie (aka Butters) is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. Yes, I'm partial, but still. This can entertain him for a solid hour:

Yup, that's my boy.

One LAST thing - I have to plug our amazing photographers, Kristy and Chris at Journey Photography. Mamas, I'm going to keep it very real and tell you that it's taken me more than a few tries to find the right photographers for my line, but these guys are IT. They are the very best photographers I have ever worked with, and have taken the most amazing pictures I have ever seen (yep, and I'm talking in general, not just my line). They take the type of pictures that really make you sit back and say, "WOW.", as opposed to "Ooooh, that's cute". I, personally, am looking for that "WOW", not the cutie-patootie shots that I can do at home with my SLR and its handy-dandy quick-shot guide. So, if you want some amazing photos of your children/family/whatevs, click here for their website, or here for their Facebook! Here are a few of my favs that they have done for us...

Why no posts, you ask?

Because I've been busy. Seriously, no lie, crazy, terribly, non-stop busy. And, I'm working SO much at this point, that I just can't bring work home (even blogging) with me anymore or I'd be working around the clock. I've officially moved my entire "creative" work station to the store. I had a work counter installed, just like the one I have at home, but now the one at home is bare and a little lonely looking (weird). All of the tulle, and fabric, and scissors, and ribbon, and sparkles, and flowers, and even my sewing machine.....at the store now. So, now I can work on my tutus and sewing projects in between customers and a bazillion other things during my 12 hour stints at the store. Sweet, I say. Having all of that stuff out of the house kind of took a major load off - I don't feel as stressed when I'm at home. I don't always feel like there is a "project beckoning".
I've worked at least five open to closes since the store opened, and haven't had a day off in 10 days. I'm up late doing laundry now because I have tomorrow off completely - no store at all - and I want to spend it with the kids, not doing laundry. I'd rather stay up until 4am doing laundry and only get a few hours of sleep than have to do it tomorrow. To just be honest, I miss my kids. Being that I used to be home full-time, this has been a major switch for all of us. I want to concentrate on them tomorrow, not the mountain of laundry in the basement.
Well, here's the DL on the store. It's been good. We've surpassed our expectations by quite a bit. I placed more orders earlier in the week, so among other things we will have an entire new stock of aden+anais by Wednesday. This time I also ordered some of the towel sets which I think are absolutely adorable. We are also getting in some really cute toddler boy outfits by an Etsy designer - pants with matching long sleeve t's in sizes 2T-4T. And...the birthday hats will be in soon. If you want one of these, I'd pop in quick because I only ordered a few - a few with the number 1 and a few with the number 2. I'm SO excited to get these - they are beyond-words cute. We have more knit hats coming in by two different designers, and more rocker t's. There are a few other possible orders I'm wavering on, and a few more that will be ordered closer to September and October, but I think everyone will be happy with what's coming this week for now. Hopefully these shipments will last longer than a week. :)
So, obviously there is no more stay-at-home-Mama in the house. Jaxie had his first day at daycare a week and a half ago and is...well, not quite adjusted yet. His teacher is amazing - very motherly and loving with the kids which is great. Every time I walk in the room she always has them cuddled around her reading books or doing some sort of art project that they need a LOT of help with. She's very patient. Anywho, he's fine in the car on the way there, fine walking through the main door, fine down the hallway, but the second I put my hand on that doorknob to his classroom the wailing starts. And I'm talking full tears, screaming at the top of his lungs, clinging to me with his legs, and pleading "Mommy" (the worst). However, I did wait outside the door on Friday and noticed that pretty much as soon as I left he stopped, so that made me feel a little better. I don't think he's napping well because he always looks exhausted when I pick him up. And of course, the first thing he does when he gets home is run to the fridge, yank on it and say "ba-ba"? And....I give him one. Oh yes I do. Guilt works wonders.

Five Days.

