Fail

So Jeremy (Mom Jeans) and I tried to take pics but it was too cloudy today. I am ultra aggravated. So I cannot post any new items this coming week.

I have a day off tomorrow and I plan on getting a lot done. Product descriptions, Charlie’s bath, research, finding a new way to lay out my room…so much!

It’s all going to come over the next few days!

On another note, is everyone else tired of people “belting” outfits to make things look special? I’m a fan of belts and belting was all the rage like 4 years ago, but I feel now people think throwing a belt over an outfit makes an outfit special. Tomorrow I will bring you alternatives to belting that I think people may enjoy. Again, stay tuned! It’s going to be an exciting weekend!

PS We sold another item! Very excited! Thanks ya’ll for the support! We are very excited here about selling our stuffs!

grateful elephant gives thanks

by madame platypus

The Thrill of the Hunt

A very SNEAK peak at what is soon to come

It hits me when I walk into the building, like a shockwave through my body. The smell of the past runs deep into my sinus’; that familiar mothballs and dust smell of vintage wares. I’m exhilarated. I don’t where to start first. Row before row, shelf before shelf of boxes all labeled “60’s dresses”, “80’s cocktail”, “Secretary blouses”.

I get excited and I start getting that tense feeling in my stomach. It isn’t a bad tension, it’s the anticipation of the wonderful find that I am going to come across. I know its out there, I just have to rummage through these boxes to get through to them.They are all there for the taking and for my pleasure.

I bring down the first box that intrigues me “cocktail dresses”  and I am not impressed. I see an ocean of sequins and beads and some torn lace. I am determined not to give up! I decide to rummage to the bottom of this box and I see gorgeous pink chiffon peeking through a gaudy new years dress. I tug at the fabric and out comes a long flowy 70’s maxi dress. I start to sweat with excitement! My first find of the day!

Now, I am completely motivated. I go to the next box labeled 90’s dresses and I find a mid length awesome grunge dress. I can’t help but feel like Liv Tyler.

 

I decide one more peek into dresses will suffice. I shuffle towards the room with the hanging racks and decide to peek in there. I stay away from the shoes because they always get me in trouble. I see bright blue peeking through two old MOB dresses. I gravitate towards the rack and find this adorable 70’s dress.

It’s only been 10 minutes and I found three amazing dresses. I cockily walk toward the bag section and look for some great vintage bags and behold: a coach bag. Damn this is luck. I also find two great 60’s/70’s bags.

 

I never have as much luck with tops but I proceed to find an amazing 70’s secretary blouse and an early 80’s open cardigan and sweater. I also find my favorite type of hippie skirts. All in all, it was a good day for inventory!

Now to get Mom Jeans over here to take some pictures!

Too see them all fully outfitted and ready to go stay tuned to our Etsy page and this blog! WOO HOO!

A bit of a hiccup

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! It was such a beautiful day today. I went down the shore to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family. Sadly, I did not take pictures. Today was the day I should have! I wore skinny black jeans, a ruffle front tank, an open cap sleep cardigan and brown boots. When I arrived at my brothers, my mother was there. . . wearing skinny black jeans, a ruffle front cap sleeve blouse, a white open cardigan, and brown fringe boots (she’s soon to be 55 BTW! Love her!). We giggled and she called me her “constant fashion inspiration”! Oh mama!

Technical difficulties with my internet and a busy work week has definitely slowed down my progress! So much work to be done!

I didn’t even get a chance to work on my room project. That might have to get worked into next weeks to do list. But I did get to take some fancy pictures of myself! Ok, maybe not that fancy. As I said before I do not have a camera (yet) and I don’t have access to a picture taker, and I am never comfortable when others take my picture. So, I can just give you teenage girl mirror pics. For now it shall suffice. I do apologize for the rudimentary quality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outfit 1

Jacket- Early 2000’s J –crew

skirt – BDG – Urban Outfitters

Top – BDG sweatshirt – Urban Outfitters

Lace shorts – Sparkle and Fade – Urban Outfitters

Boots – Dr. Martens

Outfit 2

Vest – Vintage find

Top – Ecote – Urban Outfitters

Dress – vintage find

boots – heritage boots BDG – Urban Outfitters

Belt – Urban Outfitters

 

Yeah I don’t dress my age…so what!

