The Bug Zoo winter lines are in! This Burgundy Bliss Party Dress and Leggings (left pic) is my favorite. Wouldn't it make a great holiday outfit? I asked Deidre, the designer at Bug Zoo, what inspired her to make such a darling outfit and she says her daughter (her miracle baby and only child) is what inspires her. Deidre doesn't like her picture taken... but here she is below.

This dress in particular was designed as she imagined her daughter as a fairy who grants wishes and is able to grant one wish a day. She created this story around the outfit. The burgundy color was chosen as it is a warm winter color for a fairy.

The other styles are inspired by what her daughter (age 5 now, enjoys. She is a real madam who loves feminine, yet funky styles and often 'advises' her mom when she is designing what she thinks will look good and what she thinks will sell. Do I sense a budding new designer growing up in our midst?

From what I hear, all of Bug Zoo think Deidre's daughter is an angel.

I am going to participate in the MSN Business Breakthrough. I basically have to compose a 500 word or less essay about how the Business Breakthrough Team (I believe this is a team through VISA) can give me tools to make my business more efficient. The five categories to enter to win are: Marketing, Team Building, Technology, Finance and Organization. I am going to enter for the marketing category. The winner gets an evaluation and $10,000 in custom solutions based on the evaluation. Writing can be very difficult and I have until Sept 30 to send it in. Wish me luck!

So my ups and downs these past two weeks have been trying to get my two shipments in and getting them on the website. It's one thing here and one thing there that's been causing delays. Will I have my second shipment in by next week's show? I hope so. and I hope to have all the new items on line soon! Uuuugh! I just want to do everything now. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Today is the start of Labor Day weekend! Three days of bliss and fun in the sun. Today is date night - the kiddies are being picked up by Grandma and Papa! They are so excited! and so are we! I think we are going for a romantic boat ride and maybe hit a dockside restaurant along the way. As long as it's relaxing and not too much work. I want to relax tonight.

So the big news today is that Feed The Children wrote an article on Kaboodle Kids in their special projects area. They decided to add articles about small companies who contribute regularly and I was one of the first to be picked! I wonder how long it stays up there? I'll have to find out.

I am also very excited to be a part of something that Frances Jones feels so passionate about. The front page always has a link to the Abandoned Baby Center in Kenya. All of Kaboodle Kids contributions are sent specifically for this center as we feel a need to help them, as our kids clothes come from Africa.

So check it out and see what other small companies are doing out there too.

It's a great day! All my files are intact and life is good again. I have another added reason why I love him so much.

Yesterday morning started off like any other morning... until I go to open a file and it's not there. In fact, the folder containing all my company files are missing! What a shaky feeling as I call my hubby and ask why my stuff is gone. So I run a search on one of my files and luckily it sits in backup.

Right now, the computer has been working for over 24 hours to try to get back the files from what appears to be a dead drive. The back up plan is to retrieve everything from backup and manually figure out what I did in the past week that was not saved. So long story short, I haven't been able to work. Bummer! Hopefully this will be fixed by the end of the weekend.