What to write..

So I am working on the direction I would like to take my blog.  I would love for it to remain random in sorts but feel like I should stream line it a bit.  I know I continue to talking about my jewelry, creating my business and also living a life with more intention, but I would like to know what other topics you guys would like me to write about!

Leave me a comment with your fav. topics or suggestions for new topics!

~ Fashion
~ Make Up
~ My Travelling
~ My fav finds on Etsy ~ I am thinking about once week picking my fav 10 items for the blog.
~ 30 before 30

Give me your ides people :)

Trunk Show

As I continue to work on Stella Jewelry I need to get my name out there a little bit more so people can become familiar with my product.  As I have talked about before, I am working on our etsy store but I also want to do more in Roanoke.

I am debating if I should try out setting up some home shows, I have had a few friends offer to have one, which is really sweet of them.  I know this will be great exposure but I am nervous about a few things. 

What if people don't like my jewelry?  I am quite confident with the collection at my Mum's store but that aims a older demographic than my friends.  What if no one comes? Also, I don't want people to feel pressure to buy anything! These are all probably things I shouldn't worry about but I am hesitant because of this.

In the meantime we are having a trunk show at Plantagenet Rose on April 10, as part of their Spring Open House.  If you are in town come enjoy refreshments, jazz music and a little shopping.

30 before 30 Update

In roughly SIX months I will be the big 30!  It is crazy how fast my 20's have gone and as I have said before they have been really fun filled with great friends, family and laughter.  I continue to realize that I have let work control most of my life and time since college and I am still not where I want to be in life.  I am working on creating the best Roxy I can and working towards making a career and life I love.

As a link up to blog that inspired me to start my own, E, Myself and I, I am giving my 30 by 30 a make over. I have changed over the last few months and so have my goals. 

So heres to enjoying my last 6 months of being young :)

1. I want a start my blog!  I didn't want to cross this off until I sucessful kept my blog up to date, which for the most part I have done.  I really love writing my blog but do apologize for the bad grammar :)  Hopefully some of you enjoying reading about my life :)

2. Visit my friends all over England ~ Going in August for my childhood best friends wedding!

 3. Visit my old friends ~ I have go to get on this ASAP, I have 7 weddings to go to this year all over so I need to squeeze in some trips to NC, SC and Richmond!

4. Become a more positive person ~ I am trying really hard on this one and really, really trying to enjoy the littles things.  The silly stresses in life just aren't worth wasting my time on!

5. Be more social ~ I am a somewhat social person, I do like going out and seeing friends but over the last year or so I have become a homebody and bored of Roanoke.  So I am starting to try and enjoy other things in Roanoke, like Trivia night.  Which is really fun and I've met some great new people.

6. Take French again and remember it this time

 7. To fully Launch Stella Jewelry. They say find something you love and you will never feel like its work. I truly love making jewelry and hope this can be my career sooner than later ~ I had a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago, the etsy store is getting bigger and a new website and logo are on the way.  Also I am trying out some advertising on blogs and in the JL Newsletter in April.


8. To stick it out with college classes, college isn't for me but I now know its something I want to complete.


9. Actually read and enjoy a fiction novel. I am not a huge reader unless it’s some juicy celeb gossip online so I would love to actually make my way though a book and enjoy it. ~ Saving this for the flight to England.


10. I danced from the time I was 2-17 and then I moved to America and never danced again. I am not sure why I decided not to start again but it’s something I regret so before I am 30 I vow to at least take one dance class. Probably hip hop, those routines are always by favorite on SYTYCD. ~ thinking about taking Zumba now.

11. Take my Mum to a SYTYCD show, she’s obsessed with the show and I know to see them in person would bring her such joy ~ Took my mum for her birthday it was soo fun!

12. To send a celebrity my Jewelry :) hopefully they I will spot it on one of my gossip sites :) ~ Who should I send it too?? Posh Spice?

