STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

NCshopper · Hermes

STer of the Week: Smash!!!

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

RE: STer of the Week: RyanJ!!!

small fry · Chanel

RE: STer of the Week: Smash!!!

theotherjess · Chanel

How did you start your stationary company and why?

What/who are your biggest style influences?

Why "smash"?

Christine · Coach

If you were stranded on an island for 5 years, and you were given only 3 different foods to eat for that whole time, which 3 would you choose?

What is your favorite item of clothing that you own? Your favorite accessory?

smash · Dooney & Bourke

ooh, yay! how exciting! i feel special. :)

What is your biggest vice?
hmmm... my biggest vice. let's see. i tend to be pretty good and very responsible overall. ;) i guess i'd have to say that i am extremely selfish with my free time (maybe because i have so little of it) and i'll often go months without talking to even my closest girlfriends. if my husband didn't live with me it would probably be the same with him. i am also often guilty of cancelling plans just because i feel like spending time alone or getting something else done.

What's your favorite meal?
my favorite meal of my life thus far was a dinner that my husband and i had at the restaurant march in nyc - it was three course menu with wine pairings and the food was the best i've ever had in my life. we didn't even speak through most of the dinner because we were in such awe over the food. in gerenal, my favorite meal would consist of several courses that don't really go together... it would start with cinnamom raisin toast with butter, then a giant bowl of freshly made guacamole with blue corn chips, then lamb chops with a side of rosemary sweet potato fries, and finally a big slab of our wedding cake (chocolate with raspberries and raspberry liquor filling). I also love spaghetti and meatballs. i guess i'm bad at choosing just one meal!

Where were you born and raised? Do you still live there?
i was born and raised in northeastern connecticut. my family lived with my grandmother while my parents built the house they live in now, which we moved into when i was 9. i lived there until i left for college. after college i lived in virginia for a year and then moved to nyc, which is where i live now. i still feel like my parents' house is my home - i probably always will - but that could also be because my husband and i haven't had the opportunity yet to really create a home of our own.

How old are you?
28 as of march 2nd!

Have you always had the knack for mixing colors and patterns in your wardrobe?
i definitely think so. i was always a very color-focused child. my mom dressed me in frilly little frocks when i was growing up, but every now and then i was able to pick out my own clothes and i used that opportunity to pick the brightest colors i could put together. we really didn't have a lot of money when i was growing up and when i was in middle school and junior high it was a treat to go shopping and i became really good at finding things on sales racks and at places like tj maxx - it was a really fun challenge for me to find pieces that were pretty or unique or interesting. i think that is the main reason that i shop the way i do now and dress the way i do. :)

How long have you been married?
about 7 months - i married my college sweetheart on 9/18/05 after more than 6 years of dating!

Do you like to cook?
i LOOOOOOOVE to cook. i wish that i had more time to spend cooking and, even more, entertaining. now i'm pretty much a devotee of the rachael ray philosophy - if it takes more than 30 minutes it's not happening. :) i love buying cookbooks and just reading through them and trying new recipes and new types of cuisine. that's how i spend sick days - lying on the couch propped up with pillows, reading my cookbooks.

Fav. hobby?
besides cooking, i love any type of craft projects. i wish i had more time to actually spend on my hobbies. i love to knit, but it's been about 2 years since i've actually had enough time to finish a project. my real favorite hobby - designing stationery - has since become my job!

How did you start your stationary company and why?
i think the story is best told on my website, so i'll cheat and post that instead of re-typing it!
http://www.smashingcards.com/About.html

the business name was actually decided upon with the help of some of the girls on this site - way back when we all posted on the luckymag forum.

What/who are your biggest style influences?
hmmm. i hate to admit it, but i don't really follow celebrity style all that closely so there are few actual people that i think my style is influenced by. i really find inspiration from street style - like the british vogue street style images and the posters on style diary (and this site, of course!) and by people i see on the street in nyc. i think the "what" is much more applicable to my personal style. i think my biggest influence are flowers -- my favorite color is green and i definitely use it as a neutral - inspired by the fact that flowers come in all colors and they always look gorgeous with their green stems and leaves. i find the vibrant colors of flowers and the color combinations and different textures of gardens are a really big influence for my style. i have lots of books of photographs of gardens and other flora.

