i can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it’s that time again. I love the holidays! I know that the holidays mean different things to everyone, family time for some, vacation time for others, get really, really lazy time for many, and for us at Jules Smith, it means crazy time. BUT…crazy in a good way. We want to thank everybody who has supported us this year and we are super duper grateful for your time and thoughts. Even if you consider yourself a grinch, there is something about the holidays that makes you smile…come on…admit it.

We have some great stuff coming up!! So keep your eyes peeled. Look for us in OK Weekly Dec 12 and the January issues of InStyle! If you’re still looking for that special gift for that special someone…. here’s the first part of our holiday gift guide. Of course, we are a little bias… Bloggipops and candy canes!

Kiss Kiss Petite Studs - two kisses are always better than one!

Anchors Away – quite possibly the best necklace for spring!

Moscato Bricco Quaglia - mmmm

Peter Island Paradise Now Vacation - ahhhhhh

Built to Spill “Keep it Like a Secret”

Bulgari Eau Perfumee – Green Tea blended with Jasmine, Rose and Citrus.

You would think we have our shiz together by now…great accounts, international press, celebrity clients...these guys got it going on…nope!! I’m sure we aren’t that far off in terms of startups, but sometimes this entrepreneurial mind game gets to be a bit much. Are we crazy to do this??…. What is sweat equity really worth??? And are you supposed to literally sweat???
Scene: my husband and I both reading self help books in the VI and our third wheel, our lifeline in Boulder, she’s reading one too! We need self help books, this is not a choice.
Scene: Me in line at FedE x in the USVI, disgruntled rasta in front of me and big ole’ security guard pressing up behind me and Joni fighting with the mean, superficial, plastic UPS psycho in Boulder who has been banned from other locations. Simultaneously experiencing the woes of customer service…
Scene: Joni hidden under a pile of baggies, looking like Pablo Escobar in her apartment desperate to get our holiday orders in store by black Friday. Me stuck in town because my island heap broke down, another disgruntled rasta begging me for change and I can’t get back to my house because “all circuits are busy” and I can’t call for a ride.
Scene: an UBER important order arrives and the clasps for the necklaces are on the wrong side. Joni has blisters on her fingers from the sweat shop that used to be her apartment and I have some crack head in NYC order the wrong stones and my orders get pushed until after Thanksgiving. Thus, negating all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting the order in early in the first place.
Scene: Thanksgiving falling early and our steeze being totally crunched because 11/30 cancel dates seem soooo much closer and the stress of it making us all sick to our stomachs. At least we have self help books to read.
Our first busy holiday is crazy and we’re going to make it through….we have one piece of good news. We hired an intern!!!! She is a lovely girl from LA and we like her lots. WELCOME DALIT!!!

You would think we have our shiz together by now…great accounts, international press, celebrity clients...these guys got it going on…nope!! I’m sure we aren’t that far off in terms of startups, but sometimes this entrepreneurial mind game gets to be a bit much. Are we crazy to do this??…. What is sweat equity really worth??? And are you supposed to literally sweat???
Scene: my husband and I both reading self help books in the VI and our third wheel, our lifeline in Boulder, she’s reading one too! We need self help books, this is not a choice.  
Scene: Me in line at FedE x in the USVI, disgruntled rasta in front of me and big ole’ security guard pressing up behind me and Joni fighting with the mean, superficial, plastic UPS psycho in Boulder who has been banned from other locations. Simultaneously experiencing the woes of customer service…
Scene: Joni hidden under a pile of baggies, looking like Pablo Escobar in her apartment desperate to get our holiday orders in store by black Friday. Me stuck in town because my island heap broke down, another disgruntled rasta begging me for change and I can’t get back to my house because “all circuits are busy” and I can’t call for a ride.
Scene: an UBER important order arrives and the clasps for the necklaces are on the wrong side. Joni has blisters on her fingers from the sweat shop that used to be her apartment and I have some crack head in NYC order the wrong stones and my orders get pushed until after Thanksgiving. Thus, negating all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting the order in early in the first place.
Scene: Thanksgiving falling early and our steeze being totally crunched because 11/30 cancel dates seem soooo much closer and the stress of it making us all sick to our stomachs. At least we have self help books to read.
Our first busy holiday is crazy and we’re going to make it through….we have one piece of good news. We hired an intern!!!! She is a lovely girl from LA and we like her lots. WELCOME DALIT!!!

