Fave Handbags

I once met a man named Miracle...

2008-11-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

No explanation necessary

~~~

from Prince Miracle Nze
reply-to princemiraclenze@yahoo.com
to lara.varona@gmail.com
date Monday, November 24, 2008 at 9:35pm
subject Re: 1 br - clean and bright suite in great location (VGH neighbourhood)
mailed by yahoo.com
signed by yahoo.com

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am
Rev Prince,the owner of the house you are making enquiry
of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and
my only daugther before and resently we had packed due to my transfer
from my working place and now situated in London,and
presently my house is still available for rent for $700 per month
including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is
urnised.Moreso Now, i went for a Crusade in the West Africa and i will
like you to get in touch with my wife for more discussion
as She is with the keys and the document to the house.Pls i want you
to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my
property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your
absolute mentenance of this house and want you to treat it as your
own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to
keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i
came for a check up.i do that once in a while.I also want you to let
me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you
located and where do you see our advert.
Email my wife Faith on (faithmiracle16@yahoo.com) she will
attends to you better.
God bless you
Rev Prince

from lara varona
to princemiraclenze@yahoo.com
date Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 12:01am
subject Re: 1 br - clean and bright suite in great location (VGH neighbourhood)
mailed by gmail.com

So good to hear from you, Rev Prince. This sounds like a most fantastic plan and presently I am sending you many cheques for many money. So good of you to be blessings on my family.

To, as well, I am honest woman of present nature and will likingly meet with you in the present future.

I am glad to hear that your present concern is not about money, rev prince, but moreso about the tidy nature of your most prize possession your home. I will be keeping it most cleanliness for you. In return, kind prince, I only ask that you take pity on my present situation and make acceptions for my rental fee, at present I can pay only $5 a month. As you are a kind man I am most trusting that this will not be a problem.

Presently I would like to sign the agreement and proceed with the fruitful living arrangement. Kindly forward me your mail address and I will wait for the keys to my new place.

God bless you more,
Lara Varona

~~~

For some reason, I never did hear back from the honourable Rev. Prince Miracle. Strange. Now if only the Nigerian prince who wants to wire his $10 Billion dollar inheritance into my bank account would write back to me...

Indie I Do

2008-11-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've been following the lotus events blog for a while now, and recently became aware of the Indie I Do show that they are producing in January. As "Vancouver's First Alternative Wedding Show," Indie I Do is setting up to be the most interesting indie show in Vancouver over the next little while. I'm not engaged (yet! hint hint Karlo are you reading this?), but I will definitely be attending this show.

From their Facebook event page:
"Indie I Do is an alternative to the cookie cutter wedding where one size does not fit all. The first show of its kind in Canada, Indie I Do revolutionizes an industry that is dominated by commercial products and provides couples with the opportunity to think outside the box.

The indie wedding market is almost non-existent as couples often have to search high and low to find the products and services that will help create a wedding day full of personal touches without an unnecessary price tag to go with it. Indie I Do is a one-stop show featuring the non-traditional alongside the traditional.

While the show will naturally attract couples looking at completely non-traditional weddings, the intent is to also introduce those couples with more traditional events to unique touches and alternatives that they can incorporate into their events.

Tickets are $15.00 in advance and $20.00 at the door. Please visit www.indieido.com for more information or email info@indieido.com"

I'm sure this show is going to be fantastic, so if you're getting married or know someone getting married, spread the word about this alternative to the normal, run of the mill wedding show. Supporting Indie culture all the way!

"I'm blogging!"

2008-11-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

I wish I had more time to write an actual post right now, but alas time is limited for me these days. So instead I will leave you with this. Kate Trgovac tweeted this yesterday and it made me laugh!

Fave goes FAB!

2008-10-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

3 more weeks until the FAB Fair. I'm super excited about it, even though there's stiff competition that weekend (if you're into indie/handmade products, then you know which shows I am referring to!). If you're free for a bit on either day, Nov. 22 & 23, stop by the Heritage Hall on Main St. You won't regret it! Even though I'm vending there the entire weekend, you better believe I'll be shopping too!

