My Weblog

When we go to art fairs  I always have the gig of being "The Girl who knows Everything". Chris often asks why I am so damn smart. For real.  Pretty much it is just because I have had every job under the sun. And as I am typing this I keep thinking of more I have had.

Yup, there ya go. I will have to say GFS (I interned) was where I got the smartest. I can remember getting a call one night, around 10pm, telling me I had to make a 3hr dirve to get French Fries for Cedar Pointe. That companys stopped at nothing, they were amazing and it was never a question of did it suck to make the drive.  It was always the vibe of "no matter what it takes, get the job done". Oh, I loved that job.

Now piercing ears at Claire's Boutique made me nervous. Think about it, me and 6wk olds? But I did meet Kelly, whom I haven't spoken to in ages, but still thinks she's SUPER. And the gas station was so fun but emberassing whena cute boy saw you working.  This is where I first learned how to read gas prices. I had no clue what those numbers meant, they never had dollar signs, I thought it was like a mesaurement of something.

Okay, the 4wk long gooey eye sydrome is still in effect on the Beast and he's got the flu and I have used my spare 15 minutes. See ya.

And just because she is so CUTE.

I just had to share this artwork by  Terese Petersen.  I am not even sure how I foind her site but it is so darn cool. I love the cupcake game. You have to look at her stuff, I love it.

Okay, back to being fustrated. I have been trying for 3 hours ( no S&!$) to get these files uploaded and they keep bouncing back.  Yes, I am getting a bit, you know what. If they had an email address, that would be nice. A phone number that works 9-5 is no good to me at midnight.

The Beast is screaming upstairs, he still has "gooey eye syndrome" unless that is just the way a Beast's eyes look?  He's my first beast so I am new to this. And I have now completed eating all of Joe's snacks for his lunch.  Nice.

The other day I was cleaning out my junk drawer in search of Art Fair Applications. I found  these.

 

When I flashback a year to when the Oscar thing was going on I now realize I was so star struck.  It is funny how someone instantly thinks I am cool cuz Matilda Jane was in the gift baskets. I thought it was cool. I realize now it was a joke.  I'm  not down playing the "movie star" thing. I cannot explain it, but back then I thought, "wow, this is how I make MJC fly."  Wrong.

I'll tell you what, the phone call I got yesterday morning form Minnesota just to say how sweet my clothes were, the phone call we got that afternoon stating that our clothes were in a league of their own and so should our trunk shows, how could she help and then the wonderful, amazing, heartfelt thank you's we get  weekly so blow away that ugly little bunny out of the woods.

That poor bunny card has been stuck in the back of a drawer for a year. And the sweet thank you's we get from you guys, well, they get read everytime we need a little ego booster.  Gosh, Esther sent me a great card in December that I keep by my kitchen sink.
When we feel like quitting, we just pull out those nice notes and realize, "ya, it gets tough but you guys accept us for who we are and truly appreciate us." Thanks so much. And thank you for making me realize the importance of a handwritten note.  I have tried to send my share of them after seeing how much they meant to me.

So I have added quite a few pics to the Look Book and the site .  We still have a few more, but we are waiting for them to arrive at the workshop... then they need to go to the photographer.  I am telling you, remember back on January 7 when I said they were delayed on the fabric. Talk about the ripple effect. Had that not happened it would all be here.  We're not sweating it,  about 1/2 is here and the rest to be shipped next week.  Cross your fingers customs likes us.

And why did I not look like this when I was 18? I think I was still in that " the more foundation the better" stage. And OMG it was always too dark with a nice line around my chin. Yup, I was hot.

OOOHHH, I almost forgot. I am not  always getting email  notification  from the comments you guys  leave, so I am not  being rude, I just dont; see the comment unless I read the blog. Well, the thing is, I wrote the blog, so what would i read it.  If you need to let me know something or have a question, you'll need to email me until I get this figured out ( and I hate to say it, but it may end up being no. 12 on the  "to do " list).  Here ya go, denise@matildajaneclothing.com.  If it pertains to a trunk show talk to Sarah, sarahw@matildajaneclothing.com she is the smart one of the bunch.

