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Just a little bit of Irene Cara for you all. Afterall, I was a huge fan of Flashdance. We brought it  down a knotch and cute-ified it for Matilda Jane. So to answer all those emails with one post, yup, the leg warmers  are in the "Sack Lunch" Line.

because i love you all...

and cuz Michelle keeps sending me more and more gorgeous pics. But I am stopping after this one...I have work to do and Dt Coke to drink and a full bowl of animal crackers at my side...

David just said, "How many posts are you doing tonite?? Don't you have work to do". So blame it on him that you don't get to see any more pics.... but one more...oh, did you see those leg-warmers....yup, Irene Cara (sp) has come back to town.... loved her. I bet she has pretty elbows.

And the winner is??

Okay, so my talented artist friend, Anne Tirey, had an open house at her studio. Yup, that is me with the chubby elbows. Isn't that weird, have you ever looked at your elbows?? Hmmmm..Oh and if I see you this weekend, I may be wearing the same outfit. This is so my new favorite skirt.

Ya, that is Lynette in the black, Chris and Tim and David looking ultra cool in the far back. Everyone else was outside having a good time. We are losers and loners. Well, okay, I am, it must be the elbows....

So, which painting do you think David and I got? 

Okay, back to work..back to life...back to reality....

Sneak Peek Fall 08....

I really had no intention of sharing anything until I got my act together. Which I am slowly doing. My gosh, I swear I have taken a nap everyday since we have gotten back from Plymouth. 

 

Carla came in from Peru this past weekend. I introduced her to Anthropologie. She is amazing. She so gets exactly who we are. It is almost bizarre how her team in Peru resembles our team at MJC.  We both started with just 1 or 2 and we have grown side by side. Yup, she's even got Mario.... her handsome husband, rooting for MJC. And her daughter gets to be the only girl in Peru sporting the goods!

She left today and all day I have been racking my brain on how to put the line together. I am so not the normal designer. I do not design a collection and then build the outfits. I pretty much just design pieces I like and hope (key word is hope) it all falls into place and they match up. Yes, this is why I am so mis-matchy. I never go into it with the intention of "this shirt is made to wear with these pants". Yes, that would be a heck of a lot easier. But I am a complicated fool. Ask Lynette, she'll vouch for me. Actually, ask any of the MJC team.

And for your patience I will give you one, and only one little peak. And all thanks can go to Michelle . She was the chairman of Operation Bust a Move. Yes, we all relish in a time crunch and that is why I am just now, tonite, starting my product training bit.  David has been on me to get working for the last couple of weeks but it's just not there yet......

The Facts Of Life

Though the Beast was a bit sad he did not get to go to the Art Fair he was thrilled when he woke up this morning to a huge stuffed shark. He loves sharks and is now convinced the shark has bitten his finger. 

Imagine the chaos Friday morning had he been there. Oh, wait. It was chaotic anyways, eh? It was so wonderful. It reminded me so much of my la.ti.da. days (when I painted furniture). It was pretty exciting. And my girls were fantabulous. You do realize this was their first art show experience....

Okay, so this is not an action shot. But here we (plus our new friend) are after 5 hours of sleep, and a 10 hour workday!  From front to back is Tami (our new pal), Chris (old faithful), Kylie (Lynette's daughter and well trained Hanger sorter outer) Kayla (the head cashier), Bailey (Kylie's BFF and the super fast hanger upper) and Lynette (ha, she must be on the phone helping a Trunk Keeper, she never stops). ME? I am taking the pic, someone has to be the responsible one. Plus, I am so not a friend of the camera.

And this is what the morning looked like. It was so exciting. For about 4 hours straight we could not see the front of our booth. I am so glad so many of you got to come. For a long time, and still today, many people think I am nuts for doing shows. I can remember one time I got this look from another parent "Oh, you do art fairs, so you like travel around to carnivals?"  Ya, it is a hard thing to explain and most people think I am a gypsie. Well, they thought that when Chris and I did about 40 shows a year. We rocked the show circuit.

Can you believe how beautiful these guys are? What the heck? And talking about beautiful, you guys are amazing. It was great to meet you all. We went back to the hotel each night and were like, OMG did you meet so and so? And wasn't she nice, and I cannot believe that was so and so.....and the story continued. It was nice to put a face to a name.

Those of you who came later in the day Saturday got to meet David and Joe. Joe loves to come work shows. Gosh, he has been coming for quite some time. The real reason he comes is cuz he gets so darn spoiled. Talk about getting spoiled, you guys were so sweet and generous. I think we each gained about 5lbs from all the treats. 

David is so funny. He cannot stop talking about the bike/skateboard show they had at the art fair.  He thinks I should re-cap his youth and go watch a bunch of videos of him riding when he was 16. Fear not, I told him I am much busier blogging. My gosh....I have seen the darn thing 20x over. Hey, maybe we could put it on You Tube and we could all watch it.  Ha, maybe?

To sum it up, the show was wonderful and I cannot thank you enough for all your support. It really means a lot. You have no idea what it feels like to actually see a child in my clothing. It is so darn cool.  We had our best show ever and it is all because of you guys. But most importantly, if we sold a ton or not, you guys are fanastic.

Saturday night I was so upset about a few comments, I was ready to just call it quits and go home. It is so hard be so small yet be so exposed (which is my fault for I am the one that puts it all out there). Anyways, I was laying there doing whatever and I did not even realize David had gotten up and left. He came back with a stack of paper of wonderful emails I had gotten, and said, "See, people love Matilda Jane. We are not perfect and they do not expect us to be perfect, just do what you do best and it will be fine". He is a doll and I owe you guys huge for everything you do for us. Thank you.

