Local Business Women's Seminar & Networking Session

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Book your babysitters again ladies (or you baby Daddy's)! There is a local business networking event happening at the Cup & Saucer Tea Room tonight from 6-8pm. Sorry about the short notice, but I forgot about it (eeps), and a mom who is in the dance profession asked me if I was going during a playgroup on Tuesday, so I thought I'd better hop to it!

I've been out of the networking scene since the birth of my little Ruby Ray, and I miss most events that our entrepreneurial members at Collective-E host in Manhattan, CT, LA, etc, so this is most welcome.

Topics covered include easy access loans for start-ups and established small businesses, strategies for increasing your market share, and how to gain financial control over your business. The hosts are Chantelle Carver, a Management Consultant and Business Coach, and Kim Jacobs, of Community Capital Resources.

25% off on March 25 at echo's Spring Fling!

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Book your babysitter - echo is having a shopping party this Friday March 25th from 7-10pm. Everything is 25% off (not sure about the toy store part) to kickstart your spring wardrobes! Cocktails will be served. Fun! She has lots of good inventory in. I snagged a lose t-shirt combo, for fear it might not make it to the sale. Go check out their Facebook page!

10% Off Pre-Booking at Moxie Salon and Beauty Hub

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Was in Moxie today for my long awaited hair cut and color (was seriously going into a hair funk), and Josh took to the scissors immediately, almost before I could get my gown on. He layered me UP! And I was reminded of my bad habit of waiting too long to make an appointment, and then having to wait an extra 3 weeks because I only like to go on Saturdays when David takes Ruby on an adventure (or they watch college sports). So here is a reminder to you that Moxie offers 10% off for pre-booking your appointment before you leave your current appointment!

Beacon Moms Scramble to Get In Touch When Sun Comes Out

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As a new mom, I've noticed that when you have your baby on your own for the day, the mornings are for baby's naps, and the afternoons are for socializing (except on my Wednesdays, when Ruby and I have music class in Fishkill, and we pack a lunch and hit the big box stores on 9D and I work from my laptop via iPhone tethering or Optimum hot spot while Ruby gets a nap in).
If it's been gray and rainy for days, and then the sun shines, the phones start burning up with mothers calling each other to go on stroller walks, jogs, and impromptu sushi if husbands come home late.
That's how today was. In a matter of five minutes, I went from a very calm day, great nap of Ruby's, to sunshine, phones burning up, invitations to get outside, updates on new content up at Collective-E, all while Mary Poppins Spoon Full of Sugar blared as my soundtrack while Ruby rocked her excersaucer across the kitchen. It was a great end to a long day.
And so I leave you with the results of my stroller walk with a friend: a picture of this pink stove currently in the window of Trendy Tots Take Two. But don't even think of getting it! I've got my name all over it for Ruby Ray's first birthday. I'd like her to try her hand at having a resteraunt. They do, however, have cute clothes for spring, other wooden cooking toys, a wooden toy box that has games on all sides, and a kind of big-kid piano keyboard.

Going to Brewed, Blown, Baked on Main

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Excited for our first Brewed, Blown, Baked on Main at Hudson Valley Beacon Glass! It's my hubby's birthday, and he saw a sign posted at Bank Square, and off we go! Some fellow mom-friends are coming as well, as we figured out sitters or baby watchers, and are putting on our party dresses from Echo, and going, sans strollers. My hubby started home brewing a bit, so for his birthday I got him a blown glass beer mug with his initial D stamped on it. I've asked them to put the glass on a shelf as if he's one of the brewers there that night.