13. To visit Salem, MA in the fall.

14. To actually rest and relax on a vacation.

15. Make cupcakes from scratch and learn to decorate them like a professional.

16. Send all my out of town friends a letter through snail mail. Who doesn’t love something in the mail that’s not a bill or junk mail :)

17. Clear out my closets and donate anything I do not need.

18. To organize all photographs and scrap books.

19. Go to a tech game.

20. Take a ghost/historic tour in Va.

21. To not eat fast food for a week, actually a month!   ~ No fast food February was a success read about it here :) 

22. Help my Mum as much as I can in her store ~ This is a work in progress but I have been helping her with blogging, displays and other marketing items as much as I can.

23. Enjoy the little things ~ I do this more and more each day.

24. Take a silver smith class. 

25. Stop procrastinating things ~ getting a lot better!! This is really helping with Stella Jewelry.

26. This is getting tougher :) ok this one is simple enough wake up early on the weekends and take a stroll through the farmers market or downtown. Photograph this experience as I am not a morning person ~ Planned for tomorrow actually.  I am taking a jewelry class  in downtown Roanoke.

27. Live a life of intention ~ Read about that here

28. To find another store (other than my Mums amazing shop) to carry our jewelry ~ My amazing mother has introduced me to a rep for college bookstores, so we are working on getting my jewelry out there as I type :)

29. To enjoy every minute of my last 6 months of my 20’s and not stress the 30s.

30. Have an amazing 30th birthday party :) ~ Vegas Baby

lets talk about someone else....

I am having having trouble with things to blog about.  I have plenty to say but not sure that I should always say it lol or that you would want to read it.  I want to find a more clear direction for the blog not just my random postings.  So while I ponder that I figured I would talk to you about one of my friends.

My friend Blair is a TV obsessed, comedian of sorts.  You know the type of guy who always says "that's what she said" and half the time it isn't funny or doesn't make sense? Ok well actually he is really funny, I just like to give him a hard time about his sexist jokes :) He also literally knows everything about about sitcoms and whats going on in TV.  Not so good with my genre of murder mystery shows tho, he doesn't share my love of NCIS but he will watch the Kardashians with me :)

His dream would be to be on SNL or 30 Rock and make millions of people laugh.  He has been writing/producing/acting in skits since he was little and has even worked with MTV.  So I want to introduce you to his latest project "Tuned Out". 

"TUNED OUT is a documentary-style sitcom, locally produced in Roanoke, Virginia. The series begins when a camera crew shows up to follow the daily antics of a small-town, religious radio station “Good God FM”.

Little does the staff know that the station has been sold and flipped to a “Top 40″ format… which comes to light with the hire of a new disc jockey who has to break the news. Now, the inept staff has to adapt to the unfamiliar and then the chaos ensues. 

In addition to the changes on the surface, the personal lives of the new “Pop FM” begin to unravel… like a highly dysfunctional soap opera!"

Now the show can be a little controversial to some but in a light hearted way! Plus he is a preachers kid, so he feels he has a pass when it comes to religious jokes :)

You can watch the show on Youtube or at tunedouttv.com.  If you are in NYC you can also watch it every other Sunday at 11-PM on MNN-4 in NYC (TW-67, RCN-85, Verizon-36). How exciting that his show is on in NYC? He could possible be making millions laugh without SNL!

Part of this blog kind of sounded like a match.com ad for Blair, well ladies he's single, has a car and job, which in this economy is always good! So let me know if your interested :) 

Spring Fling

Spring Fling by Roxy1021 featuring platform sandals

I love a little edge like this gorgeous Allsaints jacket with a flirty floral top!

5 o'clock somewhere

I am on my afternoon break from work and all I can think about how gorgeous the weather looks through the boring white office blinds AND how I want one of these ......

credit

I love Spring evenings sitting on a deck with a frozen margarita, (minus salt, that ruins the drink for me, I want it super sweet) enjoying good conversation and laughs with friends and family.