Five days. Five days. Five days.
Five days to enter in inventory. Five days for final touches. Five days to finish up appliques on the t-shirts. Five days to make 10 more tutus. Five days to figure out our POS system. Five days to finish the fitting rooms. Five days to tie up the window displays. Five days. Five days.
That's just about all that I can't think about. Five days.
I'm doing a segment on KARE 11 tomorrow at 4:00. That makes me feel a little pukey, but I'll take one for the team and get 'er done. It'll be cool to showcase a bunch of our product, not so cool that I have to do TV. TV makes me nervous - way nervous. So, if you want a good laugh, and to see me trip over my words, feel free to watch. It should be a good time.
I'm stoked for the Grand Opening party - but what do I wear? Like I have time to go shopping - with all my free time. I don't even have time to go get a mani/pedi. I feel like I'll have to do my best JUST to look presentable.
I'm also excited to listen to Tim sing - I loooooove his voice. We're also going to have my cousin's husband Travis do some acoustic from 4-5, and he has an amazing voice as well. Lots of good music...
Ninja mode today.

Here we go...

So folks, it starts to get a little crazy now. Our Zulily.com sale is tomorrow. The store is down to the final pieces being put together. Market is one month away, and we are in a mad rush to get everything put together. I'm swamped to say the least.
I've decided not to release any more pictures of the store until we open...I want the rest to be somewhat of a surprise.
I spent last night at the ER with Jaxie - he had a fever of 104.4 most of the day and I couldn't get it down, even with a couple double doses of Tylenol and Motrin. We got home around 2:30am, and I had some work to finish up, so I didn't get to bed until 5am. Needless to say I'm pretty exhausted, but have to head to the store shortly to do some POS training on our new system...
Hence, this is a short post. I'm killer tired. I can't wait for the opening - mostly so I can sleep again.

butters&beans organics Spring 2012 sneak peek!

Here are some candids from our shoot yesterday!

Elliot in our organic lightweight denim and NYC inspired organic t!

Two-week-old Presley was amazing! Love her organic jersey ruffle dress...

Savanna was fabulous and SO patient with all of the pictures, and she looked so cute with Presley!

Henry was SO excited to dig into the amazing cake that Mary Ann made!

It took all the kids a minute to figure out that this beautiful thing in front of them was a cake, but once they did, they had no problems digging right in!

I love this organic yellow and fuchsia dress on little Jessa! FYI, Jessa is Butters' playdate buddy - they're the cutest together... :) And beautiful little Miss Lucy is off to the leftie, and Elliot in back on the right busy with a fistful of cake.
I adore all of my little models! They did such a fabulous job and were total troopers. It was pouring rain when I woke up yesterday morning, so immediately I was Facebooking/texting/calling everyone to figure out what we were going to do and even if we were going to shoot. We decided to just go for it, despite the rain, and I was SO glad we did because shortly after we all arrived the clouds parted and we had sunshine all morning long!

July 21

July 21st is the big day. I have exactly 17 days to get the store up and completely ready to go. I try not to think about this in terms of days, because when I think about only having 17 days I totally freak out. I have to take this one day at a time, or major anxiety takes over.
Orders have been placed, and we have some fabulous product coming in. There have been snags, no doubt, and it sucks that it is a holiday weekend as I can't get anything done. The one thing that I can say HAS gone smoothly is all of the purchasing with my Etsy vendors...they have been awesome to work with and everything is shipping on time. It's the bigger companies that have been more difficult to deal with...minus aden+anais - they have been super easy. Major kudos there. I'm super excited about all of the product on it's way...
The baby and toddler bracelets are amazing...I ordered some with crosses for baptism gifts, some with Swarovski detail, some with pearls and some with "little sister" and "big sister" on them.

I am also stoked about the puffy crib blankets - these look gorgeous.

I love the fact that NO ONE else has this merch - that it can't be purchased at any other stores. We are the ONLY ones that carry it. That to me is absolutely awesome.
Isobella & Chloe should be here in time for the opening, but I'm a little worried that Tea Collection will not. I'm waivering on bringing in Appaman - it sells like mad on the east coast, but I'm not sure it would do well in the midwest. It's at a little bit of a higher pricepoint than I would like as well...BUT, it's also super cute. I'm also waivering on Robeez. They have a higher end collection that I absolutely love because it's not as available as the other styles, and I think it's WAY cuter than what you see at most stores....but still waivering. We'll obviously have a bunch of b&b, and my co-designer, Thi, does her own line called YVan, which is beautiful as well. And of course we'll have the tutus...
I was super flattered that we were contacted by Zulily.com a couple of weeks ago, and we have a sale running with them on the 16th. They have 3.5 MILLION members - wow. Just the idea of reaching that many people kind of blows me away...
I have so much in my brain right now it's sick - between the store and market creeping up quickly I'm crazy crazy busy. We have our spring 2012 photo shoot this weekend - and I picked some amazing fabrics. I'll release some early pics of those pieces as soon as I have them. Lots of linens and jersey cotton...and all organic of course. :)

Toilet Water.

