This is my nephew Hams! Hams lives with my brother (major contributing member to the LAMA team) all the way in Berlin Germany! 

Hams is super spooky and ready for Halloween… are you? Happy Halloween from LAMA!!

This is my first day back to life and LAMA as usual after a tough week. Last Friday I lost my Aunt to complications associated with her recent breast cancer diagnosis. She was an incredibly warm and generous person who worked hard to bring her family from Ecuador to the US. In just one generation, our family has managed to accomplish some amazing things that could never have been possible had my Aunt not had so much courage, strength and wisdom. She deserves the biggest “bravo!!” you can imagine. She will be missed by so many people forever.

Coincidentally, October happens to be breast cancer awareness month so I decided to check out Etsy this morning to see how Etsy shop owners were getting involved. To my delight, there were over 140 pages worth of beautiful breast cancer products to search through and better yet, most of the sellers were donating a percentage of the proceeds from their sales to organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation! Here are a few of my favorite products.

The past couple of weeks have been a bit rough to say the least. The news has become so frightening these days and everyone has been feeling the effects of our crashing economy. Being a new business owner, I have been especially frightened about what all of this bad news means for me and LAMA, which has left me feeling a bit blue. No, not pretty LAMA blue, just down in the dumps blue. A VERY unflattering shade of blue. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but all the fear has caused me to crawl inside my shell and rethink all the choices I have made in the past few years of my life. Was I crazy to leave the work force and create my own business? Should I have stayed in the interior design world longer and waited a few more years to open LAMA? Was I too young and naive to think I could actually do all of this?!

And so my own great depression set in quickly followed by a brief (but strong) personal recession in which I actually believed (and again, I hate to admit it) that LAMA was a huge mistake and at twenty six, I had already made the biggest mistake of my life. Dramatic? Yes. Very. 

I decided to let myself cry… a lot … until I felt my fears pass. I started to talk to friends and family about how I was feeling, I went hiking in the beautiful Berkeley hills, I knitted a scarf, I watched The Daily Show (John Stewart always makes me laugh), I listened to my favorite Zero 7 album which always reminds me of the long bus rides I took through Ecuador back when LAMA was just a little dream in my mind and I read “What Should I Do With My Life” by Po Bronson. 

I found this book to be both comforting and inspiring. It’s “the true story of people who answered the ultimate question.” Reading about others who followed their hearts and pursued their passions made me feel a lot less alone and a lot more positive about leaving my old job to create my new one. Not every story ended happily as not everyone who chases their dreams catches them in the end. What I found to be so reassuring though was that not a single one of these people regretted the choices they made and, for all of them, it has led them to a deeper understanding of themselves and their capabilities. 

Maybe LAMA won’t weather the storm, though, deep down I know it will. What I do know for a fact is that creating this business WAS NOT the biggest mistake of my life. There are now three things I know for a fact: 1. I still love my high school sweet heart 2. Miles is the best dog ever 3. LAMA never was and never will be a mistake. I love what I do. I love the people I have been lucky enough to meet. I love the feeling I get when a someone sends me an email telling me how much they love LAMA and I love that there are so many possibilities in front of me. Who knows what LAMA will be in the next few years! An actual brick and mortar? I hope so!! 

That leaves me where I am today. Today I feel really optimistic about my future. I just got off the phone with my mommy. She couldn’t stop raving about the Tina Turner concert my dad took her to last night for their thirty third wedding anniversary. They also recently returned home from a trip all over Europe. She said the best thing to me. “I keep crossing things off my list. I’m doing all the things I always dreamed of doing.” It made me stop and think about my own “to do” list and all the things I’ve been able to cross off in the past few years and that was the most encouraging feeling ever. 

So, to conclude, my major crisis of Fall ‘08 has been averted. I pulled through and have decided to reemerge with more blog posts. This is pretty fun actually! I would like to get in the habit of blogging more often. It’s my early New Years resolution. (Wow, look how retail has already gotten to me. It’s not even Halloween and I’m already thinking about the holiday season!)

I hope everyone is doing well in these troubling times. If the state of the nation is getting you down, I highly recommend one of these Keep Calm posters that you can purchase here from the lovely Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay. Buy it. Frame it. Hang it. And repeat it to yourself a hundred times a day. Trust me, it actually helps. 

I mentioned yesterday that LAMA was expecting some new items for the holiday season. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s coming… 

These adorable hand made crochet cactus plants are expected to hit the LAMA e-shelves by the end of this month. I can’t wait for my own! Yes, I ordered one for myself. How could I resist?

Due to the hand made nature, quantities will be limited to be sure to check back frequently OR join the mailing list and I’ll let you know as soon as they’ve arrived. These will definitely make a special one-of-a-kind gift for a special friend or family member (or yourself). Trust me, it’s okay to buy gifts for yourself.

I’m currently in the process of bringing some great new products for the holiday season into LAMA. One of the designers I have been working with is a young woman by the name of Carolina Leal. I’ve been so busy obsessing about the adorable crochet cactus plants she makes (coming soon to LAMA) that I have completely ignored the beautiful artwork she does!

I love the simplicity of her art and how it seems to be accomplished without once lifting her pen. Her elegant and minimal line drawings are exquisite. 

Apparently these drawings came from a book of illustrations that Carolina recently put together. Along her beautiful illustration work, Carolina is also a thoughtful poet who often incorporates her words throughout her artwork. 

To check out more of Carolina’s work, check out her blog here. I can’t wait to receive the beautiful work she has done for LAMA! You’re going to love it!

While I was in Buenos Aires, I had the privilege of meeting Los Angeles based artist Saelee Oh. Our paths happened to cross while I was in the midst of a conversation with Emi at CouCou. As soon as I heard other English speakers in the shop behind me, I had to investigate. (Something about hearing English when you’re in a foreign country is so comforting). Anyhow, we all introduced ourselves and chatted for a bit and, unbeknownst to me at the time, Saelee would soon be one of my favorite artists. 

I’ve always wished I could be a great artist but sadly, I can’t get much further than stick figures and senseless doodles. If I could draw, my art would look something like this. 

Someday I would like to own a great big piece of Saelee Oh art but until then, I’ll just have to appreciate her work online. It looks like she’ll be at the Bazaar Bizarre in San Francisco on November 30th so I may just have to go check out her work in person. In fact, it just made it’s way on my iCalendar. 

To read more about Saelee Oh, check out her blog. Thanks Saelee for bringing your beautiful point of view into this world.