300 Sales...WOW!!!

Tonight I was having a conversation with my brother about everything that has been going on in my life right now and he said some pretty inspiring words, "Say some prayers - be thankful for what you have - stay positive - it is way beyond your control" As I let that advice sink in, I checked my e-mail and saw that I had an etsy sale! This sale was from a previous customer who happens to be an Eagles fan in Arizona and bought a Philadelphia Eagles headband from me. Then it clicked...that was my 300th sale!!! I glanced over my blog history before I wrote this and noticed that exactly 3 months ago I hit 200 sales! So taking my brother's advice I am going to be thankful that I have a fairly successful online business and fabulous customers who like my headbands so much, they keep coming back for more! I am also going to stay positive and hope to achieve many more sales milestones in the months to come!!!

Santa's At The Mall???

I happened to be in the mall over the weekend and I could not believe my eyes when I saw kids lined up in their Holiday attire waiting for their turn for a picture with Santa. My heart immediately started to race and my palms got sweaty as all of the holiday anxiety started to hit me WAY too early! I give props to the mom's that are on the ball this early in the game. Bella of course wanted to get her picture taken but I told her we would come back when I had her outfit. It's a good thing I am not working so I have time to get on that task! I know it is November but does it seem a little early to be thinking about Christmas already??? I guess I should not be surprised, behind all of the Halloween stuff I saw some Christmas items on the shelves, retailers just chomping at the bit waiting for the increased holiday sales trends. It is all too much too soon for me, perhaps I am in the denial that Christmas is approaching and fast! I need to ease into the holiday season mostly because it is typically a crazy time of the year for me. Thankfully my sister is a little more aware of these things than I and asked me the other night if I had a Holiday Collection for Purplelicious. To which I replied...of course I do! Clearly I was not ahead of the 8 ball this season! Last year I made these accessories and am proud to bring them back this year! The collection includes two adult headbands made with festive fabric that is still trendy! There are also two children's headbands that are made with black and red velvet and are the perfect accent to your little ones holiday dress! And finally I have two ribbon bows that were an experiment that I think turned out adorable, but I am slightly biased! I truly don't think I will ever be ready for the holidays but at least while I am procrastinating and frazzled, my daughter and I can look fabulous in these great accessories!

Let me catch you up!

Wow I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since my last post. Time really goes by fast! So let me take you back a little. The night of Game 5 of the World Series I received a phone call from my father at 5:20 informing me that my aunt was in the hospital and that he would be unable to attend Game 5 and was giving me the tickets. I was filled with such a mixture of emotion, while I was excited to get to go the game, I did not like the reason why I was going to the game. On top of all of that, earlier that day I found out I got laid off and my last day was Friday of that week. So with mixed emotions I tried to put it all behind me and enjoy the game. That night I was joined at the game by two of my cousins who also got a last minute call from my uncle. The three of us all shared a mutual feeling of excitement to be at the game, but sadness as to the reason. The game was AWESOME, until the rain really started to come down. In my rush to change some of plans and get out the door, the last thing I thought to do was check the weather forecast. I was prepared for cold weather but not rain. So we sat in the rain and waited for them to call it. It was actually really miserable, because the rain seemed to be coming at you from every angle. We actually quoted the scene from Forrest Gump where he talks all the different kinds of rain! When they finally put the cover on the field I was relieved to finally get some warmth. We didn't want to leave our seats in case we missed anything!! We had a feeling that the game was going to get called since the weather forecast showed rain for the rest of the night. There was a part of me that was relieved when it was called because I thought that my dad would have the chance to see the Phil's win! But when Wednesday rolled around, he was still unable to leave the hospital so I got to go to World Series Game 5 - Part 2. So this time around it was still me and my cousin but his daughter and my other cousin joined us! I was happy to be there with my family, it felt right. It was such a strange experience to be there since the game picked right up where it left off and was only 3 innings. I didn't realize what was happening until someone said...one more out and we win the World Series. Then it hit me! I was going to part of history! It sort of felt anti-climatic in a way because usually you have 9 innings to build up your suspense, making that last out even more memorable. But it was still amazing. Being in the building for that win was unreal, I don't even know how to describe it really. Underneath all of the excitement I wished my dad had been there. My dad has been a season ticket holder since before I was even born and has been waiting just as long as everyone else to see the Phil's win a championship. But I know that if he couldn't be there, he would want one of his kids to be. As I was leaving the stadium, I was freaking out a bit. I was by myself and the people were just going crazy. There were cars just parked near the stadium and they were blasting music and drinking, running up to people's cars, and I just kept saying to myself..."There is no place like Jersey!" Had I not been by myself I probably would not have been so scared! I made sure to buy my dad some World Series gear and called him from the stadium so he could hear some of the excitement! I did not go the parade since it was unfortunately my last day at work and I had a lot things to transition and had to turn in my computer. I heard that parade was amazing and the total number of people completely exceeded expectations. You think?? Philly sports fans are crazy!