Lastly, everyone is dying to know what we are going to do seeing we had such a great sale. While it is odd to talk about money I can tell you David got a new computer desk, and I am buying a painting. I'll show you as soon as I get it. And then guess what, we have lots of bills, including that beautiful piece of land above that we bought (well, took a loan out on) on Joe's 3rd birthday!

So all day I have been singing

You take the good, you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

There's a time you got to go and show
You're growin' now you know about
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

When the world never seems
to be livin up to your dreams
And suddenly you're finding out
the Facts of Life are all about you, you.

Update from Denise...

Just heard from Denise and she said that the first day of Plymouth was CRAZY.  But not to worry, she has plenty of back-stock for Sat and Sun in case some of you are waiting to come on those days.  I'm even driving up there tonight (Fri) with approx eight Rubbermaid tubs filled with new items.

David

A word about the Plymouth Art Fair

Plymouth Art in the Park starts this Friday, July 11 and goes through Sunday, July 13th.  It is a huge show, so those of you coming to see the Matilda Jane booth would definitely benefit from knowing where we'll be located....

Each year, our booth is located on Penniman Avenue between South Harvey St and Main St.  It is somewhat near the post office.   Our booth numbers are 91 and 92.  In addition to seeing some great MJC items, you'll be able to meet Denise, Lynette, Kayla, Chris, and maybe even me  (but I'm actually hoping Denise will not make me go!)

We're bringing tons of stuff with us....more than we've ever brought before.  We've got back-stock to put out Saturday morning and Sunday morning just to help those of you who may not be able to make it first thing Friday morning.  But things do sell extremely fast and there's no saying what will be left at the end of each day. 

Post by David.

Gosh, only three comments.  Denise said if I include a picture I may get more comments.  So, here is a photo of what you can expect to see at Plymouth...

Oh, poor David has no clue..... yes, he is really trying. I warned you earlier we have more than ever, so this photo looks very sparse ( is that a word), you know like " the booth is very sparse)? Okay, I am taking a nap before the roadtrip. I need to be well rested so I can handle Chris lecturing me on how to set up the walls.

Fancy Face

I know, they are gorgeous. Even better they are nice. Yup, they have got me beat 2 out of, ahh...2.  And who are these gals, meet Leslie, one of our amazing Team Leaders (with the cutest accent) and Lynette, the ...well, I am not quite sure what her title is? But I can sum it up by saying, my right hand, and left too. Well, she pretty much runs the joint. I just say, "Yes, no, well, maybe?"  And then say "ok, you decide, you know way more than I".....well, except for when it comes to how to pack for an art fair and how to tag clothes. Oh, and how to pick out fabric and how to be the super genius that I am!

I wasn't even gonna post, I am working like a dog for Plymouth but I was ebaying for some candles. Yes, working like a dog means taking time out for ebay. And I typed in MJC, which I never do and holy S^#& people like Matilda Jane. Wow, david and I were like," Wow, we are a kinda popular."

Now off to sew more flowers and watch the Office. That show is darn funny. I can't handle it. Chris and Tim were over watching it the other night. I kindly uninvited them tonight. They talk way too much when watching TV and I call that irritating.

WARNING: I have more than I could have possibly imagined done for Plymouth. And there is some pretty cute stuff.

The Dog Days of Summer

Weighing in at (oops.. I forgot)  let's say 27lbs at a mere 10 weeks old is Mr. Romeo.  This dog is nuts for Kayla, she leaves the office and he literally freaks and paces.

I think she should have named him "Black" from the Black Stallion. I had about 5 fights today form people insisting I was talking about Black Beauty. Ahh....fools.

Today we started taking 15-minute breaks to re-set our minds, if that makes sense? We NEVER take a break, for real, it is alwasy non-stop fun. We decided we need to go outside and just chat for a bit eveyday to ease things. Lynette was not at ease, she cannot sit still. She is so me. But she did suggest we swear a bit more. They did say on NPR that it increases productivity in the workplace.  No wonder we are so darn quick at what we do. Ya, laugh... I know exactly what you are laughing about. Funny huh???

Off to itch my zillion mosquito (that is a hard word to spell) bites. I am so gonna catch up on emails over the weekend, promise, and yes, David too, he needs to respond to his comments. I have never seen someone so excited to get a comment, well, okay, I get pretty giddy about comments too. Yes, we both appreciate little things a bunch, thanks.

Confused?

Hi, it's David.  I just wanted to do a quick post to clear up some credit card confusion that I know some customers are having regarding being "double charged".  Here's an explanation:

Our system does an initial charge on your card to verify that the card # is correct and matches the billing address.  Once that is verified the charge is voided (because we don't want to charge your card until your order is ready to ship.)  This void, however, may take your bank a day or two to process...some banks are faster than others.  Then, once your order is packed and is ready to ship, we will then, and only then, officially charge your card.  Since we are shipping extremely quickly at the moment, this charge is sometimes made the same day as the original charge/void, thus appearing that you were double charged.  But don't worry.....in the end, your card is charged only once, but it may seem like you were double charged until your bank processes the void.

We realize that this is not the most ideal option, so our team of programmers is modifying our new system so that there will be no charge/void, followed by a charge.  You will see one and only one charge on your statement.  This will be initiated for the Fall 2008 season that starts in August.

Let's see if I can find another Indiana Jones pic.......

nope, can't find one.  Sorry.