Ok, so...I booked the flight to NYC and the hotel three days before I went up there for the New York Gift Fair trade show at the Javitts and the Piers. I was thinking "How screwed am I gonna get with these last minute flight and hotel fees?"

We saw this package on Expedia.com for a good price...way below the others. I booked 1) a shitty flight leaving at 6 am and 2) a potentially shitty hotel.

Getting to the airport at 4am to prepare for intense liquid security was shitty indeed, but the little "Eastern-European" style 5-floor-walk-up hotel right in the heart of Chelsea was CUTE! Screw the "W" and the Marriot Marquis. This little place was charming and cheap and fun. It was the type of old-world feeling hotel where you share a bathroom with another room, but it was so fucking cool and bohemian and cute...

...and literally right in the heart of Chelsea, so I was "in my element" and had a blast. John and some of my old friends from the trade were there and we pretty much partied our collective asses off every night. The coolest restaurants and clubs are right there.

So....aaanyway. I worked hard too. This trade show is extremely important for fourth quarter gift and accessory retail.

I'll hip you to some stories of the crazy shit we did later.

I have relationships in the business with designers on the high end, and shady importers on the low end...and all sorts of humans in the middle. A lot of them have become good friends. After all these years, I have an emotional attachment to some.

The thing is.......I met a young woman today at the show in NY named Claire Chew, who has launched an incredible line of pet accessories called "luxepets".

Please check her gorgeous designs out at www.luxepets.com.

Some of the most beautifully and thoughtfully designed pet accessories I have ever seen.

We were having a casual conversation about our dogs in her booth this morning at the trade show and I described Gracie to her...you know... half pit and half lab...big brown eyes...big smile. It turns out that she had a dog named Sophie that has passed away that was the same mix as my Gracie. She showed me a picture of her in the booth and I was stunned. Sophie looked just like Gracie. I have never seen another dog that looked just like her before.

I missed Gracie so much from then on. I left The Javitts Center early so I could get home to see her. Crazy, huh?

So here I am sending some love to Claire and Sophie and sharing some pics of Gracie.









Ohhh yeah...you know we are all about Rex too...but I'm having a Gracie moment.



HML,
T

****Nina Simone "You Can Sing A Rainbow"

heliotrope believes

 

we believe in a thoughtfully designed life and thoughtfully designed products.

 

we believe in people and products that make us think.

 

we believe in people and products that make us smile.

 

we believe things will “go there” if you really love them.

 

we believe that every color goes with every other color.

 

we believe we should be allowed to take our dogs anywhere we want.

 

we believe in taking only what we need and giving the rest.

 

we believe in obsession and compulsion.

 

 

 

 

heliotrope

 (opening soon)

 

 

We wrote this over a year ago, and I have been looking at it every day since then for inspiration.  As of 6:30 pm today, this statement is no longer an abstract.  Marc and I now have to live up to it.  Give us high fives, my loves.

 

HML,

T

 

****"Focus on Sight" Thievery Corporation

A Christmas Eve of sorts tonight at the Dog House.

We got news tonight of monumental proportions. Tomorrow is going to be a big turning point for Marc and me.

In my mind, I am hearing reverberations of well wishes and love and advice from people dear to me for the past 20 years tonight.

Send your prayers and good vibes our way, please.

Your boy Biggie T is about to embark on a business venture that has been 20 years on the boiler.

I'll share the details Friday.

Love you guys,
T

****"Here Comes The Sun" George Harrison (sung by Nina Simone)

Ohhh nooo! Cynthia McKinney is going down in flames. The Crazy Cat Lady is getting trounced at the polls!

Our little Dekalb County (the "other" Atlanta county) won't be in the national news every 6 months or so anymore! Truth be told, I'm a bit saddened by the news. The "I Love Cindy" Show was fun while it lasted.

Oh well.

Hey guys...you have no idea how much your comments have meant to me. The streamers are the greatest bunch of humans I can imagine.

What's up with me lately...

...I'm just getting back from a 5 day business trip to Florida that turned into an unpleasant, grueling 11 days. I was sent down as the "angel of death" to close 2 stores and tell 15 people they were loosing their jobs. Not fun, trust me. I've been popping Xanax like fuckin candy, and I need to taper off now or I will be a big ol' mess.

...Next week I'm going up to NYC for a trade show at the Javits and a little r & r. Getting out of the grind may help rescue my sanity right now. Just some chill out at Gustavinos and The Plaza, and some hang time with friends in Chelsea, and jumping in and out of the bars and shops on 8th will do me a world of good.

...Marc and I are intensely brewing a business venture that may come to fruition very very soon. I'll be able to tell you more pretty soon.
(Wish us luck.)

I don't have any time to respond much right now, but please be sure my stream peeps are in my thoughts.

And besides...It's going to take forever to catch up with you guys!!!!

HML as always,
T

****Zero 7 "Seeing Things"

Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the humidity. I don't feel like being very introspective, but I do feel like brain-dumping.

I guess I am always in a state of absorption and reaction in the summer, so I'm sorry if this post sounds like more like a letter from one of your crazy aunts than my usual stuff.

1) The house appraised this week at a HUGE amount over the price we purchased it at just 3 years ago! See...we weren't so fuckin crazy for buying in the ghetto after all.

2)
Gracie is getting fatter and fatter, even though we are trying to follow a stringent diet for her. We discovered that... SHE IS SNEAKING FOOD FROM REX'S BOWL! Rex narc-ed her out. He ran into the office and started barking frantically. We stalked into the dining room and found Gracie pigging out in his bowl.


3) For real, yall...check out those pre-marinated pre-packaged meat thingies at the grocery store. We have been trying out those prepared steaks, chops, tenderloins, and salmon as of late. OH MAN. Well worth the extra buck or two...for the lazy and time constrained consumer. I baked a Peppercorn marinated pork loin sunday. Oh my God...to die for!

We grilled some bourbon-marinated-ala-Krogers salmon tonight. Just shoot me now...

...it was that good. No shit, yall...forgo the conventional meat bin every now and then and head for the fancy ass counter where they lay down the prepared cuts, already spiced up and marinated.

4) Alert! Best Cheap Chardonnay for the summer of 2006? Hands down...Jacob's Creek 2005. Crisp, smooth, citrusy/appley...just right for summer dinners. Aaand...9 bucks (7 with a Kroger plus card). I'm of the "you aint gotta spend over 10 dollars for a good chardonnay" school.

5) The company I work for just filed chapter 11. This shit happens in mid level retail companies rampantly nowadays. I'm currently re-networking. Marc and I are ramping up our long term goals. It's all good.

*****Tom Tom Club "Genius of Love"