Hello Dolly!

Sales taxes, recital choreography, POOL Trade Show prep and my day job have me buried these days! Lucky for me Duncan has been home again this past week so that helps a ton. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all of the things I haven't blogged about I thought it would be good to just throw out what's new.

Dolly! I bought this Dolly Parton print on Fab.com a while ago. She looks stunning in my kitchen against my new wall paper (it's removable)! This paper will also be decorating my booth walls at POOL next month.

Wedding Pics! Our friends over at Love Me Sailor let us know that our wedding photos are officially en route! I am so excited to see them and share them too! This is a shot from our photo booth. Aren't I the classy bride with my bud light!?

POOL Trade Show. I'm headed back to Las Vegas next month to show my new line and hopefully pick up a bunch of new wholesale accounts. Instead of the usual Cash and Carry booth that I've done in the past (where I sell on site) I'll be sharing a booth with Plastique. Since I'm not busy making thousands of items to sell on site (just samples this time) I get to focus more on new products and fabric prints. I hope to have everything photographed this weekend so I should be able to start sharing some sneak peeks soon!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Signed Sealed (keys) Delivered - She's Ours!

It's official! As of Thursday evening Duncan and I are home owners!
I'm overwhelmed with excitement and can hardly wait to get settled. We have been working our butts off ever since we received the keys. We've ripped out the dirty old pink carpet, hauled it to the dump (all 600 pounds of it), pulled out all of the nails and staples, sanded the floors, scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom, packed, and started the moving process. My mom came over both Saturday and Sunday to help me with the kitchen which is pretty much set. The rest of the house is empty and filled with dust from the hardwood floor project, but we've got a kitchen! The backyard is just perfect too. We brought over our patio furniture so we have a place to relax when we need a break.

We've got a huge todo list that needs completing before we move all of our furniture this Saturday, but we'll get there. Moving is horrible, but knowing we won't have to do it again for years makes it WAY easier. I hope you're ready for lots of posts related to decorating, home improvement, and caring for chickens in the coming months. I know I can't wait!

Time Flies!

I was quickly in San Francisco for work last week and immediately jumped into overdrive when I got back. I have a big order of watches that I'm hoping to send out by Thursday so that's consumed my after work hours. Once all 160 of these babies are on their way to Germany I look forward to blogging some fun new things. Come back soon to see a peek into another one of my jobs... a dance teacher!

Oh! I almost forgot! I'm sponsoring Liz's lovely blog this month so get on over there to enter a giveaway that's open until the 26th!
Hope you're all having a great week!

Busy Bee

I have a long list of things I really want to blog about, but I just can't seem to find the time! Instead of being MIA I've decided to give you peek inside the madness. Here's what I've been up to before work, after work and on the weekends.

Sweatshopping
Every six months I participate in the POOL Trade Show which is wholesale show in Las Vegas where buyers from boutiques and larger stores come to view and hopefully decide to carry items from your line. I'm in the cash and carry section of the show with the other smaller, handmade brands. This means that unlike all of the other brands that just bring samples and take orders for delivery later, we sell on site. So unlike consumer shows where people buy a few things at a time, buyers may want to buy 30 hair clips, 40 rings, and 15 watch necklaces, for example. So in order to prepare for this show I have to sweatshop myself like crazy in order to be ready with lots and lots of product. I also design new fabric for each show and try to bring new products as well so it's definitely a major undertaking each time. I've already decided that I'll be taking August off from POOL in order to keep myself sane during a summer filled with out of town weddings and a wedding of my own to plan. Knowing that I don't have to prep for another one of these shows for a year makes the craziness a little more bearable.

Duncan and I cranked out 200 magnets for our friends at Love Me Sailor Photography this weekend. They're participating in a fabulous wedding event and needed something fun to spice up their marketing materials. I'm so excited to see their business rapidly take off. It's gonna happen any second now I can just feel it!

