Boomer Musings

            I've given a lot of thought to this whole semi-retirement thing (I don't think an artist can ever really RETIRE...just maybe be a bit more selective as to how to spend each day.)  I've noticed a pattern in my routine lately and chalk it up to the fact that I no longer have to catch a train and be at an office so like an insolent and defiant teenager, I refuse to rise early and follow any customary schedule. And yet, here I am doing the same things each morning.

             7AM rolls around and because JL is an early riser, and I am no longer one,  he's up and brewing the coffee, jolting me awake with slamming cabinet doors, banging pots and general clattering around in the kitchen below.   He then dutifully brings up my coffee, setting it on the nightstand, and goes back down into his office to start writing.  If he's used the ceramic mug with a lid I had purchased in Chinatown some 25 years ago, then its contents will stay relatively warm while I start my first task of the day. Otherwise, it inevitably cools off as I get sidetracked , forcing me to get out of bed and nuke it in the microwave. 

              Today, the proper mug has been employed.   I'll reach for my ipad and through half closed eyes,  begin checking and deleting emails.  It's astounding the money I save by not opening messages from J.Crew, Kohls, Wayfair, Snapfish, Babies R Us,  Rue La La, Overstock.com, Michaels, Jo-Ann,
Walmart, Kmart and Petsmart.    However, I do draw the line at Anthropologie and stop to explore their current eye candy offerings.  Sidetrack #1, fifteen minutes of what to love but  NOT to buy. 

             Next up, Pinterest.  I'm amazed at the number of beautiful and interesting things I've pinned. 2.3K pins on 64 boards to be exact,  yet they have no purpose and I rarely ever return to look at what I so carefully and obsessively catalogued.  But I happily view these digital delights each morning and pin, like, follow and repin new ones..... on the off chance I actually WILL make that pearl statement necklace, or those embellished baby booties, or take inspiration from the dozens of watercolor sketches and actually start painting again.  Sidetrack #2,  fifteen minutes of mentally filing techniques to try....wet on wet, drybrush, pencil sketch, pen sketch, no sketch, direct watercolor sketch....

In all fairness (to myself) I do utilize  some pins for my textile design projects or Lollypups harness development.  However, I continue my old school mentality of visual stimulation being the best stimulation, and create actual physical boards that are in my face at all times, sometimes printing out an inspirational color combination or patterns from my pinterest boards. Sidetrack #3 time to get up and reheat that cold coffee.
                It's now 8AM, time for checking out the news which I return to bed, with newly heated coffee, to do. Ginger and I have become simpatico when it comes to lazy morning routines. She moves from her basket/bed on the floor and jumps up beside me. Never one to paw on the bed at dawn and beg for breakfast or to be taken out for a walk, bless her little canine heart,  she resumes her snoring and I resume tapping my ipad. Pop ups on the side of my news feed entice me to watch any videos that pertain to dogs.  Sidetrack #4, fifteen minutes of tearjerker rescues, reunited military and their dogs, Cesar Millan's latest success or failure, and segments of Animal Planet episodes.
                My newest scheduled practice thanks to Emily, the queen of organizing, is my personalized planner, a colorful, trendy and updated kind of filofax (for those who remember) with corny inspirational quotes at the top of each new month. Like "Aspire not to have more, but to BE more", or "Dream it, Wish it, Do it".  I've lived a life of 68 years and find this uninspiring and pretty useless, truth be told.    But in any case,  with pencil and cutesy stickers in hand (www.etsy.com/shop/3lbstudio) I prep the week with sticker reminders, notes, deadlines,  things to do, things to try to do, things to do that I didn’t do yesterday.  Obviously, I’m still attempting to get the hang of this so continue to rely first and foremost, on my good old iphone calendar.  

                8:30AM, I move from bed to kitchen table for breakfast, feeling that the day is off to a good start,  my head spinning with what productivity is ahead, as Ginger moves to the living room window, lays down on a sunny spot on the couch and resumes snoring.  

To Be Continued.......

November already??

