I was so happy to get to go up to Northern Michigan this week.  The fall makes it such a pretty drive (minus the kids fighting). So many times I had wished I had a little girl to take some pics of.  I love the fall line and the warm yet vibrant colors. I’m always a sucker for green, as you probably already know.  The Chartreuse Big Ruffles stole my heart. Ha, but now I am gonna have to say the Firefly Knot Dress stole my soul!!

Oh, my gosh, I so could not sleep last night. I was up till 12:30, tried to go to bed but could not turn my brain off, got back up, did it all over again.   I hate to admit but I had to go fro the bottle of Nyquil and now I’m in a fog. hate that. I mean, I love when I can’t turn my brain off cuz I have some of the most creative moments when my brain spins but I just want a switch to click it off so I can sleep sometimes.  Luckily, Anne made me get up and ready at 8am for a walk. You have no idea how many times double checked my phone waiting for the  ” I can’t make it” text. So did not happen! And I am now happy for that!

And now I must run and get ready for work. I am trying to pull a big project off before Christmas and so hoping Amy can help me swing it and Lynette goes for it!! Oh, and I got all my shots for the Africa trip and my arm is killing me. Just saying….

Stay tuned for some great things coming up this week, the Closet Cure and a Fall Photo Love for you Photogs!!

About how much I love this dress and this sweet little girl. Talk about a trooper on a cool windy day on Lake Huron. Everything about this, I love.

Okay, talk to you in the morning. I must go to bed or my kids wil never get up on time for school cuz I’ll still be sleeping!

Now if I’m being honest with you, this blog has a lot to do with myself. And all my weirdness. It pretty much comes up in conversation everyday, either around the office or at home with my roommates Mark (the boyfriend) and Zoe (I haven’t mentioned her yet, she’s lived with us for 3 months!) The only time it ever bothers me to be called weird is when it’s said in a negative way. And that’s mainly because I don’t understand how being weird could ever be a bad thing?!

It’s like having the freedom to be completely yourself, no limits and no constraints. That should be the definition of weird. Maybe being yourself means you sing while you walk really fast everywhere you go and you talk to fabrics when you design, or maybe it means you are so organized and structured that even the slightest thing out of order will drive you nuts? Whether you’re crazy like me, or so normal that it’s weird, Character Counts has me thinking weird is wonderful.

(a bunch of weirdos if you ask me )

All I want is to be happy being myself. And that’s what I want everyone else to feel too, young and old.  Can you imagine just being content with who you are and not trying to be anything more, or anything less? It is tough though, right? When being weird isn’t the norm. Or singing to yourself gets a little too much attention (trust me, it does). But I think it’s worth it. I think you have more confidence when you aren’t afraid to be yourself.

I bet this is a lesson most of you have learned a long time ago. But I’m 23 and learning new lessons everyday. I’m 23 and learning so much everyday. And the whole time I’m doing it you can bet I’ll be singing a song, making lame jokes, and laughing at myself. Life is too short not too, right?

LOVE,

SAM

What a great day! Thank You.

Character Counts has been a roller coaster. From the very beginning I knew it was going to be different than usual.

Ha, to be honest I knew from the very beginning that it would be a big pain for me since Denise put off designing it for so long.

But aren’t the best things in life the ones you have to work the hardest for?

The ones that challenge, surprise, and delight?

That’s Character Counts for me.

It’s a mounting love with no peak.

The more I worked with it, the more I loved it.

The photo shoot sealed the deal for me.

The girls really do bring our clothing to life.

And the fact that we went back home to Denise’s hometown, her roots? Ahh, made it…magical.

It’s funny that I can feel such a connection to her home.

If you could hear her tell the stories of her grandpa, her friends “the wingers”, her insane stunts with boyfriends…

You’d feel the same way. And You would know this was the perfect place for Character Counts to begin.

And tomorrow is the day. (Remember to breathe, Sam)

I hope you love it, obviously.

But even more, I hope you know each piece has a story. And a feeling. (I’m so lame, I know)

And every trim was hand selected with soul, each button picked with heart.

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to feel it too.

That Matilda Jane is so much more than clothing.

And we are all so much more than woman crazy about clothing. (I’m probably the craziest!)

And tomorrow, I hope mostly we can remember to…

Smile with Pride.

Act with Heart.

Live with Soul.

And as always remember…

Character Counts.

LOVE,

SAM

Gosh, when Sarah started I don’t think we even had a chair in the office. 100 shelves, 2 room additions (well, new leases) and our proud new phone line later, the Sweet Sarah is leaving for college.

