Geez...is it spring yet?

With only a few days of winter left, I can honestly say that I am so done. Not interested anymore. I don’t want to be freezing cold to the bone all the time anymore. I don’t want to wear 8 layers of clothing just to go outside. My hair is full of static, my skin is dry, and I feel like crying every time it starts snowing again. Coming from a family that enjoys skiing, believe me, these feeling give me a lot of guilt. I am definitely the fair weather skier in our house. 

We can’t say it hasn’t been exciting, I mean frost quakes, polar vortex, extreme cold alerts, snow fall warnings…what more could we ask for! I loved driving white-knuckled all the way up north in white-out conditions.  It was so fun staying up all night with my shaking child explaining repeatedly that the loud bangs were frost quakes, not our house being robbed. I am not sure if working from home has made dealing with winter better or worse? It has given me the opportunity to hide in my basement office, staying warm, drinking tea in my cozy slippers all day. Can’t complain about that, right?

Other than those drives back and forth to school and the kid’s activities, it feels like I haven’t been out of the house or seen anyone in my neighbourhood forever. Do I even have the same neighbours? Did they move? Someone does live there because they keep shoveling my driveway (thanks by the way). I definitely owe them a bottle of wine…whoever they are.  And fashion? Forget about it. Besides realizing that my winter jacket and boots did not deliver what they promised, with respect to keeping me warm in minus 30 weather, I gave up trying to look good. Covered from head to toe, and who cares if it all matches? No one knows it me anyway. And they certainly can’t tell I haven’t had my highlights done in months, or that I haven’t been going to those boot camps I promised myself I would attend.  

So here we are. Days away from the official beginning of spring.  My hair appointment is booked and I am exuding positive energy! I think everyone is ready. We all deserve these upcoming sunny, warm days. Even a little rain will be ok. People are still happy in the rain, they even made a song about singing in the rain. And spring fashions…love it! Great jackets and skirts, beautiful colours and patterns. I even get to bust out my wide leg jeans again! Yes, they are back! Spring means new beginnings. Hang on everyone. It’s almost here! 

Julie

Working From Home VS Not

Has your partner ever said to you “you’re lucky that I ________”? As in, “You’re lucky that I cook ya know, most husbands don’t”. Really? That day, my husband came home (and as always I was sitting at my computer, with nothing made for dinner, or even prepped) and said that, to me. For a brief moment, I admit, I did feel bad. I mean, I work from home, couldn’t I have started something? At least pulled out a cutting board and a knife to create an air…an intention…something? For the brief time our eyes were locked, the last 10 years of my life flashed before me. Side note: Our whole marriage, before and after kids, he has cooked. He is a great cook, even went to George Brown for culinary. He owns a butcher shop in Muskoka for the love of God…I mean, this guy LOVES to cook and eat. So it has just evolved over time that he is the family chef. So why say this to me now? With our eyes locked, him looking tired from working all day and having to come home to make dinner; me, looking tired from working (albeit at the kitchen table) all day, and having no culinary talent whatsoever…we were locked in a dead zone. Each thinking the other had it good. Then it hit me. He has no idea what he’s talking about! Then the last 10 years started to bubble up from my chest to my throat, out my mouth. As his eyes look away, I started. Here’s how the rest of the convo went:

I realize you cook, and I love that. You wouldn’t last a day if I did the cooking. And what if you didn’t do the cooking, would you just come home from work and sit on the couch and watch TV? Do you even realize the things that YOU are lucky that I do? For instance, ever notice how there’s always toilet paper on the roll? Or toothpaste in your drawer? Or how there’s food in the fridge for you to make dinner? Crazy how the girls (our daughters) got a dental checkup, physical and their eyes checked this year. Who made those appointments? Ever fill out a school form? Volunteer on that school visit to the mayor’s office? Have you ever bought one, ONE! birthday present, Easter egg, Valentines gift, stocking stuffer? Do you ever change the kitchen hand towel, or the espresso machine filter? Do you even know baseboards need to be dusted? Or that the fish’s water needs to be changed? Have you ever waited 1.5 hours for your eldest to finish gymnastics, or wake up at 6am to register for the coveted swim lesson times? Do you even know when the kids need new underwear, knapsacks, even a haircut? DO YOU KNOW SHEETS NEED TO BE WASHED???

God. I could go on and on and on. It’s actually cathartic to write about it. If you have been nodding your head this whole time, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Working from home somehow makes it seem that you can fit in all the regular house/family stuff “in between” working. It’s sooo not the case. At this point, I’m ready to go work in the shed, ya know, so I’m not technically “working from home”. Sigh. 


Andrea

The Sochi Winter games are OVER…Boo!

It’s always a little sad when the Olympics are over. Those 2 weeks they’re on is like having your favourite show on, 24/7. No matter when you get home, what time you wake up, if you can’t sleep…it don’t matta! Even if you don’t like tobogganing, or is it luge? Wait, skeleton…er…bobsledding? Whatever they call it, you still watch. Just on the off chance that someone splits their skin tight suit open. Oh my, did you see it? People thought it happened at Sochi but it was actually the World Championships in Switzerland, 2010. British bobsleigh rider, Gillian Cooke, was stretching before she pushed off and split her pants, in the rear, wide open. Like, not a small split, but her full buttocks were there for the world to see. I was going to put a youtube link but thought against it. Your first inclination is to laugh (come on, how can you not?), but then the embarrassment, for her, settles in. Oh my god, if that was me, I would die. But I haven’t been working out every day, for more than half my life. At least her butt looked good, right? Could have been worse. Could have been me.