We’re in NY again..starting our new collection and meeting with our new PR firm SHADOW PR!!! Brad Zeifman and Lisette Sand-Freedman just launched Shadow and they have already acquired the likes of Victoria Secret, Armani Exchange and Intermix. We are very excited about moving forward with them and hope this is a step in the right direction for us.  i know, work, work, work is all we ever talk about!  on that note...
We have been staying in Brooklyn with our dear friends Sasha and Nick...Fort Greene to be exact, and we love it!!! The streets are riddled with a healthy blend of bohos, hippies, hipsters, native Brooklynites and of course your token NYC freaks (those which don’t fit in to any category), that always give the neighborhood so much flavor. The streets are painted with trees, and the residents have little planters outside that make the streets colorful and welcoming. It is pretty damn cold for us islanders, but with a November as mild as this one, we really can’t complain. GOD FORBID we curse the New Yorkers into another brutal winter. We like Brooklyn and we think we may be able to hack it, which is GREAT news because it is soooo much more affordable than Manhattan and the vibe is a lot more island style. (Which we are unfortunately codependent on at this point).
Tonight we are actually chilling in Brooklyn for dinner, so that will be the real test...we really, really, really want to like it!!! Our friends tell us they don’t think we can do it....we’ll have to see...

Slowly but surely our company is growing…we have a sales showroom, we have a few more people helping out with the day to day (bookkeeper is next – YAY!!!!), and most importantly, we just hired a very powerful and reputable PR firm to help us expand our brand. GO SOX!!!!! We are looking to open an “official” office in NYC and we are currently tossing around the idea of applying to a few of the jewelry trade shows in addition to the fashion and accessories shows we are already participating in. GO SOX!!!!!
Our sales have expanded globally and we have many of the key boutiques across the globe carrying our line. With growth comes many ups and downs, a lot of stress and anxiety, but many doors open and it’s only a matter of time before we force ourselves to walk through them. GO SOX!!!!! All of the key people involved in Jules Smith right now are experiencing an array of emotions, a lot of that has to do with the anxiety surrounding the pressures to have a kick ass holiday season like we did last year!!! GO SOX!!!!!
Right now our organization is a little bit all over the place, as any start-up business should be, but with my husband and I residing in the Caribbean and our #1 girl living in Boulder, CO, things are truly a trip! GO SOX!!!!! It’s amazing to me that I can spend my Sunday on a yacht in the BVI, while someone I work closely with every day, sits at her house telling me about the snow storm she experienced the night before. GO SOX!!!!! She has a cat, we have a dog, but they don’t fight because they’ve never met… GO SOX!!!!! We spend so much time on our computers that we have a nickname for them, which makes us laugh really hard every time we say it and we all have perma brain fry, from typing on these bad boys all day. GO SOX!!!!!
Ok, I’m not sure where any of this is going, but i guess my computer brain led me to yet another silly blog, that speaks of nothing worth speaking about really. GO SOX!!!!!

Computer backlash…is my celebrity obsession being replaced with sports? My name is Gina and I’m an addict. A fantasy football addict.
A few weeks ago, (6 to be exact) my brother invited me to join a Fantasy Football league. Thinking nothing of it, and really just doing it as a favor to him, I signed up. After a few wins (actually a 4 week undefeated streak!!!) and a few smack cards from other players, I’m nothing short of obsessed with the game. Just as I used to bust tail to the computer to check Perez Hilton, I’m now spending my free time on Espn.com. I’ve become completely engulfed by my fantasy team, so much that I watch sports center to keep up with injury reports and league predictions…scary thoughts when the main thing on my mind right now should be designing our next collection…anyway these next events led me to believe that my addiction is bad and I may need help. I can list my malady in a few simple steps… Step 1, wine tasting. Step 2, invite to St Barts from a fabulous couple we hang out with, Step 3 more wine tasting, Step 4 drunken purchases, Step 5 call to airline begging them to change my ticket without a change fee because I was so drunk I booked tickets for the wrong day, Step 6 fabulous weekend in st barths, step 7 broken winning streak on fantasy football because I had no computer access in st barths, step 8 MAJOR remorse and party guilt, step 9 flight home, step 10 still upset, step 11 write a blog in a feeble attempt to get over my loss…

continued...