OK, on to business! My weekly checklist! I’m going to keep it light since this week is going to be another hectic work week with an investor visit on Tuesday. Ugh, I have soo much to do!! I had to cancel a bachelorette party this past Friday to get in some sleep. BUMMED!

 

Sunday – off

• Spend time with family

Monday –  work

• send out sold item # 2!
• start deciding how you want to organize room furniture, shelving etc.
• research cheap room makeovers – Ikea, thrift, etc.
• Take pics of work outfit – choose outfit for next day.

Tuesday – Work

• Blog about room ideas – storage ideas – design ideas
• Research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• Take pics of work outfit

Wednesday – work

• Research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• pick outfit for work

Thursday –  work

• research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• Research about things to do in Rhode Island – Inspiration trip with Mom Jeans/Jeremy
• Take pics of outfit – choose outfit for next day

Friday -  off

• Jeremy and Maraley take pics?
• bathe and give Charles a hair cut! HE NEEDS THE CUT!
• Fashion Friday! Blog about favorite items/shops

Saturday – Work

• Whatever was not completed during the week. . . do it today!

 

OH, and here are pics of my two sold items so far this month:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come on guys buy this stuff! I am honored to have you wear the things I find and love!

Spring

 

What a beautiful day! It started off pretty grey but now its full on April. It’s a bit hazy but you can see Spring struggling to get in through those clouds. The breeze is cool against my skin and blowing through Charlie’s curly salt-and-pepper hair. Other dogs look just as pleased as my little man, and they walk by happily with their proud owners.The Hudson River is looking very peaceful today after being pounded by rain for about a week and the water is crawling along its path. Get your rest little river!

The sunlight is bouncing off the buildings giving the city an orange glow; New York you are looking gorgeous at this time of day from atop the Palisades. I wish I had $8 to pay for the toll to take Charlie for a walk in town. New York in the Spring is a sight to behold! I can’t wait for the flowers to start blooming and the weather to be a consistent 70 degrees Fahrenheit! I can’t wait to walk down the street with no jacket, cruising from shop to shop, eating all the local deliciousness and enjoying the culture my beautiful area has to offer. Winter is such a drag around here, and being cold and rushing around to escape it is nothing glorious. Why are you soo long Winter!

As a treat for both of us, I took him to the dog park for about 20 minutes. I usually don’t take him since he has long hair and it gets pretty grimy. I saw no harm in taking him today since I’m going to bathe him later and probably groom him some time this week. My little man has had his winter coat long enough!

But let’s get to the subject at hand:

I Hate my Room

As I said before on Sunday’s post, my room does not make me comfortable. It’s a very plain and very blah place and I do not feel like I can get anything done in there. I’m partly being dramatic but I have a lot that I want to do with this place and I just can’t seem to get the motivation to do it all. Working 9 hours a day makes me tired!

This is what you see when you first enter my room. Ignore the cleaning products on my window sill and the sprays. I hate pet smells so I am constantly spraying in my room!

This is the one wall I really hate. Mostly because of the mirrors just chilling on the floor. I have a lot of work to do!

Where the magic happens! That what my friend Justin said about this view and bed area! HA! I love my window and my view it is amazing!

I love my closet! But it is starting to get packed with books, bedding, supplies, and my inventory. It still has room and I keep it SUPER organized because I am crazy like that (sweaters with sweaters organized by cut, dresses with dresses organized by style) I need other storage solutions, but I am poor. The unfortunate thing about this area is that one wall has ALL my doors. I really cannot place anything along this way.

 

My room has tons of potential and I have a lot of ideas. I plan on moving the furniture around and playing with the layout. If anyone has any ideas, spit them out to me. I am NOT changing the color of my furniture since it has recently been painted. I love red and black..so boo on you!

