So yeah…11 hours to drive to San Francisco.  We ended up breaking up the trip in Redding at around midnight, sleeping in a that’ll-do-it hotel, where the very sweet woman with missing teeth and a tone that made it seem like she’d been smoking for more years than she’d been alive didn’t know how to process a priceline purchase; so we had to wait another 20 minutes before we could actually get in the room.  We woke up at 4 am (yes, that’s only 4 hours later) to get on the road for another 3.5 hours of driving straight to our 10×10 square of a pop-up street fair city where we would live for the next 2 days.

That was the start to one of the most challenging shows I’ve ever done. So while I was dealing with some major feelings of joy having just landed the new shop space, I was battling everything inside me that just wanted to quit the show and go home and sleep.

Audrey, our saving grave in SF

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when we arrived in San Francisco, it was raining.  But not the Portland kind of misty, non-committal drizzle rain, the kind of rain that’s accompanied by these thoughts, “Not a soul should be outside right now.” These thoughts were butting up against the expectations that this show (which boasts around 100,000 attendants every year) could possibly be the most successful show we had ever done.  And at a time when we really really needed it.  So yeah…no one should be outside and yet we were standing there trying to set up a booth, with fabric for walls, in the pouring down rain.

this saves.

There was no sign of any of those 100,000 attendants, Will had put our new beautiful display boxes together backwards, we quickly discovered that those fabric walls had tiny holes all over them, and the tarp we had set up to protect us starting acting like a sail when the wind started blowing.  Oh yeah…the wind.  We had weights on our canopy, but since none of our neighbors in the street fair city had shown up that day, our booth sort of became its own wind tunnel.  When people actually did come out (and they did), we had to stand there like pillars of our own home and hold the tent down.   One more thing—it was the first weekend in Portland (in months, no less) when the sun had decided to come and play…full on, no holding back, play…the kind that brings out all the birds and the people and 85 degrees of warm happiness.  You better believe that was on my mind.

This is the Betsy who pulls it together.

Pitiful.  That’s how I felt about the situation and myself.  If it wasn’t for Lupe, I think I probably would have had a breakdown in the booth that day.  In fact, I bent down behind the tables because I felt the tears coming on.  I started tooling around on my phone to distract myself and there, waiting patiently for me, was one of the best emails I have ever received from a friend.  It actually brought the tears on, but they changed from darkness to lightness and I felt that everything was in its right place.

yeah, the door opened.

It went from challenging to character building.  JW said amazing things about how she thinks of me (things I didn’t quite feel I deserved) and it made me feel so grateful to have what I have…amazing friends and family like her…and I realized that sitting in my own pool of sorrow was trapping all of the nice things she said about me.  And I wanted to prove her right.

beautiful Carmel

So with Lupe’s amazingly generous help and all the beautiful gracious hospitality along the way, I pulled myself together…and we ended up having an amazing journey through California.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart  to everyone (you know who you are) who played a role in making our trip so sweet. The first show even blew me away, people’s willingness to come out and support an artisan-based show in the middle of compromising weather—our numbers were way higher than what I thought  and we’re pretty sure that in nice weather it really would have been beyond our expectations.

Stripe trunk show, Santa Cruz, CA

generosity

Suna's home... from Stripe, a store we sell to in Santa Cruz, CA

she made food for us in her beautiful kitchen and then we stayed the night. Amazing.

our room.

beautiful hotel in Carmel

so me.

JW was the first person to put the idea of “blooming where you’re planted,” into my head.  When we first became friends, we told stories to get to know one another.  After I finished my stories, she said that I was that kind of person. It made sense to me.  Everything in my life almost starts happening before I even know what it is or where it will go—dancing, college, theatre, grad school, music, Will, love, betsy & iya…almost all of it knocked on my door and I said…”okay!”  This is not to say that it’s been easy—in fact, I’d say that it’s been really tough.  But it’s that digging deeper and deeper that simultaneously opens the opposite side and then I look up and I’m like…WHOA!  There’s so far to go up there!  And then I jump real high and it feels really good.

last show of a 10 day character-building road trip to LA and back

In the last picture for the last show, I wore the morse code that says "here" ...it just felt right

Bloom where you’re planted.  Just try it.

so much more to share with you…p.s. we’re completely into our new shop and we’ll keep you posted on the door opening!

happy weekend to each of you!

xox~betsy

pps…next week is the premiere of the new line THE MUSIC at Radish Underground.  Details here: http://ow.ly/5uZV8

Song of the Moment: Everything in its Right Place, by Radiohead***

Today, my heart is living in the last picture.

