Memorial Day Parade

I love three day weekends. Two day weekends never seem like enough time to get to the relaxation part of the weekend. Saturdays are a bit of recovery from the week that passed. Sundays are getting ready for the week ahead. Living in the past, living for the future – where is the moment?

That is why I loved this weekend.

Every Memorial Day, our neighborhood hosts a parade. A real down home, do it yourself parade filled with kids and businesses from the neighborhood in costumes, dancing or on home made floats, parading down the street making everyone they see feel good. The parade lasts about 1 hour. We invite friends to come by pre-parade for our Memorial Day Pancake Party, in which Jared, my husband, makes delicious, sweet, decadent custom pancakes for all our guests. Real butter + real cream =really delectable! ( Thank you Heather Herndon for sending the pancake mix!!!)

Tomorrow I leave for Dallas. I love that territory, love my stores there and am looking forward to seeing them all again. It was a great three day weekend, spending time with friends and family. I am a little bit sad to be leaving my family for a few days but really excited to see whats been going on in Texas, the land of good people, queso, and great style!

Peace.

Fall Preview

I just got back last week from NYC. We had a Fall 2011 market, showing our line to buyers like Anthropologie, Neiman Marcus, Free People, some Japanese Department stores and a ton of small specialty boutiques. Our Fall season is one of my best in years – I literally want almost everything from this collection. Its not always the case that I get every piece of jewelry I want – this is a business, and it would not be profitable if I threw all my systems into supporting my jewelry obsession, but this season is truly hard to resist.

I was joking that the only thing that would get in the way of an amazing success this season would be another terrorist attack or a fire. I am no longer going to joke out loud, for day 1 of market I woke to find we killed Osama. Day 3 of market, at 9am as I was going to get a cup of coffee, I heard a bunch of yelling coming from the area of the mens restrooms and in a second saw a ton of expensively dressed women in very high heels running as fast as they could towards the doors. There was a fire in the Pier where we were having our market. Really? I mean, really?

So , all the vendors and the few customers who were there that early were evacuated – first to the rain outside and then later to Pier 92 where they were showing ready-to-wear. We spent all day wandering around, hoping to be let back in so we could continue business – no such luck!

The good news is, we already had an amazing show and our customers are calling in orders – AND nobody was hurt, no product was destroyed – so in the end, the issues that really matter – were all fine.

But, believe you me – this is the last time I am going to joke around like that – the one time I did it before, I predicted the Mexico City earthquake in the 1980′s, while my family and I were on vacation there. These lips are sealed!

The judges

I was asked to be a judge for a runway event last month in San Diego. The event was a fundraiser for an organization called The Princess Project and they work to promote self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them.

The event took place downtown at a club called Quality Social. The perimeter of the club was lined with amazing items for the silent auction – items like a spa day, or a day at the Padres, or some fabulous DH jewelry! In the center of the club there were 12 up-and-coming designers from the local fashion school who were given the task of designing a prom dress in under one hour. My job was to go around, talk with them about their inspiration, and work with three other judges to decide a winner.

It was tough, as all the designers were talented. In addition to talent, I was looking for someone who understood clearly what the goal was. The goal was to create a prom dress – there were some designers who made amazing dresses, but not really appropriate for prom or their ultimate audience. In the end, one winner was chosen, and all the dresses were donated to the organization for some lucky girls to wear to prom!

Its heart breaking to think of all the challenges people are facing today in the US and worldwide. This economy is terrible and people are struggling for food, shelter, the little things that we have taken for granted. It was a true honor to work with this organization who recognizes the impact something like a prom can have on the self esteem of little girls. Something as simple as a prom dress can help boost these girls into productive, strong, empowered women. For more information go to: www.princessproject.org.

I am quite proud of myself – entry #2 in one week -

I just got back from an overnight trip to LA with the family.  We went to spend Passover with my grandmother, on my father’s side.  She is 92 years old and wonderful.  She and my grandfather helped create the Orthodox Jewish  community in LA following WWII,  and both she and my grandfather have helped and inspired thousands of people during their time of activity.   She has been an inspiration to me my entire life.

My grandmother and my father are both Holocaust survivors.  My father was a baby and its truly a miracle he survived the concentration camp.  My grandmother is the daughter of a well-known and well-respected Orthodox rabbi in Romania.  She lost her husband ( my fathers birth father ) mother, father, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles – basically everyone she  loved.    She survived with her brother and my father.

She had a picture of her family on the buffet in her dining room during our Passover Seder, and told us stories of how her family celebrated Passover pre-war.  It made me sad.  I thought about my parents, sister, my husband and children and how horrific it would be to lose them in such a way.

As Passover is upon us and Spring is here, I am going to take the time to pay attention to loving my family and friends.  I am going to Spring Clean out all the old, negative unnecessary messages to make room for positivity, love and change.  Winter kind of wore me down, and I am feeling ready to be light again.

At Double Happiness Jewelry, we have been working to make the lives of women and children in Uganda better.  For the last 8 months, I have been working with an organization called Project Have Hope.org.  It was started by a woman Karen who was there on a photographic assignment, but was so moved by the people she met there that she decided to start Project HaveHope to help them.   Proceeds from our sales help this organization to provide micro loans to women, education and school scholarships for children.  Items from our Project Have Hope Collection have received a ton of press this season, which I am delighted as it helps promote the cause.  The collection is colorful and happy and light.  It has been shot for People Style Watch, Seventeen, seen on Leighton Meester, and Anthropologie is doing a huge roll out on it come June.

Go to projecthavehope.org for more info.

Lets do our part, help each other, love one another and make this world a better place, so atrocities like the one my grandmother had to live through will never happen again.

Its not perfect and its not finished – but its a start!

Welcome to the new Double Happiness Jewelry website!  A HUGE thank you to Jessica Daniels for helping us create a new site.

Over the next few weeks we will be loading this site with gorgeous jewelry designs and updating our press page.

I have made a vow to be consistent with the blog, as there are many  funny and great activities happening at DH lately, which I think would be interesting to share – so, here’s hoping the weekly reminders in my Google calendar keep this blog on track!

Peace, enjoy and stay posted  - great jewelry to come!