Why "smash"?
it was a nickname i got when i played soccer a long time ago - i played defense and was notorious for smashing into goal posts. the name stuck through college as a shortened version of "smashedly" due to my low tolerance for booze. ;)

If you were stranded on an island for 5 years, and you were given only 3 different foods to eat for that whole time, which 3 would you choose?
these questions are so tough for me! assuming i would survive regardless of what choices i made... one would definitely be avocados. could i have a toaster with me? if so, i would choose bread so i could make toast. i loooooove toast, especially plain toast without any butter or jelly or anything. plus i love avocado and sea salt sandwiches on toast, so that would allow me to eat those all the time! my third choice would grapefruits. i never get tired of eating those.

What is your favorite item of clothing that you own? Your favorite accessory?
this is impossible! i could never choose! hmmm... favorite clothing item. i think i'd have to pick this short sleeved sweater -- suprising because it's black, right!? it's my "go-to" item whenever i'm in an outfit pickle and i really love how it fits and how it looks. and i love the unexpectedness of the open back.

favorite accessory is definitely my leopard slings - it took me years to find just the right pair and i always feel fab whenever i wear them.

jj · Kate Spade

I love the idea of green as a neutral - I once debated getting a peridot pendant and the jeweler said to treat it like a neutral, and it works! Anyway, on to my questions:

What do you love most about NYC?

Least?

What's your favorite season?

alb · Marc Jacobs

Yay smash! I love that black top--so Audrey Hepburn, and I am always inspired by your posts. Here are some more questions:

What is your biggest pet peeve?

What made you decide to take the plunge and do your card/stationery business full time? do you like it?

have you always been creative? how did you foster your interests in design? What did you get your degree in?

favorite place to travel?

if you could travel anywhere in the world for 2 weeks, where would you go?

if you had to pick a favorite clothing designer, who would you pick?

smash · Dooney & Bourke

What do you love most about NYC? Least?
this is a complex question for me, when it really should be pretty simple. basically in the 5 years that i've lived here i can say that i've hated it about 90% of the time and really really really loved it the other 10%. every now and then there will be a day where i just catch myself really being happy that i live in such a cool city. the rest of the time i feel pretty annoyed and over-stimulated and claustrophobic. i think what i love the most is the convenience of living here and the huge array of things available to do. and of course, the shopping. :) the thing i hate the most if when i see a nyc stereotype as reality -- like meeting/interacting with people who are self-centered, vapid, money-grubbing, pretentious, rude, have that "i'm better than everyone" attitude, aggressively in-your-face political, grossly apathetic because it's trendy... i feel like more often than not, those types of stereotypes have proven to be true in my experience here and that makes me sad and frustrated.

What's your favorite season?
hands down, fall. the early fall days where it is still sunny but the air is starting to get crisp are my favorite days of the year.

What is your biggest pet peeve?
i could easily write a book on all of the things that peeve me, there are so many of them. i think most of them fall under the umbrella of people who are blatantly rude or just lacking basic social graces/etiquette. it bothers me to no end when people just aren't considerate of those around them. sometimes i get so bothered by other people's behavior that my day can be ruined - i know that this is silly because i can't control how other people behave. i just always go out of my way to be polite and helpful and considerate, and it really isn't difficult at all, so when i see other people who aren't behaving that way, it makes me extremely angry.

What made you decide to take the plunge and do your card/stationery business full time? do you like it?
i've really just reached my breaking point. i'm not sleeping hardly at all trying to juggle a full-time job and a full-time business -- there just aren't enough hours in the day. the business really grew exponentially over the past year and took a completely different direction than i had originally planned it to take (going towards 100% custom work instead of mostly retail stationery). i do like it - i love the design aspect especially. the assembly is kind of frustrating right now because i don't have a lot of help and most of the time i just wish i could be sleeping or cooking or reading magazines or, anything else really. i'm looking forward to the day (2 months from now!) where i can work during the day on stationery and then have my evenings free to spend with my husband and my friends and really start focusing on having a life. we want to start a family, but with the way things are right now and the stress i am struggling with, we have to keep putting that on hold.