Much time has passed and things have certainly been lively here in Lollypups Land since my last post.  First and foremost, new grand baby Evelyn Pearl came into the world on September 26 two weeks early and Ginger and I were there to witness her birth.  Well, not exactly witness, since I used the excuse of a potty break to whisk her out of the house just as my daughter's contractions got truly intense and I began demanding drugs for her.   My job, though I admittedly was against the whole home birth thing from the get go, was to ......yep, boil water!!! Just like in the cowboy movies!!  Seems there’s a portable 4 foot deep inflatable birthing tub used in a home birth, and by the time we all realized that my daughter’s labor was not Braxton-Hicks but real true labor, the hot water heater gave out only halfway through filling it.  So there I was, rushing into the sun porch with giant pots of steaming water, sweat pouring down my armpits, my skin the pasty white pallor of a mother watching her little girl in pain and all I could do was pour water into a tub.  How do you explain this to a martian? Job done, Ginger and I abandoned ship (yes, I just couldn't bear watching what was going on) and while walking outside for a mere 2 minutes.... out slid this little bitty pinkness into that very tub.  Got a cell phone call from daughter #1 to come back in and meet my grand daughter so back I ran with wings on my feet, dragging poor Ginger, mid-pee, behind me.  Ah motherhood!

The Berkshire Botanical Gardens Oktoberfest turned out to be a success even though dogs weren’t allowed on the premises (except of course, Ginger)  It was a glorious weekend, after a bit of rain on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday were perfect. Wanting to experience a New England Autumn at peak foliage, our friends Frank and Julie decided to join JL and I, and ended being a tremendous help!  As was Ginger!!! Sales were brisk and I happily found two beautiful bolts of wool plaid for a mere $4.00 each!! Love those tag sales.
 
Next up, a Holiday Market on the first weekend of December in Stanhope, New Jersey so I've been working on new harnesses and trying to make as much product with a holiday theme as possible.  I also want to do a couple of  black velvet confections for those who fancy some kind of party ensemble for their pup .  Two weeks should turn up something.
I finally got to use the green fringed wool I purchased 2 years ago in Nyack and wanted to add a new Winter Mittens style but ran out of the felt mittens from Tinsel Trading.  Instead, I decided to applique mittens and add little gingerbread men buttons, to kind of update the look.
I'm also able to make it a tad cheaper, so we'll see how that plays out. Our first ever "Pupperwear Party" will take place on Sunday Dec. 14th at my friend Frank's Chelsea high rise apartment,  over populated by multiple varieties of small dogs.  If this works out, I'll look into doing more in other buildings in and around Manhattan.  More on that later. 

Germ Factory at it again.....

...and so it goes.....again, the best laid plans get a monkey wrench tossed into the works.  A severe throat and ear infection has had me laid up for the past week and no end in sight, though after yesterday's doctor visit (quote:  "oh, those ears look very unhappy") I am now on antibiotics and ear drops.  Still can't hear but happily, I can talk once again.

In the mornings, I managed to finish some more harnesses and leashes in preparation for the upcoming vendor events, though it felt as if I was performing each task wearing a football helmet laden with iron pellets. I was accepted into the Hudson Valley Etsy Team https://www.facebook.com/hudsonvalleyetsyteam which thus far, has been very informative and I even signed up for a new event called "Puptoberfest" http://www.ehrdogs.org/info/display?PageID=12113 to take place September 20th, at Horseshoe Lake in Succasunna, NJ which was recommended by a fellow team member. Something I had no idea about. It is run by an adoption organization called "Eleventh Hour Rescue" and I'm told good things about it.
I feel being included in this team is just the thing I need to get me out of isolation mode, which can so often happen, being the sole employee in a small business. Great comraderie so far, and likes, tweets, tags and pins are very important I'm told, in the social media rich business world.  So Puptoberfest in September, and Octoberfest in Stockbridge in October, should satisfy my craft fair itch for 2014.  New baby due early October, will take care of the rest of the year. :)

My focus now is on the upcoming holidays and realize that pet lovers like to celebrate with their pets.  Without changing the Lollypups philosophy of "dogs deserve dignity", I am making refined autumn garments with a Halloween feel without resorting to "hot dog" or "Yoda" costumes.  Most of those little beings look soooooo unhappy and "undignified".  