I’ll be sketching my room lay out ideas and slowing bringing ideas forward. Please, let me know what you think would be great.

Once again. . .

Here are my hang ups:

• My dog hides under the bed. He also steals my socks, pens, and hides other things under there, creating a mess. I HATE MESSES.
• I have no workspace. My desk is missing a chair.
• My mirrors are all propped against a wall
• my walls are a gross eggshell flat paint color and does not mesh with my black and red furniture that I love soo much
• The whole apartment is tiled or hard wood floors. For some reason my landlord thought it would be great to put in a carpet in just MY room. It was shabby when I moved in. I steam cleaned it in October but we have two cats and a dog. It gets very dirty very quickly. Have to steam it again
• I have no wall art or anything to decorate.
• I have no space to put my books and I cannot have a bookshelf because I have a dog that just loves to mark things. He is not neutered and can be naughty sometimes.

Can’t wait for the final results!

Bye Bye Birdie!

Work these last few days has kicked my ass. No, it wasn’t anything too strenuous, its just been a little difficult getting back into the grind after 9 days of no work. But my battery is recharged and I am ready to rock it out again.

I’m unfortunately backed up from my weekly agenda. Tomorrow I have a day off and I am going to absolutely take advantage of every minute and try and catch up with my back logged week. Oh its going to be a nice day, even if its full of April Showers.

So Wednesday will be full of pictures of my crappy room, ideas for said crappy room and maybe I’ll put together an outfit for funsies. Unfortunately Jeremy, my partner in work crime, can not make it to work with me here due to his life. *Roll eyes* HOW DARE HE HAVE A LIFE!

Bye Bye Birdie

Dick Van Dyke, Janet Lee and Ann-Margret rock out in this awesome movie from pre-Beatle era 1963.  An innocent tale about a young teenage girl named Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio who is picked randomly from selection of teenage girls to kiss her favorite Elvis-like Teen Idol Conrad Birdie. Conrad turns Sweet Apple Ohio upside down in a frenzy, causing the boys to fight with their girlfriends and parents to panic at those swiveling hips. Full of amazing choreography and music, Ann-Margret is way too sizzling sexy to be playing a sweet 16 year old and Dick Van Dyke is charming as ever playing the mama’s boy who just can’t get the guts to marry his pretty Hispanic long suffering girlfriend (typical).

If you haven’t seen this movie and you love the classics I urge you to please Netflix it. Get a peek at the time before the Beatles and Kennedy’s death, the innocence of Rock and Roll and mainstream America.

As children my mother used to play this film for us and it always brings me to a time when life was so simple. As a family, with my brother and sister, we would just watch,laugh, sing and dance along. I miss those real days, my mother and father tired from work and us kids entertaining them by reenacting the movie, our little feet imitating the moves. It was all so effortless then, our happiness as little ones. I would say I miss those days, but not much has changed with our dynamic as a family.

Well, as an adult, my mother popped in this movie when I stayed over there on vacation and we sang along and laughed at all the same funny parts and just talked about how innocent and cute it was.It was just like the good old days. . .on a different level. A 30 year old daughter talking to her 54 year old mother.

My one favorite line that I said, watching this as an adult. . . “Isn’t that outfit a little too sexy for a 16 year old girl to be wearing?”

“GOTTA LOTTA LIVING – LIVING – LIVING – LIVING - LIVING…TOO DOOOOOO!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

watch my favorite part here!

 

Money Mondays

Support other shops! Support Handmade!

I hate my room

I’ve been sitting on this project for long enough! In January of 2010 I moved to my current apartment in West New York. It is absolutely adorable and the location is amazing. The rent is reasonable, there is a dog park right across the street for Mr. Charles, and there are 24 hour buses running to mid-town Manhattan.

There is just one little hiccup; I do not like my room.

It has wonderful closet space and a SICK view of the Manhattan skyline, but it just isn’t comfortable. When I lay in bed, I expect to sigh and forget all my troubles, but I just look around and realize I can’t shake things off.