Sunday morning recipe

2008-10-26T11:03:00.001-07:00

I've baked since I was about 11 or 12 years old, but for the most part I stick to the recipes of my childhood that I've grown to love (and know like the back of my hand, thanks mom!). However recently I was asked by Karlo to try experimenting with some new recipes since he's not as big of a sweet tooth as I am. So, when I came across this recipe on one of my favourite blogs, everybody likes sandwiches, I was super excited to try it out. Now, in the past I haven't really ever been a fan of the whole sweet and salty thing, I've always preferred my foods be one or the other, but nevertheless I set out to try this recipe and boy am I glad I did! The result was a batch of the best cookies I have ever had! I'm not kidding, I'm obsessed with these cookies. I substituted the white chocolate in the recipe for a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (the good kind, though - Ghirardelli all the way) this time because Karlo doesn't like white chocolate, but the recipe does call for premium white chocolate which I will try for myself the next time I bake these. Like she said on ELS, these cookies are "thin and crispy and that sprinkle of fleur du sel (hell, just use regular ol' kosher instead) on top, is the icing on the cake. The salt brings an interesting complexity to each bite...it's like a party in your mouth!" Amen, sister! I've eaten probably a dozen myself over the last few days, and I'm making another batch at this very moment, for Karlo (who by the way, is equally obsessed with them) to take to work tomorrow to give out at the Science World staff meeting.

crispy salted oatmeal cookies with dark and milk chocolate chips
(recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t kosher salt
14 T unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 c sugar
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 t fleur du sel (or Maldon or kosher)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the 1st salt measurement in a medium bowl.

2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add in oats and chocolate until incorporated.

3. Spoon up a large tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball, repeat for remaining dough. Press down on each ball to slightly flatten and sprinkle a flake or two of fancy salt on each cookie. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Makes 24 - 30 cookies.

Take it from me, this recipe is easy to prepare and tastes oh so yummy. Try them and you won't be disappointed. I'm feeling inspired to try more sweet and salty things now - Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, anyone?

So you wanna be Canadian, eh?

2008-10-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

@jodiferous posted this on twitter this morning, and I couldn't pass up sharing it, too. This is hilarious, yo!

Reverse Psychology at it's best...?

2008-10-21T22:26:00.001-07:00

So today on twitter everyone was buzzing about this article from WIRED magazine. In case you don't give a crap what that dude has to say about blogging being dead and all that, I'll give you the coles notes version: blogging is dead, facebook/twitter/flikr are where it's at, anyone who doesn't subscribe to that mentality is dumb.

Angry bloggers enter stage right

So let me get this straight - you are writing what is essentially a glorified blog entry about how "blogging is so over?" Have I got that right? Word to big bird, that is some crazy reverse psychology going on over there. I mean, writing an article that looks like it's meant to make everyone realize that they should stop blogging, only to actually spurn the bloggers into action? It's either extremely hypocritical or superbly sneaky - I can't decide which.

I am woman, hear me roar!

2008-10-19T12:46:00.001-07:00

It isn't women's history month (that's March), but I thought a post about the power of women was in order today because Danielle, Sarah and I have started a women's networking group here in Vancouver, BC. Our first event is quickly approaching (Dec. 3rd - mark your calendars, female Vancouverites!) and it'll be a great night for anyone looking for a little inspiration and motivation during these uncertain economic times. Our speaker is Sue Paish, CEO of Pharmasave and former corporate lawyer. She will be speaking about her new role as CEO of Phasmasave and the process of deciding to leave her job as one of the most powerful corporate lawyers in Canada to pursue her next goal. If you are a "woman on the rise" in your industry, or a woman who already knows what it's like to work your way up the ranks, this event will certainly be of interest to you.

"Stop watching !@#$ING LOST!"