The other moments you watch for is all the cute, in shape athletes…geez, they are all mostly cute, right? Why is that? Could it be all that exercise and fresh air just makes the infrastructure of your face fall into place? Or does it go against the law of nature to have such a hard body without a face to match? Who knows. But think of the monkey business going on in that Olympic village where they all stay. They are all so disciplined, but come on, I’m sure they fall off the wagon at some point. Even if they don’t, it’s nice to think they do…having killer parties with their killer bodies…all without inhibition as they probably won’t see these people again (not until another 4 years and by then the monkey business shame will have worn off). A girl can dream.

But my fondest memory of the whole games was skier Hubertus von Hohenloche. First off, he represents Mexico (he was born in Mexico city). With a name like that who would suspect he WASN’T from Mexico? Whatever. Second, they call him Prince. But the outfit. Did you see the OUTFIT? It’s designed to look like a matador outfit (or is that mariachi?)! I call them “outfits”, heh heh. Like my neighbour’s a cop and I call his uniform an “outfit”…makes me chuckle every time. Can you imagine THAT meeting of the minds? Where him and his coaches are sitting around the table, debating the suit…do we put lightning bolts, bold colours, stripes? Cut to “Prince” where he says “No. Matador. Yes, definitely matador”. God love him.  

Andrea

This whole blogging thing

So I've always wanted to blog. I love reading blogs, especially ones that are funny and insightful. One of my favourite blogs I've been reading since she started years ago, is LaineyGossip. She’s just got that knack for writing, mostly about celebrities (if you’re like me, I love reading about celebrities, not sure why, guess part of me is still 21). That’s the reason I can relate to my 21 year old niece so well, and I’m over twice her age (sigh). I’ll never forget when she introduced me to some of her friends as her “aunt”, a piece of me died that day. 

Anyhoo, this whole blogging thing. No one will probably ever read it, but I've always wanted to do it, so here we are. Now that I have a platform to actually write through, why would I pass it up? I’m definitely not looking to be the next Lainey, I just want to get better at writing. This blog will be a bit about everything. I started writing about my business, but you can only talk about that for so long. I’m thinking…celebrity culture, movies, TV (I’m one of those cable fans), thrift shopping, mom stuff and anything else that seems relevant. Hopefully one day I’ll actually have a reader (and not just my 10 year old). 

Andrea

How do you find your STUFF?

The first question I always get (after, “how do you stay so gorgeous”, pfft), is “where do you get your inventory?”. In case you’re wondering, I’m talking about www.stylecrush.com. When we first started this website, that was my biggest worry. Geez, how will we find good quality, brand name, second hand clothes? I started by putting an ad on Facebook, Kijiji, and some local mom networking websites. Soon, the calls and emails started flooding in. At first I would pretty much buy anything, in constant worry that I wouldn't have enough STUFF to start our business. But as time went on and people got to know us, we had an endless supply of the STUFF. And I got pickier and pickier, only taking items in really great shape and of course only certain brands. If we take brands that are out of our scope, it’s only because they are way too cute to pass up and need to be shared with the world. 

It’s funny, no matter who I am buying from, I get the same story, “my daughter/son only wore that once”. It’s ok people, that’s the whole idea behind second hand clothes. It’s that they've been worn before. I always ask people if they've ever stayed in a hotel and slept in the sheets and used the towels. As long as you give the clothes a good wash, why not? I didn't have the appreciation I do now for second hand clothes. I didn't really understand the whole concept. But now that I’m in it, I’m all over it. When we were researching the industry and visiting some consignment shops, I’ll never forget Julie (my business partner) picking up a pair of Abercrombie jeans that were $12 and looking at me...she said “I just bought these for my son, for $50!". Crazy, eh? Wouldn't you like to have the jeans AND the remaining $38 in your back pocket? Kids ages 8 to 16+ don’t wear out their clothes like the under age 8. So when we get our hands on them they still have lots of life in them. It’s nice to give life to something. Without the associated stretch marks. 

Andrea

The fear of opening up your own business

I wouldn't necessarily call it fear, more complete and utter ignorance. Everyone dreams of owning their own business, whether it’s the flexibility of working out of the local coffee joint, or flying from city to city consulting big business on whatever sh!t of the bull they need consulting on. Whatever the case, you really have NO idea what’s ahead of you (unless you’re a complete genius with a side of savvy). I just knew I didn’t want to go back to the the 9-5 job I had before I had kids. Always worrying what kind of mood your boss would be in (god they are moody), hoping that undeserved promotion would finally come your way and/or sitting next to the over-perfumed, way too chatty, LOUD office mate (and if I just described you…sorry, you had to know the truth). It’s so hard being perfect. Anyway, the thought of going back to all that tomfoolery wasn’t appealing to me at all. My department (and hence position) was moved to the US, so I was let go from my first and only job I had since University. I worked for a HUGE company (probably the bigGEst in the world back then) so when it all ended I was devastated. Made lemonade out of sour grapes…and stayed home with my kids from that day on. Looking back, it was the BEST thing that’s ever happened to me (for obvs reasons). 