So Jax has finally figured out that there is a great new play place....the toilet. I USED to be able to lock him in the bathroom with me while I showered - I would just bring up a bin of toys and he would play nicely. No more. Yesterday he discovered the toilet. Now, showers are going to be limited to nap time, which used to be my hyper-speed work time. Naptime used to be my time to make all of my important phone calls without a screaming child climbing my leg (I like to refer to him as baby Jacqueline when he screams - his screams are like the girl-in-the-horror-movie type of screams). No more.
I NEED to clean my house. I'm having guests today and my house is a wreck. I've been putting all of my energy into getting the store open and getting ready for market - cleaning and laundry has fallen to the wayside. I shouldn't even be writing this right now, I should be dusting and vacuuming and scouring my bathroom. I think I look for just about any reason to put it off...
Our open date with the store was moved back to the 21st due to having to tie up some legalese with the company. I'm good with that though - I'd rather have more time for all of our product to get in and set up the way I want to set up.
Must. Go. Clean.

Are. You. Kidding.

Emails like this are one of the many pleasures of being a business owner:

Dear Ann,
I am sorry to inform you that per direct my activities for XXX Export / XXX are ending. A very unfortunate accident has happened within my family and I have to return a.s.a.p. The consequences of the accident result in me not being able to return in Peru this year. Hopefully in the beginning of next year.
I realize that this has also consequences for your business in the potential we were about to uncover. As I am the main person responsible for all export activities, I can not guarantee proper continuity for XXX Export in regards to our communication and agreements we have had and made so far.
However, I do not want to abandon you with the potential order we talked about and therefore offer my personal services in connecting you with the Roxana, if you are still intending to continue with the sample order. As she talks Spanish only, as do other people I work with, I would suggest to run communication between the two of you as personal favour – also ensuring there is no service fee from my side as I can not contribute in fulfilling export procedures and quality control.
I understand that you might not want to continue with this construction, and I will certainly respect that decision. If we do continue for f.e. the order specs we talked about, we need to make sure that you and Roxana have a signed order request (from Roxana and your side), that money flows directly to her (from your side) and that I ensure Roxana is updated on all export procedures (from my side).
Let me know what your thoughts are.

Would you REALLY like to know my thoughts? I can promise you they are extremely selfish in nature. Only speaks spanish? WTF. So, now our complete sample line for market is wacky, as we may be missing a few key items that would be extremely difficult to produce elsewhere this close to deadline. I'm sorry for your accident, but apparently it did not leave you unable to type emails. Buck up.

So, anywho, the store. On hold waiting on legalese (ish) to sign all of our paperwork. I despise legalese. I don't speak it, and don't care to learn. I understand the process itself in and out, have no problems writing up the business plans in layman's terms, but transferring all of this info into legal terms takes time, and time is not on my side right now if I want to open July 15. Again, buck up all, we are on Ann hyper-speed right now. :) Keep up.

Personal note: I am currently addicted to wearing flowers in my hair. I think my collection of flowers has now reached about 15 flowers (thank you, tootyfruitymonkeyluv). I'm all about hippie headbands and little bobby pin flowers. Love them. This Etsy seller has the CUTEST selection - and, is also, my neighbor (good and bad - very accessible). Oye.

Tutus - still filling tutu orders, but trying to slow it down a bit with both the store and market fast approaching. I finally finished the huge feathered tutu for the little figure skater (she is a total doll), and if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty amazing:

I'm loving our spring 2012 b&b fabrics - lots of jersey knits, some linens and lightweight denim and the pointelle. Hoping to still be able to release the hats and sweaters for holiday despite the snafu in Peru...

Jax is NAUGHTY. He's a boy-boy. He eats dirt and sticks. Logan's report card hasn't come in yet, and he loses his DS for the entire summer if there are any D's or F's. You can bet he watches the mail like a hawk.