2008-10-13T16:08:00.001-07:00

Here is a 15 minute keynote address by Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library) from the Web 2.0 Expo NYC

I LOVE this video. I've been following @garyvee on twitter for some time now, and apart from being wildly hilarious and endlessly amusing, the guy is clearly onto something. Most people will watch this video and think "but it's not that easy! I can't just decide to start doing something I love and make money off of it, otherwise everyone would be doing it." And you know what? I think everyone SHOULD be doing it. Part of what I love about being an entrepreneur is "the hustle" as Gary calls it. The constant fire in your belly and yearning to devote every waking hour to whatever your passion (your business) is. A while back, I blogged about how hard it was making the decision to quit my day job to strike out on my own and start Fave Handbags. And I admit, if it weren't for my amazing support system (Karlo, you rock!), there were a million times when I might have packed it in, and gone back to my old job. But what keeps me going is what Gary is talking about - Passion and Patience. I have the passion to keep going, and since nothing has ever happened for me overnight, I have the patience to see this through to the end. I'm completely inspired by Gary, and the many others who are doing what they love and I hope you find some inspiration in this video too.

What keeps you inspired?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I live in 2 worlds

2008-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about the dichotomy of my life - my existence on the cloud (the internet, in case you didn't know) and my existence in the real world. Since I began actively participating in the social media world, I have found that my online network has increased exponentially, yet the spillage over into my physical, real world has been minimal to say the least. Interestingly, my internet world knows (in much detail most of the time) a lot about my real world, but the same can not be said of the opposite. Most of my real life friends don't know about twitter, wouldn't know what to do on FriendFeed, wouldn't have the time to StumbleUpon, Digg, or bookmark on delicious. Heck, most of them don't even know about this blog!

So what is it that makes me so eager to share my entire life with my online community, and yet be less forthcoming with my real world peeps? I mean, it's not like I intentionally hide my online life from my real world friends - for instance, almost everyone on my Facebook page (until very recently) are my real world friends, people I actually know and added on FB AFTER knowing them for some time in the real world. And my Facebook page has links to my business website, which has a link to my blog, which has a link to my etsy and twitter accounts, so while I have not actively marketed my world wide web endeavours to my real life friends, they can certainly stumble onto it easily without me having to tell them to "check it out!" In the end, I guess it's more about the online opportunity to share - I can always fire off a tweet to say whatever fleeting thought is in my head or share whatever random experience I just had - than it is about hiding anything from the people in my real world.

What got me started thinking about all of this is an article I read on Jeremiah Owyang's blog titled "How I use Twitter, and you?" I'd been following jowyang on twitter for a while, and when he tweeted about his twitter method, it got me thinking about my own. Jeremiah's method differs greatly from mine, and that, I believe, is because of the difference in our ultimate goals for using twitter. Jeremiah, being a web strategist who blogs about how companies can use web tools to connect with their customers, uses twitter the "value added" way, staying far away from posting "personal minutia" and carrying on "excessive personal conversations." This makes sense for Jeremiah and I respect that. However, I use twitter in a different way, choosing to share what some would consider "personal minutia" with my tweeple and I follow a lot of people that do the same. While I do often include links to articles I find interesting or comment on various real world issues that interest me and might therefore interest my followers, for the most part my use of twitter is to share my daily experiences with the people that follow my tweets, minutia and all. Perhaps this is part of my "personal branding" if it must be called something; I aim to let people, whether they are potential customers or not, know the real me, the full version of the real Lara, and that inevitably means sharing "personal minutia" on twitter. The good news is that it is obviously working, since most of the @laravarona tweets I receive are in response to personal things I've shared. So, in the end, there are obviously different ways to utilize an online service like twitter and each way has its own merit.

How do you choose to use Twitter?

Addiction, for me, is a four letter word

2008-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

BOOK (s) !!!

