Me and the family

 

Thought you all would like to see me and my family- of course I 'happen' to be wearing a pair of my handpainted jeans and one of my necklaces.....not really I had just come from a show and I always wear my own stuff to shows.

Really who expects perfect?

Just read an article about alcoholic moms. While I do see the connection and honestly can see how easy it is to slip down that path, their reason's seem so stepford wivesish. The article said the moms started drinking because it was so stressful keeping up with PTA and thier kid's activities and trying to be perfect. The article went on to discuss the increase in 'mom stress' in toady's society and I just thought "What the!?" (yes I am qouting Sponge Bob)

My husband might call bullshit on this one, but really who cares what other moms think. With both kids in public school now, I am full force PTA mom. All I can say is the more involved I get, the more ridiculous it all seems. I can honestly say that I will never be that perfect to be in charge of ten activites and have home made cookies and a clean house, perfect little dinner on the table, kids excelling in all aspects of their lives and .....who really cares.

My house is clean enough, we eat healthy enough, and I do what I can. My seven year is a tough critic and his approval is hard enough to get.

The best part is the other moms who feel the way I do are the cool moms. So not only do I get to let all of that go, but i get to let go hanging out with cool moms and we can have a glass of wine because its 5:00 on a Friday and after a long week we just want one.

Back from the marathon!

Ran the Chicago Marathon this weekend. Wow what an experience. I've run a smaller marathon and I have to say- there is nothing like a big city event. I believe I smiled for all 26.2 miles.
Now it's back to reality. Sigh...but not really, I had put so many things on hold for 'after the marathon' that it's nice to have it behind me. Now it's time for craft shows and product making.
Sold three more necklaces and here is the email I got from the customer:

"Great--this is perfect because my next sister's birthday is in a couple of weeks. I'll send you a photo of the four of us in the necklaces. We LOVE em!!"

Feedback like that is always nice to hear!

www.dillyjack.etsy.com or www.djbabyclothing.com

So my count is now......165 to go???

Rain, wind, and success!

This weekend was the Sandy Springs Festival here in Atlanta. It is usually the highlight of my season. Not only is it a good show from a sales perspective, it's a lot of fun! The festival is 5 minutes from my home and I love spending the weekend selling and visiting with friends.
This year started out as wonderfully as all others- and then Mother Nature made her presence known.

It rained, and then it poured, thundered, blowed, crashed and closed the rain or shine festival down!

The next day we returned to a collasped tent and a soggy, but sunny, festival.

It ended up being a great event - but I can't help but wonder what my sales would have been if I hadn't missed 5 hours on Saturday.

Still I am please to report my sales at 30 pieces of dillyjack jewels sold! Only 170 to go...

Have you bought yours? http://www.dillyjack.etsy.com or www.djbabyclothing.com

Gasp...is that the sun??

Gorgeous sunny day here in Atlanta. After a week of rain, including record flooding, it is simply wonderful to see the sun.
But I have to admit my joy is tempered by the weather reports for the coming weekend.
Rain.
While any rain on a weekend is no fun, this weekend is my big craft show in Sandy Springs. Not only is it miserable to stand outside under a tent in the rain, no one comes to a soggy festival.

So I'm holding out hope that they got it wrong. I don't need gorgeous weather- I just need some Dry weather.

So think of me when you are planning your weekend events, and send a little dry weather my way.

Necklace count is holding at 198 to go.....a rainy weekend is NOT going to help change that.

Almost a week later and it's still raining.

I was coming to blog about my wonderful news- two necklaces's sold! That makes only 198 to go! And while I am thrilled to be moving forward in my quest to 200 sold, there is really nothing more I can talk about but the rain. It's raining here in Atlanta, it's pouring and honestly I wish I was snoring.
I've seen rainy weather before. But never in my life have I seen anything like this. It has been pouring, thundering and storming for days on end here. Schools are closed, houses are flooding and unfortunately people are getting hurt.
Driving to pick up my children from school I had to take the roads at 5 miles an hour to make sure my mini van made it through the puddles. I live 1/4 a mile from the school!

This rain has us house bound, it has us tired and it has us all feeling blue.