I hope your weekends are full of love.

***Song of the Moment: In Love With You, by Erykah Badu***

That was part 1.

It’s Thursday…what a great day.

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: The Road, by The Finches***

We’ve worked with the amazing Marie for a few years now, but Fiat Lux is a new venture for her.  Just a few blocks from our favorite bakery, I’m certain this shop will excite locals and tourists alike.  Marie has impeccable taste and she’s the most friendly, kind person to boot.

Apparently brick is rare in San Francisco, which helps this sweet shop stand out from the rest.  If anything, go there and introduce yourself to Marie.  She will be sure to brighten your day.

Marie loved:  The Origins line; in particular, The Pathway Necklace.

This necklace is my own current obsession.  ^^^^^

Oh, and grab one of these on the way out.  ^^^

…Before you get here.  ^^^

And then drive up to Portland and say hello to us!

Thanks so much for following us on our road trip adventures.  We had so much fun and met so many wonderful new betsy & iya stockists.  We are grateful to you all!

It is MONDAY, make the MOST of it!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: It’ll Be a Breeze, by The Long Winters***

We had some pretty deluxe accommodations in Los Angeles, and a pretty deluxe set of plans.  Our friends were getting married.  And we would spend the weekend in the Hollywood hills.

It doesn't look like a lot of traffic, but it sure felt that way.

Perhaps it’s borderline heresy for a fashion company to post this on their blog, but we… don’t really like… LA.  But we LOVED our weekend here.

Will in the Hills. A hill Will.

Despite how much we’re totally in love with each other, our lovely dog, and our life, we’d been on the road and away from the comfort of familiar people and places for a long time at this point.  Cracking that first beer, hugging that first hug, laughing that first laugh in LA was incredibly rejuvenating.

The feast that awaited us in LA. Um... AMAZING.

We call this baby doggy.

A weekend and a tied knot later (and with a newfound fondness for the place), we bid adios to LA and began the final leg of our northward trip home.

The wedding was held at a converted smog check building. Notice how Betsy's eyes and lips match the sign perfectly???

Jerome and Shannon in wood on pie.

HAPPY WEEKEND, EVERYBODY!!!

***Song of the Moment: Special Rider Blues, by Blue Mountain***

After a brief stopover in Phoenix, we found our way to San Diego.  And boy, were we ready for a stopover.  We’d covered half the country–1,500+ miles–in 3 days, stopping only for appointments, meals, and sleep.

Even with satellite radio in our new car, the regular radio, and two iPhones, we found ourselves crazy for new tunes by the time we hit Phoenix.  We found a cute record shop there and bought the following: Sound of Silver and This is Happening, by LCD Soundsystem, No Color, by The Dodos, Halcyon Digest, by Deerhunter, and the self-titled Maximum Balloon.  High marks the first four and an enjoyable listen for the last; however, we both agreed that Maximum Balloon works better to fill slots on a mixed tape rather than all the way through all at once.

ANYWAY.

San Diego came into our lives and we were ready for her.

We’ll be sending Vocabulary Boutique her first order in the next few days.  Vocabulary really enjoyed selections from the Shameless Love line.

***Song of the Moment: Get Innocuous, by LCD Soundsystem***

An old garage turned Mexican joint in Charleston

Spoon me.

Fish tacos and sweet potato fries. (PS, you're still #1, Porque No?)

Cause sometimes it's not official until it's in neon.

On the sauce.

The work of Magda Sayeg. So. Cool.

It was never this pretty after this photo. Pretty much devoured it.

Finding good coffee on the road was our biggest challenge. And this place was our biggest goldmine.

Man, I'm a sucker for old photos.

San Francisco's inimitable Tartine.

I'm not lying when I tell you we spent $40 at Tartine and ate our spoils all the way up I-5.

We remembered to take the picture mid-devour.

So are we just lucky?  Or have things changed since that dirty rumor began that it’s impossible to find good food on the road?

***Song of the Moment: She Knows, by Gnarls Barkley***

Texas: the other empty.

Anyone home?

We drove 7 hours the first night and landed in Fort Stockton, TX for a cat’s nap before our next stint.

Enchantment and Shotguns.

You see, we were going to pass by Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and I wanted to visit.  Betsy wanted to sleep.  Exploring the caverns meant a late night, an early morning, and a handful of Betsy convincing.  Boy, were we ever glad we stopped.

A maxim: Will and Betsy move more than Caves.

Caverned and coffee’d up, we continued to Albuquerque.  A meeting with the uber-cute Aqui, a dinner of Asian street food, and a couple of well deserved beers later,  we fell into bed two very happy campers.

Aqui was really into these excellent layering necklaces.

Click to shop this style.

Happy Friday, everybody!!!

***Song of the Moment: Black Night, by the Dodos***

this is not the ONLY cool Tikkr watch curtain photo I got. really.

I had the pleasure of stumbling across the Texas Style Council website before our road trip adventure.  I thought it seemed like a perfect opportunity to network with really cool bloggers and rad Texas folk…so I hopped onboard!

that's right, I got so excited about the event and everything I was learning, that I barely took any photos! cool dinosaurs suffice, right??

Also, we had the pleasure of connecting with Leslie from Dress Shop–a super cute boutique in downtown Austin–and she placed a great first betsy & iya order.

Amid lots of cool events–a clothing swap, a colorful welcoming party at Bo Concept, and a hugely invigorating conference on blogging, fashion, business and how they all intersect—I had the immense pleasure of meeting some really inspiring people in the business.

told you so.

Jennine from The Coveted was the keynote speaker.   I was blown away by her humility and moved by her ideas.  I was particularly impressed by the lovely organizers, Grechen (who really liked my jewelry…eeeee!!) and Indiana –and I’ve since become a big fan of their blogs. And of course, I am a huge admirer of Susan and the whole ModCloth team.  I was so excited to meet them all.

the beautiful Indiana from Adored Austin.

Etsy and ModCloth repreSENT.

I had ideas BURSTING out after this event.  I still do.  I have a hard time keeping up with them on top of all the new accounts and the fact that I’m DYING to share my new design project with you!!  But bundle it all up and it’s like the best birthday present EVER.  to myself. and then I’m going to give it to you.  just WAIT!

Happy Wednesday to my favies!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: The Go Getter, by the Black Keys***

style is oozing out the edges...I mean, right!?

To me, Solid Gold and the neighborhood where it lives was the most representative of the Austin I have always heard about…  The one that everyone says is most similar to Portland. It’s owner, Katie, has such a cool and sharp eye.  Not to mention that she was such a pleasure to work with.  I LOVE MEETING THESE AMAZING SHOP OWNERS!  Have I told you guys that yet!?  I love my job.

I straight up stole this amazing image of the great Townes right off their hot facebook page. LOVE solid gold style. love.

i'm not kidding when I say, I think this model is an old friend of mine from College...WHA!?

The shop itself is so well designed, by her and her husband.  It is light, airy, and super fresh. With its own Austin flair, it felt like I was walking in to a little bit of Portland.

And that was really nice.

She picked a wide range of b&i, but she was super duper excited about this necklace:

Ashlyn's Brilliance (named after the real deal "iya")

So I’m super duper excited to make it and get it in her HOT shop!  GO visit the lovely Katie and her beautiful shop!

You GUYS!  Have an awesome weekend.  Seriously.

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: You Wanted a Hit, by LCD Soundsystem***  Okay okay okay, I am truly behind the times because I just discovered this amazing music, but I have to say—I’m full-on smitten.  full on, people.

images disclaimer:  I forgot my camera when I visited Solid Gold, so all of these amazing images are courtesy of their own website and facebook page.  Thank you, yay!