by Jay

Our recent trip to the City of the Angels (Los Angeles for those not fluent in Spanish) also resulted in the sweet union of architecture, music, fashion and sexiness.  Lizzie and I share an appreciation for all of the above. But, let me just shut up and get to the video you must see if you, too, love architecture, music, fashion and sexiness:

Despite the fact that we’d already left the Golden State, we were transported back as I was showing Lizzie some of my favorite videos of Cibelle who did “London, London” with Devandra Banhart – together, two of the most interesting and beautiful voices in music today. Then, I clicked through some more Banhart videos and BAM! A beautiful woman (who I later learned was Banhart’s girlfriend, Rebecca Schwartz ) was sitting naked in a tub with Banhart.  Even sexier are the first few frames of the video, when you see  John Lautner’s famous “Rainbow House“, also known as the “Garcia House”. Lautner, a student of Wright, gave birth to the “Googie” style of architecture. I must give credit to my dear friend, Don, for introducing me to the vast world of architecture over 20 years ago. My appreciation for this amazing field has grown ever since, particularly the architecture of Los Angeles, where Frank Lloyd Wright and all his descendants (his son Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, et al) designed and built some of the most celebrated architecture in the world.

The lovely dovey, sexy music and sweet flirtations of Banhart and Schwartz set the stage as the two lovers playfully model an array of stylish Oliver Peoples frames that cherryontop this video. Shot in the gorgeous light of the magic hour; sweetness ensues, in a Mad Men-esque way – well, at least a la the episode in California where Don proposes to Megan. Oops, spoiler alert … but, you get what I mean about the whole mid-century thing.

Because I’m the type of guy that likes to get to the background on random things, I was led here: Nowness.com. Lisa Eisner‘s piece is quite possibly the sexiest little video I’ve had the good fortune to see. Lizzie has had a thing for Oliver Peoples for quite some time and after this slice of heaven, I do too. So there you have it: music, architecture, sexiness and fashion, not necessarily in that order and all jumbled together in a sweet symphony.

Hi.

We’d really like to make it to 200 likes by this March 31. We think it’s super realistic. Do you?

Tell your friends about our FB page. Tell us what you’d like to see more of + hear more about. We’re listening.

Thanks.

Jay + Lizzie

"full summer", 8" x 10" mixed media on wood panel by Lizzie Mara

by Lizzie

Think About Tomorrow Or Don't, by Margret Lee 2007, Dikeou Collection, Photo courtesy of Amy Whitaker of Museum Legs

Jay and I have had an amazing 2012 so far. Our new brand has made some great strides in such a short period of time + this has been such a rewarding + thrilling few months. This moment brings me to sit and reflect on all the inspiring women Treat Design Co. has brought me face to face with.

While in Atlanta in January, I met buyers + taste makers from stores far + wide. I have such great respect for the female business woman. The ambitious, bold, + brilliant who truly shine. One of those that stands out was Tamara Dillard the owner of the charming Sophie’s in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She is the epitome of fashionable, fun, & has a darling business in North Chattanooga, selling objects for the home, flowers, + vintage. Just my ticket – as I adore all three of her store’s categories. If I lived in Chattanooga, I’d want to hang out with Ms. Dillard + frequent her shop for lovely gifts, bouquets, + that fab find from the past.

A toast to Tamara from Sohie's! I spotted these on Sophie's FB page + love that she stocks this pretty line - they're just like the flutes we used in Atlanta to toast to the new collection at KP's house!

In February while in decompression mode, after the hustle + bustle that was America’sMart, Jay and I were invited out on the town with some friends who love art like us. The event was at Dikeou Collection in celebration of the new Clyfford Still Museum which officially opened just months ago. To honor the time Still was prolific, The Dikeou Collection hosted a poetry reading, beatnik style. Visiting the collection, curated by Devon Dikeou is like taking a walk and falling through the rabbit hole, to find yourself in a land of amazing modern art, wit, humor, & cutting edge expression.

Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable, 2000, by Momoyo Torimitsu - Photo by Amy Whitaker of Museum Legs

The Dikeou opening was also celebrating the release of the 20th edition of ZingMagaizine – published by Dikeou. Oh, how lovely it is to be exposed to such a inspiring collection + a woman dedicated to art. YUM.