So now that I am unemployed, what am I doing? Well not working is definitely interesting. I have spent the last week catching up on stuff with the house that I have been putting off. I am surprised that I have been more busy since I have been home than I was when I was working! I, of course, have been looking for jobs but the job market is not looking to promising these days. I have severance until the end of January but that really does not leave too much time to find a job. I definitely have been brainstorming about some new ideas for Purplelicious so keep checking the shop or here to see what is new!! I will most likely blog about all of the new stuff since I have some extra time on my hands these days! So keep checking the shop and here for the latest and greatest! I am exhausted just writing this post!!! I am off to try and enjoy the rest of my Sunday before my 2nd super busy non work week begins!

World Series 2008 Game 3

When I woke up on Saturday morning I felt like a kid on Christmas Day! I was so exciited that I was actually attending another World Series Game! We had all been monitoring the weather all day because it was supposed to rain. Before we left for the game, it looked the rain was supposed to stop around 6 or 7 which would have been perfect! We arrived at Citizens Bank Park as soon as the gates opened at 5:30pm. We immediately started checking out some of the World Series merchadise. When we got out of the tent after buying our official World Series Gear, the skies opened up and the wind was crazy. So at that point there was nothing left for us to do but stand around, drink beer, and eat! For some that may seem like an ideal situation but I am here to tell you...it got old after 3 hours of it! At one point all of us pretty much ran out of things to talk about! My dad kept checking the radar on his phone and all we could see was rain. We were beginning to think that they may cancel the game, but I had hoped that they wouldn't. Then out of the blue, the rain stopped and the sky was clear. Everyone was hurrying to their seats because the game was starting. The feeling in the stadium was over-powering. When Taylor Swift was singing the national anthem I was full of emotions and covered in goosebumps. For starters I was grateful to have such amazing parents that gave me the chance to be there, happy to have spent the evening with my family, including aunts and uncles and most importantly, happy that my Phillies were in the World Series!!! I will say this, the way Taylor Swift sang that national anthem was just awesome. Check it out here.



The game itself was full of ups and downs. Back to Back homers from Chase Utley and Ryan Howard were amazing! When it came down to the final innings I was starting to feel pretty tired since I had been at the park for about 7 hours. I know I was not alone, and when that stupid error tied the game, I was praying that the Phils would come back for the win. One, because I wanted them to win the game and two, I just did not think I had it in me for extra innings! The last couple of plays on the inning were amazing and when the 3rd baseman overthrew home and we won, I was freaking out! Hugging my family, slapping high fives to random fans, and just screaming! This morning I woke up exhausted from going to bed at 4am and without a voice, but it was all totally worth it! What an experience! Go Phillies!!!

Bring on the World Series!!!!

