Samba Sunday!

I refuse to let technological glitches bring me down. After surviving a week of mild catastrophes (Entourage erased all of my emails, I cannot make a banner for my Etsy shop no matter how many half assed Photoshop tutorials I read, the lightbox at the Etsy labs didn't do it's job and my new digital images are crappy and a host of other small business drags), I'm going to Samba today!!

This afternoon at 3PM at Sputnik I'm going to dance my socks off! My samba teachers are starting a fundrasier and good-time raiser to benefit the good work of the Samba School for Social Justice and We In Cinema an organization that teaches filmmaking to children in the favelas of Brasil.

It starts at 3PM and ends at 1AM....I won't be there that late. If you need to step back and simply enjoy yourself - come on through.



The weather in NY is going to be nice - in the 60s and absolutely lovely.

XOXO,
Fela

Buenos Dias Spring

Spring has sprung in Clinton Hill. It's absolutely lovely...unless you have allergies (myah myah). The past few days have been great but a bit trying. I've spent a ton of time with our sweet puppy - but she still wants more. I can't blame her, spending most of your day in the confines of a semi-packed, dark apt. can't be fun.

Oh yes, we're moving. I cannot wait! We're heading to Do or Die, Bed-Stuy. When Biggie Smalls lived on our block (ancient history to some), he called this area Bed-Stuy. Well it isn't anymore Blanche, it's Clinton Hill and it's fabulous! Or so they say at Corcoran.

I've been walking a lot lately with the dog in tow.


We've gone to the park to see Barb. Her relationship with B$ is fantastic, they relax together on the grass in Ft. Greene Park (really a lovely place) and have some sort of connection that I rarely see.

It seems like we'll launch our website in the first week of June. I've been working with the developer and my financial/business guru to get everything done. Yesterday I finally found the time to head over to the Etsy Labs.

What's Etsy? If you purchased a Shoe-In Couture shoebag or visited our site you've already visited Etsy. It's almost like Ebay for the handmade crowd. Women and men from around the planet make goods to sell. You can buy pottery, artwork, jewelry, baby clothing and plenty more.

The last time I was at the Labs was for their grand opening party.


I wish I'd taken an "After" picture yesterday - they have rebuilt that space and it's full of sewing machines, silk screening stuff, computers, cameras....There's an Audio Visual space so you can edit or make music. While I was there, they were shooting an online workshop on how to make a stenciled tee shirt. Very cool!

Well, mi esposo just woke up, so we'd better start the day. Hello laundry, why hello packing and good morning post office.

PS The weather is going to be lovely today in Nueva York - a fabulous 73 degrees. Oh and tomorrow don't forget that it's going to be the Samba event at Sputnik. I'll do another post with the info.

Love + kisses,
Fela

It's Been A Long Time

Sorry for the hiatus, but I'm back! I've been quite busy (as I'm sure all of you have been as well). So much has happened and it's been good, good, good.

I titled the picture above "Happiness Is" and I'm sure you can see why. I absolutely adore pancakes!! Pancakes for breakfast, dinner, as a snack...yum. These pretty ones were created by the talented Cynthia at Brown Betty Cafe in Clinton Hill. It's right around the corner from us on Grand Ave. between Fulton St and Lefferts. Anyway, she makes a dozen other delicious meals, but hello pancakes.


Thanks Cynthia for making these for me.

Other things have happened, I've started freelancing a lot more with Martha Stewart and even worked on her fabulous KB Homes. That's right, Martha is selling homes and I have to tell you, they're really good.


My favorite is the Skylands model.

While in Atlanta, Felicia + I found the perfect taco house.

They even made their own tortillas - her mom ground the corn and made them fresh. So you know I ordered 25 fresh tortillas and a bunch of taquitos for mi esposo and mi cunado and his family. I'm pretty sure this place is in Kennesaw - anyway it was freakin' great!

My best friend moved to Brooklyn, so that's been soooooo great!!! She and her husband and their newest addition (the sweetest little girl) are all here and I couldn't be any happier. At the same time, my other best friend is leaving Brooklyn. She, her husband and their beautiful baby are heading across the river to NJ. I actually can't wait. They're moving to a quiet town with lots of space and mi esposo and I plan on visiting quite a bit!!

I served on Jury Duty. Right after ATL, Felicia and I served together - which actually made it fun. I was called into a case and forced to serve as an alternate. Even worse, because you're supposed to listen to EVERYTHING and you may never get to weigh in. Luckily, the first day of the trial the lawyers settled!! Yippee! It was even better because the following day I was entering our Shoe-In Couture bags into Oprah's QVC contest for "The Next Big Idea."



It was at QVC Headquarters in West Chester, PA. I rented a car (and a GPS - thankfully) and hightailed it down there. I just made it in time (someone didn't reset the GPS' time to daylight savings and it kept saying I'd get to my destination at 12:00PM. That's 1:00PM after daylight savings! I should've been doing 80mph the whole way.)



There were at least one thousand people in the space during my 1:00PM - 2:00PM interview time.


The interview/pitch was really quick and I learned a lot. I made a connection with my judge (she definitely understood the whole idea of the product and seemed interested). I need to work on my financials and I've got to refine my pitch for men (some of them don't understand the idea). I also met two very nice women who were really cool.

We're (my cousin Nepreil and I) are still moving ahead with the bags. I didn't get chosen to be a finalist - they chose 10 people from the QVC events in LA, Chicago and PA. That's 10 people out of the thousands that applied. After attending the Business Plan Competition with my fantastic financial/business advisor + guru - I definitely see where I can improve my work. Look at these new fabrics I found though:


Aren't they fabulous!

My web store is in development and we're hoping to have everything up and running by the end of May. Modern Travel accessories on www.babas2nddesign.com! Woo-hoo. Right now the url will take you to our beloved Etsy.com shop (I love the Etsy), but soon it'll be our own store. I am so excited!

NY is overcast today, but the sun will set at 7:53PM - hello summer we're waiting for ya!

xoxo,
Fela