have you always been creative? how did you foster your interests in design? What did you get your degree in?
i think i've always been creative - my parents are both really creative people and they did a wonderful job of supporting my brother and my creative tendancies when we were growing up. i also have a very analytical mind though, so throughout school i always chose math/science over art. when i went to college i was originally pre-med and then switched to a biochemistry focus because for the longest time i wanted to have a career in toxicology -- i was really fascinated with what happens to the body when foreign chimicals are introduced. so i majored in biochemistry and then went to grad school to start a toxicology/pharmacology degree. but after a year i felt really uninspired and trapped in labs. so i dropped out of school and decided to pursue something more creative, which has always been the focus of my hobbies. when i was younger i was always taking craft books out of the library so i could learn all sorts of different things like mosaics, knitting, embroidery, etc. so i'm lucky that i have a really broad range of knowledge in craft-type projects. my favorite craft has always been collage, which is what originally got me started doing stationery. eventually i taught myself how to use graphics programs like photoshop and illustrator and the business has grown from there.

favorite place to travel?
my husband and i really like exploring and travelling, so we've been lucky to have the opportunity to visit some amazing places. my favorite place so far has been brazil and the amazon. i would definitely like to go back there. i also love europe.

if you could travel anywhere in the world for 2 weeks, where would you go?
hmmm... for two weeks? i'd probably pick somewhere kind of close and warm and tropical so that i could just relax for that amount of time. so i'd say curacao. or i've always wanted to go to the galapagos, so that could be a good choice. if i had two months though i'd want to go somewhere to really explore -- like australia, new zealand, china or kenya.

if you had to pick a favorite clothing designer, who would you pick?
it's tough to pick just one, but i would have to say matthew williamson.

-- Edited by smash at 11:20, 2006-04-25

Mandy · Kate Spade

how did you meet your hubby?

who is your bff and what do you love about her?

if you could travel anywhere where would you go?

what are you favorite bands?

do you have any brothers/sisters? what is your relationship with them like?

do you think your style has changed since you studied design?

shopgirl82 · Chanel

what are you five current obsessions right now.

what do you see your life like in five years?

what's your favorite guilty pleasure t.v. show?

if you could live anywhere other than NYC, in the U.S. where would you live?

smash · Dooney & Bourke

this is fun! you guys are really making me think with all of these questions! :)

how did you meet your hubby?
we actually first met our freshman year of college at the start of spring term -- he emailed out to the class list of a philosophy class i was taking asking if he could borrow someone's book to do the assignment. i looked him up in the face book and thought he was cute, so i offered him my book. we chatted a bit via email and then hung out for a few weeks, semi-romantically, but then i started dating someone else so we stopped hanging out. we reconnected the spring of our junior year and became good friends (both dating other people at the time) and then that summer it just kind of clicked that we really wanted to be together -- that was the summer of 1999 and we've been together ever since. :)

who is your bff and what do you love about her?
i've always felt kind of left out because i don't have a "bff" -- i had two really close friends when i was growing up but i really just grew apart from one of them and had a relationship ending fall-out with the other when we went off to college (i've tried to reconcile this several times, to no avail ). i currently have a core group of 4 very close friends - all of who were bridesmaids in my wedding - but not one single person stands out as being my "best" friend. all four of them bring something really special and important to my life. as i mentioned in my response to one of the questions in a previous post, i'm really guilty of not spending enough time with and giving enough attention to my friends, which is probably one of the reasons i've never been able to keep really close girlfriends in my life for long periods of time.

if you could travel anywhere where would you go?
if i could go anywhere - meaning there weren't any financial or safety limitations - i would go on a tour of the seven wonders of the world - starting with the pyramids in egypt and ending with the great wall of china.