I'm loving the way the Halloween Chic harness vest and leash are coming out though.  I'll be listing this one shortly on https://www.etsy.com/shop/Lollypups?ref=si_shop and on the LP website. Also working on another option without the ruffles and center hook and eye trim.  It would be a bit more male oriented, and the idea of making my own buttons with vintage Halloween images and resin domes is more and more appealing considering each one I sourced costs $9.00 (yikes).  I already have the bezels and can easily attach a shank with resin as I was advised by the YouTube tutorials out there.
Next on the menu, a rain slicker (though laminated fabric is rather summery but could work). Also in the works, a  sweet little fringed number similar to the Winter Mittens style in a subtly textured forest green wool.  I'm sourcing different embellishments but I would LOVE to find those adorable felt "winter" mittens in white and white mittens would make the style look new and fresh. Something will turn up I'm sure and once I'm all healed, I'll be making my trek into the city to search for new things.  I missed the Texworld expo and the Fashion Mfg Showcase expo at FIT last week which really bummed me out, but the D&G expo is the first week of August and that one is the one I prefer for fabric, embellishment and trim resources.  

I've been actively sending in adoption forms all over the place, inquiring about adoptees from Pets Alive, Petfinder, Adopt a pet, Allpaws, Bichon Frise rescue, Best friends animal Society, North Shore Animal League, the list goes on and on.  Laying in bed with an ipad has its upside..... I found several sweeties I would have loved only to be told that they were already adopted.  Good for them but disappointing for me. Somewhere out there, I know she's waiting for me to find her so the hunt will continue as long as it takes, since I've definitely reached a milestone in my desire to parent another dog.  A good thing for sure. Although Lacy still has my heart and I still tear up thinking about her, I know it's time. 

It's July already and travel has kept me more than busy. There was a trip to California, and free 

Rece, doing what she does best

Maple Street shopping

accomodations at an apartment on the beach. Lovely.  My only chore and price to pay,  feeding the fattest cat in Santa Monica, Rece, with the most demanding "meow" I've ever encountered. Never had to clean out a litter box either so that was a new experience for this non-cat person. There were old friends to see, movie screening and appearances for Jeff, and an unexpected tour of Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.  What an interesting and gracious woman she is, talk about a cat person!! and still beautiful at 84 years old!!! 

Beautiful as always.  My hero!

The other chore... relaxing....yes, it does seem to be a chore for my kinetic brain and body. ADHD for sure.I did shop the downtown garment district. 
I hadn't been there since my Carole Little days in the '90's, but was unable to find anything worth while for Lollypups. We did find two $7.00 thick covers for our new iphone 5s phones (cost: $35.00 in the apple store) so we left downtown mildly happy.

Tippi gives Zeus a neck rub

Liebo lives!!! 

I did the Hudson Valley Etsy Team craft fair in Fishkill, NY on the first of June and the day was sublime. Warm, dry, just a hint of a breeze to cool things off. Jeff asks me each time I do these things, "you DO like doing this right?" While I have the energy to continue creating and making new designs and new products, and setting up an eye catching booth to display them in, the answer is an easy YES. This time around, I discovered some tall, white metal shelving laying in our storage room, dusted in cobwebs. Perfect to set upright against the poles of the tent and to hang the garments on (thanks to the craft fair pin boards on Pinterest) It worked like a charm and looked great.  Made a good number of sales too, considering it wasn't a pet event and I made some new canine friends as well.   Even had a paid customer return 5 minutes later to buy a sweater! So, I'm looking into doing at least two shows in the summer, if possible and have already signed on to do the Harvest Festival at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens again this October 11-12.  
In the meanwhile, materials and new fabric are starting to trickle in so I'm busy deciding which to use for which styles in the new collection,  and playing with the pattern drop function in Illustrator, which makes the task so easy peasy.  (I love this part!!)  Still trying to find a resource for a heavier weight 5/8" polypropylene webbing for the leashes, at a reasonable price. What I bought previously, was OK but lacked the heft that I prefer.  There's a D&G expo coming up again in August which could prove helpful, so for now, I'll concentrate on making the new styles for the harness collection and leave the leashes for later on.   
And last, but truly not least.....I made a visit to the shelter after months of staying away and didn't cry.  
Big accomplishment for this blithering bag of emotion I'd say.  Still not ready to adopt, but I'm thinking more and more about fostering a senior (partial to those as always).  We'll see.  Meanwhile, it's back to business and a joyous life filled with babies ( new one due in October), beaches, and best buds sharing our annual 4th of July picnic on the Hudson. Weather permitting of course and still missing Lacy.  Happy Birthday America!! 