Ever since I was a little girl, I've had an obsession with books. I love them, I need them, I crave them. Weird? Perhaps. But I cannot stop. At any given moment, someone can ask me how many books I am reading and my usual answer will be something like "Um, 6, BUT..." followed by some supposed reason why reading that many books is totally normal (ie, "BUT 3 of them are business books, 1 is a collection of short stories, 1 is a quick-read-chick-lit type book, and I'm sure I'll fly through the novel quickly, so really 6 isn't that many!"). The strangest thing about my obsession is that I'm not just obsessed with the act of reading itself - I am addicted to the act of purchasing and owning books. I literally cannot walk into a bookstore and walk out without purchasing a book. It's a sickness. I can't get rid of it, even if I tried, but to be honest I would never try! I love the feeling of holding a new book in my hand, cracking it open and knowing that I'm the first person to devour its contents (and most likely the last, since I don't often lend out my books. I'm too afraid that I won't get them back!). I can dog ear all the pages if I want, I can make notes in the margin if I want, I can highlight entire paragraphs if I want...oh man I could go on forever. The point is, my name is Lara and I am a bibliomaniac.

Currently occupying my bedside table:
1) Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
2) The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
3) When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
4) Free Prize Inside!, by Seth Godin
5) Meatball Sundae, by Seth Godin
6) Fourth Comings, by Megan McCafferty

Will let you know how each of these books play into my "list of all time of favourite books" once I get through all of them!

P.S. Isn't the library in the picture just to die for? That baby is going on my vision board, pronto!

Have a happy Handmade Christmas!

2008-10-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Last year around this time, I decided that I wanted to buy local for all of my Christmas shopping. I figured it would be easy enough, with all of the wonderful local shops and markets that showcase Vancouver designers and artists. But I left it all to the last minute and wasn't able to find something for everyone on my list, simply because I only gave myself a few good shopping days. In the end, I was not successful in my quest to give all locally handmade gifts; I am ashamed to say that I even ended up giving some very NON local gifts such as Future Shop gift certificates and mass produced clothing items from stores that will remain nameless. But this year will be different. This year, I will succeed in my quest to buy local. This year, I am armed with a much larger arsenal of markets, websites and resources for handmade, locally crafted items and I am going to share them with you in the hopes that you will take the same vow that I have, the vow to buy handmade.

I know what some of you may be thinking - "why the heck is she blogging about Christmas right now?? It's only October!" Well, yes it may be a tad early to be thinking about Christmas shopping, but again since I went through the whole ordeal last year and wasn't able to achieve my goal, I am starting now to ensure that it will not happen again. Also, since I will be sharing my resources with you all in the hopes that you'll also have a happy handmade Christmas, now is as good a time as any to start with

Tip #1: Check out etsy, "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade."
I have found and earmarked dozens of amazing items/sellers on there already, and I haven't even spent a lot of time on the site yet. In order to make sure that you are truly buying local, use the shop local option by plunking in your location to view the etsy sellers in your area.

I'll admit, the reason I originally checked out etsy was to sell my bags on there at a discount off of regular retail price (gotta get rid of some of my inventory to make room for the new line which will be coming out any day now=P), but I ended up finding a wonderful resource for my own shopping needs. I hope you'll do the same!

Flock this!

2008-09-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

So I've heard several people mention Flock so today I tried it for the first time. And OH MY GOD does it make my life a lot easier!! If you've never heard of Flock, it's a social media browser, perfect for those of us who are tired of logging into facebook, twitter, gmail, blogger, digg, del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube, etc, etc separately and having to update each individual account/service one at a time. Read: no more wondering if you've missed a million tweets while you were on Facebook commenting on so-and-so's latest video. With Flock, you can see the realtime updates on all of your fave social media accounts on the sidebar while you are doing whatever it is you're doing on your main browser tab (see screen shot for example). Now, admittedly I am new to the Flock thing, hell I'm new to all social media/web2.0, but I can tell that it's going to be a timesaver for me as well as a necessity in the long run. So far, during my tenure (read: 30 mins) as a bonafide Flock enthusiast, I've managed to check my gmail account, tweet a few times, update my FB profile, bookmark a few new pages on del.icio.us and update my blog all from this browser, all the while still witnessing the exact moment that "Mr.X" updated his profile and a dozen different tweeple tweeted "good night" to the rest of us here on the west coast.