Wedding Planning
I completed our Save the Date design for OUR wedding! I thought this process would be impossible since I've created so many magnets and save the dates for other people. How could I decide on one design for us that I'd be happy to stick with? Well one night I just went for it and it all came really easily. Instead of going back and forth and giving myself a ton of options we decided to embrace the first design and run with it. We took a trip to Paper Source last weekend and bought the envelopes, labels and other supplies we needed. Next up will be to get the cards printed and produce the Vivi Dot magnets we'll be attaching. Oh and the guest list… we need to finalize the guest list.

We met with a day of coordinator to discuss her services and staffing for the day (bartenders, wait staff, etc). A week from tomorrow I'll also be going to try on dresses for the first time with my good friend Stacey who works at bridal boutique in downtown Seattle. The rest of the planning is going to have to wait until after POOL is over and I have some free time again.

Design Services
I just finished up creating a really fun save the date for my good friend Jeni who is getting married this summer. She and her fiance met while commuting on the same bus every day. Three years later he proposed at the bus stop so it seemed only right to go with a Muni theme for the design. I can't wait to post photos of them once she's sent them out to all of her guests.

I also designed Audrey's baby announcement for my sister. With pictures of her adorable little face it wasn't hard to make it a cute design!

The save the date magnets I made for my sister years ago rank really high on google for save the date related key words. Because of this I've been getting inquiries about pricing daily from interested brides to be. I've been trying to keep up with all of those while I move into the design phase with a few of them.

Misc.
It's time to start recital dances at the dance studio so I've been editing music, choreographing and mapping out my student's formations.

My sales taxes are due at the end of the month. I have two states to file in this year so that's twice the tax fun. Waaaa I hate this part!

Okay I think I'll stop there. If feels good to get it out on 'paper'. In a whirlwind of todo lists and incoming emails it's nice to reflect a bit and take note of all I've done over the last week!

Love Me Sailor - Engagement Photos

My body aches from physical labor, but I'm happy to report we made a ton of progress this weekend. We packed all day Saturday and had a garage sale on Sunday. We donated what was left and kept on packing into the night. It was an exhausting weekend, but it actually feels like getting out of here on Wednesday just might be doable.

We took a welcome break on Saturday to check out a sneak peek of our engagement photos over at the Love Me Sailor Blog. We are so ecstatic with how they turned out! We went to some of our favorite spots in the city and it's amazing to see them captured through the lens of such an amazing, artistic photographer. I've admired Ron's work for years and we couldn't be more pleased that they've recently been getting their feet wet in the wedding photography biz. With Ron's amazing talent and Dominique's knack for all things wedding they make a super team! Oh and they're madly in love too which makes it even more special. You can see some more of the pics on their blog so please leave comments there and show them some much deserved love! This bench is where Duncan proposed.
I think is my favorite.

Step By Step (Oooh Baby)

Step by step and day by day, we're getting closer to the big move date and we're busy, busy, busy! I'll be packing all weekend and having a garage sale too. If you're in SF (we're in the Outer Richmond) and want to come by please email me for more info. We'll be selling some furniture, craft supplies, records, clothes, and I'll even have a Vivi Dot table where everything will be 50% off! We'll be selling from 10am to 2pm so come help us clear out some of our stuff so we can fit everything into our Uhaul.

Duncan and I had our engagement photos taken last week by our dear friends over at Love Me Sailor (you can follow them on Twitter too). We thought it would be perfect to have some casual photos taken of us in the city we met and fell in love before we take off for the city where we'll marry. I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'll be sure to post some here once I have them!

I really can't wait until I'm moved, back from POOL and settled in. I'm keeping a list of blog worthy things I can't wait to share once I have my life back and have some time after work to post here again. Hope you'll stick around in the meantime!

We'll also be cramming in one last little dog walk with D-O-G (say it 'diyogi') tomorrow too. We'll really gonna miss this little guy and his parents (Duncan's parents) too!

Todo Lists and Family Additions

I have a constant nervous feeling brewing in my stomach these days. I'm always worrying that I'm forgetting something related to the big move and/or the big trade show I have coming up. I'm also always concerned that I'm not cramming enough into my days. I'm aware that I over think and plan things. This usually means I'm nice and organized, but it sure is exhausting!