Tonight I am hitting the town for a co-workers 21st birthday and can't wait to enjoy a couple of cocktails!! Oh to be 21 again! Actually 25, 25 was a good year for me :)

Whats you favorite spring moments??

P.S Remember to enjoy the little things this weekend!!

working on my business!

Did anyone get the title of the blog? "working on my fitness business"? Ok lame? I just couldn't get the fergie song out of my head when I started writing this blog lol.

I have spent most of this week thinking, talking, working on my business.  It was almost two years ago when we decided to really do something with jewelry, back then I wasn't passionate and didn't have confidence.  Things are different now, I'm motivated to create the life I want.  So my business partner and I are planning to do a soft launch on April 1st, with new advertising, a full etsy shop, new logo and lots new jewelry. This seems really soon but I'm impatient and want to dig right into my business.

This post could get long, I will try not to write too much :)

The Logo:

So this is our current logo which I LOVE, however the colors and the shape haven't been the easiest to work with on price tags etc. Plus I can be a little OCD and need everything to be symmetrical.  Thankfully my friend Taryn, who designed this logo, was willing to help me with a new logo to re-launch the right way.  We talked about new colors and using clean lines and fonts.  I am really looking forward to seeing her designs.

Displays:

We hadn't updated the displays at Plantagenet Rose pretty much since January which is somewhat unprofessional.  People are shopping for Spring and they don't want to see the same display or merchandise they saw during the holidays.  My plan from now on is to keep the displays relevant and update them every month.

How lovely are the handcrafted wooden earring holders?

My Mum purchased them from a company in Colorado.

Also, I love the cream bases we used for our display.  My Parents so kindly made them for us and they are perfect, clean color, clean lines, perfect for the new style we are going for.

Website:

This weekend my friend, Jenna, took pictures of our spring stock for the website!  Luckily there is some really interesting places in downtown Roanoke.  I wanted to go with something that related to Roanoke and a little rustic.  We decided the area by the railroad was perfect.  I can't wait to see the outcome and how they look on an all new website!

Selling:

In the past we have had giveaways on facebook and through other sites and they have always increased traffic to our website. Unfortunately we have not put any effort into online selling.  These giveaways are fun and get our name out there but don't show people where they can buy/see our merchandise.  So finally I found the time/effort to take some pictures of our current stock and get them loaded on to Etsy.

I am proud to say we now have 16 items on Etsy.  It may not seem like a lot but it takes me about 15 mins to add one item.  That has to get faster the more I do it, at least I hope anyway! 

Well this ended up being a long post, hopefully some of you enjoyed reading about my current business adventures!  If you didn't I apologize for boring you for 15 mins :)

appreciate the little things

The devastation in Japan is pretty much all I thought about all weekend.  I feel for those people who have lost family, friends, homes, pets, belongings, everything.  The pictures seem so unreal, their neighborhoods turned into junk yards, part of me wants to ignore the news and go on with my daily life safe in America just so I don't get upset but that would be just ignorant/selfish of me to do. 

The situation has made me think about many things in my life, what would I do if we had a major natural disaster here? The people of Japan in my opinion are handling the situation extremely well and with a lot of dignity.  The pictures of people lining up at the grocery store, no riots, no chaos.  They understand they are all in need and are patience and helping each other.  I don't feel like that would happen here, I would hope we would have the compassion for each other but would we really? 

*dailymail.co.uk

The little things we get upset, stressed and worry about seem so irrelevant.  A few weeks ago I listed one of my goals for living a life with intention as to enjoy the little things.  I really haven't put much effort into this intention to date and I am regretting that.  What if something happens tomorrow and I didn't appreciate the email from an old friend, the sun shining, dinner with friends and family?  This intention is now my priority, not my business. I want to work to live and not live to work and if I am enjoying the little things in life and am happy my passion for my business will be natural and I will enjoy all my successes small and big.