The BBQ's and bonfire have started, and we spend most days outside...some random summer pics:

Jaxie playing in the water

The amazing and "special" job I did mowing the lawn for the first time

Jaxie playing peek

The new store...

A happy Mama...

Two months since last post...

Wow. The last two months have been pretty crazy. Between b&b, the tutus, the kids, four websites now, market coming quickly and a some other big news that I can't share quite yet, crazy busy doesn't quite begin to describe where I'm at in my head.
I have been making my "to do" lists every day. Today however, I'm taking the day off. Well, KIND OF taking the day off. I've monitored the websites, sent out about 20 emails (no exaggeration) and finished off a tutu. I've done this all while outside sitting in the sun, so I guess it feels like a day off (except the tutu). And now I'm updating our blog - finally. So maybe it's really not a day off....
I'm not really the type to stop working. I love what I do and therefore just keep going.
I want to finish up some sketches today - that might be my last "to do" for today. I would LOVE to just sit and enjoy the sun. It's a beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky and should be about 85 degrees. In Minnesota you never know how often you'll get these days, so you have to soak them up when they come.
So here's the breakdown of where I'm at with all the different pieces of life in general:
There has been TONS of b&b stuff to get done for market, and I feel like I'm falling behind. Market is only two and a half months away, and I have so much to do still. Production is moving steadily with our samples, but has to be done before the beginning of July so we can shoot everything for our lookbook and banner for the back part of our booth. This is probably my biggest concern of the moment - just getting all of our samples done. Also, I need to start making my calls soon to set up appointments for market. I'll probably start this the beginning of July. Picking which stores to call out of my list of 3,000 will be a challenge to say the least. Then, I'm still working with our vendor in Peru which is also a big project. Importing is a complicated process, and I'm still learning how it works. These are the big things, but this is in addition to my daily little things like taking orders, monitoring the website, photography, accounting and working with clients (just to name a few). It can be a little overwhelming at times, but like I said, I love it, so it's good.
Tutus. I pulled all the tutus from the b&b Etsy and put them on their own Etsy site. This is hard because the new site obviously has no feedback, so it's starting all over again. I'm working on a feathered bluebird tutu for an adorable little figure skater, and that has been SUPER fun. It's close to being done, and I'll for sure post a pic when I finish it.
The kids have been busy bodies. Logan is almost done with school for the year, and Jax is into a tantrum stage. Jax LOVES being outside, and is for sure a boy's boy. He loves playing in the dirt and wandering around the yard to find sticks.
My big news? I'm STOKED about it. I want to tell so so so bad but want to make sure it's 100% before I do. It's at 99% right now, but I never want to jinx anything. It would be an amazing thing, and VERY ironic. Hopefully I can break it on Monday. :) It will add a LOT to my plate, but I'm ready. Bring it.
Lastly - I marked down our spring dresses to 40% off for the month!

Overdrive.

Crazy times. This is going to be a short post. This is where I'm at, and thank GOD I have a lot of energy.

-PR PR PR PR and more PR. Praying for Parents Magazine and City Pages Best of the Cities. We may not get City Pages, but still praying for it. The online version comes out tonight, so I'll be checking. I've done several press releases to several national outlets, so we'll see where it goes. I can see on my Google Analytics who is clicking on my links, and I know some MAJOR peeps are, so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes.
-Sewing. And more sewing.
-Tutus. And more tutus. Good thing I love my friends. :) These are not for b&b, but I love doing them, so I'm going to keep taking orders. Glitter, tulle, gems, sparkles, rhinestones, butterflies, flowers.....so fun.
-Picking out fabrics for spring. Actually more like finalizing. Not typical spring colors, but I'm good with that because I never wanted to be a typical organic company. I'm leaning towards red, indigo, purple and black. I'm loving the fabrics.
-Budgeting. Nuff said, no fun, hate math. Thank god for Numbers (Mac version of Excel).
-Photography and Photoshop. Getting good at Photoshop and figuring out how to do way more stuff.
-Bloggers requesting samples. LOTS of bloggers. Love it.
-OllieOlio sale. Had to re-do inventory three times. Ick.
-Lots of calls coming in from customers. Very cool. Love talking about our products.
-Volunteer stuff. Don't want to get into deets, but always makes me feel good.
-Ads. New ads running.
-Trying to set up Earth Day giveaways. More complicated than it should be.
-Jaxie is running a 102 fever - the doc thought he might have strep, but came back negative. Just a nasty virus, but he isn't eating or sleeping well. No fun for baby, Mama, or the Dada that has been super-duper helpful while Mama works.