Here are some of the things I did this weekend:
* Cut hundreds of fabric circles that I passed of to Junia who's helping me press buttons (thank goodness for helpful friends).
* Bought a new bed and mattress to be delivered 2 days after we're in our new house in Seattle.
* Signed our lease and wrote a lot of checks.
* Planned my booth display for the POOL Trade Show.
* Cleaned up the house.
* Squeezed in a date night with Duncan who had his first day off in 13 days.
* Took the doggie for some walks.
* Worked on a collaboration project I'm doing with Diana.
* Assembled some of my brand new necklaces that I can't wait to share.
* Took inventory of all of my findings and packaging to make sure I'm ready for the show.
* Designed new Vivi Dot Earring cards (smaller ones).
* Shipped out a few orders.
* Made a long to do list to help keep me sane.
On another very exciting note my big sister is pregnant with a baby girl! I've known since Mother's day, but thought I'd wait to spill the beans here until we knew the sex. I'm so excited to be an auntie! The little lady will be the first grand kid from my generation of cousins so we're extra excited. Grandma Dot is also very relieved to FINALLY have a great great grand baby (something all of her friends already have). She's going to be so spoiled! I'm already thinking up baby friendly ViviDot products to test out on her. The future parents:

Vivi Dot HQ is Moving!

I am excited to finally be able to share some big news with my Internet friends! Duncan and our two furry friends (Indy and Olive) are moving to Seattle! It's been a long time coming, but now that everyone in our offline life has been properly informed I can finally spill the beans here. This photo is from 2006 when I first took Duncan to visit Seattle.

We've been talking about this move for years as something we'd eventually do, but really started to put a more specific time frame on it around the holidays. There were always 800 'what ifs' and there still are, but we're much closer to making it happen with a hopeful move in date of August 1st. That being said, we don't have a place in Seattle lined up yet so those elusive stars still need to align.

As I'm madly trying to get ahead of the game with non stop POOL Wholesale Trade Show preparation (it's in the middle of August), I'm also chugging away at my day job and trying to plan weekend house hunting trips up north. It's madness and it's only going to get crazier, but I am really excited for where we're headed.

I was born and raised in Seattle and went to the University of Washington so it will always feel like home up there. I've been in San Francisco for eight years now though so it's going to be really tough to leave this home behind (especially our friends). It makes the thought of a wedding even more exciting because it will mean that all of friends from San Francisco and LA (and other corners of the world) will be able to come up and celebrate with us in our new town. Enough wedding talk for now though as I'm only allowing myself to focus on my Fall/Winter line and packing. Oh the packing……
Wish me luck and send a few extra hours a day my way if you can.

In the Weeds

I feel so behind! I went up to Seattle this past weekend for the annual Barclay Shelton Dance recital (I grew up taking classes there, taught there for five years, and my Mom is still an instructor there). It was a great trip, but without my usual time on the weekend to sweatshop myself and get Vivi Dot orders done I'm in the weeds! I have been busting my rear trying to finish up wholesale orders and save the date magnet orders all while getting my new designs squared away for the new line I'll release in August. Add that to a full time job and a slew of other big changes (announcements coming soon) and you'll find my excuse for falling behind on my posts here. I will be back soon with my regular Around the House and Decked Out posts as well as some fun new things I've been so excited to share.

Dot Girl Blog Make Over

It's been a long time coming so I'm so excited that the Dot Girl Blog make over is finally complete! I was locked into an old Blogger template that limited what I could do and making changes was tedious. Once my URL update was finished a little over a week ago I was finally able to update my layout and design. And here it is! A fresh start feels great especially because I can update it whenever I want now.

I am just now able to display the followers gadget on the right so please follow me so I can start filling up that lonely square over there. Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions of what you'd like to see more of here in the future. Thanks for stopping by!If you use Blogger make sure to check out their new template designer in draft. It's awesome!

