The Green Forest Princess Goes Camping

Would you believe what I did this weekend?! I can't wait to tell you: I went camping.

It may shock you to know, that I - as an Eco Mama - do not camp. I have camped before, in the days before I even knew about things like capuccino and microwaves and nail polish remover. In those days, sleeping in a tent was as awesome as, well, sleeping in a tent. It was one step up from sitting in a fort built out of sofa cushions. So, pretty awesome.

So the kids and I went camping for one night. And I lucked out, because it was the most incredible camping/mama experience I'd had in a long time  ever. It was more than a trip, it was a trip. It was an adventure. We took a ferry boat ride and drove for ages and ate pretzels and sang songs in the car and bought balloons on the way there and everything. When we got to the site, we were welcomed like family and there were kids all over the place. I found I could sit down literally for minutes at a a time without having to run over and stop one or either of them from doing something I'd regret.

It was rainy and muddy, which I was a bit bummed about because I so wanted to wear my new creation: the completely awesome pillowcase pants for women. I take pillow cases and attach them to jeans and they look friggin awesome. But because I am hopelessly obsessed with trying to be fashionable as well as wearing my upcycled mentality as a garment no matter where I am, I wore them anyway...

Of course, it didn't take long before they were covered in mud, but I still looked and felt fabulous in those pants. And, incidentally, anyone would because they are just fabulous pants. Pillow cases. Who knew? And you know, a layer of mud can actually work wonders when it comes to feeling in harmony with the earth, a pretty essential thing you need to do when camping, I discovered.

So it took exactly 33 milliseconds for Mia to feel right at home in this green foresty paradise, which I am convinced is where she would like to live forever, if she could have her way. Mia's favorite kind of princess is a Green Forest Princess named Mia. Pretty coincidental, huh? So now, she found a place where she could in fact become the Green Forest Princess Mia, and I gotta tell you, she pulled it off.

So Mia The Green Forest Princess, the Eco Mama and The Urinator (for those of you yet unfamiliar with Bram's nickname, please read The Urinator Awaaaaay) went camping and had such a great time, we wanted it to last forever. Mia was the one who actually vocalized that desire in a fit of tears when we got home, but we all felt it in our hearts. 

Priorities...

I have to get the spring/summer collection online!

But before I can do that, I have to Photoshop every garment onto a clear blue sky background.
But before I can do that, I have to photograph every garment.
But before I can do that, I have to sew labels into every garment.
But before I can do that, I have to order more labels, since I'm almost out.
But before I can do that, I have to arrange a photo session of kids modeling the garments.
But before I can do that, I have to make the garments.
But before I can do that, I have to gather inspiration and come up with ideas.
But before I can do that, I have to sort out daycare so I can concentrate fully on my work.
But before I can do that, I have to set up my new overlock machine.
But before I can do that, I have to give the overlock machine I've been borrowing back to my mother-in-law.
But before I can do that, I have to clean her overlock machine out and pack it up.
But before I can do that, I have to wash all the spring/summer materials.
But before I can do that, I have to gather all my spring/summer materials together.
But before I can do that, I have to sort through the fall/winter materials to find all the spring/summer materials.
But before I can do that, I have to make room in my studio by holding a big sale on the winter/fall collection.
But before I can do that, I have to advertise the sale and announce the spring/summer collection in a newsletter.

And in order to do that, I have to get the spring/summer collection online!


Arg!

I've set a goal for myself: April 1st.
No joke.
On April 1st, the 2010 spring/summer collection will be online. Which means I have to get all the other priorities on my list done, and am scratching my head a bit as to how I'm going to actually go about doing that. More importantly, in which order!

Julie Andrews once sang, 'Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start'. Hmm. If I knew where the beginning was, I wouldn't be having this problem...

This kind of situation is typical for me, as a multi-tasking mamapreneur. It drives my husband crazy when he sees me starting another project when I haven't completed the last one. I admit, it drives me crazy too, but how else do I do it? Multi-tasking is all I know.

Being a mom is the very definition of multi-tasking, if you ask me. I don't know too many people who are capable of changing a diaper on a squirming kid while poking a straw through the little foil circle on a package of juice while googling something or other online all at the same time, unless it's a mom.  I don't even think dads are capable of this kind of multi-tasking - it's got to be a mom thing. Men always finish what they start. Women are always starting something new.

I guess it's in my nature to mix it all up, and till now, it's worked for me. It'll work for me again, you just wait and see.
April 1st.
Spring/summer collection online.

No joke.

A 'Mamapreneur' in the making

Last summer I finally made a life long dream come true.

As a kid, I had this dream of owning my own shop. I would transform my room into a store all the time. I put price tags on my teddy bears, created my own promotional material, even turned a My Little Pony notebook into a booklet of receipts. Once I managed to get my parents and brothers to visit my 'shop', I relished the moment when I could place their purchases into one of my handmade totes, add a handwritten receipt and say 'Come again soon!' as they walked out the door.

The dream has been growing, gnawing, itching and festering inside me for years. As a grown-up, I was conditioned to do the responsible thing, which was to find a real job instead of pursuing the dream. As a result, the dream got pushed back into the realms of the 'If Only' category of my mind. The dream kept me awake at night. The dream followed be everywhere. The dream wouldn't let me go.

In the years that followed, events beyond my control took place that inspired (or perhaps forced) me to take a career leap from freelance graphic designer to fashion designer. I went to work full-time at an international fashion concern designing clothes for girls 7-14 and loved it while it lasted.

Things changed again almost four years ago when I gave birth to my daughter, Mia Leentje. 19 months later, my son Bram came along. Suddenly I was no longer a nine-to-five career gal, I was a mom. I was no longer researching the latest trends on WGSN; I was researching educational childrens' programming, sterilizing bottles and installing car seats. I couldn't see how I could ever become an entrepreneur with two toddlers running around the house in need of my constant care and undivided attention. The dream had to take its place even further back in my subconscious, so far back I almost forgot what the dream was.

Don't get me wrong! Being a mom is the best thing ever. Being a mom is what finally made the dream come back to life. When I had to stop working at the big fashion concern due to a knee injury, I found myself facing the deep, bottomless pit of unemployment and disability. According to the local unemployment agency, there was not a single job in the region that I was qualified for, or rather, that was qualified for me. One day my job coach suggested I start my own business. They would even foot the bill for a specialist to help me write my business plan! I was tickled pink - the dream went from the back burner to front and center faster than I could say 'chamber of commerce'.

So here I am, a half a year later, owner of my very own online shop where I sell my very own line of upcycled kidswear. Somehow I am managing to combine my professional expertise, motherhood and the dream into something tangible and real. I'm not just an entrepreneur, I'm a 'mamapreneur'.

I am working towards the next stage of my dream, which is to open an actual shop where I can hold workshops, create garments for my customers in an in-house studio and can actually say 'Enjoy, and come again soon!' instead of having to write it in an e-mail. Now, I run a virtual shop, which makes it possible to balance the amount of time I work with the amount of time I spend with my kids. I'm still a long way away from paying the mortgage on the profits, but hey, at least I won't have to quit my day job. Now that the dream is a reality, there's simply no stopping it.