what are you favorite bands?
my absolute favorite band is cake. i love them. but i love all kinds of music and i'm always discovering new bands/singers that i like a lot. a few of my favorites are poe, patty griffin, beck, david gray, the be good tanyas, hem, neko case, death cab for cutie, garbage, beastie boys, the old 97s, zero 7, kirsty maccoll, neil diamond, U2, tom petty, magnetic fields, supreme being of leisure, ben folds, cloud room, feist, beth orton, the shins, outkast, liz phair, gotan project... sheesh, i could go on and on. :)

do you have any brothers/sisters? what is your relationship with them like?
i have one brother who is 5 years younger than me. he's awesome - totally smart and talented and i'm in awe of him most of the time. he taught himself how to play the guitar in a few months and no he's amazing at it. he was originally going to college for film but then he decided he wanted to teach history. he knows more about obscure historic events than anyone i've ever met. anyway, he's awesome. when we were growing up we never really interacted much outside of family activities - he was so much younger than me and was kind of shy/introverted while i was outgoing and always doing everything. but once he got to college we became really close. now i love catching up with him.

do you think your style has changed since you studied design?
hmmm... not really. my style has always pretty much been the same. colorful, kind of off-beat/adventurous, drawn to interesting/unique pieces that i won't see on everyone else on the street, etc. in high school i was one of the only people who didn't look like i stepped right out of the jcrew catalog... although if we had the money to spend on the stuff back then i probably would have just gone along with the crowd. i haven't really studied design - i took courses at the school of visual arts, but the were all very utilitarian -- like typography and stuff like that. but i think that working in a creative field does keep me creative in my closet.

what are you five current obsessions right now?
do you mean in general or fashion-wise? i'll just answer both.

in general, i'd have to say my current obsessions are netflix, lost, fonts, coffee, and hording images from decorating magazines for when i have a home to decorate someday

fashion-wise, i'd say my current obsessions are not all that current because i've been obsessed with most of the same things for a while now. i'd say they are flats, vera scarves, vintage belts, anything green, and pieces with polka dots

what do you see your life like in five years?
well, to be honest, i have no idea what my life will *actually* be like in 5 years, especially considering how different my life is now from how i assumed it would be looking ahead five years ago... but here's how i would really like it to look. i'd like to be living in a house (that we own!) in a quiet neighborhood with my husband and one or two children and lots of pets, spending my time designing stationery, gardening and cooking.

what's your favorite guilty pleasure t.v. show?
lord, i watch so much television that i could name tons of shows for this question! i love "reality" tv, especially shows that focus on fashion or cooking. right now my favorite is top chef on bravo. but i also love project runway and america's next top model. i'm also obsessed with shows on the game show network - for some reason i missed the show "greed" when it was actually on tv, so i love watching reruns of that.

if you could live anywhere other than NYC, in the U.S. where would you live?
i loved growing up in CT, so i would pick a small quiet new england town somewhere in CT or MA. i've always wanted to live in san francisco, but it's so far away from my family that i don't think i'd ever move out there at this stage of my life.

-- Edited by smash at 19:10, 2006-04-25

scarlett · Marc Jacobs

My turn!

Are there any particular items you are dreaming of owning someday, like a certain pair of shoes or a specific type of bag?

Do you ever look at people on the street and imagine what you would change about their appearance in a makeover?

Is there a certain article of clothing you would never own?

If you could meet three people from any time in history, alive or dead, who would they be?

halleybird · Hermes

what were you like in high school?

if you could only wear two colors for the rest of your life, what would they be?

I know you love fonts. In general, are you attracted to serif or san serif? What is your favorite font?

favorite book?

smash · Dooney & Bourke

Are there any particular items you are dreaming of owning someday, like a certain pair of shoes or a specific type of bag?
not really. i guess i could say something like a pair of choos or a pricey designer bag, but i just don't really see those things ever really fitting my lifestyle. i think if i had to choose one thing it would be a vintage pucci dress in perfect condition. but i'm not actively looking (or saving, for that matter!) for that or anything.

Do you ever look at people on the street and imagine what you would change about their appearance in a makeover?
all.the.time.
i feel so awful most of the time, but i am horrifically catty in my mind when i see people on the street. like when someone is walking in front of me, i'll be thinking "yikes, you should have worn a thong today" or "your pants are too short to be wearing with those heels" or "i bet she looks fantastic in [insert color here]" when someone is wearing all black. i'm definitely guilty of putting lots of people on my mental "glamour don'ts" list. ;) that said, i would never actually judge someone by what they are wearing - lord knows lots of people out there probably have lots to say/think about what i wear half the time!