The only problem right now is that I'm tired, the caffeine from my 3 cups of coffee today have worn off and now I'll either have to go to bed super early or have another cup (but then I won't be able to sleep in a few hours when I actually want to), so I'll just end this blog entry with an apology: to anyone reading this, and especially to anyone working for/related to/using Flock, I'm sorry for my (basically incoherent) description of what it can do. Once again, I'm tired and probably shouldn't have tried to blog in this state of mind=P I promise I will blog about Flock again at a later date when I can speak eloquently of its many wonderful uses, and do Flock some justice!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Ignorance is(n't) bliss

2008-09-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

"Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education." - Stephen Covey, Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living the Seven Habits

Current mood: Reflective
Currently listening to: Erykah Badu - Baduizm
Currently reading: A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Shop on Etsy

I'm ignorant. There, I said it. And as business guru Stephen Covey states, this is the first step in my education. This is not really a revelation for me, I've always known that I don't know enough (ha!). Today, though, I am speaking specifically about the various aspects of social media marketing/web2.0. I don't know enough and in realizing that I don't know enough I have now embarked on my social media education. A while back, I attended a seminar about social media marketing/web 2.0 and was fascinated by all of the marketing opportunities out there, but I didn't actually make a move to implement any of the strategies at that time. Of course, I've had a facebook page for personal use for ages now, but I didn't use it for any business reasons. I wasn't on Twitter, I didn't know what StumbleUpon was, I knew nothing about RSS feeds/readers, I didn't know about social bookmarking, I didn't know what a mashup was; gosh I could go on and on about what I didn't know!

Anyways, the point is now I know what I didn't know. And I am having a blast right now learning about all of the amazingly effective social media marketing tools out there. I'll be sure to regularly update you on anything I find, since I'm sure I can't be the only social media marketing newbie out there! I'm starting with focusing on how to utilize facebook as an effective, no-cost/low-cost way to market Fave Handbags, since I'm already on Facebook. Right now, my favourite resource for facebook strategy is http://whyfacebook.com/. A lot of people don't realize the opportunities that are available on Facebook, and Mari has tons of great articles about the profit generating side of things.

Now, I'm off to work on my Etsy store and work on increasing my interaction with my Facebook and Twitter network. Here's wishing everyone a productive and educational week!

I Heart New York

2008-09-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

So, last month Karlo and I took a trip to NYC. I would have written about it sooner, except that as soon as we got back (like, days after returning home), I was rushed to the hospital with stomach pains and ended up having to have emergency surgery to remove some large tumours from my ovaries. Don't worry, I'm all healed now and back to normal. Anyways, the point is, the last 6 weeks of my life have been pretty much exclusively concerned with post-op dealings. But now I'm ready to get back in to the swing of things and dwell on the fun stuff, such as our amazing trip.

I have to say, I absolutely LOVE New York. Corny as it sounds, while we were there, I actually had feelings of "I get it now, I know why everyone wants to 'be a part of it, New York, New York!'" Ha ha. There's nothing that I didn't love while we were there. Everything is bigger and better and more exciting there. Now, don't get me wrong, being born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Canada has definitely contributed to my love of a laidback, easygoing lifestyle. But there's just something in the air over there, something that makes you want to be out and about all the time. Here at home, everyone pretty much knows I'm a homebody; my idea of a good night is hunkering down at home with my boyfriend, a good movie and some popcorn. Simple. Enjoyable. Easy. But when we were in New York, I didn't want to sit still for a minute. I wanted to be out on the streets of NYC doing/seeing/experiencing something exciting at all times. I think the most sleep we got the entire time we were there was like 3 hours one night. It was exhausting, but it was absolutely worth it. We will definitely go again soon, and if I had my way, we'd even live there for a year or two. But that's all for another post. For now, I'll leave you with just a few of my favourite pics from our trip, and let me say, it was hard to narrow them down since we took over 500 pictures!