Elisa's for Lunch on the Road

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Elisa's, on Rt. 52 and 84 was actually the catalyst for me starting this blog. I'd been meaning to do it for a few months but hadn't. When I stopped in there one snowy Sunday for milkshakes for my hubby and me, I learned about their pasta dishes - cooked to suit! Using vegetables from their organic garden that they had packed into the freezer. I was overcome with their enterprising spirit and pride for their cooking, that I started the blog right then when I got back in the car.
Confession: I have yet to try a pasta dish, but their window sign advertising "PASTA DISHES" always left me craving on when we drove by. You have to call a day ahead so that they can get the ingredients, especially if you want clams, shrimp, or other seafood. I get my pasta fix at Brothers and Eleven in Fishkill, so we'll see how this compares.
But. For now, I can tell you that in addition to milkshakes, they can make you a grilled cheese with onion rings, a burger, hot dog, and various other items (no cold cuts). You can eat at their tiny counter, outside on a picnic bench, or in your car in the parking lot. And if you're like me, you can do a little phone business while you eat and your baby naps. My business parter over at Collective-E and I were able to answer a few email questions for an interview (she typed, I chomped).

Internet Killed the Video Star (but not at Key Foods)

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While I was eating lunch today, I decided to read the newspaper so that I wouldn't get my computer dirty. I skipped down to read Sarah Bradshaw's column "Our Turn" in the Weekend Life section of the Poughkeepsie Journal. Her title of this week's column: "Online rentals lack give-and-take of video-store wars". She went on to lament two issues:
  • that her husband has been sabotaging their Q list in Netflix, silently switching out her romantic flicks for his bank robbery genres, leading to bad surprises in the mail, and
  • that they can't duke it out in a video store first, and then mutually decide on what to watch, and have a nice night of it.
I totally identified with the marital compromises that now need to happen in order to watch a good rental, but I've also been having my own inner turmoil with movie rentals these days. I recently canceled my Nextflix subscription because I'm tired of selecting online. I'm overwhelmed there, I feel like I'm missing things or that I have no patience to keep clicking next>next>next> to get through the selections, so I'm over it. I want a brick and mortar rental. I want to walk through the aisles, get distracted by the random movie playing on the TVs above, and carry home a decision that I arrived at through a physical hunting and gathering experience. My business partner at Collective-E forwarded this article to me today about information overload crippling decision making, and I think this the problem for me.

My Q list was all over the place. I was distracted by anything British, and anything educational or "smart". The last thing I got in the mail was a little known two-part British series with Emma Thompson, that I did not watch. So I rebelled and got Motorcycle Diaries. Come on. Really? Why did I do that?

So I canceled my Netflix subscription when I eventually wasn't watching any movies at all. I was renting, not watching, and then taking weeks to return. It was $9.99 a month, and I saw that little ping to my checking account, at the same time my ING Savings Accounts (Dream Fund, and Pets Fund) would also take out a little each month. I thought - why am I giving Netflix my savings money, if I'm not watching the movies? And don't tell me about Netflix's instant streaming option. I tried it, and I not only made even worse decisions (Katherine Heigl's The Ugly Truth killed it for me), but due to liscnencing restrictions, streaming Netflix can't offer all of the great flicks out there, and you get a bunch of guy movies. For guys, it's great.


When I moved to Beacon, I was delighted to learn that Walmart had such in-person rental, now that video stores are dinosaurs, and hardware stores don't have the spinning racks they sometime offered. Then, I learned that our own Key Foods on Main Street had The Red Box (or whatever it's called), where you browse through a screen and pick a rental for $1. Perfect! Well, not really, but it's something physical, and it's closer than Walmart. And the Beacon Library also has DVD rentals, but I have yet to check it out.

So I agree with Sarah, that I miss the video stores. We just went to the closing sale of Borders on Rt. 9. That was sad. Another set of aisles we can't browse, because browsing is typing and it's at Amazon. Babies R Us is right next door, and I continue to go there every two weeks. I have yet to order anything baby from Diapers.com, or even Amazon. I love these online outlets, and the savings they offer, the independent brands they carry, but there is something about walking around, seeing your neighbors, meeting new people even. Can't we have both?

Come on folks. Local establishments need our help. Even the big box stores. I'd take Blockbuster at this point! They need our attention and patronage. Over at Collective-E, we have a campaign called Buy Entrepreneur. It includes shopping at big box stores because independent brands are there as well. And even if they weren't, at least your town would get some revenue from the shopping!

That's the end of my rant. :) This blog post was not even close to a blip on my to-do list, but Sarah inspired me.