I'm late to work, but I had to throw these up.

 

gotta run, can't set a bad example.

To All the MJC Boys

I was in love the first time Kelly  showed me pics of her son, Carson. Okay, why can't I find the pics........ arghhh..... here we go.

Well, yesterday, knew I was head over heels when Kelly sent me this email:

I was getting ready for my show today and explaining to Carson (my 
boy) that a babysitter would be coming so Mommy could go to her 
Matilda Jane party to sell her clothes. I could tell he was bothered 
when I said "sell the clothes" and he said "Mommy, but those are 
ours"! I explained the situation as best I could to a 3 year old and 
he said "But don't let anyone take the dress with all the flowers on 
it, because I still want to wear it"!! Yes, he loves Betsy! All I can 
say is that I hope my girl is as into Matilda Jane as he is!

Pretty sweet, huh? Then to top it off Kelly sent me this today...

As I walked by Carson's room this AM I noticed his eyes were just 
opening. I sat on the edge of his bed and held him as he blinked his 
eyes to wake up. With his eyes still groggy, the first words out of 
his mouth...."Mommy, did anyone take the dress with all the flowers 
on it???" When I said, "No"  a big smile came across his face. This 
afternoon he told me he was going to hang it up so he always knew 
where it was so he could wear it whenever he wanted.

There is way too much to post.  I guess that is what happens when I trun off the computer for a few days. Ya, life, guess that happens.

Shannon has been sending me pics over like crazy. I've got most of them plugged into the Look Book and then I'll get to the website. Oh, yes, I do know the font is hard to read. Sorry, it came wih the package. Not much I can do about it.  I've also had a few people say it is not "user friendly".  In that case,  try to use my fax machine and then we can chat about what is user friendly and what is not. Whew, I sound snotty, but seriously it is just a website that I  got as a "template" and really not worth stressing over. Now if I spent 6k on it, ya, I'd stress a bit.

Okay, have I told how how much I love Jenni ? She sent me some great pics over from her Trunk Show she had with our rock star Christi.  Check 'em out.

Talk about going all out. They did a fantastic job with the display and even went above and beyond and passed out these goodie bag. And why wasn't I invited? I'm all about party favors. I so remember being young and going to wedding receptions. We'd smuggle every last favor out of that place we could. No, not my mom, me and my friends.

We went up to LSSU for the weekend. Oh and it was a wonderful weekend, we won both games. It's about time.  Those guys poor their hearts out in each game and they surely deserved it.

 

Meet Betsy and Cora

I'll tell you all about BonJovi tonight.  But first I have to introduce you to Cora and Betsy. Oh, I love them both. Talk about 2 differnt personalities!!

 

Three things

1. You may have seen this, but I really like it and I think your little ones will too.  http://www.linein.org/media/screen_clean.swf

2. Tomorrow is BonJovi day. That means it's a good day to wash my hair.

3. Look what I have almost done (yes, I still need to proof and add  lots of pics, but I told you my hands hurt). MJC new and looking pretty good. I am still trying to fix some pics I keep jacking up, sorry Shannon, Michelle and Amanda.  I 'll get them looking good.  I nver claimed to be the editting queen.

Are you sick of seeing Gabe in this outfit yet? It is form the same series of pics that Netsy took a bit ago!!! Oh, so many of you ask me about where to find boys clothes. Oh, I really have no top secret. I love H&M they have the best boys stuff. It's cool yet not too trendy.  I wish I could think of a list, I shop everywhere form Wal-mart ( they have the greatest jeans right now and corderoy blazers) to Oilily which by far look the bets on Gabe. It is way to busy for Joe.  He is much cooler. You have to go to H&M, I am telling you they have the best jeans for boys 2 and up.  If you do not have one, LMK, maybe I can help you out.   AHh. asking for trouble aren't I?

Oh, and shoes are so important. Shoes will always do the trick, shoes and layered tees.

I want so bad to re-introduce Mighty Acorns but it is all about time. If I can get a spare second I'll do up some tee and suspender pants and such.  So  if any of you want to volunteer to do inventory, cut fabric, upload the Spring 08 catalog, fix all my typos, pay a helluva lot of bills, and maybe watch the beast next week so I can work on this?