Here I am trying to train for a marathon, create art for a craft fair and get my children ready for their sports. But really here I am watching everything literally wash away.

It's a rainy Wednesday

Doesn't that say it all. It's not the begining or ending of the week, it's not a holiday and it's not a beautiful fall day, it's just a rainy Wednesday.

It's also day three of my self imposed challenge. And the count stands at.....200 to go. That's right not one sold.

While I am not particularly shocked, I haven't done much to promote in the past two days, I thought I might get one or two 'sympathy sales'. Hey I'm not above people being nice to me because they feel sorry for me!

But I guess I am going to have to work for a living. So just as soon as I can figure out a way to finish every chore I have been putting off for the past 6 months and eat every snack product in the house, I am going to get right to it.

Why is that? Why are we suddenly motivated to clean the grout in the guest bathroom when there is some sort of deadline approaching. Truth is I love making necklaces and since my background is in PR I never mind promoting them. The only time I can't motivate myself to do it is when is HAVE to....is it me? You too?

You know I think I'm going to go ahead an research this. Should only take me what ....(How much time do I have until carpool)

working for a living

With the economy being what it is, the news reporting bad news and just a general sense of worry, i'm addressing the thought of working for a living.

Now that both kiddos are in school "full time" (and I use that term losely), I have no real reason to not find some kind of part time job.

No real reason except the house, the errands, the food, the, the, the,.....
You get the idea.

So again I have to revisit my jewelry. How do I get it going? My personal challenge is to really give this my all before I say it doesn't work on a large scale.

So here it is I am going to challenge myself to sell 200 flowers between now and christmas.

It's the first working monday of September so it's as good a time as any to start.
I actually have a decent inventory made and some good craft shows coming up. I will give myself permission to count anything sold anyway (craft show, etsy, word of mouth, standing on the side of the road) but I won't count the three that were already ordered but not made.

So today's count is
0

Wish me luck!
http://www.djbabyclothing.com/
http://www.dillyjack.etsy.com/

So sick of being defined only as Mom.

I am a mom and very proud of it. I love my children and being with them is truly the highlight of my day. Second only to being with them is being without them. I cherish my alone time crave it almost as much as I crave our together time.

But I am not only a mom I amso many other things. As are so many other Moms. Yet everywhere I look everything is trying to define me as a MOM. Mom bloggers, mom stores, mom jeans, mom restaurants, icky mom shirts with cutesy pictures like a glass of wine and the slogan "mom juice". Funny, yes but do I really want to wear that?

When all this Mom stuff first started I thought it was great. How cool to be thought of as cool because I'm a mom. But please now I am OVER IT!

I want to be defined as a women, a runner, an artist, a homeowner, a car owner, and oh yeah I am also a mom.

Does that make me a bad mom? If I'm still taking care of my kids exactly the same way I would be if I was wearing my Mommy T with my Mommy bumper sticker, drinking my Mommy drink, then no my parenting is not tied to my product placement.

I'm proud for my children to see me as me, not some general female group of moms.

I'm proud to be a Mom. But please don't send me that on a shirt.

Gmail - Inbox (567) - caren.cohen@gmail.com

http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox

Cold Cold day

I am an avid runner. I am not fast or particularly talented but I do like to run, far and often.

But today I realized I don't like to run i the cold-- brrrrr.
Being the spoiled southerner I am I have taken the day off.

There was a time when 30 degrees didn't sound cold.

let me tell you its freezing.

So today i wll catch up on emails, do some PR work and get to painting.

Its amazing that while I will get some business work done, I still can't seem to find the time to get any housework done...hmmmmm

Stay warm-- i'm off to pain some bright sunny flowers!

Thinking of spring (whistfully)

Having just read the fashion reports for spring I am very excited for this new year. Boho chic is in. Soft flowy fabrics and big bright flowers are every where. While I love the idea of the flowy fabric hiding all my winter weight...its really the flowers I'm fixated on!

With cost cutting everywhere-- it easy to add some of my funky clay flowers to an outfit and have an instant spring hit.

My bright funky designs as the perfect way to take last years wardrobe to this year.

And as always I do custom requests.....