Is there a certain article of clothing you would never own?
i think i can pretty safely say that i will never own a juicy track/sweat/velour suit and uggs. or any clothes that have the names of designers/stores emblazened on them.

If you could meet three people from any time in history, alive or dead, who would they be?
ee cummings, carolina herrera and jimmy stewart.

what were you like in high school?
pretty much your standard over-achiever. i was involved in everything - music, theater, sports, clubs - i was happiest when i was running from one thing to the next, always busy. i wasn't allowed to really go out much because my parents were strict, so being involved was the best way for me to see my friends and boyfriends. my high school was small. i was valedictorian of my class and i was always kind of embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable that i was always being singled out as being smart or talented or whatever because i just wanted to be a regular kid and, i guess, be regular in general.

if you could only wear two colors for the rest of your life, what would they be?
assuming i could wear any and all shades within each color family, i would pick green and blue.

I know you love fonts. In general, are you attracted to serif or san serif? What is your favorite font?
i love fonts! i am actually most attracted to very fancy fonts with beautiful lines and curves. since i prefer more traditional and older look fonts, i prefer serif. sans serif is too modern looking to me most of the time. my two favorite fonts are goudy handtooled and bickham fancy, which i used for our wedding programs:

favorite book?
white noise by don delillo

-- Edited by smash at 08:53, 2006-04-27

poptart · Coach

Fun fun fun!

Just one from me for now:

If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be?

asf · Kate Spade

let's see what i can come up with...

what's your favorite smell?

if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

who's your famous-person crush?

you said you want lots of pets - what's your ideal menagerie?

ILoveChoo · Hermes

what do you do in your "real" job? (not that the stationary one isn't real, but you know what I mean

)

smash · Dooney & Bourke

If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be?
don't wish your life away always looking forward. when i was in middle school i was just focused on how great it would be once i got to high school... when i was in high school i was lready looking forward to college... in college, to be in the "real world." i was constantly thinking forward to when i would be getting married to my husband (then boyfriend, obviously) and even now i find myself planning/thinking ahead to when we with start a family. i've just always felt so restless in the present. but i've been making a conscious effort to try and live for the moment (as cliche as that is) and be present in what i am doing and what my life is like each day. i think if i could have started making this conscious effort a long time ago, it would be much easier for me to just live my life as it is in the present now.

what's your favorite smell?
i think smell is my favorite sense because i really do tie scents to memories. my favorite smell is fresh cut grapefruit. but rounding out the top 5 would be kai perfume/body wash (reminds me of my honeymoon), pine, anything baking (especially bread) and tonic.

if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
this kind of goes along with the answer to the first question above - i wish that i could relax. i'm the most high-strung person ever. i micro-manage myself constantly, i've got mountains of to do lists, i thrive in high pressure busy situations. unfortunately, it's nearly impossible for me to unwind. i am one of those people who doesn't benefit fully from yoga because i can't quiet my mind and focus on my breathing during practice. even on vacations, i'm always planning things and making sure we get those most out of our trip. if i'm "relaxing" there always has to be some activity involved - reading, cooking, knitting, etc. i can't just be still.

who's your famous-person crush?
male: james gandolfini. i can't explain it at all but i've always had a thing for him, even before the sopranos started.
female: reese witherspoon. i want to be her friend.

you said you want lots of pets - what's your ideal menagerie?
we currently have two cats that i absolutely adore, but i've always been more of a dog person. in fact, these are the first cats i've ever had in my life and i agreed to get them because we couldn't have a dog in our building and because my husband grew up with cats. i've really grown to love our cats and i think even after they pass on (so sad to think about) i would probably want to have more cats. but once we have a house, i plan to fill it with dogs. i want a few big dogs, like a saint bernard and/or an akita. and i also want a few smaller dogs, like beagles. we'll probably end up with a house full of mutts because i love adopting animals that need loving homes (this is what we did with our cats when they were kittens). but the menagerie will most likely be limited to dogs and cats - i've never been much of a fan of other animals as pets.

what do you do in your "real" job?
i work for a small market research company as a research analyst. boooo-ring.