Some thoughts on working from home

2008-09-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

I've read tons of books/articles about the traps and potential setbacks of working from home, and I've noticed that they all pretty much say the same thing. There's lots about "to do" lists, time management tricks, setting boundaries etc and that's all well and good, except I think there's something missing. We focus so much on what we have to get done, rather than celebrate what we've already accomplished! I've always got a "to do" list a mile long, and while crossing off items once I've finished them is satisfying, I like to actually write a list at the end of the day of all the things I accomplished. Whether it's something small like "responded to so-and-so's email" to something bigger like "finished fabric inventory," I think it's important to note all the things that I've done and be thankful for it! It's just my way of putting a positive spin on the drudgery of daily life.

Here is my list of "off the beaten path" tips for working from home:

1) Wake up at the same time every day, as though you have to run out the door to get to work. I know this one sounds weird, but I'm sure other people who work from home (those of us that don't have children, anyways) can agree that sometimes the temptation of sleeping in an extra hour just because we can is hard to resist!

2) Do things for yourself that you'd normally do if you were going to an actual office. For me, I know that I'd be stopping at Starbucks for a peppermint mocha in the morning to get my daily caffeine kick. So I actually purchased a bottle of peppermint syrup from Starbucks (it only costs $6 for a whole bottle, FYI) and now I make my own peppermint mocha at home by adding the syrup to my cuppa joe in the morning. This makes it easier to get up in the morning, saves me at least $4 a day and helps me get through my usual morning tasks.

3) Create a motivational playlist to listen to while you work. One of the great perks of working from home is the privacy, right? So why not capitalize on that by compiling a playlist of all your favourite songs that you can actually sing along to at the top of your lungs? I know that helps me keep my energy up and well, it just makes me happier=)

4) Take a break to do something fun every day. For me, it's giving myself time to watch an episode of my favourite show while I eat lunch. I have to eat lunch anyways, and giving myself the treat of watching my show while I eat gives me the fun break I need in the middle of my day. The anticipation makes the morning go quicker, and the afternoon seem less daunting afterwards.

5) Share your daily accomplishments with someone. Whether it's in person (my boyfriend gets to hear about all of the wonderful, exciting things I get done in a day whenever he gets home from work), by phone, email, forum post or blog, tell someone what you've accomplished and it'll get easier to stay productive.

Well, I'm sure I'll remember other things to add to the list, but for now that's it. For anyone else who works from home, are there any tips you have that aren't normally found in the "work from home" guidelines?

OOPS! I did it again=P

2008-05-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ok Ok Ok I know I've spent have my time on this blog talking about how I'm going to make a concerted effort to blog regularly and then I don't. It's been months and months since my last post and honestly, I have no real excuse for that except that I was busy with, you know, life and stuff! ha!

Anyways, to catch up on the last, what has it been, 7 months?!, here is the coles notes version:

-sadly, I attended 3 funerals between October to February. Tina Barretto, Koyo Hara and Janine Lieu were all taken from us much too early. I know people always say live life to your fullest because you never know when your time is up, and mourning the loss of these 3 beautiful, young people certainly gave me some perspective on that. R.I.P Tina, Koyo and Janine ~ you are loved and you are missed.

-I've had the luxury of going to some absolutely amazing concerts over the last few months - Jill Scott, Mos Def, De La Soul, Kanye West/Lupe Fiasco/Pharrell - all put on freakin fantastic shows! In the next few months I'm also looking forward to (FINALLY!) getting to see the amazing miss Erykah Badu in concert, as well as the reunion of Pharcyde at Rock the Bells (also featuring Mos, A Tribe Called Quest and some of Wu Tang) in Vancouver for the first time! Musically speaking, this year gods have answered all my concert prayers. The only other prayer that remains unanswered at this point is a Fugees reunion tour with a stop in Vancouver...that's not too much to ask for, right?!

-business wise, it's been an amazing time. We recently got accepted to Portobello West (www.portobellowest.com) and will be exhibiting there in June, July and August! I absolutely adore shopping at Portobello, so the chance to have a table there is so exciting for me!

