another year.

today i enter the numbered part of the 3rd decade in my life. it was a good day today - spent with family and friends. still had a bit of work to do but no matter - i had a good day.

this upcoming year is going to be an exciting one for me - i can already feel it. and i am ready. i know lots of ppl cringe at being over 30 but WHY? why do you care what the world thinks of your smile lines and grey hairs? in the end, does it even matter? nope!

i have gotten lots of gifts today and in return, as i promised a long time ago, i will be giving away a mini maya road gift - a nice selection of our ribbons and embellishments tucked away in a nice acrylic jar. all you have to do is visit our website and answer these questions - and make a comment on this blog. but to make it an even playing field here are the rules:

1. don't post your answer here in the comments section (unless you want to lessen your chances of winning!) BUT do post a comment that you are playing.
2. email me your answers at info@mayaroad.com
3. answer all 10 questions correctly to qualify.
4. all entries will be accepted until Ocotober 30th- midnight CENTRAL time.
5. DT members can't win (sorry!)
6. winner will be randomly picked from all correct answers.
7. winner must agree to let me post your first name and first inital of your last name on this blog.

are you ready?

here goes:

1. how long ago was MR started?
2. how many DT members do we have (include Deb and myself)?
3. how many DT members do we have named Carrie?
4.when did we release the FRESH ribbons and blossom slides (which show)?
5. what is the diameter (width) of our Mega bottlecaps?
6. how many keys are in the mini keys set (how many do you get total)?
7. how many sets of journey gems do we sell?
8. what is the address of Deb's blog? (www:???)
9. about how many products do we currently have in stock?
bonus question - if you get this one right and you are picked the winner, i will add extra ribbon to your gift! - who is older - Deb or Caroline?

good luck everyone!

what scrapbooking is all about.

... i am happy to report that we have a couple of customers in asia now. deb and i used to joke about all the pictures asian people take and how they should be fabulous scrapbookers. you should see the number of people who took fotos at our weddings.

... this is a picture of my grandma with my sister earlier this year. it is a bit hard to explain scrapbooking to my grandma so we decided to show her some photos of deb's scrapbooking pages so she would understand what we were doing as a business. even with the translation in language of the page, she understood (my grandma does not speak english).

and i guess i was just thinking today that this is what is was all about. i am impressed as it is hard to TELL people what scrapbooking is all about and so much easier to SHOW them.

my grandma has photo albums where the ravages of tropical weather and humid conditions have taken their toll on her photos. these are photos from when my grandpa was alive, when my mom was born and so on. deb and i would love to save them and we are trying to so that our generation each can at least have a copy of a CD with them on it. another thing we are adding to the to-do list but so worth it.

today...

well i have 15 mins before the day is over but i almost forgot today is my 6th anniversary of when we got engaged! luckily my DH didn't forget. he brought me a card and chocolates. we got engaged at my friend's apt in cambridge, ma 6 years ago over a burger king meal where i thought my DH had gotten me the latest pokemon toys but i got a ring instead.

and also what perfect timing, a dear friend, J, bought me the biggest arrangement of flowers today (DH accuses her of showing him up LOL). i will post those tomorrow. j and i have become friends over the last year or so. she came to help us out at CHA and i really appreciate it. we have a similar sense of humor (she is the one in the blog who ate the chocolate cake with me).

oh yeah one final note, the NEW MAYA ROAD WEBSITE IS UP! a shout out to deb for getting the last things done. for you store owners who want to login in (and i don't know if you even read my blog but be patient, we are loading all of ya'll on there!) also our fab design team have posted lots of their projects on there. so check it out at www.mayaroad.com

and i still have that gift to giveaway sometime for those who check out the website and answer the questions i ask! i am just going to update it with NEW maya road ribbons. i will post the quiz this weekend.

getting older...

it is hard for me to believe i will be 31 in a couple of days. it has been a great year - quitting my old job and taking MR to places we only dreamed of. i feel very lucky and blessed each morning i wake up. i think back to what i have accomplished this year and i feel very content with life. i have had a good life and an easy life compared to many others. it is so so easy to look at someone else's life and think "why should they have it so easy and not have to work for the stuff they have?" but it is just stuff. stuff that isn't going with you when you die.


2005 has been a great year. my DH thinks he see a spring in my step that wasn't there last year. but i think i am finally taking the time to smell some flowers once in a while. yeah, i am a bit out of shape compared to my marathon training self last year but i am so happy. i don't get the sunday afternoon blues about going to work. and most importantly, my DH and I are going to start thinking about our family and how we want it to grow (or not). things we weren't mature enough to tackle last year.

PS for those posters on my last entry, i actually do weigh 15-20 lbs more than i did in HS. i was a very tiny 115 lbs then - my legs were as skinny as my arms. i just carry my weight well now b/c it is 100% sheer muscle (LOL!).

