Meatballs, Parsnip Mash with Gravy, and Steamed Broccoli

You know how I told you yesterday that I bought ground turkey? Turns out I bought ground beef. Even when I try to get more lean meats, I inadvertently go to beef. I guess I just can't get away from cows. :)

Today was not super productive. I think I spent most of the day answering e-mails than sewing. I finished a small batch of Clutches and will install the hardware tomorrow because I'm so tired. Then I got to thinking, "Why have I been so tired lately?"

Then I figured it out.

I've been sewing everyday and every weekend for at least 12 hours a day since August 7th to prepare for Austin Fashion Week, then Renegade Chicago, then Pecan Street Festival and all at the same time keeping up with orders. Yesterday was the first day I didn't sew in almost two months. During my lunch break yesterday, I turned on the TV and immediately passed out for 30 minutes. Best. Powernap. Ever.

It's time for a break. I've been asked several times if I have any intentions of expanding my business and hiring help. I have thought about it, but I'm not ready to share the duties. I love being the one to talk to customers, source my materials, cut and pin fabric, cut and clip leather, sew all the bags, photograph them, package them to ship, and travel to vendor fairs to share the love. I don't know what part of it I can share with someone else. Though The Boy does help a lot with the selling at vendor events - he's so great with customers!

I do have one employee (my mom) who is my accountant, whom I pay in flawed bags each quarter. It wasn't my idea. I wanted to pay her with money but she is such a frugal spender that she would just save all the money and hand it back to me in some way. So she requested the bags that I mess up because she likes to show her friends (and strangers) her bags, "Look! My daughter made this, and see, she even messed up here! Isn't that cute?!" Moms. So weird. They even love our flaws.

Wow, tangent. Now I don't want to discuss how I made dinner. It was easy though, just season meat, roll into a ball and cook. Use the drippings to make gravy. Cook parsnips and mash in butter and milk, add salt and pepper to taste. Steam broccoli. Voila!

New and Blue

There are some new Travelers in the shop, and they're blue! In a good way. :)






Well, the last one isn't new, but it has nickel hardware instead of antique brass, so it's a new improvement.

Find these in the shop now!

Spinch and Baby Bella Pizza with Bechamel Sauce

I've had too much meat this weekend. For lunch yesterday I had an entire turkey leg. That definitely influenced my grocery shopping today, as I almost gagged as I walked through the meat section.

So I raided the vegetables and picked ones that I don't normally work with to see if I can come up with something a little more innovative than regular ole' Vietnamese food.

Here's what I got:

Parsnips, baby portobella mushrooms, baking potatoes, baby spinach, broccoli, and serrano peppers. I also got a bag of coconut flakes because I was in the mood for sweet sticky coconut rice for a dessert. I also caved and got some ground turkey to see if I can do something with it.

At home, I emptied my bags and figured out my dinner plans.

Monday: Spinach and mushroom pizza with bechamel sauce
Tuesday: Turkey meatballs (with brown gravy), parsnip mash and steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Potato coconut curry...of sorts


And then I ran out of ingredients. But maybe leftovers will spark something new. :)

Ok. Day 1 dinner.  Done. 

Feels like Fall...

Pecan Street Festival THIS WEEKEND!

Whatcha doin' this weekend? Come stop by The Pecan Street Festival on 6th street and visit my booth! I've got some new Travelers to share with you!





You can RSVP on Facebook, too!

Our Living Room: New Rug!

The Boy and I have been dwelling on what color rug we should get for our living room.  White or red? Well, while walking through IKEA with our bellies full of Swedish Meatballs, we finally made our decision and we're quite happy with it.  Red definitely brings in more color, better defines the space, and forces us to train Hubert to stay off the rug because he sheds way too much.  Don't worry, he has a plush little spot near the couch and is quite happy with it.



I also caved and bought those red glass vases from IKEA. They're just too pretty.

Working Sunday

I applied for a couple events for the rest of this year and to prepare (in advanced), I'm working overtime to make sure I don't have to rush at the last minute.

I think the extra hours over the weekend are definitely helping me catch up on orders and prepare for the holiday season.

Happy Sunday!

Happy Weekend!

Well, I finally slipped some new pieces into my batch of 20-something Travelers. I hope to finish them this weekend to photograph for the shop. Can't wait!

Thit Kho

Thit Kho is my go-to meal when I need to make something fast and have very little ingredients in the fridge. It's a caramelized braised pork and egg dish that just calls for garlic, onion, sugar, and fish sauce. Except I substitute sugar and fish sauce with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a bit of brown sugar because I get to the end result a lot faster than using a lot of white sugar and caramelizing it.

This dish normally calls for a coconut soda, but I skip that because I don't normally carry coconut soda in my pantry and Thit Knot is the meal I make when I have leftover pork from Goi Cuon.

Hey, look who decided to visit as I was photographing the dish...

Chicago: In Words

Beginning of Renegade Day 2 (with half of my Briefcases sold from Day 1!!)

I'm finally caught up on e-mails, shipped out a batch of bags and am working on a batch of Travelers now. And I will be able to bring in a couple new fabrics, too! :)

How was Chicago for my shop? Well, because there's so much to say about my trip, I'll make a list of Pros and Cons to spell it all out:

Cons

1. Overweight luggage sucks.  I was slapped in the face with a $75 overage fee (on top of $20 for check-in luggage) because the suitcase carrying all my big bag merchandise was 8 lbs over and there was no way to distributing that weight elsewhere because the merchandise was vacuum-packed in order to even fit in the suit case. Fail.