-I recently auditioned for the Dragons' Den, on the CBC. Truthfully, the audition jitters were mostly due to the anticipation and just not knowing what to expect at the actual audition (how many producers would there be? how many questions will they ask me? how many other people will be there auditioning? yikes!). Once I actually got there and got pitching I felt much better. Unfortunately, it looks like Fave Handbags isn't ready for the show just yet, as the producers told me that I wasn't asking for enough money. The Dragons are looking for more large scale ventures, and I guess right now we're small potatoes to them. Oh well, it was an amazing experience and I'll feel a lot less nervous when I audition again next year!

-finally, our duffel bag was recently featured in the April issue of Envy Magazine. I'm sorry I don't have a better image of the article, but my scanner is kind of whack. In any case, here it is.

So that's it for now. Karlo and I are planning a trip to NY this summer, so I'm sure I'll have more pics to put up soon. I promise it will not be 7 months before the next post...seriously, I'll write again in like 5 months this time! Oh I'm only kidding.

Ciao for now!

Baby got back...

2007-10-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

So, we've all got issues with our bodies, yeah? Whether it's a smaller waist, a bigger bust or a rounder booty that you dream of, we are all linked for the most part by a constant desire for a better physique. Some people are so driven by these desires for a better body that they will do anything to get the perfect form - working out, dieting or sometimes even going under the knife to achieve results. Well, for those of you out there suffering from FBS (Flat Butt Sydrome, and yes I did just make that up) I have found a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive and totally pain free way to show off what little booty you do have, and create the illusion that you've got a perfect derrière. They're called Fidelity Denim, and I just picked up my first pair this weekend.

Fidelity Denim is known for its "butt-enhancing cuts." Whether you want more booty, less booty or rounder booty, a pair of Fidelity jeans will give you the help you need. Ladies, if you've ever found yourself envying the likes of Beyonce, Shakira or even J.Lo for their "assets" well, these are the jeans for you. Personally, it's a little lift and shape that my bottom needs, so I opted for a pair of "The Dream" Classic Denim Trousers. As you may know, pocket placement is crucial when it comes to a fabulous back view. Higher placement means a perkier bottom because pockets that are too low lengthen your backside and shorten your legs. The Dream denim trousers have pockets placed just right for my rump, and the effect is a plumper, perkier derrière, which is exactly what I was looking for.

It doesn't hurt that I found these beauties at Winners for 60% off the regular retail price, either!

My new fave jewelry designers: Foxy Originals

2007-09-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, on labour day weekend a group of us headed down to Seattle for the annual weekend long music festival, Bumbershoot. As always, we had a blast at the music fest, this year getting to take in some amazing shows like Joss Stone, John Legend, Lupe Fiasco and the legendary Wu-Tang Clan! I had a wedding to go to on the 1st, so we weren't able to make it down for some other concerts that I would have loved to see, mainly The Shins, Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, and even Sean Paul and Fergie. Well, there's always next year and Bumbershoot never disappoints so I just know that whoever is playing next year, it will be great!

One of the downsides of crossing the Canada/US border on long weekends of course is the long, long wait at the border. This year, we opted to take the truck crossing instead of going the normal Peace Arch route, but obviously everyone else was thinking the same thing so we ended up having to wait for hours in line anyways! We ended up passing the time tossing a football around while the cars were at a standstill, and also by taking a trip into the Duty Free shop, which I haven't gone into in years. I'm glad I did, too, because I absolutely fell in love with a new jewelry line while I was in there - they're called Foxy Originals, and their pieces are some of the absolute cutest pieces of jewelry I've seen in a long time! It turns out that Foxy Originals is actually a Canadian company (yay!) based out of Toronto, and they've been turning out their fun, playful pieces since 2003. I picked up a Lilith necklace (pictured above) in gold, and have my eye on a few other pieces - the matching Lilith earrings, the Bombay earrings and the Eve earrings are definitely going to be mine soon! Check out their website at www.foxyoriginals.com and I'm sure you'll find a little bling to love, too!