UR invited...

a lot of you blog readers know that deb and i named "maya road" as a combination of our nicknames as kids but we talked a bit less about the 3 gal in the club - j. j's nick name is jujub to us still and she is a straight up from brooklyn gal who must now admit she lives in NJ (for those from that area, you would know why that is hard - LOL).

j is getting married next year (yay!) and while looking at some invites for her, i told her that the cool ones she liked which were like $15-$30 each were expensive. so i tried my hand at making her a sample today.

this is shatung silk i had leftover from my own wedding where i made our ring bearer pillow and lavendar pillows for my bridesmaids. good thing i am a pack rat b/c now, 5 years later, i could did it out and try an invitation for j.

i was telling j i went out and bought pellon wonder under for this along with some fusible interfacing and being the city gal she was, she said "um what is that?" LOL! i personally hadn't bought that stuff in years but luckily i still knew how to use it.
so with that and my iron, i created this invitation. i think it is pretty sweet. the trick is if j is going to like it and also how am i going to teach her to make them herself? (of course, i had to throw in some maya road ribbon slides, photo corners and ribbon!)

i just sent j an email so she should get it tomorrow. i hope she likes it. i will need to send her the actual invite to have her feel it and start getting crafty! LOL!


good night, ya'll!

being trendy...

one of my guilty pleasures is to go to barnes and nobles on a saturday night with my DH and sip a starbucks coffee (a frou-frou kind) and read fashion magazines followed by a mad dash through the clearance section for any must have cheap reads.

tonight i was reading some magazines about shopping and it looks like the trend for winter is velvet. sweet. i still have 2 velvet jackets from 5 and 8 seasons ago that i can't seem to throw away - one is a sweet raver turquoise jacket with like racer stripes down the sleeves and another is a uber cool fine burgundy velvet jacket that has like a crushed stitched velvet seam down the front. good thing i am a saver.

but i notice similar trends in scrapbooking too. it swings from shabby vintage chic to modern clean lines then onto that DIY look with actual doodling, etc. and i will admit it, i am influenced by it all but still feel that i should be true to myself.

but back to trends, i did think up some ideas tonight for cool new things for CHA winter 2006. some new ribbon designs, etc. it is hard to think that after 72 hours of getting through one show, it is time to look ahead already but it is...

in the meantime, i should find those flowery crushed velvet leggings i had in high school. too bad i am 15 lbs heavier now b/c i would be SO stylish in them.

more thoughts on MT...

as promised, here are a couple of more pics from our booth. pic 1 is some of our new ribbons and pic 2 is the "home" feel of our booth. i do vote for a nice sofa next time so we have some place to sit! LOL...

but thanks to everyone who stopped by. it means a lot to deb and i (and also to our DH who sometimes question the insanity we put ourselves through) as sometimes we question what are we thinking when we take on such a daunting task. while we have lots of help on projects from our fab DT, friends and family, for the majority of the decisions and coordination - we do it ourselves. from pkg design to label design to product design to catalog design to booth design. yeah just the two of us. and there are days when we wonder if we will make it - not b/c we are fresh out of ideas but more so b/c it really isn't easy being small and competing with larger companies out there. we hope that we have carved a niche with our funky products that are priced fairly and packaged attractively. having the majority of the work being done by us helps us to keep to those goals.

things like this trade show energize us. make us want to come up with new things. to work harder and made more items better. they give us hope that we can grow down the path we want to.

PS... oh yeah, my DH is now planning his own MR line too that he hopes will make it through the design process so you might see something from him in early 2006! don't worry, he will have to justify his product line to deb and i before we give it the full on green light.

MT...

my feet hurt. my back hurts. my eyes hurt and my lips are really chapped from talking and the dry air here at Memory Trends. but it has been worth it. to be honest, i personally didn't know how people would like our new booth design and products (and my crazy t-shirts) but it has been a wonderful show full of such nice people.

lots to talk about but i will leave you with some pic of (as promised) our booth, the 10 hours we spent on our heart wall art, the cake from PF changs (we didn't finish it), and one of my fab tank tops made with maya road stamps.

{pc}

{pc} can mean a lot of things - but for us, deb and i thought it would be a CUTE name for one of our latest chipboard sets - paper clips! and boy do we have some cute ones! these are them and they will come out at MT (but as we always try to be honest, they won't be available til november) and you will get 2 sizes of this that pop out to be real paper clips - i have played with these today and they are really super cool. deb did a great job of planning out this brain storm we had in our heads a while ago! the clips pop out (carefully) and then if you are ingenious, you will use the leftover shapes! (wink).

can't tell ya what the other stuff is but we also have a super cute board book coming out - the design is ingenious if i do say so myself (again a shout out to deb for the work).

ok, i am functioning on not to much sleep, making lists and checking them twice and praying our luggage doesn't exceed the 50 lb weight limit per item. but getting excited about the show. still have 2 more shirts to finish but i am not worried. i thrive on stress and actually get more done that way.

i even scheduled a run today.

check out these guns...

i alway crack up at the gym when i see guys in the weight area b/c they are grunting and checking themselves out admiring their handy work.

well while at fedex this week, i was admiring my own guns (LOL i really don't have any) but anyhow i am thankful that my friend rivka and i took weightlifting in college like 4x (it was a pass fail PE class). ahh, back in those days, i started out barely able to bench press 30 lbs and moved on up to 70 lbs by the end...

