merry holidays

anyone that is in town saturday night... please come join us at home for an impromptu come in and out or stay all night holiday festive par-tay. 7ish would be great.
would love to see everyone. and would love to have everyone over before new years bc/ matt leaves for india for a month jan 1.
love,
carrie and matt

alittle about jeans but not really

my only blogging goal a year ago was to create some outlet that had absolutely nothing to do with work.
did it! yea.
i would love to make an exeption tonight and share with my friends and family a couple of blogs that are work related, since i need to post on work blog tonight anyway. they are tied to personal friends - which makes me evern more happy to share with you.

first.
loomstateactnatural.blogspot.com

long story short - some of you know about rogan or have met him over the years during his trips to ky. he is a customer of ours, but most importantly a dear friend, who sometimes i forget is a customer and treat unfairly as a brother. i am happy to yell it from a blog rooftop that he won the CFDA award a couple of weeks ago. this is an extraordinary honor from VOGUE and CFDA (council of fashion designers of america), going to the top up and coming designer of the year. up and coming is alittle off - -bc/ he up and came already, but anyway....
he got a big sum of money which he won't keep for himself, a car and a watch, which is halarious, and a partnership with a mentor of his choice for a year. can't wait to know who he chooses.
rogan's brand is ROGAN... and then LOOMSTATE was born, and then EDUN with bono and his wife ali. back to loomstate. loomstate was born in the early 2000's, the love behind it being pure and organic. everyone might claim to be the "first" of anything, but really, rogan and his partner scott were visionaries in the sense of bringing organic cotton goods into the premium clothing market. i will never forget one time when rogan and scott came to istanbul to stay with me, during the dreamy inception stage of LOOMSTATE. i was so young and ignorant in rgds to understanding anything about organic goods, sustainability, responsibility...... at the time, i just knew that atleast if i were at home, i would be recycling cans and newspapers and glass coke bottles out of habit from my grandparents' and mom's training.
skip 7 years forward - and check out the loomstate blog, written by scott. he is one of the most passionate people i have every met when it comes to anything natural. enjoy.

and second.
6 degrees of separation, sortof.
inspirationresource.blogspot.com

we have worked with abercrombie design team off and on for years. one of our best friends and old co-workers worked for a/f before he came to kentucky to work with us. (hi pete. miss you.) a thousand (barely an exageration) of our design friends have made a tour at abercrombie for atleast a year. anyway - last summer, matt and i ran down to the bar on the night before my little sister's 10 year class reunion. her buddies were all in town. we caught up with one of her childhood friends, tracy, who matt also grew up with. tracy had the SWEETEST girl with him from california. we chatted for a long time... realized that we knew alot of the same people in the denim world, bc/ she is outposted in la, doing the conceptual design for abercrombie, and before that, urban outfitters. we hit it off... promised to get in touch with them anytime i would be in la, didn't do it ever, which i am notourious for.
one year later.
last weekend, tracy and michelle were in ky... so happy that they came to the art show. we have emailed back and forth after the fact. she is such lovely person and such an aesthetic inspiration, even just looking at her and talking to her. she was very kind to share with me her daily blog of color and graphic inspiration. she encouraged me to share with whomever. check it out.. inspirationresource.blogspot.com
she updates daily - - and i got happily lost in her links/"follow me" sidebar.

goodnight.

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

i didn't even remember the past month until i uploaded pictures tonight.
slow down. sssssllllllow down. sometimes i feel like i forget to breathe. actually - last week, i woke up in the middle of the night and thought i wasn't breathing. that is one of the anxiety-ridden symptoms that i have worked to not have.
so on sunday.... matt sensed as he always does, the need to sllllow it down. he ended my month with a massage therapist coming to our house late afternoon.
i don't want to continue to miss what's happening in all of our lives.
in the past month...
we spent the weekend in nashville with most all of our childhood friends. (thank you 1 month late, lackey's - for chili cookoff 07.)


we watched our best friends bring a healthy baby girl into this world.

we spent a wonderful thanksgiving thursday and friday with BOTH of our families.

we found atleast a short night to see some friends that were in for the holiday. still missed seeing so many. local bar til weee hours for thanksgiving pasts..... but this year, we settled for wiiiiiiiiiiii at home.



and then a hell 90 hour work week to debut a new collection, that despite the time it has taken for months and fever blisters it has brought - it was such a joy to put it together with my brother and dme/dg/bs/bg/rk/ss/kg/ab and all of our team.

and then somehow pulled of an art show and a birthday.


wiiiiiiii.
all of those occasions sound so precious now that i remember them. the list of stressful, which was just as long or longer last month and still now, disapates some when i remember to remember the times that happen. everyday.

my ring in a haystack

this is matt, 2 hours after metal detecting my brother's back yard and sifting through a 10 large black garbage bag size pile of leaves.... all to find my engagement ring.
i love you matty.

bringing life back to the first street space.

we were so more than pleased with the response to matt's show in august.
at the end of the closing night of his show... we stood with friends and family in the space and were really sad to think of letting the space go. those emotions and then many conversations of "what if...." led to dinner with cousins to dream about 314 first street, then meetings with downtown henderson project.....which led to brainstorms of rejuvenating our sweet little vacant first street with art and music and food, which coincided with investors in our town wanting to help make something happen downtown, to........
on and on. the thoughts and talk is endless. sometimes this stuff happens and sometimes it doesn't. (it will though!) everything we have talked about are big projects with long term goals. matt and i (and our dhp friend) are impatient, though.... so we thought to put another show in the first street space. the owner of the building was AGAIN gracious to donate the space. wow.
we believe that this show is a night that NO ONE will want to miss.

the night will feature 4 artists, all specially different enough, but earily perfect together. (and none of the 4 being matt.)
there are too many reasons why you have to come support these 2 guys and 2 gals. one of the artists, along with selling his photography, will be debuting his book, "dirty henderson". absolutely lovely. actually - - - i'll stop there and tell more about each of the artists in a later post.

we hope for a december cozy night of fun and enrichment for all. i would also highly encourage you to bring your checkbook. the mediums of art vary, as will the prices.
also know that this is not means of a business for matt and me. not for profit. the full sale of the art goes directly to the artists.
for now... we just want to keep alittle something going in the space on first street that was so good to us.

mark your calendar. december 1st. 314 first street. 6-10pm. spirits and hot chocolate! and one of the artists is also a vegan dessert chef. can't wait to see what she puts together for the show.
please come join us....
carrie and matt