If you would like to help :

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to Give $10Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami

it was like a dream

 

Just a quick blog about my recent trip to Atlanta.  I still haven't blogged about it and at this point i've forgot what I was going to write lol.  I did want to make a point to tell you we went to the World of Coke. A whole tourist attraction dedicated to everything coke, its like my Mecca.  

I don't think I have ever had a more perfect coke, it was perfectly fizzy, perfectly syrupy and perfectly cold and at this point I forgot all about my effort to stop drinking coke :(

Happy International Womens Day.

So its a little after midnight but March 08, 2011 was International Women's Day.  I will admit I don't know much about the organization but basically they celebrate and bring awareness to women's equality and rights.

So while I read up a little bit about the organization, which you can do here, I thought about a women who inspires me! 

I know some of you are going to read this and think, wow she inspires you? shes always moody and is stuck up, and from the way she looks sometimes in tabloids I don't blame you for thinking that.  However, there is so much more to this women, I know cause we are friends!

www.allure.com

Ok we aren't friends, I can dream of meeting my living idol right? 

For better or worse I have always loved Victoria Beckham's style, clothes, hair, shoes, make up and honestly that has not changed in the last decade as she grew up and changed my taste did too, and thank god! lol  .............Although I still love glitter lol  However not only is she one of the most fashionable people.  I admire her for lots of other reasons, some superficially and some a little deeper:

* She is an amazing business women, she has branded herself and her husband over the years, much like style, her brands evolved.
* She is funny, don't let the pout fool you, you would look like that with a hundred people taking your picture every time you get out of the car. 
* Shes British :)
* She seems to be a great mother and a great wife and stands by her husband. Who of course is hot! How could not admire her taste in men when shes married to David Beckham.
* She has overcome a lot of issues from death threats, tabloid gossip and hatred just for being who she is. I admire the strength she must have to continue to deal with these things.
* She was a Spice Girl ~ girl power!
* She doesn't take herself to seriously.
* She goes for what she wants and doesn't seem to give up until she gets it.
* She really has become an amazing designer, I love her structured dresses and now has a gorgeous bag line.
* She really is Posh and always has perfect hair.

Shamless Plug

I think you should all hop over to my Mum's new design blog for her store, Plantagenet Rose in Roanoke, VA.  She is just getting started and is already providing an array of great home decor information and advice. 

So take a look and become a follower!! She might do some fun giveaways, right Mum?

Designing Details

P.S: how fab does the new spring display look at the store?

My 20!

So I really want to blog about my trip to Atlanta but I haven’t found the time during being ill, working and watching NCIS re-runs to upload the pictures.  A travel post is coming soon, I promise!  I promise because I know all 13 of my followers really want to know about my trip right? J

Anyway in the meantime I did find time to catch up on my blog reading obsession.  So while I was over at Kendi Everyday, I decided to click on one of her sponsors 20besttwenty.com is a really great site that shows you to 20 best items created by independent retailers across the world.  I began reading about their guest curator for the current best; she decided to share her 20 best (favourite things).  So I took the inspiration to write my 20 best:

1. Coke a Cola ~ nothing like an Ice cold coke on a summer day.
2. My Tiffany Notes Necklace.
3. Eating Pizza outside the Pantheon in Italy.
4. Genuine Laughter.
5. Reconnecting with old friends.
6. Play dates with my friends children.
7. Dressing up.
8. Theme Parties.
9. The flight to England.
10.  Original Art from Street Vendors.
11.  Sunset at Montmartre.
12.  NYC.
13.  Romantic Comedies.
14.  MAC Make Up.
15.  Armani Jeans.
16.  Driving with the windows down and sunroof open listening to great music.
17.  Summer Barbeques with Friends and Families.
18.  Dancing – all forms.
19.  A cool crisp night in Fall.
20.  Spontaneous Road Trips.

         

What are your 20 best?