Here are my hang ups:

• My dog hides under the bed. He also steals my socks, pens, and hides other things under there, creating a mess. I HATE MESSES.
• I have no workspace. My desk is missing a chair.
• My mirrors are all propped against a wall
• my walls are a gross eggshell flat paint color and does not mesh with my black and red furniture that I love soo much
• The whole apartment is tiled or hard wood floors. For some reason my landlord thought it would be great to put in a carpet in just MY room. It was shabby when I moved in. I steam cleaned it in October but we have two cats and a dog. It gets very dirty very quickly. Have to steam it again
• I have no wall art or anything to decorate.
• I have no space to put my books and I cannot have a bookshelf because I have a dog that just loves to mark things. He is not neutered and can be naughty sometimes.

Reading that, it sounds like I’m living in a hovel. I assure you it isn’t a hovel. I am a relatively neat person. I just haven’t sat down and really decided what I wanted to do with my room/solve these hang ups.

My dream room offers comfort, space, aesthetically pleasing, work area, and a place where I can sleep comfortably. Let’s see what I can come up with.

I have som e ideas but what do you guys have to offer in the idea department? I am always open to suggestions and feedback!

Tomorrow I will post pics of my room in its current condition. UGH!

Sunday Organizational post

So for weeks I have been thinking about how to reach people through my blog. What kind of advice can I offer people? What wisdom can I impart onto my readers?

Like I’ve said before, I’ve been in retail management for 3 years (consecutively) and overall in customer service, management, and retail for 12 years. I know how to manage things when I have the resources, energy and time to do so.

When I was younger (I’m only 30, but I am much more tired than my 24 year old self) I found myself able to juggle many different things. Work, school(4.0 in college), social life. But, boy are things getting more difficult with each passing year.

I used to be able to do things, exciting and inventive things. Now I’m so preoccupied with just working and surviving I forgot what it was like to have other things going on in my life.

So I’ve decided to use this blog as and online checklist. The same way as I write a checklist every week at work and for myself personally. Something to hold myself accountable week after week. Something I can help others with organizing themselves and holding me as well as themselves accountable. A buddy system blog.

As it is, right now, I have no followers. BOO HOO! But I read my blog and I can hold myself accountable. Here it goes. My every Sunday starting from now on weekly checklist:

This week on Maraley-Vintage Purveyor

 

Sunday – off

• Talk to Jeremy about schedule. Plan what day to buy new merchandise/re-shoot of items in shop. When day is planned update into checklist
• Find free things to do in New York City/New Jersey/discounted/make plans to do it soon so you can blog about it!

Monday – Back to work

• Clean room
• Take pics of room
• start deciding how you want to organize room furniture, shelving etc.
• research cheap room makeovers – Ikea, thrift, etc.
• Take pics of work outfit – choose outfit for next day.

Tuesday – Work

• boo hoo: no new merchandise to talk about
• Blog about room ideas – storage ideas – design ideas
• Research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• Take pics of work outfit

Wednesday – Day off

• Give Charlie a bath and cut his hair
• blog about how to groom a Charlie
• Research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• pick outfit for work

Thursday – Pay day – work

• Pay bills. Save money for Etsy shop merchandise
• research blogs and Etsy pages for favorite shops/items
• Research about things to do in Rhode Island – Inspiration trip with Mom Jeans/Jeremy
• Take pics of outfit – choose outfit for next day

Friday -  work

• Fashion Friday! Blog about favorite items/shops
• pics/outfits/joo get it

Saturday – Work

• Whatever was not completed during the week. . . do it today!

Organize, Damn It print by the Anti-Bride

theantibride.etsy.com

What a productive Vacation!

Retail management, what is not to love about it? Despite the stresses and the long hours, I really do enjoy my work. It keeps me youthful and on the fore front of fashion. It also gives me hands on training on how to run a business and that is what I aspire to do one day. No amount of education can really teach you how to deal with the daily grind of customers, outfitting forms, merchandising, and selling. I enjoy it all.