2. Parking in Chicago is expensive.  I booked my room at the Hyatt Regency on the riverwalk and didn't know that parking was an additional $50/day!!!? We instead found some parking at Millenium Park a few blocks over that was $30/day. But still, slap in the face. And more money coming out of my pocket before I even began making money. Fail.

3. Chicago is colder than Texas.  Haha, this was a big fail by The Boy and me. We were leaving Austin which was experiencing temperatures well above 100F and going to Chicago which was experiencing fall. And we brought summer clothes. Fail. (But we went shopping, so that fixed the problem right up).

4. Chicago is really windy.  I need to invest in a rain-proof wall for my canopy. The bed sheets that I clipped on as walls were not weather resistant and acted like sails when the bursts of winds came in, knocking over my displays. Fail.

5. The Boy will probably never travel with me again after this.  Poor guy had to lug around a 58-lb suitcase and 50.5lb canopy.  I carried the smaller luggage filled with really heavy metal purse stands (which were searched at the airport because they look like weapons, fine). As I entered the plane, the flight attendant tried to help me get my little suitcase in the overhead storage and I warned her that it's really heavy and that my boyfriend was going to do it after he put his duffel bag up. She insisted and almost broke her back. The Boy ended up helping her. I warned her. That thing was about 45lbs because of the metal racks, and lots of bed sheets for my walls. And metal photo frames. Fail.


Pros

1. I sold half of my inventory.  This was great news because I was really scared I would have to pay another overweight fee for my suitcase. Thank goodness.

2. Chicago loves Austin.  Since my banner says "Austin, TX", we got a lot of ex-Texans and Austin lovers dropping by to chat. Austin is definitely very well known for the music scene (ACL, SXSW) so it was great to meet people who love Austin!

3. Watching people make decisions is entertaining.  I have thousands of stories of the people I met and the funny stories of them trying to make their decisions. I think The Boy was the most entertained by this because this is what he told the ladies in my booth how he makes a decision on buying a bag: "Does it fit my laptop? Yes. Is it the color I want? Yes. Buy." 

One of the funniest instances was when Customer A came in the first day and spent 20 minutes switching between two Briefcases. She couldn't decide and then left my booth. She comes back the next day and does the same thing, trying to decide which Briefcase to get. At that moment, Customer B walks up and picks up one of the Briefcases, then hands it to me saying he wants to buy it.  I thought a fight was going to break out, but instead Customer A thanked him for picking one so that she could buy the other.

One other instance was two customers (who do not know each other, Customer C and D) looking at two different Briefcases and trying to decide. They end up having a long conversation about what they could wear with the Briefcase and then raise their heads and look at each other's Briefcase. They quickly switch and reason if they should buy that one. Then they switch back and finally make their decision and buy the original ones that they tried on first. Customer D went to get cash to pay and I started working on the transaction with Customer C.  When Customer D came back, I mentioned the name of Customer C she was talking to. She looked at me and said, "Wait, what is her name?!" I repeat it and say, "It's a pretty name, huh? I've never met someone with that name, it's so unique!" Turns out they had the same name.  That is crazy.  

4. I love Wicker Park.  I think if I were to move to Chicago, I would want to live in Wicker Park. It reminds me of Austin in all the right ways.

5. Chicago loves The Briefcase.  I thought that the Baby Ruche would be the top seller, but I was proven wrong very quickly.  Sometimes it's hard to decide what inventory to make because I try to make items reflecting what has been selling in my online shop. This was true for the most part in that everything Brown, Gray, Black, and Beige sold where in the summer it was everything Green, Blue, and Brown.  Interesting what bag colors sell, huh?


That's all the time I have for now. I have to get back on orders and prepare for a trunk show in Austin (more details on that to come!).

Chicago: In Pictures

Millenium Park


Crust - Thanks for the suggestion Sarah Louise (Slubird)!


Millenium Park


Bean


Sugar Bliss


Lou Malnati's



Chicago: In Words will be posted soon. I just finished catching up on e-mails and I will ship some bags that need to be shipped this week and THEN have a chance to write out my thoughts on Chicago.

Introducing: Aztec II

Same soft squishy feel. Same great drape but with a matte finish. Reverse in colors. This one is a sierra brown with dark chocolaty brown shades compared to Aztec (dark brown with sierra brown shades).

Still so beautiful.

Find it in the shop.

What are you doing this weekend?

I'll be a vendor at Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago.  Come out and meet The Boy and me.  We're really nice.  I promise!

Baby Ruche in Aztec Brown Leather: Sold Out

That was fast. All 6 sold in less than 2 weeks. That may be the new record. I'm hoping to finish most of my orders and then REALLY buckle down and work on inventory for Renegade. It may be a couple of all-nighters. We'll see.

I was photographing the above image and saw out of my periphery that Hubert was waiting patiently for me to finish so we could play. What a cutie. Of course, I snapped a picture.

Briefcases in Moon Rock and Army Green

Obviously, I can't help myself when it comes to photographing newly finished bags and posting them for you to see. So much for keeping any inventory hidden for next weekend. But hey, I can't leave my internet people out of the loop. Ya'll are my faves. I loves. :)

The Briefcase in Moon Rock is the new one. Briefcase in Army Green is rephotographed.

Back to work. I swear.