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I AM EXHAUSTED!

That statement pretty much sums up my week.

I. AM. EXHAUSTED.

The past week has been a whirlwind of work, fun, and craziness. How crazy do you say? Well let’s just say that almost everyone that spent the week with me ended up sick…including me. It all started off with the Friday before Rock the Bells...(fade into flashback sequence)

Friday was quite the busy day for Charlie and I. He had work until 12:30, I had to complete some iPad orders as well as do multiple loads of laundry so I had clothes to chose from for our 5-day Vegas trip. Yes, 5 days. I was crazy to even think I could last in Vegas for 5 days, but more on that a little later. Before I knew it, it was 4:30 and we had to head over to Ninong’s.

It was a big day for our family bakery. We were blessed with the opportunity to be featured in a TV series that featured some of our most popular items, including our Ube Pancakes, Baked Scallop Dirty Dog, and Longanisa Spaghetti..to name a few. This was a huge opportunity for our little bakery and we were not going to pass it up. They were filming the entire night – all while our other company, Traklife Radio, was spinning live in front of the bakery. The people at the Friday Night Food Truck event in Granada Hills really liked the live music, and I hope it helps to grow our listener base. We’ve got a really good show on Wednesdays! A big thank you to all our friends that came to support Traklife AND Ninong’s that night and every night. We truly appreciate your support in our endeavors. Here’s DJ MikeRawk on spinning live in front of the shop. Check out all that film equipment behind him!

Charlie and I also had a cake order to complete that was due on Saturday. Since we were beyond busy, we had to complete it on Saturday morning. Thank God we made it in time! And I think it turned out beautifully. What do you think?

Sunday was our first night in Vegas. We got to meet up with some Vegas friends and so the Vegas madness began…the rest of the Assemble team got in at around 3 am. They came home to an upgraded 2 bedroom suite at the Elara, formerly known as the Planet Hollywood West Gate Towers. Monday started off at the Capsule show at the Venetian. Then party, party, party. Tuesday started our first Magic Tradeshow experience. Party, Party, Party. Wednesday was our last day to cover Magic. Finished off with a dinner at Wicked Spoon at the Cosmo hotel and party, party, party with the remaining of the team. Thursday, we hung out with a good friend, ate some great food, and flew home. The damage you ask? A group of 10 drank 6 bottles of Hennessy, 2 bottles of Ciroc, 1 bottle of Coffee Tequila, and 1 bottle of Tequila Rose. Not to mention the drinks we bought at the bars and clubs. I think we were all running on 3 hours (or less) of sleep each. So needless to say, it was quite the party weekend. (Excuse the horrid iPhone photos)

 We landed and came home on Thursday night, Charlie had work the following morning at 7 am and I got up at 6:30. So much work to catch up on. Our look book was supposed to be complete by last Wednesday. As you can see from the paragraph above, that didn’t happen. 😛 After Charlie got home from work, we reported back to Ninong’s, cooked some Ube Funnel Cake, Ube Pancakes, and made smoothies all weekend. AND, to top it all off it was Charlie’s birthday on Saturday. So we had some of our friends and family come by for a BBQ at our house. All before I got sick on Sunday. I think my body is begging for some rest and relaxation, which is what I plan to do for the rest of the week.

To be honest, August has been one of the most grueling months. I haven’t been this tired since our wedding. But has it been worth it? HELL YES. I wouldn’t trade any of these experience for the world. It’s a step toward improvement, toward growth, toward success and I say it’s worth it. I know it may be hard, I know it might ask for everything I can give (and then some), I know that I’m entering uncharted territory, but it’s okay. I’m excited, I’m enthusiastic, I’m optimistic, and I’m grateful.

So let’s cheers to Monday (not with alcohol, with tea lol), that this week will be even better than the last. And that’s pretty tough to top!

 

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Our 1st Photoshoot was a Success!

Wow, what a weekend we had! We had 2 (count ’em, 1…2!) photoshoots for our Fall ’12/Winter ’13 look book. The CO Team has been hard at work behind the scenes on releasing some stylish cases. Our goal has always been to combine form and function to give everyone a nice case with great protection!

I wish I could share with you the awesomeness that took place this last weekend, but not quite yet! We’ve got a few more to sort through before we share our sneak peek. 🙂 Until then, I’d like to send out a handful of thank you’s to the team that help made this possible:

Loren: Our talented stylist!
Preston Richardson of Preston Richardson Photography: Our photographer for our Friday shoot
Shanelle, CJ, Richie, and Kathleen: Our talented models
Sarah: Our photo shoot coordinator and right-hand-woman

Thank you again and can’t wait to share some photos!

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Doing 5 Things at Once

I’m sure you guys have felt that feeling before. You know, wishing you were able to clone yourself so you could be in 5 places at once. With reality sinking in that cloning isn’t an option for me I tried to master the art of major multitasking. 😛 I was pretty good at it, until I realized that being a director, coordinator, designer, baker, cook, bookkeeper, and manager just wasn’t something I wanted to do any more. Sure it was possible, but I was tired – mentally and physically. Most of the nights during that time I could barely sleep through the night because I kept remembering and thinking about the things that I didn’t get to take care of. And when I was awake, you can see me trying to do everything at the same time: cooking, designing, emailing, promoting… Then1 day, it hit me.

It was 1 night when I was cooking dinner. I always like the feeling of having dinner ready when Charlie gets home, which is almost never nowadays. I was chopping vegetables, sauteing garlic and onions, and cooking rice all while trying to take calls, answer emails, quality control and listen to our Traklife Radio show, respond to texts, and take photos of our cases. Are you wondering if I burned dinner? Luckily no, but by the time I finished cooking Charlie was home for a long while, and I didn’t even finish any of the things I was working on. Everything was half done. It just dawned on me that day that if I just stopped trying to do everything at once and just focus on getting things done one at a time I would probably get things done faster and the quality would be much more superior. I know, I’m a slow learner and I always tend to learn the hard way. Hopefully you can give me credit for admitting I have a multitasking problem. 🙂

So here I am, in the present day trying to do things one at a time. Is it working? Let’s just say it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. 🙂 But I’m trying!