moleskine

do you find yourself coming up with a brilliant idea and then lose that brilliant idea to mind numbing distractions like your 2 year old that insists on wearing his big brother's shoes that make him trip, fall & cry? well here is a little secret my husband taught me.....

write it down

the moleskine is so small that you can keep it in your purse at all times. or you can even use it to announce a birthday present to a loved one.

airport jammas

 last week when Ben arrived home from his trip I we headed to the airport in our jammas. "We" as in the three boys, not me.

 and to throw in another element of fun they each wore their rain boots.

 i think it made for an added element of adventure.

summit summary

Altitude Design Summit was like going to college again, only this time I LOVED every one of my classes!

(Jaime of Design Milk, Kelly of Design Crush, Me, Suann of Simple Song, and Kirsten of Simply Grove)

 

 These ladies had great advice on balancing work and life. My main takeaway was to have a schedule and to use post-its! They also had some website that can help with organizing your life so I will be sharing those later.

 There was a wealth of knowledge amongst the group and they were all so willing to share their own experiences. And of course it was fun to meet all these fantastic people that I have only known through the world wide web.

 Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom fame was such a fantastic host. She made me feel so welcome and introduced me to some fantastic people. I am so excited for her BIG move to France.

I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from the conference.

(and please excuse my blurry discolored pictures. But thanks to the great instruction of Blue Lily Photography they should only get better from this point on)

Seth Aaron and Mondo, both of "Project Runway" fame were the speakers at lunch one day. They shared something that Michael Kors had said once, "When listening to criticism, take 20% and hang onto it. Throw the other 80% away. Know who you are and your voice and stay true to it."

When asked about up and coming trends, Mondo said, "Don't listen to or follow trends. If you like it wear it!"  (I fully agree Mondo.)

 Wendy and Danny were some of the first ladies I met at the conference. Danny introduced me to wabi-sabi, the art of the imperfect. I LOVE this philosophy.

 Sara Jane is just as adorable in real life. We have a lot of mutual friends so it was great to meet in real life.

 I loved DJ Spooky. He was just a wealth of knowledge and it was fascinating to see his creative process.

 Jeanette of storenvy.com fame.

 The Grand America was so fancy, they even had fabric on the walls.

 The Girls With Glasses teamed up with Kate Spade for this party.

 Some of the lovely ladies I met at the conference.  Be on the look out for some beautiful AND functional diaper bags from Crystal (on the right). Her company is called "Ness" which means miracle in Hebrew.

That's it for now. I will fill you in later on the websites and iPhone apps that some of the speakers suggested.

Cheers!

+Katie

come back home

For the last week and a half it has just been me and the little guys. We have had fun and kept ourselves busy, but I am ready to be with Ben again. It's amazing how in his absence I have come to realize so many things.

1. I can't sleep when he's gone.
2. Our meals become very basic (the little guys don't seem to appreciate all the chopping and steaming, etc)
3. Story time can be rewarding & exhausting
4. He helps me lighten-up
5. The boys really need to wrestle EVERY day.
6. He helps me focus
7. I need someone to bounce my ideas off of
8. Sometimes a hug can fix everything (it's a good thing my boys like to hug me)
9. A dead car battery can really throw your day off. Especially when it happens 4 times.

Lucky for me, I have some AMAZING family members both near and far. Ones who can give my car a jump at a moments notice or even install a new car battery. Or watch my kids so I can get some work done at the office. And family that is so great to listen to me blab and vent on the phone and still love me.

Thanks for all of your help everyone! The wait is finally over!

Lost Vegas

Truman asked me, "Mom, why is it called Lost Vegas? Is it because because people get lost there?" 

Well Truman, I think you're absolutely right! People do get a bit lost in Vegas. Lucky for us we had purpose (and morals) and we did not get lost in Vegas.

It was fun having Jason on board this year.

The ABC show was fantastic. We picked up a lot of new stores, made some very valuable contacts, and of course had a great time. I only took pictures at the show, but we made sure to relax and enjoy ourselves in the evenings. 

Me doing a little interview

Talking with Jeremy White, creator of JJ Cole.

Dianna is so fantastic to join us at these shows. She keeps me on task and is a NATURAL sales woman.

Jason is all business. He keeps the machine running smoothly.

Brett (Ben's brother) just happened to be driving through Vegas and joined us for a bit.

It is so rewarding to share these experiences with the man I love so much.

Q Collection had a very attractive booth. I think we complimented each other.

Next years show will be in Louisville Kentucky......Should be a good one!

Go Puj!

germany

I love Germany

 The view from our hotel room.

 Waiting for our high speed train from Frankfurt to Cologne.

 We stayed in Deutz, a smaller city across the river from Cologne. It had its own little downtown with restaurants, flower shops and a great Doner Haus.

 I loved the cobble stone roads and the sounds the cars made as they drove on it.

 We stayed at a quaint bed & breakfast that was one train stop away from the convention center, where our trade show was.

 Taking a short nap right after we arrived at our hotel.

 

Becky, these garden windows reminded me of you and I thought you would enjoy them.

 We became very familiar with the train station and it was a great way to navigate the city.

 

Enjoying the view of the Rhine at the Vendors only Kind & Jugend party

 

 I love the boiled egg stands.

 

 Paintings original to the building in our hotel (over 100 yrs old)

 

 Enjoying some orange juice in our breakfast nook.

 

The breakfast room in our hotel. We had orange juice, boiled eggs, rolls, yogurt, museli, sausages, black bread (a grainy bread) and of course nutella.

 

 We were located in the middle of our German Distributors booth, a fabulous location. To the left is Boon and Skip*Hop. To the right is Wishbone Bikes, Bebe au Lait (Hooter Hiders), KidBasix and Easy Walker)

 (Me in my after the show shoes talking to friends from Wishbone Bikes)

This is Amanda. She is our very enthusiastic Spanish Distributor. It was great to have her in the booth. She really believes in Puj and knows how to sell it. Plus, she speaks Spanish & French. A bonus when you have people visiting from all over the world. Before next years show I want to learn at least one other language so I don't feel like such a sucker.

This was my first time at the Kind & Jugend show so I don't really have a good gauge for a successful show. But, we are working with distributors in Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Finland, Holland, Isreal, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Czech Republic, Poland, South Korea, China, Japan, Italy, Dubi, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand....I can't remember the rest right now. Can you believe it! Two months from now if you happen to be in Finland and NEED a Puj Tub, you can just go to the store and get one.

AMAZING!!!

Go Puj

A SPECIAL thanks to Jason & Andrea for taking such good care of our boys while we were gone.