As you all may understand, working full time (or in many cases for many Etsians, raising a family!), Etsy part time, and blogging is all very very time consuming and finding a way to balance it all can be a little stressful. I am working hard to find a harmony to this all.

I was on the verge of burning out! Creatively, physically, and emotionally. I had a scary faint at work one day and I realized I was pushing myself too hard and had to just get everything set up. I had to lower my expectations and realize that it wasn’t all going to happen overnight. I had to handle each thing one step at a time.

This week, I had a vacation. So I took the time to work and get everything set up and finally settled. I made myself a checklist on Word and I’ve been hi-lighting everything I got accomplished.

It looks a lot like this:

• Blog

                 Blog revamp

                 Search for blogs with common interests – ongoing

• Twitter – find people with common interests – ongoing
• Revamp product descriptions for older products
• Take new pics
• Fix up lighting on some pics
• Finish up Etsy shop spreadsheet
• New pricing
• Make a new avatar
• TREASURY! Make a few new ones for funsies. – ongoing
• Advertising and marketing. Read up on different methods – ongoing
• Business cards
• List new items

The highlighted ones are the ones that are completed. I think I did pretty good work in a week. A lot of my time was spent researching and reading. I also spent time with my family, which is something I rarely get to do. Overall, I feel refreshed despite all the work that I did get done. It was a welcomed change.

Sometimes working hard but feeling accomplished can refuel a mental battery. Lately I’ve been beaten down by many people around me. I needed to feel good about myself again. MAIN ACCOMPLISHMENT NAILED!

BTW, If you did not know, Jeremy (Mom Jeans) is obsessed with Star Wars. Our  “business” cards have pictures of Star Wars characters on one side (please don’t sue us, you have enough money!) and our names on the other. It’s mostly to grab for attention. We plan to leave them around bars and such for a bit of a “viral” campaign. It’s a cute idea!

This is what I came up with:

Maraley and Mom Jeans: Card 1

 

Maraley and Mom Jeans: Card 2

 

Maraley and Mom Jeans: Card 3

Maraley and Mom Jeans: Card 4

How does everyone else promote their blogs and Etsy shops? What are your ideas?

RE-vamp

Hello ya'll. The blog is being Updated today, April 16 2011. It may be changing throughout the day! Thank you!

I'm silly

I am a very silly person. I cannot help it. I get a kick out of life and I very much appreciate the funny things in life. There are a lot of stresses out there in this world that I cannot be distracted by. Being funny helps me cope. So if you think I am not serious you are mistaken. Being serious about life and work and being a funny person are two things that can go hand and hand. Who says you cannot inject your personality into your work. It is why I like to joke around with my Etsy shop. In a few hours I am going to show you guys the business cards I've been working on. I hope everyone enjoys them.

Life is too short to always be so sedate. Try living and laughing a little. Try having a lot of fun. I promise you will feel a lot younger when you keep your heart light!

Grumble Grumble

I swear I have the shittiest blog editor ever. I've gotta get a better one. Anyways, here is my updated outfitting information!

Blouse- Lucca Couture – Urban Outfitters

Dress – Kimchi Blue – Urban Outfitters

Fedora – Staring At Stars – Urban Outfitters

Belt – UO

Blazer – Vintage J-crew – Tuxedo menswear

Boots – Vintage find

Dress – Vintage find

Boots – vintage find

Shirt- Ya-Ya – Urban Outfitters

Belt – UO

 

I Feel OLD!

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, my 30^th birthday came and went. It wasn't/isn't so bad. The thing with me is that I keep myself very silly and youthful. I cannot be bothered with all that acting like a grown up bullshit. It is not fun! Who says I have to act a certain way to be mature? I can still be silly and dance around at the same time as paying my bills and holding a job. There is nothing wrong with that.

The week before my b-day, Mom Jeans and I went to Beacon's closet in Williamsburg to search for some good vintage (for ourselves). The trip was a bust! We ended up going to the bar across the street (Brooklyn Bar) and having Newcastle in a can and a burger. I traded one item in at Beacon's and got 5 bucks. Woo!