Can I just tell you how sad we all are. And it is not just because she is the most amazing girl you have ever met, it is because we all love her so much. It is a weird thing, maybe cuz she is the youngest, or maybe because she just has this way about her. This “way” that when she comes to work, it seems to be a new day. She walks in and the mood changes. Yes, we are typically light hearted gals, but somedays the office is so quite with this overwhelming stress as we are busily tryng to get our “to do” lists done, and then in comes our Chief Yamakin and voila, the cloud is lifted.

What you may not know is that Sarah not only has the best shoes in school but she is the fastest ironer ever. I so remember the day I asked her if she could do something….I am not sure what. But something. She said “yes”, and I was like “huh, you can?”  Then I realized, heck she can do anything. Okay, that made no sense. For months she was so quite, I would call her the “Cute Mute”. Ha, Sarah did you know that? She never said a word, she just listened and absorbed it all. By November the girl could do anything and eveything.

Not that I know a lot but I do know she oozes of talent. Yup, I am ranking her right up with Matt Kelly. And those of you who know me, do know that he is a God to us at MJC. Well, his entire crew is. OMG, if you love MJC you have never met OLG.

Now back to Sarah. I guess we owe a huge handshank to Sarah. Thanks to her we now have a 4-year plan. Yup, we simply need to grow our business enough so when she graduates we can hire her.  But then again she did create the Yama.

And even better…..oh, this was so fun. Sarah and I were goofin’ around and decided to make our own “crossover”, kinda like a hybrid. So meet the new Smart Dress. We are darn proud of this little darling. Ya, she looks like a Knot, but just wait till she turns around. Okay, here’s the new Smart Dress.

And lastly another great shot from Sarah. I am telling you she so fooled Kayla and I a few weeks ago. We were acting all cool talking about camera’s and she picked it up and pulls stuff off like this? She takes the picture that no one else does. (Come to find out later, Sarah has won numerous awards at her high school for photography!)

Okay, to sum it up: Thank you Sarah for being such a huge part of MJC, thank you for making us laugh and smile and, more so, thank you for being you and not walking out on us when you found out how fruity we all really are (and yes, I am talking about everyone but me). You are amazing. Thanks for now giving us a 4 year plan…. we’re working on it right now.

FLASH FORWARD to August 13, 2012.   Sarah “Yama” Pippenger just came on board to start or very own Product Development Department at Matilda Jane.  Yup, dreams really do come true. And for those of you waiting to see who won my Dream Contest, I did not forget. Give me a few days.

And now cuz I know you are thirsty (ha, yes, the photo inspired that word) for a little peak at Character Counts.

I am so in love with this collection. The colors, the prints, the “art fair” vibe. It is perfection in my eyes.

And it doesn’t get better than this, The Lawrence Francis Top. The sweetest top named after the sweetest man, my grandpa. Did you know not only is he a barber but he also fixes watches. He can build you one pretty much from scraps. I just love him!

I can’t stop thinking about Wednesday. That’s the day Lauren, myself, and Joe will be heading on a plane to Colorado for a new kind of photo shoot! You guys are going to love it. It’s going to be a mix and match shoot of past collections with new CC items—for kids and adults! We will be staying with our old pal Jami Davis, but we will be working with a new photographer Cat Mayer. I can’t wait to work with her and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE JAMI!!!! Plus Joe will get to hang with Reese, Jami’s cute son, so it’s going to be a splendid time all around I believe!

And as for the rest of the day? Oh I’m hoping to get my hands on some Platinum. Ha, but who isn’t?!   Really though, I am getting jealous of all the fabric stacks that show up every morning from Denise working at night. Now it’s my turn!

LOVE,

SAM

Four years ago my mom brought me to my interview in her loud, purple van. I was so nervous walking up to the tall brick building known as Fairfield Manor, while my mom waited in the parking lot (bless her heart, she was always my taxi). I heard about the job from Sara Spitler through (drum roll please) MYSPACE?! When was the last time you heard that?! I walked in and in moments Lynette said I was hired! Even before she gave me the tour of the few, small rooms that then made up Matilda Jane. Am I lucky or what?

Four years ago we had one single packing table. This is where I learned to stack your orders from cute to CUTEST just so the last piece of your order was always the most special, because you always save the best for last. This is also where I learned of Chris’s enormous heart, she truly is the mama bear of MJC. And where I learned that Becky and I have the same sense of humor, and if you give her the ipod she will ALWAYS choose to put on The Police or Ben Lee.

Four years ago I learned to cut and layer fabric because we were running out of orders to pack and Denise had to keep us girls busy! Do you know how blessed I am (and I FEEL) that she had me written down on a sheet to layer with Sara for the day? This is the first time I got to be apart of the CREATING of an MJC piece. Maybe I wasn’t designing it, but heck I was drinking it in, breathing in the fabric dust like it was the oxygen I’d been waiting my whole life for! (Sounds dramatic, but so true to me) Eventually I got to cut with the big boss, Denise. I remember it perfectly. I remember her looking at me and saying with an almost surprised look on her face “You know what, you’re smart.”