Oh, one more. I made this little diddy Download fit.jpg to help with sizing. I'll getthe others done as soon as, ya, as soon as someone comes and cleans my house.

Is it possible to get carpel tunnel from typing too much? Cuz you do know that is why my typing sucks, my hands hurt. Good one huh? But for real.

The following pertains nothing to MJC, but I find it rather fascinating.

I took Joe to the dentist today. Have I told you how sweet that boy is? He has this gap between his 2 front teeth (mother like son) and I just learned he actually has 3 front teeth, crazy huh? Two of them fused together. Even better, he has 2 more sets of front teeth waiting to come in. Ya, 2.  Would that make him a shark? Is that nuts and the funny thing is, all I could do is think of  "How much does it cost to get the extra set removed and how the heck does that get done?  Ya, I'd better get posting pics so I can sell some more goods. (Come'on Betsy, help me out, my boy can't look like a shark)

Okay, I have to get to bed early, It is so peaceful without the Beast here. Though, yes, we miss him, just bit the noise and chaos he creates.  And thank you giys so much for all the nice emails.  It really means a lot and makes this journey worth it.  And quite the journey it is.

And once again, a huge thanks to Jenni for sending these over. I LOVE the Betsy Knot Dress and it is so sweet with Damsel in a Dress.

Okay, now I have to sign off because the longer I type the more I eat.  And by the way, David thinks he is so funny catching all the Typo's in the last post, ha, he misses some. Yup, everyone makes mistakes.

Threadless (edited for Typos by David)

Remember the last post when I said I was hanging on by a thread? Or maybe I did not say that, but you could feel it. Well, it broke. The beast was up till 6am at the hotel. Screamed till 3 and then David took him to the lobby till about 5:55.  Oh, my gosh. 

I met a great customer, Rhonda, this weekend at the game.  Her daughter, Isabella, had to be the sweetest thing. You know the little one you just want to have sit on your lap and never let go?  Rhonda asked me how I do it all. I don't. I am no different than you. I lose my mind everyday, I slam the door, I look like crap in carpool line (okay, some of you look great) it's just life.  There is no way to handle all this.  No secret.  We do what we can do and the rest we just stress over. 

On that note, I made a little sizing guide to help some of you new gals out.  We get a lot of calls at the office pertaining to this.  Check it out here Download sizing.doc   People get confused often because we size by age.  This means if your daughter is 2 or 3 she wears a 2/3. Gabe is a chubby beast  (33lbs) and  just turned 2 years, he wears my 18m ( a bit snug on the belly) and my 2/3 is perfect on the belly but a bit long. He is super short. Okay, just read the document, it may help. I tried. Sizing is tough,  but elastic waists are nice.

Jenni was so sweet to send these over. I got to meet her in Atlanta, she is fabulous. A lot of these items are still not posted. I'm busting a move to get this all taken care of.   Sorry for the delay.  Gosh, I am getting good at saying that.  But sometimes, I have to remember I have a life. We actually got a note from Joe's teacher that broke my heart.  In the end it all has to do with me  being out of town all the time and then working so much, so late. It's tough being a mom, eh?

Let's here it for a great week ahead. I am so excited for my new site to come up. I'm just waiting, I check it like every hour.  Ya, maybe I should work on the catalog instead, eh?

Thanks to my sweet sister, the Beast has left the house.  Actually, Joe is in need of some "one on one" so Dede took Gabe home for the week.  Can I just tell you how peaceful this house is. Joe tried to teach me to play chess, no clue.  Oh, it's gonna be a good week.

Oh, and for those of you who are Laker fans, we played so well against UofM.  For them being the no.1 team in the country I would have thought they would have kicked our butt, but man did we put up a fight. We didn't win but we certainly left it all out on the ice! 

Thanks again Jenni for sharing.  And I am sure you are wondering how she got her clothes so early, she did not. Her friend is a Trunk Keeper.  Lastly, I apologize for the ship time, but we are still waiting for some of the production to arrive.  Ahh, I love the waiting game.