For months we have been working like dogs to get ready for the big Stationery and Licensed Art shows in New York. We have designed a super sassy booth, developed new collections, put together catalogues of our work, designed a press kit, shipped out a bunch of stuff and I even sewed a couple of cute pillows with our brand new fabrics that are hitting stores next month. Yes, I sewed. Hard to believe, even for me. I can handle my Mikita power drill or paint a room no problem but I have issues with needles and thread. I tried to nail the fabric together but it didn’t work. I googled “fabric flowers” and found this super cute blog with instructions that even I could handle.
Pillows made with Juicy Blossoms fabric
fabric flowers, super easy to make!
We are very organized an efficient because, well, we’re a bunch of moms and that’s what moms do. The only thing left to do between now and Thursday morning is to find the perfect pair of shoes. This sounds like a fun problem but it’s keeping me up at night. I have been to every shoe store in the Bay Area to try to find the perfect balance of comfort and sass and it’s just not happening. I have plenty of fabulous shoes (65 pairs at last count, seriously) and they are fine for sitting at my desk and walking down the street to Starbucks. But standing on a trade show floor for nine hours a day? I’m imagining spending my evenings in NY in bed with my swollen feet elevated with ice packs resting on them instead of going to amazing restaurants or catching a show.
We tried the “comfort shoe” stores and they have certainly come a long way from the grandma styles they used to carry but they have not figured out how to combined Manolo style with Ugg comfort. This should not be such a humongous deal but it’s hard for me to imagine meeting people at the show, where I’m supposed to represent modern, sassy design while wearing fugly shoes. For generations women have made the compromise on comfort in favor of looking hot when it comes to fashion and I’m all for it but I just don’t know how nice I can be when my swelled-to-twice-their-normal-size sausage toes are bursting out of my gorgeous pumps and the balls of my feet are silently screaming about how much they Effing hate me for wearing high heels all day.
I’m off to buy gel inserts and go to one more shoe store on my lunch break, please write if you know where I can find the answer to my shoe challenge… or maybe I’ll sew some more fabric flowers and nail them to the top of my old slippers.