Four years ago Matilda Jane was just a budding seed. Our quantities were lower, our team was smaller, and our risks were less scary. We didn’t have facebook or the community of followers that we do now. We didn’t even have a shipping system! We had to type in every address over and over and over…

Now we have all of that and so much more. We have the fancy ordering system and the fabulous team of Trunk Keepers. We have the facebook and all of the beautiful photos and occasional drama that comes with it (Yep I said it because you all know we see it, read it, and feel it too). And we have an amazing team at 4031 that feels like it’s growing by the minute!

Four years ago Matilda Jane opened my eyes to a world of clothing and business that I didn’t think existed.  A company where the heart truly is the core. A company that showed me character isn’t that you don’t make mistakes, it’s that you learn and grow from the ones you do make. And all of the feelings I had when I started four years ago have only been amplified by you guys—seeing you at art fair, reading the comments on the blog/fb, reading your emails and packing your orders. I felt the love the moment I walked through the door of our old office at Fairfield Manor, but I SEE the love when I see you.

So what am I even talking about? Pretty much how crazy it feels to have come this far with a company this amazing (and unpredictable) and customers this powerful (and unique)!

Thanks for keeping us around. Thanks for keeping ME around.

LOVE,

SAM

It was a lot of “Denise, we leave for China in 3 weeks, can we please start Fall?” “Denise, we leave in a week, can we please PLEASE start working on Fall?!”

And then, like she said, it was almost completed in one sleepless night. Of course I was happy about this, but totally and completely jealous. We went over the line, added a few pieces, adjusted more…but it didn’t feel..like it was mine. And You&Me? And Serendipity? Omg they were my babies. Hers too, but you know there’s always going to be something special about my first Fall and first Spring collection. Ya know? Like, your first kids are always your favorite or something (DENISE HA!).

Well, I’m proud to say that my tune has definitely changed since last September. Character Counts (yes that’s the name!) is everything I could have hope for, if not more! It’s eclectic, whimsical, and as always, a wee bit cheeky. And I believe it is a true reflection of what Denise and I believe in–having character, sticking with your gut, being yourself. Not to mention, it’s totally like peeking inside of our crazy, always moving, almost never remembering, brains. I love crap. Did you know that? If you walked into my house you might think an 80 year old woman lives there due to all the nick nacks, colored glass, and vintage furniture. There is so much great stuff in Character Counts, just like all the good crap I collect!

I can’t wait to see your girls being themselves in Character Counts. I want to see the goofy photos of the class clown, the serene photos of the shy gals, and the radiant photos of the girls that can’t help but steal the show. I want to see it all. It’s the stuff that is unique about us that gives us true character, don’t you think? And there is just something about CC that embraces that.

I know, I talk about our collections like they have a heart and soul of their own. But to me, they do. I hope you feel the heart of Character Counts, but more so I hope your darling girls do. Because when you’re proud to be who you are, proud to wear something just as wonderfully unique as yourself, I think you hold your head up a tad higher.

And I know it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, but trust me all the busy stuff keeping me away is good. Real good.

And as always,

LOVE,

SAM

As we were approaching the schedule to start designing Fall I kept telling Sam “I’m just not ready”. And as the deadline passed I muttered the same words. At least we did have most of the fabrics designed. I’m not exactly sure how it played out but I do know I woke up one night and went to the red table and Fall was done by morning.
My brain works on its own schedule and I know if everything is not ticking in sequence then I’m better off waiting than forcing it.

I was thrilled when Sam walked through the door and I could show her all my third shift work. Then I realized, dang it, we are a team and I totally stole the show. And that is certainly not the way I would ever want to play. We sat down at the table, went through each piece and fine tuned it together. It’s so perfect when that happens. Sam will see details I missed or fabric combos I didn’t think of or new styles to bring to the table.

But what I do remember is that I was thinking a lot about my life that night as I was sitting in the darkness staring at all these beautiful sheets of fabric in front of me. There’s so many times when I feel so overwhelmed or simply out of it that I forget I am just me. I may not be able to do everything right or please everyone but what I can do is believe in myself, put 110% into everything I do, never forget my roots, and remember that character counts.

This line has so many of our characteristic nestled into it. Each piece can stand alone on its very own. I don’t think we have ever had so many different fabrics in a collection before. I’m kinda at a loss for words and feel I should be writing some big inspirational note but truly this collection is just us, Sam and I and all the things we believe in. All the characteristics that make us who we are and you who you are. It’s what we want our children and your children to always believe in.