finally i arrive in Dallas well past midnite when i should have been
there MUCH earlier. we are handed these little pieces of paper in the
most unorganized fashion i've ever seen. we are to take the shuttle to
the Ramada for 4 hours of sleep. simple right? get down there and every
other frickin' hotel van passes, but no Ramada. i call the hotel and he
says, oh we don't use our own vans, we use a service. you think
American could have informed us?? or someone? how were we to know the
van would say RC1748???? so we finally get an RC whatever and just as
we are loading 17 people into a 7 passenger van, the police show up and
arrest our driver.! this dude on my flight was SO enraged that
apparently they got into it and the driver sucker-punched him! by this
point, it's well after 1am and my beautiful mexican friend i
be-friended in the madness are like: WTF??? this "business" man offers
to pay for a cab for all of us but of course there are no cabs at that
hour. a random car service guy shows up so we hop in. the guy doesn't
have enough cash (WTF?) so i pay for my friend, and we finally get into
the hotel lobby where another woman from the flight is freaking out on
the poor desk clerk cuz there is no ink in the printer to print her
complaint letter to American Airlines. i won't get into the security
line issues the next morning, but i will add that in the meantime i'm
getting a little worried that The Boy (boyfriend) hasn't returned any
of my calls to pick me up .......turns out that saturday nite he hopped
into someone's yard on his bike (ex pro show style?) and ran into a
wall and busted his head open, hospital, stitches, semi-unconcious.
sweeeet. i shuttle from the airport. then i walk home. it's cold and
raining. i'm carrying heavy bags of jewelry. a day later i still don't
feel quite up to par as a sinus infection has set in and i want to
remove my head from the rest of me.

"the glamorous, glamorous glamorous life" yeah right, fergie.

BUT - as we always say - at least we can laugh!!!!!

jones
guest blogger

you work in fashion. it's all very glamorous. until you have a day like this. actually it starts the nite before. a late late nite leading to so few hours of sleep i could cry just re-living it now.

we finish some very long days at Fashioin Coterie in NYC which i must say was a great success. again, they came, they liked. we are stoked! another couple days of doing the jules smith shuffle from one place to another....little sweaty sweatstoffersons working the streets, then busting back to the apartment to ship orders, catch up on a week's worth of emails all on our saturday day of shopping. the shopping only lasted a couple hours anyway as we hit the wall which was good since our credit cards hit it a long time ago.

sunday it's time to run to JFK. gina barely makes it. i'm just on time. i fall asleep. only to wake up an hour later staring at the same patch of concrete......still in NY. those of us with connecting flights de-plane to re-schedule, then board again. the plane had mechanical problems. then as soon as it's almost fixed, the jet blast from another plane fires a luggage carrier into our right wing. not going anywhere. so we de-plane. we sit. and sit. and sit. finally another plane shows up but we still might not be able to make it happen due to rules and regs on how long the pilots can work. so now they are getting short with us, the customers, on being quick about boarding. hmmmmm.

ok.
we were talking big about blogging LIVE from Coterie, but the world
wide web wasn't on our side or in our booth. a bit belated...

We're at the Piers!! Pier 94 to be exact. A brief recap of what's happening
right now. Our booth has yellow walls, the lights are frickin' hot and
we just cleaned 1 zillion dust particles off our shelves. We've had a
great few days, with our list of stores expanding INTERNATIONALLY!!!
We had the privelege of seeing Lauren Conrad yesterday…her booth is right
around the corner and we're lucky enough to be across the way from
Rebecca Minkoff.
The sales girls have been great and love our candy as much as our gems. The show is crowded with fashionable people,
dressed to the nines. Some make you want to shop and shop and shop and
others make you wish the industry would shrivel up and die. We saw this
awesome poser yesterday wearing a bellhop hat in gold lame…oh yes we
did. There are also so many beautiful women cruising the hallways that
you could vomit all over yourself. There is a large contingency of
Japanese buyers that are the most adorable and lovely people in the
joint. Some of our editor friends have come by to say hi and we've met
some new friends too!
We're off to lunch…it's late and the lunch
hour is coming to a close quickly. Not that we're worried about running
out of food as we can readily assume that 90% of the people in here
don't eat, but we have noticed that fat free half and half is a hot
commodity. Good thing we wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. xo