New Blog URL

New Blog URL: http://blog.vividotonline.com

I'm in the process of updating my blog including a new URL. The URL change is forced by Google/Blogger because they are no longer able to support the way my blog is set up. Though I'm not too happy about the needed URL change I'm looking on the bright side as it will open up a lot of other plug in options that weren't available to me before. Please update your bookmarks and/or RSS feeds and keep following!

Sorry for the multiple posts about this as well. This one's from me and the other was automated during the switch. You will see this post even if you're on the new and correct URL. Sorry for any confusion this may cause!

Poolside

So there really is a valid excuse for my lack of blogging as of late... I'm prepping for POOL! I'm laying low and keeping busy behind the scenes getting ready for my biggest show yet. I'll be in the Cash and Carry section of the Pool Tradeshow in Las Vegas August 31st through September 2nd. As I've mentioned before, I'm working on an entirely new line of fabrics made especially for my one inch dots. I'll be posting about these items in the coming month(s) as they become available in the Vivi Dot Online Store so please continue to stay tuned. Photo credit goes to the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. I'm dying to sit poolside with one of their alcoholic snow cones in hand, but prepping for POOL is going to have to win out over sitting by one for now.

I've also commissioned Hanna Nation (aka Gadabout Paper) to draw images of my products for my marketing collateral, line sheet, etc. I saw her gorgeous stationary last week and instantly knew I needed to utilize her amazing skills. I can't wait to see what she comes up with! To top it all off I'll be moving the Vivi Dot headquarters (and the rest of my apartment) at the end of June. I'm overwhelmed with everything that has to be done between now and then (plus a weekend away in Seattle), but some how I'm sure I'll manage. Posting will continue to be sparse, but I hope to have some fun before and after photos of the new place and refinished furniture to share soon.

Here's to the hope of great, productive weekend (drinks raised). Happy Friday!

Remember Me?!?

It's been too long! The guilt of not finding the time to post has become quite unbearable and I'm happy to finally clear my conscious. My blog post to do list is long, but I'd like to start by pointing out two lovely new players in the game of Spot the Dot!
Alisha received a free gift with her recent Vivi Dot order because she said the magic words, 'I'm playing Spot the Dot' at check out! See how easy that is to start off the game with ten Vivi Points? She's also following Vivi Dot on Twitter so that earns her another two.Next up is Sandra Sandrus. She's been busy finding blog posts about Vivi Dot (two Vivi Points each) and also follows us on Twitter (+2). I've decided to throw in another two Vivi points for her Spot the Dot tweet as well! Check out her new blog Barbeint.blogg.no for some poetry. Don't speak Norweigen? Google Translate works well for me.
Thanks for playing ladies! Keep it up and you'll earn your free gift in no time.

Catchup!

I've recently returned from an extended weekend road trip down to LA and Santa Barbara. Now it's catchup time as I have about 3 days to sweatshop myself after my day job and crank out as much inventory as possible for my first show of 2009 (Noise Pop N Shop). I've also been very busy designing and producing many sets of save the date magnets for people who have happened upon my post about my sister's magnets. I'll be posting about that entire process as soon as possible with lots of photos to each of the designs I've created for many lovely brides to be. To top it off our hardwood floors are being refinished so we (Duncan, the kitty Olive, the pup Indy and me) are all quarantined to our bedroom. Interested in keeping up with the madness? You can now follow Vivi Dot via Twitter!

Vivi Dot Online Store

After many months of getting pushed to the bottom of my todo list, I've FINALLY added new items to my online store! I have a long way to go, but I'm happy to be at a point where I'm not embarrassed to send traffic in that direction.

It's a lot more work than I first realized! Take photos, crop photos, upload photos, write descriptions, QA, and publish all changes. That's not even counting what goes into making everything!

Next on the list: Update my main site (ViviDotOnline.com) to integrate my store and blog as well as make some enhancements I've recently learned about that will help my search engine optimization rankings. I'm confident that I can cross this one off my never ending list much faster than the last.

Check out the store updates here: Http://www.ViviDotStore.com