And this is just today. For reals. Good thing my brain is organized.
Quick update - back to work I go!

Wow.

Just wow is all I can say to describe the last week or so. Crazy busy.
Although I've been absurdly busy, my thoughts are organized, so I'm good on that front. Unfortunately, though, I do come to a point at the end of the day where I must lie my head on a pillow and sleep. I almost feel guilty going to bed at night - is that absolutely insane?
Between b&b - getting ready for market, working samples, nailing down fabrics, working on the website, taking photos, editing photos, learning photoshop (oye, not user-friendly), launching and promoting the spring pieces, securing production for after market because I KNOW we're going to be a huge success - and then working on tutu orders for my friends, life has been a little nutty. But this is good - it is all organized chaos. I work literally from 6am till 10pm.
And then there are the kids...
I took Logan's DS away. Like, completely. He only gets it on the weekends when he brings me home tests that he gets A's on during the week, and only gets 30 minutes of DS playtime per A. Needless to say there has been a few meltdowns since this has transpired.
Jax is getting another molar - I feel so blessed that they are coming in one...at...a...time. Four of them. One at a time. For real?
Oh - AND JAX'S CRIB IS NOW IN LOGAN'S ROOM. Yes, I have my bedroom back. After almost 16 months. I know you all are thinking I'm insane.

2011 Ultimate Baby Shower Gift Guide - Coolmompicks.com

So fabulous to see our Abby Collection stroller blanket featured in Coolmompicks.com's 2011 Ultimate Baby Shower Gift Guide - this is great recognition for our/my hard work! This is such a lovely blanket...a fetching sea blue, chocolate, olive green and ivory mod pattern (woven 100% organic cotton) top with an ultra-soft organic cotton fleece cuddly under-side. Coolmompicks.com is one of the few - maybe the only - Mom-based website that I trust for information regarding kids products. I've said before that I found out along my b&b journey that most of the Mom websites are actually mostly paid advertising, which was really disappointing. I love that Coolmompicks.com actually features products that they like and support, rather than products that pay them to advertise.

To be featured next to companies such as Skip Hop, Graco and serena+lily is pretty amazing.

Anywho - I've been working on fairy wings over the last couple days. Those of you that know me well know that I can never do things the easy way - I always over-complicate. These have become quite the endeavor. Most people make fairy wings in what I would consider a pretty cheap and lame way (coathangers - really?), so of course I had to "upgrade" and find a better way of doing them. Finding the right type of wire has been the most complicated part - it took me four different types to find one that I liked. Aluminum was too soft, copper too expensive - and stainless was very difficult to find, but ended up working the best. Then figuring out the right gauge (thickness)...it ended up being a much bigger project than I anticipated. However, I'm loving them and can't wait to put them out there for my friends. A few minor adjustments and they'll be ready to go.

I've been at a crux with b&b over the last month or so. There are several roads we could take and I'm not sure which one is best. It's very difficult to run a business by yourself, mostly because I have no one to bounce ideas off of. I had a terrible experience with a business partner awhile back, and for that reason don't want to bring someone else in, but in a way DO, just for the purpose of having someone to brainstorm with.

Random, but there's a Blue Jay on my deck right now - spring is coming and I can't wait. :)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