God bless Mom Jeans. As I was tweeting and trying to make plans for the night he reminded me that I made plans with my best friend Fiorella and her husband John. I swear, my memory is so shot lately. I left Jeremy and ran off to meet up with Fiorella and John for our Karaoke date. Fiorella has been my best friend since I was 10 years old. I don't have many friends and it isn't because I am incapable of having friends, it's because I am very bad with keeping in contact with them. I'm not your typical female that calls her friends up and sits on the phone talking for hours. I just don't care to do that or I forget. Like I said, I have a bad memory and I like being alone. I'm a strange person. Fiorella has been one of the only ones that has understood that and not really cared about our contact/no contact situation. She has a life too. It's our agreement. My other friend who understands that is Tara, that gorgeous soul. I'm trailing off topic though. Okay, back to Karaoke.

We bar hopped in New Jersey trying to find the perfect spot. After 3 bars we finally settled on this bar/restaurant in Fairlawn, I believe. John sang "OPP" and I sang "Oochie Wally". It's like what we are known for. I got pretty drunk and it happened too long ago for me to actually tell a great story about it. But hey, this is what I wore:

 

 

Then it was time for my birthday party the following weekend. Boy was that a shit show. It was 90's themed and so many people showed up my head spun. I felt like a little princess in a grunge outfit. I wish I took more pictures but I was having way too much fun. The cops came and told us to keep it down. That is how you know that was a crazy time. Sorry people I yelled at to shut up. . .

The 10^th was my nephew Juan's 4^th birthday. I got up early, after a night of partying, cleaned the empties around my apartment, swept and mopped, and off I went to the little shindig. I wore a super cute blue dress with a white lace blouse over it. Again I felt like a princess, less 90's grunge. We ate pizza and cake. I slept over there and spent time with my brother and his family. I love those little boys. I miss my sister's sons, my other nephews. I can't wait to see them soon! I got to see her daughter, baby Gabby. She's such a cute little nugget!

 

Well that's been my weekend and vacation so far. Tomorrow Mom Jeans comes over for some Etsy work, dinner, and the last few episodes of season 3 of the Sopranos. I can't wait for this upcoming weekend! I promise to take more pics of myself and my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick post

OMG I turned 30!

It was a pretty spectacular event. But I don't want to get into that right now. I just wanted to update on my progress with the shop.

As you may (or may not) know I work in retail management. My job is surprisingly very demanding, and I pretty much put in about 45-50 hours a week. On top of that, I try to stay up and get this Etsy thing a-going. Basically, I work very hard all the time and I am pretty tired very often.

I'm currently working on re-pricing some things in my shop and working out on some financial spreadsheets to get everything tidied up.

I'm also trying to get partnered with Jeremy to get some new pics taken and that is almost impossible because both our schedules are pretty inconvenient and when we do find time together, we spend it watching episodes of Soprano's and just relaxing from working all day. BAD BUSINESS PARTNERS!

SO, as I always do, I made a list of things I need to do/improve on.

Blogs - I need to update more often and start reading other people's blog as well. I have a blog loving account and I need to use it

Twitter - need to connect with more vintage shoppers and other vintage sellers and build a community. Help out others, while helping myself. I am a very generous person and unfortunately not very competitive. I like to help!

Revamp product descriptions for older products - I made a template for my research and my product descriptions that I used for my new products that I need to use for my older ones. Update descriptions.

Take new pics - I was very happy with my new round of pics and very so-so about the first round. I want to redo some shots

Finish up etsy shop spreadsheet -done!

New pricing - I wanted to make things a little more affordable for my customer base and less for my own pocket. Again, there is my nice-ness talking

Make a new avatar - the one I have for the shop was really thrown up there last minute.

TREASURIES- I enjoy making them and I need to do them more often

Advertising and marketing - as a former marketing major, I really should put to use the very few things I learned. HA!

I am still so 100% behind this thing and I know I can make something of it. It is just the "having energy" part that is so damn difficult!

Well wish me luck!



Jeremy and I love animals. This is my room mates kitty cat, Quinn.