Hello

Hello to all in the blogosphere.   I have taken a leap.  Someone said the net would appear.  

I started reading blogs about 4 months ago; my 16 year old daughter calls my world of blogs, the mothers' facebook... maybe... it is a wonderful way to connect with so many people, on different levels, in so many places, doing all sorts of things.  Oh, I should have had a V-8 moment - when I understood the root of the term blog - web log - ah ha, she says!

I am married with one daughter and live in an upside down house in Connecticut - I have a small business that is growing each year.  I love ribbon and never in a million years thought I would have a business built around ribbon, but I do. 

After attending Country Living's Women Entrepreneurs Event in Chicago on March 15, 2008, I knew that I had to "take a leap and the net would appear", a quotation from one of the speakers, Tamara Monosoff, Founder of Mom Inventors, Inc.  The leap, of course, is starting the blog - soon to follow will be my ETSY shop (Beth Ferreira of Etsy was another terrific panelist) and then the website... but first things first: the blog.  

The event was fabulous.  Great speakers and panelists and topics - Anna Griffin and Heather Bailey were particularly interesting since I use their fabrics on my picture frames - oh and by the way - the business that I have been growing since 1990 is MRR DESIGN - I create these wonderful, new-fangled picture frames - more details later.  Back to the event - one part of the day was a "Pitch Your Product" segment - I was selected to pitch my product to a panel of editors from Country Living - an incredibly nerve-wracking experience but terrific.  I wrote and rewrote the pitch, practiced in front of my toughest critics (you know who you are!) and got lots of great advice.  Then gave it my best shot.  The most important part of the whole process was moving out of the comfort zone and meeting and listening to so many other women who are venturing out on their own trying to build a business.  I came back home so jazzed and excited - I immediately began to e-mail with other women that I had met.  I know that we will continue to connect.   They all had very different products - Pourapie - yes, you literally pour your pie into your pie crust - soon to be in Whole Foods,  fancy and artfully decorated backpack wicker picnic hampers and soy candles in old wine bottles.   More on all these ladies and their products in a later post.  

Thanks to the County Living folks who put on such a great event - it was beneficial to me on so many levels - on top of it all, I got to visit with my brother on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange - just as the Bear Stearns situation began to unravel - a wild place that trading floor - what a work day - and then I stayed with a dear friend from my young and single NYC days - A wonderful weekend that continues to live today!  

Ciao for now.