hmmmm, this blogging thing is easy to slack on...

and we were doing so well!
alright, I am back on track now.

Back from the NY gift fair, (more) back on my derby skates than before, winter might just be coming to an end soon (although every time I say that, it magically snows again!), baby tess is sprouting a little tooth (yes, her first!) and will already be a year old soon, and I have a few things to discuss with you all. (or just YOU) whoever you are that might be reading this, or, if you are my ex or some other friend that doesn't talk to me, you are a little stalkerish for being here, (just saying).

Alright then, now that that is out of the way, I would also like to mention that perhaps this whole law of attraction thing does work...after blogging about a bag that I had absolutely fallen in love with, I had the wonderful opportunity to get my little paws on one (at cost! shhhhhh whilst at the NY show)- Now don't bitch and complain about that, we actually show at one of the same trade shows (much to my utter delight), there has to be some kind of advantage to being in this industry other than paying absolutely crazy prices for trade show booths, setting it up in record time in stinky dirty conditions, sitting in the booth through great shows or shows where hearing crickets would be considered busy, and then regardless of the outcome, packing it all up and doing it again. A little Carni-like if you really want to know (as in, Carnival folks that move from town to town and set up, pack up, over and over again).

Anyhow, long story shorter, I got the bag in Bone (that's a color) and it's going to be amazing! (I say "going to" because I haven't received it yet, but it's coming!).

As for the show, (photos are coming) I am happy to say that things seem to be moving along, certainly on the upswing! There seemed to be more buyers around, more buyers actually buying, and an overall less gloomy/doomy feeling than recent past shows. It looks like I will finally be doing business with some fabulous retailers that I have wanted to work with for years, wrote some exciting orders for great international stores in Tokyo, Saudi Arabia and Canada, had a bunch of interested magazines and press stop by the booth and have shipped and will be shipping to lots of new clients and some of our great regular clients within the coming months. So, phew (for now!) seems like we are still in business!

The actual trip to NYC was pretty great, except for the speeding ticket, but I will get to that later.
Although daddy wasn't able to come with us this time (which made the momma kind of nervous...). Roller-auntie Lynn came to keep baby Tess smiling and she did one heck of a job! I did hear a few comments along the way like "how do you do this all the time?" and "I am so not ready for this!",

but OMG she was amazing with her!
I was a little worried the first day of the show, when by 3pm I still had not heard a peep from auntie Lynn and Tess...by 4pm I was dying. As of this point, I had never really been away from my teeny girl for more than about 3 hours in a row. Just as I was dying, in they strolled with big smiles and lots of toys and doo dads in the stroller, (the ones that you hand tiny people to keep them occupied as long as possible while you are trying to get something done or go from point A to point B). When I asked where they had been, Lynn smiled and said- "Hey, you need to work! don't worry about us, we are fine!".
For someone who usually controls stuff, this was oddly comforting and incredibly reassuring!
Needless to say, auntie Lynn was fast asleep by about 9pm that night.

I have known roller auntie Lynn for several years now (her derby name is Lyn dah Kicks, I like to call her Kicky, not only are we team mates on the same roller derby team La Racaille, but she is a wonderful friend.
I trusted her implicitly, obviously, when I asked her to come to NYC with us and care for her royal "babyness", but she exceeded all my expectations. Within 2 days she knew all of Tess' baby sing along book songs and didn't think twice about doing a little jig or making a kooky face to get her to smile or giggle, in public or privately! On several occassions I saw her pushing the stroller loaded with all kinds of paraphenalia, winter coats, water bottles, toys and her photography stuff (she is a professional photographer to boot!), while CARRYING a squirming Tess in her arms and still smiling! Moms, join me in a quick "Halleluja Auntie Lynn" moment!, Tres Impressive!

The booth once again made me quite happy! I am definitely in the "keep it simple" mindset for now, and I think that the overall feel and simplicity of the booth design is a pretty great backdrop for the line.
Basic white!
The line pops on white and I find that it's much easier to focus on the products rather than the actual booth, which is really what we want when working with buyers. I had some fun with my black Sharpies again this show, by drawing out picture frame mouldings on simple brown cardboard and cutting it out and adhering it to our foamboard walls with a glue stick. It served to add a little architecture to the plain walls and table with a little bit of a sense of humour, maybe Victorian humour (given the design of the mouldings?...maybe I am pushing it here!). Also, since the fabulous Marc Tetro (amazing artist and dear friend) and I still show together, the simplicity of the booth design is still perfect in giving us a unified look, while also keeping both lines independant and distinctive.

So all in all, things are pretty ok! although still what I consider to be a somewhat scary time to be a small business, the flip side is that BlueDogz Design is so lean to run that I am thankful I am not a big huge company right now with lots of overhead and families to feed. I look forward to see what the next months will be like business-wise and to see where my ideas and life will take us.

Stay tuned for the speeding ticket, great baby and booth photos (by Kicky!) and I guess it's time to get into some derby...