September ....filled with activity for me.......while Lacy sleeps

Over a month has passed since my last post and this time I can actually say I KNOW where the month went.  Preparations for Emily's wedding, fittings, bridal shower (cancelled and rescheduled due to hurricane), creating Katuba art, soothing ruffled bridal feathers and serious dieting (5 pounds so far and counting).  In between, babysitting for an amazingly mellow 10 week old baby grandson has a soothing effect on this MOB and the birth of yet another boy into the family (nephew Daniel's first) fills our lives with happiness.... times twenty! All the joy of 2011 overshadows the sadness of 2009 for the Lieberman clan and each day is cherished and never taken for granted.

Business has been slow and I've slashed prices on the website to see what will work and what people will want to spend, but with the chilly weather upon us and holiday season approaching, my mass mailings are being stepped up.  Postcards came in and my mailing list prep is ongoing so all is ready.  So far Artsydog.com hasn't done much but the promised ad campaign is almost upon us (magazine ads in October issues of pet magazines) so we'll see how that works out.  Another Toronto based pet website

contacted me to carry the line but I'll hold off on any more Internet stores for the time being.

The biggest issue is still cash flow so I'm not doing any ads for a while but twitter often and have offered a free sweater give away for the month of October to those who write in. It's nice to see how much people love their pets. All the harness vest and leash designs for 2012 re complete though I'll continue to update and add to the collection as ideas pop into my head. The new strategy for selling wholesale is to show existing samples and present CAD images and swatches of the new styles so I'm working on that as well,  then maybe cut to sales. The raincoat is still an issue but I think I have found the best, simplest and least expensive way to do it.  Unless there's an angel out there that wants to invest in this struggling company (in this struggling economy) I'm still content doing it all but would gladly relinquish a couple of hats from time to time. 

Meanwhile, Jeff and I have planned our 40th wedding anniversary present to each other.....a trip to Italy......Milan, Sardinia and Florence to be exact!  After all the above activities are complete, it will be awesome to just think about us for a change, kick back after the wedding and have fun, which we always manage to do when we travel.  We'll be staying with a friend for part of the time (villa in Sardinia...whoo-ha) were we will forget our diets and stuff ourselves with seafood and pasta, walk on the beach which I'm told is beautiful (but have yet to google earth it) and while Jeff and Manlio drink grappa, smoke pot and talk film, I will paint the landscapes, visit flea markets and smile a lot.:::does anticipatory dance::::

Holiday Marketplace Preview is going to be a fancy schmancy event!!

Just heard that the weekend Lacy and I are scheduled to participate in the Berkshire Botanical Gardens Holiday Marketplace is the very weekend that the Norman Rockwell Christmas festivities kick off the holiday season.The  Red Lion Inn will be decked out magnificantly as well as the quaint Stockbridge shops,  carollers will be carolling, vendors and shop keepers will be dressed in period costume and all the usual greenery and twinkling lights that launch this fun time of year will be on view.   The Norman Rockwell Christmas is a yearly event that  always attracts a big crowd.   The preview opening of the BBG Holiday Marketplace will be stocked with outstanding  dried wreaths created for the gardens, as well as crafts and LOLLYPUPS DESIGNER PET WEAR. ::giggles::   
"The town of Stockbridge, made famous by Norman Rockwell’s painting of the village during the holidays, becomes a magical New England setting decorated with holiday wreaths and festive lights, as the town celebrates the 21st annual Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas, December 4th and 5th.
Sponsored by the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce, the holiday celebration offers a full range of activities, with highlights including a holiday house tours, caroling, and a holiday concert (which I'm sorry to say, is already sold out).
Capping off the weekend on Sunday is a re-creation  of the scene depicted in "Main Street at Christmas", complete with vintage automobiles parked in the spots occupied in the painting. The day’s activities include horse drawn rides, a visit from Santa, Roger the Jester, lunch at the Christmas Food Booth and much more."

For a hefty $75 admission charge, patrons get first look at all there is to offer on Friday evening Dec. 3rd,   but they also get to sample food and wine from the area restaurants for that admission fee, which goes to support the botanical gardens. Not to fret though, Saturday and Sunday are free to the public and parking is free too.    I'm not sure what other vendors will be participating  as I didn't receive this years list.  But Lacy and Lollypups will be there with bells on (literally) and brand new harnesses as well as the unique alpaca sweaters for pets and matching people scarves.  Great gifts for all those chic pets and pet parents out there. Really excited about it and looking forward to getting my Christmas shopping done all in one spot as well.  All this and a little bit of Americana too.  Do I sound like the chamber of commerce, or  what??