Woodbury Magazine

I was super stoked to see the online-version of our Woodbury Magazine article released last night. Normally I'm pretty on top of these things, but actually one of my models parents saw it before I did and texted me that it was up (thanks, Julie). Yet again, I re-hashed my words and wished I had been a little more eloquent, but what can I do at this point...
The picture looks adorable, but there's kind of a funny story behind it. I chose to shoot our little models Elliot and Ayva for this article because they have contrasting hair and skin tones (as well as personalities) so I thought they would be super cute together. Elliot is normally my happy-go-lucky little boy - always very easy to shoot. Ayva has been a little more difficult in the past, but is just so darn cute I wanted to give it another shot. Now, the funny thing was that during this shoot, Elliot ended up being a little more difficult and Ayva ended up being pretty easy going. Point being, in the picture, it shows Natasha (modeling our great post-partum women's dress) with both kids, but really Elliot was edited into the picture because he wanted pretty much nothing to do with Ayva. He wouldn't get closer than five feet to her without starting to get fussy...I was kind of worried that one of the kids pics wouldn't go into print because we had such a hard time shooting them, but I was grateful they were able to edit them into one picture together.
I was happy to be able to mention Francesca's and Elodie in the article as well - unfortunately the only two clothing stores I really shop in Woodbury. I REALLY heart Francesca's - I always seem to find something there when I really need it. We just did some family pictures a couple weeks ago and I found a super cute dress there that looked amazing. I'll post pics of our family session when I get them. I shop Elodie often for accessories. They advertise and are known for their denim, but I can never seem to find my size when I go (which is a 27).
Callie V. Photography did our family pictures and I really enjoyed working with her - we were able to see a sneak peek of the pictures on her blog and they look ah-mazing. I can't wait to get the full disc.
We're gearing up for market for b&b which to be honest I'm not entirely looking forward to. If you're familiar with the fashion industry, market is absolutely CRAZY and a three days of super hard work. I've decided to do KIDShow which is in Vegas in August. I was talking to my husband about it the other day, and he gave me this jealous look when I told him it was in Vegas - right, like I'll get time to sit by the pool and spa it up. Nope. It's three days of hell. Three days of back-to-back appointments with retailers from 8am-6pm. That doesn't even get into the effort put into BOOKING those appointments which will start in July. Not so much fun and vaca, Chad, not so much.
The tutu thing has been fun - a welcome distraction while some of our b&b stuff is in production. I'm a little ADD sometimes, so it's nice to do something different for a little while and take a break from organics. I've been trying like mad to get my hands on some sort of eco-friendly tulle so we can make tutus for b&b. Here's some pics of the latest...

I'm in love with this dress - there are a few things I'm going to modify as this was my first sample, but it has eight whopping layers of tulle and is super super full. And Jessa is an absolute doll! She's actually coming over today to have a playdate with Jax because they are only a couple weeks apart in age...

I did this one for my cousin's little girl, Emily. Their entire family has attended A&M, and I love the team tutus I've been making!

The tutu Mom.

I've always sworn I would never, EVER make a tutu.
I've become the tutu-making Mama that I said I never would become.

It started innocently. I made one tutu. Just one. Just for a project to kill some time because the b&b spring line is in production and I have some extra time on my hands.

I put a picture of said tutu on Facebook, and that was the end of it. The response was huge, and I took about five orders within a matter of 24 hours. Uh-oh. I'm officially a hypocrite.

I've always poked a little fun at Moms who make tutus. They don't require any sewing skill, and I always scoff at any project that calls for fabric and the use of a hot glue gun. I saw the whole tutu-making idea as unoriginal, too easy and kind of along the lines of hosting a Tupperware party. However...now I kind of get it. It's fun. It's creative. It's kind of like going into a pet store and seeing a tiny little fluffy puppy that you don't intend on going home with, but you do, because it's just so adorable you can't resist it. They're just so darn cute.

There's regular tutus, petti-tutus, sewn tutus, rose-petal filled tutus, ribbon tutus...I confess to having an absolute blast making them. I DID figure out my own little way of making them that does require a little more skill and time than the typical method, so I feel a little bit better about the construction end not being too hokey. I make them with tons and tons of tulle so they are super full and of higher quality then most (I still have yet to figure out why some people charge $40+ for a regular tutu with less tulle then I use). I can add whatever detail I want and use about a million different crafty-type doo-hickeys. I have a million ideas and I can't spit out samples fast enough. I've even figured out how to make eco-friendly tutus for b&b, but those will be on hold until next fall.

I will say that I have no intentions of starting a "tutu business" or selling them on Etsy. I want it to stay fun and not become work, or I know I'll lose interest. So, I will continue to make tutus for my friends and for friend's of friends. Here are some of the cute ones I've done so far: