Another Edition of Translate That Article!!!

While the paint is drying on a toy box, I came in out of my boiling garage to cool off. Look what I found while searching the internet!!

Get ready because this time we're going to......AUSTRIA!!!!

I love when I get to use an online translator!!!! I'm such a stealth online detective that I figured out that the article came from Austria. From what I can tell, this online site ran an article/slide show of international gear designed for kids from the 2008 book, Designed for Kids (Phyllis Richardson.) And I was lucky enough to have the Owyn included.

Here's the text...
Was tun, wenn die Kinder ihre Spielsachen in der ganzen Wohnung verteilt herumliegen lassen? Den kleinen Rabaukern nachlaufen und all das Zeug wieder einsammeln? Wenn, dann aber bitte nur in Begleitung von der Owyn Toy Box. Mit der verspielten Kiste auf Rädern, entworfen von Kiersten Hathcock (Mod Mom Furniture), macht sogar das Aufräumen Spaß!

And here's the translation.....
What do if the children her toys allow to lie around in the whole apartment distributed? To the small Rabaukern run after and collect all stuff again? If, then, however, please only in company of the Owyn Toy Box. With the playful box on wheels, sketched by Kiersten Hathcock (Mod Mom Furniture), even the cleaning out is great fun!

The link to the website http://www.news.at/channels/85/main.shtml and article/slideshow http://www.news.at/nw1/gen/slideshows/slide/show;wohnen/buecher/edition_braus/01_designed_for_kids/;template;susi/default/;kid;85

Thanks www.news.at!

I Heart Stock Lumber...and The London Hotel in West Hollywood

I just got back from Stock Lumber in Burbank (on Victory) and I just have to say, if you live in The Valley and need wood, Stock is your place. I really can't say enough about how great everyone is who works there -- and how helpful they are and have always been. When I first started out and was terrified to head to the lumber yard for fear I'd be laughed out the big metal gates, they treated me with such respect and kindness. I kinda feel like I'm walking into a local pub where everyone knows my name now. Except they don't give me booze, just plywood.

I've had my share of rude, chauvinistic encounters working in my male-dominated industry, and it's really hard to shake off sometimes no matter how much grief I give right back to them. It will go round and round in my head for days. And I'll think of all sorts of better responses I should have given. I'm again, so thankful, that all I feel at Stock is love.

Speaking of love, I tried out The London Hotel in West Hollywood for a night with my friends this past weekend and had the best time. Talk about surreal! One day I was at a posh hotel poolside sipping vodka tonics and the next, I'm at the lumber yard. A few dozen gorgeous skinny model types would walk by us at the hotel and I'd "guess" their occupation. Never once did I guess carpenter. Something tells me they weren't picking up casters and Baltic Birch today.


(Nice cabana, eh?!? And just look at that wood floor!!! Gorgeous!)

A.D.D.

This post will suffer from A.D.D. today. My brain is all over the place for some reason so I thought I'd just jot it all down in case any of it is even the least bit interesting. In bullet form, no less.

* First off, a BIG shout out to Eamonn Gottlieb and his mom, Oonagh, for thinking of me when they came across an Edward Cullen doll in a local store. I'm now the proud owner of said "action figure." I literally jumped up and down when Eam gave it to me. I was the cool, furniture building mom in his eyes. Now I'm just the pathetic thirty-something with a crush on a fictional character. But whatever. Cool is over-rated. I HAVE A FREAKIN' EDWARD CULLEN ACTION FIGURE!!!!

* Scott's parents are in town and we're having a ball with them. And they're helping me out by keeping my kids occupied while I build my ass off. We had a Palm Springs weekend complete with lounge singers, more lounge singers, playing chicken in the pool, and poolside drinks.

* Sometime this week the production team that is working on getting a show sold in that involves me and my dear friend Oonagh will be here filming a bit more. And I have to do a few more voice overs. Why? BECAUSE I WAS CRAP THE FIRST TIME, I'm sure. Why is it so damn hard to sound casual when you have a a mic and camera in your face? Maybe if I stick Edward in my pocket, I'll feel better. I could go a WHOLE lotta ways with that but I'll just leave it. There. Right there. :)

P.S. I have to make it known that my husband saw the doll in a store and was going to buy it for me when Eam beat him to the punch. Since it's (I've) become the joke of our family, he's even hung up the Twilight poster in my closet without me knowing about it.

Confession

Confession time.

I AM TOTALLY, UNDENIABLY IN LOVE WITH SUMMER CAMP.

And the freedom it brings my life. Sadly, the last day is tomorrow so I'll now be the one figuring out what kinds of summer fun my kids have from 9-4pm everyday...all day...UNTIL THE END OF SUMMER!

But before I start crying on the keyboard, I'll take a step back. To the year 2003. It was the year I became a stay-at-home mom after leaving my marketing job at A&E and The History Channel. It was one of the hardest, most depressing years of my life. I was supposed to feel so gleeful and head-over-heals happy that I was now a stay-at-home Mom but to be honest, I had a really hard time transitioning. To add insult to injury, I felt so guilty for not instantly falling in love with my stay-at-home life. I had always wanted a career and always wanted to be creative in some capacity that didn't involved glueing dried beans to a piece of paper. And yet I also wanted to be a mom who was there more than my corporate job would allow. So there I sat in my big house trying to reconnect with my son (then 5) and really get to know my baby Grace, (then 1.) More or less, I was trying to figure out who I was without my job.

It eventually got easier and we made the move to LA where I was forced to think about how to bring in an income but by that time, was SOOOO not wanting to go back to long hours and worries about daycare and all that jazz so I became a nanny to two incredibly adorable babies. It turned motherhood into a job for me so I treated it like that. We had a schedule, park dates, museum trips, etc. and I just plugged away like that for two years.

I'm now at that stage in my life where I have a full-time job working from home and for the most of the year, my kids are away at school during the day-time hours. Aside from really NEEDING time for my business, I feel like I really need time for myself.

Which brings me to.....AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Summer Camp is ending!!!! I have to plan outings, playdates, swim days, in between furniture building, client meetings, Facebook time, and rereading the Twilight series over and over again. I will somehow figure out how to work this job all the while limiting my kids TV viewing to less than 3 hours a day, so help me God. Ok, less than 5 hours a day. When would I have time to check Facebook if it was just 3 hours?

Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine: The Sequel!

I opened my mailbox to find another Pregnancy and Newborn magazine yesterday. And for a second, I thought someone was trying to tell me something. Then I remembered something about my furniture being in the summer edition. Low and behold, it is!

Thanks to Pregnancy and Newborn Mag for including the Noah Owl Box! And thanks to all the pregnant ladies out there looking at it and somewhat considering it for their babies' rooms.

Canada, Oh Canada

Mod Mom is international! A new Canadian modern baby store (launching at the end of the summer -- more info to come later) ordered 15 toy boxes to be driven by truck to Canada. I've been working on regular orders but have also had some help from an amazing local woodworker to help me produce all 15 in time for the launch. I am THRILLED beyond belief with this order for two reasons: 1.) the owner of the new store is a former client. She ordered them after receiving her Owyn Toy Box a couple of months ago. Nothin' better than that, right? and, 2.) it's one order for 15 toy boxes. At the most, stores generally buy two at a time.

I'm slowly, with loads of fear in my eyes, trying to figure out where to go from here. I'm getting requests from Italy, England, Australia, etc and have no idea how to fill them and make it worth their while monetarily. No surprise that shipping is through the roof.

So I'm slowly seeking out ways to partner with other furniture companies. Being such a design novice, I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm sure to get schooled on the internet, the way I do when I diagnose someone with a deadly disease that they don't have. Should be a piece of cake, right? Right?

Dwell Magazine - Product of the Day!

The Bertie landed the coveted Product of the Day spot on Dwell Magazine's online website. Many thanks to Jordan for seeking me out!!!

Here's the link: http://www.dwell.com/products/bertie-box.html

Happy Father's Day, Scott and Dad!

My two favorite men. Thanks for putting up with me. :)

Dad, I will always laugh at your jokes no matter how many times I've heard them.

Scott, I will strive to reduce the amount of sawdust and dirt that ends up in our bed. That's how much I love you.

The Real Deal

You're not going to believe the workshop make-over my husband did while I was fishin' (well...really just laying on the blanket) and eating beef sticks in Ohio. I was speechless when I saw it. Something tells me this guy still likes me after 13 years. He doesn't even seem to mind that I've fallen totally in love with Edward Cullen from the Twilight series that I read and finished over a four day span in Ohio. (No joke, all four books. And I normally can't get through a whole People Magazine.) Anyhow, back to the garage.

He surprised me with this complete redo. And now I'm freakin' out because it looks so damn official. Like I really AM a business. He even wants to put a TV out there but I said no. I can just watch TV on my laptop...or the Twilight movie over and over again for months on end until I realize that the movie isn't real, and those are just actors playing roles, and Robert Pattinson won't be walking into my garage workshop to help me sand furniture while he stares broodingly into my eyes. Sigh.







(Scott, you know I love you more than Robert Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen. Thank you for being you. And for working your ass off in my workshop. )

In Ohio!

We're in Ohio this week visiting my parents and my sister and her family (who are also now Californians.) I'll be back next week with more wood working craziness but this week it's all about Bob Evans, Friendly's ice cream, and everything else I love from my childhood in Defiance, Ohio.

Off to eat more beef sticks and real midwestern cheese!!!