A hot pair of shoes solves everything

Last week I was looking through Banana and Jcrew catalogues for style inspirations,  ideas for outfits for my upcoming vacation.  Then over the weekend I looked through the Chicos mailer.  I cut out pictures of some of the outfits, made some notes.  Then I went shopping, I  hit TJ Max, Marshalls and Forever 21, and spent a quarter of what I would have spent in Banana and Jcrew.   

When I got home I thought I’d blog about it.  I would write about my packing OCDs, my outfits of the day, which styles inspired me and my cheaper versions.  It would be perfect!   But of course , my dear Mother who’s staying with us for a couple of months threw out my ripped pages from the magazines while I was at work.  My outfit inspirations…What!  I had a plan, I was going to scan those pictures, take pictures of my outfits and blog about it …my whole blog revolved around this!

In a second I was in 1985 all over again, my mother would come into my room clean it, and literally throw everything out.  Probably her way of teaching me to clean my room…”if it’s on the floor, I’m throwing it out, so you better put it away”.  This would include papers, make up, anything loose that was on the floor, it was history.  Things would just disappear.  Did this make me clean my room…Uhh no.  I never cleaned my room.  What a screwed up cycle, it went on for years. 

My dear Mom she is the sweetest thing, but she throws everything away.  You leave it on the counter and walk away for a couple of hours, when you come back, I assure you it will be gone.   So here I am, in my 40’s with a family of my own, a life of my own, and my own OCDs and idiosyncrasies.  In a second I’m brought back to the insecurities, uncertainty and vulnerabilities of my teen years.     

My Mommy…  what now?  Do I tell her... it’s my house, how dare she throw my stuff away... 

What did I do.  I brought her to Starbucks.  Yes, Starbucks.  You see my parents have been staying with us a couple of months, We’re all going on a family vacation in a few weeks.  Then they’re going back to their place in Portugal.  We probably won’t see them until maybe Christmas.  Sounds sad right?  So after Starbucks I bought her a pair of shoes for our vaca!  Aren’t they hot?

 

 

 

 

 

Yes a pair of Ann Klein shoes solved everything...

 

XO

Teresa

The “C” word, it’s everywhere

Today I called Sylvia from the Designer Workroom, wanting to let her know I was getting ready to order fabric for chairs, told her about the sidemark, to expect the fabric and the purchase order next week.  We did our normal small talk.  You know, how’s everything? How’s the family.  I told her that maybe I would write about her in my next blog.  I’ve been thinking of writing how the economy has affected workrooms in New York.  Little did I know what was coming next.  I said maybe I’ll stop by next week.  Then, awkward silence;  and she said, “early next week I’m having a few treatments done, and I get very tired afterwards, but Friday is good”.  So I start with my questions… Sylvia, everything ok?  You alright?

One day Sylvia noticed a little bit of blood, went to the doctor, had a sonogram,  then an MRI and was told  her uterus wall was a little thick.  Some of us have heard these words from our GYNs.  She had a DNC, then an ablasion.  When they sent the results to the lab they found the big “C”, Ovarian Cancer.  That’s it, just like that….speechless.  Sylvia would be high risk for surgery so the only option is radiation.  Devastation. 

I’ve been dealing with GYN problems and might need more surgery.  It was so scary to hear the “C” word come from Sylvia’s mouth.  I told her to be strong and that I would pray for her.  She sounded very optimistic.  The thought of her optimism makes me smile right now.  But Sylvia’s words keep playing in my head.  “Cancer is everywhere”, she said “everyone that I ever lost was from Cancer”.  She said she has no pain, just the treatments are very painful, but there’s a big chance of full recovery, and having had a PAP every year helped detect it early.  Sylvia is taking it head on and being strong.   I can relate a little bit to loosing people from the “C” word.  And if there’s a lesson to be learned from this is that we should keep up with our yearly PAP exams.  Early detection is the key. 

Sylvia told me today, her workroom is open for business and they’re busy.  I urge you to support Sylvia from Designer’s Workroom Services in NY and her workroom.  It’s good to keep her busy.  She is an amazing, talented woman, I've been using her workroom for 10 years and her work is beautiful!

 

Xo,
Teresa

The Big Leagues, Super Bowl and Furniture Market

Many exciting things coming up in the next couple of months. Valentine's Day, my 19 year wedding anniversary, and my family vacation. Me, hubs, the kids and my parents are going on a cruise. How exciting! I could pack today, but even I know packing now is a wee bit too early. 

Speaking of exciting things tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday.  Although this year we're not too excited about that.  Why you ask?  I’ll quote my 16 year old son “the teams suck this year”.  Personally, I think my son and the hubs are just pissed that the Jets have sucked the last 2 years.  But shhhh, don’t tell them I said that.


With Spring around the corner, soon the weather will be nicer.  A  little more sun, much needed Vitamin D, and hopefully we'll be  a lot less cranky.  With spring,  comes the furniture market. High Point Market this year is running April 20th through the 25th.  It's the biggest furniture market in the galaxy.  With about 2000 showrooms in High Point, North Carolina.  About 12 million sq. feet, and 180 buildings.  About 75,000 people getting inspirations, ideas, checking out new products and planning for next season.  If you love furniture, fashion and decorating, it’s like Christmas on steroids.

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far away I worked for Levitz Furniture.  Market week was the busiest, most fun, and most stressful time of the year.  Meeting with vendors, we were wined and dined.  Picked out new product line, fabric and accessories.  This was the big leagues for me!  I was the Assistant buyer; I worked at Levitz for 10 years.  Of course I started out as a decorator, and moved all the way up the corporate ladder; All the way up to…Assistant Buyer.  And if you think that sounds lame, there’s irony here…when Levitz started going through bankruptcy, and restructuring, many of us, including me were demoted and became Assistants to the Assistant buyers.  Assistants to the assistants…lol

 

We still did all the work, planning, ordering, replenishing, setting up store layout, and vignettes and all the reports.  Come to think of it, I really don’t know what my boss did.  Hopefully furniture stores got a little smarter and figured out that you don’t need to pay salaries to the buyer, the assistant buyer and the assistant to the assistant to buy the furniture line-up.

 

Going to High Point was an amazing experience.  To see the newest looks and plan for the newest trends.  Next, I definitely want to someday go to the Tupelo Market in Mississippi.  Maybe next year, or next galaxy.

 

 

Xo

Teresa