Once my kids got older, I dabbled in a little marketing consulting, sold Silpada jewellery (was in the top 10 sales in Canada for a while - sorry, had to get that in) and was a retail rep for Kobo (worked out of my car – I loved the product, but the day to day store visits were very monotonous). A total mix bag of  jobs. My husband was so patient and never pushed me to get back to work (or what he called a “real” job), until my days eventually turned into going to the gym, followed up by getting groceries (I should have had the body of a goddess, boy was that not the case). I was in denial. I knew I had to get back to doing something more fulfilling with my time, but didn’t know what. 

So circle back to not wanting a 9-5 job. My friend (and now business partner) was in the same boat. We kept dreaming up businesses we could open, but like most people, didn’t think we could actually do it. We did keep coming back to one idea in particular, buying and selling second hand clothes (brand names of course, a bit higher end). All of us moms knew that most consignment stores and second hand sellers focus on newborns to about age 10. But what about the tweens and teens? That was certainly a niche market, right? I was once given advice that the more “niche” you are the more you will succeed. Cut to a walk I was on with a girlfriend (not sure if it was before the gym or after the groceries). We spoke about this venture at great lengths and I will always remember what she said to me “Why wouldn’t you do it?”. I didn’t have an answer. Well, I guess I did, in the end, as it propelled me to where I am today. 

We all think we’re not smart enough, or don’t know where to begin, or don’t want to risk failing. Who wants to try and fail? The excuses are endless. I remember reading a quote (was it on Facebook? Am I really admitting that?) - Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. Bam! That is totally 99% of the people who want to one day work for themselves. We were determined to be part of that 1% who actually follows through. We bit the bullet, starting buying second hand, brand name clothes, got a website together (www.stylecrush.com), had a logo designed, and here we are, a full fledged, incorporated business. Mostly flying by the seat of our pants but Loving.Every.Minute.Of.It. It only took me 20 years to figure it out. But the point is I did, and I’m here. Blogging, on social media, writing, advertising, networking, all things I only dreamed of doing one day. So the question is “Why aren’t you doing it?” Seriously, why? You just keep coming up with excuses…go on, keep excuse-ing, we’ll be here, working on our business. 

Andrea

My first press release that was fun to write!

Families Turn To Online, Trendy, Second Hand Clothing Store

Two stay at home moms create an online business that makes second hand clothes shopping feel like a first rate, retail experience. They sift through the rubbish to find the treasures in order to save families time and money. 

December 1, 2013 Toronto, ON - These days it doesn’t matter if a family is on a shoestring budget, their kids still want designer shoestrings. With teens wanting brand names and tweens growing out of their clothes so quickly, more families are turning to consignment stores and used clothing websites. Two such people are the founders of Style Crush,an online second hand clothing store that caters to tweens, teens and women, and only carries brand name clothing in practically new condition.

“When you walk into any consignment store, you have to go through racks and racks of dreadful stuff to get to the treasures”, says co-founder Andrea Hepworth. “We only want to sell the treasures”. Style Crush does all the work for you, finding clothes for sale on Kijiji, local neighbourhood websites and through personal friends and networks. They take all the annoyances out of do-it-yourself second hand buying and selling. If you had to do it yourself it would include managing and posting online ads, the time it takes to meet potential buyers/sellers (who may or may not show up), the discomfort of negotiating prices and the time it takes to search the racks at second hand stores. “It’s a long process and we need to be very detail oriented, it’s almost more of a service than just selling clothes”, adds co-founder Julie Tiberia.

They pit themselves against the bricks and mortar consignment shops, as they pay cash for clothes up front unlike the stores who pay after the items are sold. They also try to accommodate their sellers by either going to them or meeting them somewhere convenient. Style Crush even throws “sell your clothes for cash” parties, where people gather their friends to sell their gently used clothing all at once. “It saves us time and money when more people come together to provide us a bigger selection to purchase from”, reveals Andrea. Selling online keeps their prices low, as there is very little overhead compared to physical stores.

While Style Crush delivers through Canada Post, they encourage customers to pick up their purchases at one of four locations (Toronto, Etobicoke, Milton and Mississauga). “We try to help our customers save even more time and money by meeting them at our pick up locations when they are going to or from work or during their daily errands”, adds Julie.

Style Crush carries everything from Lululemon, Ivivva, Triple Flip, Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle, Guess, Puma, Adidas, Nike and many more. Prices are very reasonable, most ranging from $5 to $15. See for yourself at www.stylecrush.com.

About

Style Crush is on an online business, buying and selling new and like-new brand name clothes for tweens, teens and women. Visit www.stylecrush.com for the full experience.  

Media Contact Information

Andrea 416 879 9312

Julie 416 895 4557

info@stylecrush.com

www.stylecrush.com