Real Life: Balance

Being a mom & running a business is HARD work. There aren't enough hours in a day to do both as well as I'd like. I admit it. There are days I wish I had my nanny even longer, but then I'd never spend time with my son. It's all about perfecting balance I guess.....& that, I am still working on. Today I looked down at my little guy & he was wearing this t-shirt I designed. Says "mom & dad are my heroes" .... It made me smile. ...that maybe he thought I was doing just great... That in his eyes, I was HIS HERO.  

It made all this hard work today...feel a little better.

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T-shirt from my shop -  Cocoa & Hearts

Made By Girl News

Hello everyone, Happy New Year! WOAH it is super cold today in NYC! -  Like 14 degrees. Good reason to stay in & write this important post.

I've been in the process of selling a few things in my home & making way for some BIG changes. A baby-space/office (if you can believe that).   Our son is growing quickly & needs a little more space to move around.... so, I've decided to sell a few things including my white leather daybed. (pictured below).  In the process of all this... we are also working on a new blog design + new site design....and I've been painting a bunch of new ART to add!

Now for the BIGGEST news....after 10 years in business as Made By Girl, a portion of my business will be partially closed down.  What I mean by that is - the prints/poster section of my company will no longer be available.  So basically, 98% of the ART on Made By Girl from that point on, will be original paintings.  I've thought about this change long & hard & contemplated on many things. To be honest, it feels like the RIGHT CHOICE for me at this time.  Perhaps this is the beginning of something more meaningful?? I don't know.  But what I do know, is that new beginnings make room for others things to grow.

THANK YOU for all your support throughout these years with my art-prints portion of my business.  I can't even begin to tell you how HAPPY it made me & how much I learned from it.  Unfortunately, the ART PRINTS business has become terribly saturated & EVERYONE is now a designer of prints/posters CREATING prints with every quote in the book!  Sadly, the uniqueness has died.

So, on I go to the NEXT THING.....to innovate & create new work. And in the meanwhile, my Original paintings come with me.  That +  a bit more is what I will be showing you with the new site (for the most part).  Stay tuned, as we will have a HUGE sale soon .....on... ART PRINTS.

-image & post by jen ramos

Experience A Cup Above

Coffee is my thing.

I used to be a coffee-shop fanatic, until I discovered Nespresso.  I realized how much money I was spending on coffee +  time wasted in-line waiting for my tall decaf soy latte with a splash of mocha on top! Oooh, long name!  Nothing wrong with name brand coffee shops but there's something magical about making your own cappuccino in the comfort of your own home.  After receiving my first machine, citiz & milk  as a gift from a friend,  I was HOOKED on Nespresso.  The ease & the taste of the coffee was way better than the coffee shops I had visited.  For the last few years I've been a loyal customer of this amazing brand.  So, Nespresso asked me to share my daily coffee routine & to try out the newest machine in the VertuoLine range, Evoluo.  The new machine launched last month and is featured in their new �Experience a cup above� campaign with George Clooney.

To those who don't know me, I work from home. Working from home is definitely an interesting & challenging experience. I tend to work on turbo-mode and then take a break during the daytime to spend time with my son for a few minutes.  I usually hang out with him while I make myself a (much-needed) cappuccino & pair it with Sprinkles cupcakes or a gluten-free bagel + pumpkin butter spread.  I eagerly look forward to these moments & feel relaxed & at ease being a work-at-home-mom.

During the middle of my work day on my break, I'll  enjoy my coffee with a bagel.  It's one of my favorite things......but my son loves colors, so cupcakes get him EXCITED!  He then goes back to his sitter & I get back to work, checking email, posting photos on social media like instagram & painting.  Being an artist, my home studio can get a little messy.  Even still, I'm not afraid to bring my coffee into the mix... I'll even use it as a prop for photo shoots.  Of course, I'll drink it afterwards.   I love painting & sipping on my cappuccino, I feel like the two things go hand-in-hand.  Working at home has it's challenges & the one day my sitter isn'tt working, it's hard to leave the house & walk into a coffee-shop with a stroller etc. (even if I wanted to).  So having a high-end machine like the Evoluo, which brews espresso and large-cup coffee, is VERY helpful.

Below:  Infant Nuna ZAAZ convertible high chair in Pewter

In the last few days, I've really enjoyed my work breaks, because the new Evoluo machine has been wonderful. You see,  I love milk (soy milk) in my coffee, so I got the bundle with the Aeroccino (milk frother).  This machine is quieter & more beautiful than my previous one.  It also maintains the gorgeous crema, which is what you see in my glass cup in the photo.  Nespresso machines use Nespresso capsules and brew high quality coffee , they are easy-to-clean & offer some great varieties in their Grand Crus like the new Limited Edition Swiss Chocolate for the holidays, yum!!!   One thing I learned while trying the new Evoluo is that Nespresso only selects the top 1-2% of coffee from the finest coffee-producing regions for their Grand Crus! Nice.

I love my coffee at home & drinking an iced version on the weekends with my husband after dinner is like my dessert sometimes.  He'll even add a scoop of coconut milk ice cream on top!  I swear.  So now you know how I  "Experience A Cup Above."

Above: Infant Nuna ZAAZ convertible high chair

-post + photos by made by girl
-this post was created in partnership with nespresso - thanks!

REAL LIFE: Iced COFFEE, dirty looks & spit up.

I used to love sitting quietly at Starbucks sipping on a soy cafe mocha & reading a book. Watching the people shuffling in & out with their coffee cups, listening to the annoyingly long names for coffee and everything else that happens in a big-city Starbucks.  Yesterday, I walked into Starbucks with my son Noah, who is now 7 months old.  We were alone and he was in his stroller. We stopped because I was hungry & figured it would be a quick way to get a breakfast sandwich & iced coffee. 

Ordered & then sat down while Noah sipped on some pedialyte next to me.  He is now holding his own bottle at 7 months, not perfectly coordinated.... but pretty darn good!  He started at 6 months, so I let him try when he wants to.  Anyway, all of a sudden his 3 ounces were finished & I was still eating my sandwich.  He needed to BURP, so I got him onto my lap.  My meal was now on hold...NORMAL occurrence when I'm with baby.  As I'm burping him, he spits up onto his pant legs, then all of a sudden throws up the pedialyte & it lands on the bench we're sitting!

My thought was "ugh, where is the napkin I had?" I scrambled to find a napkin, and noticed one under my sandwich!  Ummm, I realized I couldn't reach MY DIAPER BAG within the tight quarters we were in to get a washcloth, so I had to make due with one napkin!  The girl a seat away from me SAW EVERYTHING.  She even had 5 napkins or so on the bench next to her.  She looked at Noah & gave me a "not-so-nice look" then turned away.

Of course, for 2 seconds I wanted to tell her how "crappy" that was!   I mean, would it have killed her to offer one or two napkins?  BUT,  I kept my cool.  After that, I also had to change his pants in the middle of all the commotion around us......THANKFULLY, I managed to reach my bag and take out his emergency outfit.  So, there you have it.  That is what my Starbucks experience looks like as a mother.

It used to be me, my book & my cappuccino - now, it's me trying to juggle several things in my hands.  Every day that passes and I fall more & more into my role as a mom... & I realize why mothers are so tired by the end of the day.  Zzzzzz.

Oh, Starbucks.  I kinda miss our quiet time.

-post by jen ramos
-please excuse my punctuation, I am obviously not an English major.