From The Inviting Company Note Card Collection - So glad we were able to connect with Pam. What a fabulous woman!

March is here and I had the absolute pleasure of meeting two more inspiring women. The first is Pam Hatcher of Inviting Company. Pam’s been in business in our industry for nearly two decades + goodness she is both knowledgeable + humble. What a beautiful combination.

Pam insisted I meet Kelly Plank-Dworkin; the founder + president of Swoozie’s. So, as luck would have it, I met Kelly that very day at Swoozie’s new Denver store when I attended their grand opening gala. The celebration that Kelly’s team hosted for the Denver opening was in one word – GRAND. Everything from the hot-pink-illuminated refreshment tent out in front of their sparkly new store, to the plentiful + gracious staff  showing off the beautiful assortment of product – this opening was spot on in the world of retail meets Page Six parties.

Image courtesy of Mountain Living Magazine via FB

I reflect on this eclectic mix of women, including the one I’ve given credit to in several of the photos above (Amy Whitaker of Museum Legs) and pause to soak up the inspiration. I’m grateful + energized.

So, this post’s a bit of a retrospective – commemorating our first foray into the great wide world of merchandising America where the big fish swim. At the beginning of the year we attended America’sMart in Atlanta – one of the largest trade shows in America – and it was a smashing success. Why smashing?

Well, first of all, we were placed in a juried collection – selected from the pool of fish because they thought we were pretty – into the “Paper Boutique” section, a collection of design led, high end paper products. That was a nice little pick me up that picked us up. Second, the feedback we received proved overwhelming and we signed a number of solid accounts from Florida to Washington – New York to LA. When I say solid accounts, I’m talking retailers who liked what they saw so much that they bought a whole ream full of it + wanted it yesterday. We were quite pleasantly surprised by the interest we had from other companies for licensing Lizzie’s images and collaboration projects. It was quite a debut. So, thank you, Atlanta!

The pretty tissue paper flower party (which is a huge trend this spring) courtesy of Sherree, great fuel + good rest courtesy of Karen, + Treat hydration courtesy of Annie Abbruzzese of Wonder Boston

A dedicated friend - making things pretty.

Speaking of thank yous, our first blog post was all about our gratitude for our southern friends, but it got destroyed in our creation of the new little gem of a temporary website. But, if youhad read it, you would have have seen our attempt at gratitude for our dear friends Karen and Sherree. Their love, support and winning smiles made our entire trip possible. Really, without them – we would have found ourselves stuck in a flea bag motel deep in the heart of Atlanta – and not the good part. Karen welcomed us into her home after our discovery that we basically rented a room from hotels.com that was a by-the-hour motel. (The pictures of the outside were so nice!) But, wait, there’s more! She took us in and fed us fine Southern food, included a pretty bouquet in our guest room, and she and Sheree worked their tails off for us during the 5 day show. Did we mention the fresh baked biscuits + homemade granola for breakfast? Talk about an amazing hostess! KP makes waking up in Atlanta easy for anyone, especially Lizzie, who is still working on her “morning personness”.

The girls in Atlanta! Lizzie, Karen, + Sherree!

If you’ve spent any quality time in the city of Atlanta, you might have had the pleasure to visit the infamous Mary Mac’s Tea Room. (Thank you to our excellent hostess with the mostess for the fun recommendation!)

As luck would have it, we were enchanted by their popular Good Will Ambassador who sat down with us to chit chat, but also to give Jay a nice back rub. If you look at their site, you will find that this is a real position held by Jo Carter for decades. What luck to have met this lovely + sweet public face of this historic tea room.

So, one more time – from the bottom of our hearts – thank you Karen and Sherree – we miss you!

And before we sign off from this post, we must mention one little gem of a moment in Atlanta. We had the pleasure of showing our line to Robin Lohre from Talulah Jones of Denver, Co. If you’re not familiar, this is a fantastic (and we mean FANTASTIC) store right in our own backyard. Kismet like this should always be celebrated, because, you see, Robin has supported Lizzie’s work since 2008, when Lizzie was making one painting at a time and had yet to find Jay and make Treat Design Co. Lovely and supportive through thick and thin, Robin is beautiful inside and out. We were blessed to see her in Atlanta. It was like the stars were aligned + the Universe, in it’s amazing language was saying – “This is the path. Allow me to show you the way.”