anyhow, i haven't seen the inside of a gym in a LONG time but thanks to packing stuff for the trade show, i have gotten quite a strength training work out. i know for example, i physically can lift about a 50 lb box by myself. anything more is a bit of a struggle but it is good to know the benefits of running MR includes some strength training. the last two weeks has been a LOT of weight lifting for me but i enjoy it.

and to reward myself, here is a gift to you- a peek at some other colors of our new ribbons. there are oh 5 other colors sets i haven't shown yet. there is also some very very COOL chipboard. i can't reveal those yet except to tell you that one is call {pc} (not politically correct but paper clip- but think COOL PAPER CLIPS). and well deb would hurt me if i said anything else.

so you will have to wait. ;)

my creations

i know i spoke about the tank top that i created a couple of entries ago and well here is a snippet of it! i don't want to ruin the surprise for everyone who might see me at the show. man, the last time i remember painting a t-shirt was with those "puffy paints" and the t-shirt paints that you outlined cute cotton print cutouts with!

ah, i have evolved but nonetheless, here is one of the tanks (and to uphold LAU tradition - on sale at old navy). i also decided that convention centers tend to be places where you can pack meat and have it freeze in so i decided to make a scarf too. when i told my DH of my plans, he kinda said "you aren't wearing a SCARF to the show are you" - i think he envisioned like fleece or heavy knit with a trapper hat or something. as stylish as that is, i had picked up some t-shirt scarves at the GAP for $1.99. so last night i set about on a mad midnight creation once again and stamped it using our tins as a stamp and a circle stamp. heck, i was so tired, i even stamped my leg in acrylic paint (which reminds me i need to go wash that off).

our house is exploding in projects right now. i am sure my DH was shocked to see my scarf hanging on the door of the kitchen pantry to dry (it was like hanging panty hose to dry) but he is a saint about things (sometimes). and now i have a scarf to wear! might have to make deb wear one too.

so if you see deb and i in my crazy creations, just remember, while we were voted most likely to succeed, we were NOT voted "best dressed"...

nutella = YUM....

ah, i must have been a good girl today b/c what else do i find at my door but a sample of sweet nutella! so i am hen pecking typing as i munch on an afternoon snack of nutella and animal cookies - yeah yeah, i spaz on eating sometimes esp when under stress and also when we have limited snacks from lack of food shopping. i will just pop some grapes later to make up for this wee food indulgence!

now for another sneak peek - some of our new fab FRESH stripes ribbons in MEGA size! our CHA summer FRESH ribbons went so well, we wanted to add a different size to complement them. hence here are 1" fresh stripes. i absolutely love them. they are soft and sweet.

they even would make awesome preppy belts (maybe i could convince the guys to wear some LOL).

ok, i am going to take a wee nap now b/c that is a hobby of mine when i don't get enough sleep! but i will make up for it with mad creations at 3 am!

introducing...

our CITY line! well this is one color set but you can see the styles here. a great mix of black with splashes of color and color with splashes of black too! 5 ribbon styles in 7 colors. i am really diggin' this new line and am about to embark on my cigar box with it...

LMK what you think about it!

ok, fess up...

who of you all have been talking about us b/c our phones will not stop ringing with inquiries into our products. i just wanted to say THANK YOU so very much. it means a lot to both deb and me.

i also want to say that i appreciate when customers tell us that we are easy to work with and have amazing customer service. i know that a lot of the big players have amazing customer service and while we don't have resources to match them (yet), i do hope that we make a name for ourselves as a company of integrity and who really cares about our customers.

but for you blog stalkers, i know you wanna see more goodies - well guess what i got today - our new ribbons! all of them! so for you all, i will post a peek at some new stuff.

for the next couple of hours though, i am going to work on my crazy idea for MT- i made some t-shirts/tank tops for us! (not all of us though b/c my DH and BIL said " um you don't have to make us any but thanks for the offer) - i stamped my way to these super kewl tank tops and i need to add some finishing touches with our ribbons and some iron ons (no we are not making iron ons). if you see me in a stylish MR tank top at memory trends, i will stamp you one - a caroline original for just $12! (LOL!) or you will probably just say when you see me "what is that geek wearing?"

of to play - be back soon with some more ribbon peeks!

bohemian birds need apply....

it has been a LONG week and this week will be a long week and so will next week with the trade show... one way that i try to decompress is to actually try to make STUFF from MR stuff. i found this birdhouse all naked at a discount store. so i slapped on some paint (notice the sloppy paint job when it is past midnight and i am super tired) and then stamped it like crazy and added some crazy maya road large bottlecaps for a hot tin roof. this is something a crazy bird would like. it is a cool turquoise complemented by a rich fall orange color.

the good thing is that i can take this to the show next week as a piece. then when i am done with it there, i will take it home and hang it in my backyard under my live oak tree so i can look at it from our patio when we grill out. and maybe some bohemian bird will decide it likes it so much it will take up residence there...