I remember that night in 1993 so vividly even though it was so long ago! But I was fortunate enough to be at the game when the Phillies won the game that brought them to the World Series! It was so amazing to be a part of. The crowd was going wild, the fans were all hugging. It was the first time I saw Philadelphia sports fans actually be nice to each other! I was also fortunate enough to attend a World Series game. I still get goosebumps remembering the feeling of walking into the stadium, hearing music from the Natural, and feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation in the crowd. Unfortunately 1993 was not the year for the Phillies...BUT I couldn't be happier that they are going for it again in 2008!!! Again I am fortunate enough to be attending Game 3, the first game of the Series in Philly and I can only imagine what the energy is going to be like. It has been 28 years since this ball club has tasted this sweet victory and I know that will fight to achieve that title this year! Given this love for baseball, you had to know that I would get my hands on Philadelphia Phillies fabric. At first I was searching on the web for it and came up empty with the exception of one listing on ebay. They wanted $12.50 for a fat quarter...WHAT!!!! I found out that they haven't made cotton Phillies fabric since the year 2000. Once I had that knowledge there was only one other source I could go to. My mother...and low and behold in her fabric stash she had about 7 yards of this fabric from the year 2000. If I ever make fun of her massive fabric collection again, please stop me! She was kind enough to spare a 1/2 yard so I made a few headbands with it! I know I will be sporting mine at the game on Saturday! Check out my website if you want to get your hands on one! GO PHILLIES!!!!

They Say Its My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me! I started celebrating my weekend a little early on Saturday night with one of my really good friends from high school! We had a fabulous night in Philly, drinking some beers and going through the Terror Behind the Walls. If you live near Philly, check it out. This place is awesome. Incredibly scary and is even better at 12:30am, which is when we went! We had so much fun, we are still laughing about it today. I would share why but I don't know if anyone else would find it as funny as we do! On Sunday I had to put on the soccer mom hat and Bella scored her first goal in three games! So we were beyond excited! After her soccer game I had a nice dinner with my parents, Bella, and my grandmom! I expected today to actually be low key but it turned out to be such an awesome day. I received so many birthday wishes everywhere and from everyone! I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life! Bella got me a singing Hannah Montana birthday card and a slice of my favorite Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Then I came home and had flowers waiting for me from my fabulous friend and wingman Laura! So overall an amazing day. Thank you to everyone who made my birthday completely fabulous! Bring on 31!

Weekend of Fall Fun!

Given the fact that I have so much going on with my life, it is rare that I can spend any time during the weekend for fun. But since I had Bella all weekend and all the poor kid ever does with me on the weekends is run errands with me, I thought it would be cool to change it up a bit. After we left my regular Sat AM Weight Watchers class we were off to the mall to pick up our copy of Sleeping Beauty. While we were there she asked if she could Build A Bear. I said why not! I pretty much always say no, but thought that today could just be all about her. It was still pretty early in the day and I was trying to think of something else that we could do. The weather was gorgeous, in the low 70s, so I thought it would be cool if we went to a local farm and went pumpkin picking. I have not been to Duffields, since I was a kid. Since it is in the town where I grew up, I was always there for field trips and my mom would take us there to go strawberry picking in the summer. She would also take us there for the occasional cider donut! When we arrived at the farm I was in shock. It was PACKED. There were cars everywhere and they even had parking attendants showing you where to park. CRAZY! There was also a lot of activities to take part in. I bought Bella a wristband that included a hayride to the pumpkin patch, one pumpkin, a walk through the corn maze, a turn in the moon bounce, and a ride on the Barnyard express (a little tractor ride for kids). All for $15..what a steal! We had a blast, it was so much fun just living in the moment with her and watching her have fun. On Sunday, we had a day off from soccer so we lounged around the house for the day. Then after dinner we painted our pumpkins to put on the front step to go along with the other Halloween decorations we put up. She was so proud of her creation! In all, it was a really fun weekend and it was nice to forget about the routine stuff for a little while and let the kid in you come out. One other thing...those cider donuts taste just as good as they did when I was a kid!