It's serendipity when our first store to support Lizzie's work is also one of our first orders... all the way from Denver, Colorado - we were thrilled to spend time with the brilliant owner of Talulah Jones, Ms. Robin Lohre.

Hi there – Jay here. So, as of our last post, we have completed our first 21 Days of Gratitude. Three weeks. Seems like the honk of a New York cabbie horn in the great scheme of things. Wondering where this whole idea came from I decided to turn to my favorite browser and search it up. After a cursory search of the interwebs, it seems that a dude named Maxwell Maltz coined the 21 day habit thingie back in 1971.

“Dr Maxwell Maltz wrote the bestseller Psycho-Cybernetics. Originally a Plastic Surgeon, Maltz noticed that it took 21 days for amputees to cease feeling phantom sensations in the amputated limb. From further observations he found it took 21 days to create a new habit. Since then the ’21 Day Habit Theory’ has become an accepted part of self-help programs.”
Psycho-Cybernetics sounds a bit like the description from Bjork’s 2003 “All is Full of Love” video. Then, other self-helpers picked up on it and it became a thing.
After 21 days, I say, completely without guile, though I don’t live in the land of the lolly-pops where doughnuts grow, my attitude has changed.
When thoughts like, “How many times do I have to tell the kids to turn off the lights before it actually happens?” used to enter my brain, it would darken my mood and I would grumble a bit, or a lot.

After our 21 day experiment, I now realize it just is part of teaching kids how to be adults. In fact, there are probably millions of adults who don’t give a shit about turning off lights.

But, the overarching point here is that my attitude through being sick, reminding kiddos to turn lights off, serious discussions with Lizzie – through it all, my outlook remains staunchly positive and optimistic. So, do it. Put pen to paper, make it happen.

Not happy with your life? Change your attitude. Just do it, silly lady.

Ciao,

Jay

P.S. If you’d like to understand our little inside joke within the expression, “do it silly lady”, above…then you have to check out this Bad Lip Reading clip – the voice of what Lizzie thinks sounds a bit like Michelle Bauchman’s fun hubby says this 1:52 into the clip. It makes us laugh every time. Maybe Bad Lip Reading should be at the tippy top of our list of things to be grateful for tomorrow. Pure brilliance!

On the heels of a great TED video that we posted to our Facebook page, we started writing in a journal every day for 21 days – the “Gratitude Journal”. Our goal is to share three things we’re grateful for and one new positive experience each day for three weeks. We’re using a notebook/journal we picked up from the Talulah Jones (one of our favorite indie stores + Denver experiences) when we were first conceiving our company. Although we’re writing in the same journal, we’ve kept our focus only on our own entries as we write. We plan to read each others entries after the 21 days, the anticipation grows each day as we near the day we’ll read one another’s writings.

Day 17 + Jay's little smirk at Lizzie's camera.

Today is day 17 of this exercise and we’re already marveling at how listing our blessings reframes our minds and our experiences. The exercise came to us after viewing a simple, yet profound TED Talk by Shawn Achor. Our goal included, as was suggested in the talk, daily exercise, meditation, and random acts of kindness. It’s truly amazing how good you feel when you bring these activities into your daily life conciously. It’s not always “easy”, but when one makes time for these simple acts it’s just pure awesomeness that comes forth.

Print by The Small Object

Reflecting on our gratitude takes such a small amount of time + yet gives us the HUGE gift of redirecting our thoughts and truly, our lives towards positivity. It allows us to focus on what is good and right with the world around us and how we can make it better. The alternative is too bicker and complain about what is lacking. In each moment, the choice is ours.

As for exercise, we’ve taken time for  long walks throughout the city. Yesterday we walked through City Park. If you know Denver, you know how lovely City Park can be, even in the half melted winter snow. We enjoyed the hint of spring in the air, the funny behaviors of curious geese, + the unique assortment of civil war canons and statues – which include the audio tour of the central Martin Luther King monument and, in the distance, standing by himself is Robert  Burns. What do Scottish poets, Civil Rights figures and weapons of 19th century war have in common? We have no idea, but we’re glad they’re there just the same.

What should that fun random act of kindness be for today? It’s a powerful thing to add to your to-do list.

Ciao,

J+L

Our little journal of good vibes – by Sukie (one of Lizzie’s favorite illustrators)