Great Quotes

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
~Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

A "Site" To Behold

I’m incredibly proud (and often awestruck) that we’ve been able to say we are going to make things happen and then watch those said things actually become a reality. Like finding a bookkeeper, deciding on a company to manufacture private labels and another to sew them in, reconfiguring our warehouse space, obtaining new licensors, advertising for and adding to our independent representative sales force, designing and producing new creative concepts, art files and heat transfer images etc., etc. All of these accomplishments are the result of hard work, deep concentration, intense strategizing, a fair amount of stress and more than a few arguments!

Our most recent milestone has been the launch of our revised website. The new site not only has e-commerce functionality (which it did not have before), but it also allows for personalized “web stores” for each of our reps. Aside from a minor advisory role, I must say that I had very little to do with the website’s creation. The whole enchilada was a “Ken thing”. He worked tirelessly (okay that’s not completely true given that most of the website work occurred between 1 and 3am) to ensure that it would all be in place and ready in time for the upcoming season.

I mentioned that I had very little to do with the site’s actual construction, but I must also confess that I did not allow myself to get too excited about the whole website thing because I just couldn’t fathom how we were going to get everything in place and running within the timeframe we had hoped. I am so excited (okay beaming a bit) to be able to finally have this very timely and important selling and advertising method in place. I think it will exponentially increase the income potential of our reps and hopefully enable us to be found by what I hope are a jazillion online shoppers through web and google-type searches.

And, perhaps most relevant to what I’m doing literally right now, we have changed hosts and moved “Blog What You Like” to www.likewear.com/blog. Just like blogspot (former host), there is a way to subscribe to the feed (if you so desire). Not that there was anything wrong with blogspot… we just needed to keep everything under one roof - so to speak.

With all that said, we will continue to set goals. A part of me knows that we can’t always make it all happen (despite all of our best efforts) and even if we do make it happen it won’t always be on time. I also know that Ken and I have set our bar pretty high. We like that high bar – it keeps us moving forward. We just have to remember to keep looking back at the same time to be aware and proud of the work that has already been done. At the moment, it’s marveling at www.likewear.com - shop on.

Curing What Ails You

There are few things worse than the 4am wake-up call of a vomiting 5 year old. Their glassy, sad, scared eyes as they cling helplessly to the rim of the toilet bowl are enough to bring me to tears. I feel instant “sympathy nausea” which I always overanalyze – “ooh, I don’t feel so good myself”, I think as I’m holding back hair and administering a soothing back rub. Truth be told, the worst part I admit selfishly, is the middle of the night linen changes, towel washings and carpet blotting.

Well, that’s how I started my day this past Saturday – ya know, the one day of the week I actually have the opportunity to sleep in until 7:45am. But, what’s another night with less than 5 hours of sleep? The ironic thing is that all week long I was looking forward to today - what I was calling “the afternoon of me”. I desperately needed some relaxation time. My husband, recognizing I was on the brink, was kind enough to offer to drive my older daughter to her camp reunion an hour away. And, he was going to bring my son and other daughter with him to kill 3 hours at the nearby supermall before picking my daughter back up (oh yeah, and 3 of her friends that he was also carpooling. You see, I was desperately in need of a little R & R – and I’m not talking about rock ‘n roll. There’s so much “rocking” around here lately as we prepare for “rolling” out our Spring/Summer line that I needed the kind of down time that involves just me, myself and I (okay and maybe my manicurist!).

But, Lily’s early morning projectile party (sorry, too much detail, I know) changed all that. So, there I sat, all day long, trying to focus on relaxing while I was snuggling (not too closely mind you) and watching what felt like a Suite Life of Zach and Cody marathon! Never before did I think I would utter these words: damn those DVRs!

I didn’t get my nails done. I didn’t catch up on my very behind photo organizing. I did no laundry. I did no shopping. I didn’t check e-mail. I didn’t even walk the dog. I spent the day on the couch with my ill 5 year old who didn’t feel like eating, speaking or even sitting up. But, we were there for each other. I comforted her while she wasn’t feeling her best and she showed me that sometimes the best way to recharge your battery and get a little R&R is to do nothing at all with the ones you love most of all.