Inspiration for the would-be entrepreneur

2007-08-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

A year ago I quit my full time job to follow my dream and start my own business. Deciding to strike out on my own and forgo the comfort of receiving a regular paycheque with someone else's signature on it was by far the scariest and most important decision I've ever had to make. For me, it was not an easy decision by any means, since I loved my job and the people I worked with, and for the most part was content with my career. It would have been very easy for me to stay right where I was - working my way up in a company that I believed in and felt appreciated at, having a regular 9-5 job with a stable income guaranteed every month and enjoying my evenings and weekends off to have a personal life (which any business owner will tell you doesn't happen once you've started the business). But the entrepreneurial bug, as they say, bit me and held on for dear life; it wouldn't go away until I had at least tried. (If you can't stand cliches, then I suggest you skip the next couple sentences!) Someone once said that "as you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things that you didn't do," and I knew that I'd regret it immensely if I didn't at least try my hand at being a business owner.

Now, once I'd made the decision to give it a go, staying motivated was key. I'm not going to lie, there were millions of times that I thought to myself "this is crazy, who are you to start your own business? This will never work, you should just go get your old job back" and I had to work at staying motivated despite the many obstacles that I faced throughout the whole start up phase of my business. One way that I stayed motivated, and I think that this made the difference between packing it in and giving up when the going got rough for me, was by constantly immersing myself in books and articles about successful entrepreneurs. One of my favourite books is "Starting from Scratch" by Wes Moss. In it, Moss shares the stories of 21 "regular people who made the entrepreneurial leap" and are now thriving in the business world. Reading their stories and seeing that they all faced and overcame the same obstacles that I was now facing was truly inspirational to me. Others books that I read and drew inspiration from were "The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart" by Maxine Clark, the founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop and "Pour Your Heart Into It" by Howard Shultz, Founder and CEO of Starbucks. I've read tons and tons of business books, including the standards like "The E-Myth" and "In Search of Excellence" etc, but these 3 in particular stood out for me, as they are about regular people like me who took took the leap and made it. I would recommend them to any would-be entrepreneur looking for a little inspiration during the tough times of following your entrepreneurial dream...

Fave Handbags hits Richmond, BC!

2007-08-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I said I'd try to blog at least once a week, and then proceeded to NOT blog for a few weeks, but I have a good excuse. We've been working away at getting the online ordering function on the website ready, plus I had a handbag party to plan for this past weekend! The party was in Richmond, and it was a huge success. I'm proud to say we even had a local celebrity grace us with her presence - Joy MacPhail was in the house woohoo! The Mexican Fiesta theme went off without a hitch, empanadas and sangria warmed our bellies and the games and prizes were enjoyed by all. The ladies all got a chance to see the Fave Handbag line up close and play around with all of the fabric choices, and in the end lots of awesome handbag creations were designed that day! Thanks to all the ladies who came out to our fun, fabulous, Fave afternoon!!

Going live...

2007-08-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe this day has finally come! Today, our website, www.favehandbags.com, went live on the net, and I have to admit some days I thought it was never going to happen. It was almost a year ago that I decided to quit my job as office manager at Nannies on Call to make my dream of starting this business a reality, and it feels like much longer than that. This is also my first foray into the world of blogging, and it's something I'm going to have to get used to. It's a little strange, isn't it? Kind of like giving the world constant access into your personal journal, or better yet, a glimpse right into your brain and the crazy, wacky or sometimes boring thoughts you spend your days dwelling on. Me, I've been eating, breathing and sleeping this handbag business for the last year, and I have to say it has been the most exhilarating year of my life.

When I was attending the Venture Program at BCIT, which is an entrepreneurial skills training program, we were strongly encouraged to start a blog. People obviously blog for many different reasons, some strictly personal, others purely professional, and some are a mixture of both. My blog will be the latter; I will attempt to update weekly whether it be personal or business matters that find their way into this lil' ol' blog o' mine. I can't say for certain that I will be able to maintain my intended weekly schedule of blogging, but I will do my best. For now, I'll end this entry with the inspirational quote that helped me through the past year and kept me motivated and moving forward.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- excerpt from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, by Marianne Williamson