1,405 Photos.

Earlier this month I went on a trip back East to visit my mama and meet with new shops for betsy & iya. It was a really good trip. Here's how it started:

I'm sitting on a plane. I'm bored. I remember there are over one thousand pictures being held hostage on my phone (whoops...I have a hard time letting go, OKAaaaaY). I decide I will be productive with my time and delete all unnecessary photos. I scroll to the top and I'm immediately sucked in.

30 in the second b&i studio.

September 10th, 2010. I turn 30. Five days before that, we celebrate our first marriage anniversary. One month earlier, he turns 29 and joins betsy & iya. Two days later, we execute his genius plan to ride in a car for weeks. One day later our good car breaks down and we make a quick decision to take the bad car.

Chicago.

The bad car takes us all the way from Portland, Oregon to Washington DC on our first ever vacusiness road trip. We find favorite new cities, visit the best of old friends, meet inspiring shops to carry the line, and end with family and the most successful show we'd ever attended.

When we got back, we had one month to finish studio 101 for the official opening on November 19th.

Two days before that, this came into our lives and changed everything:

Gingham MacPherson Ponkin Brewston Ponkadamia-nut Egg-McPonkin-sandwich Cervarich.

March 2011, we take our second cross-country road trip, focusing on Southern states. Three days in, our trusty steed dies and within 2 days, we have a new car and we're on our way to new adventures. We pick up a whole lovely lot of new accounts, meeting the lovely shops and their beautiful owners along the way. We avoid Rattlesnakes, drink tequila (and get a free meal because the waiter spilled one full round on me), eat delicious sweet potato fries, attend a vibrant blogging conference in Austin, see insane caverns in New Mexico, and love each other tightly along the way.

broken down in the middle of nowhere.

Southern roads.

This scene does something to me.

old pictures in Texas.

Soon after we get back to Portland, we learn that our rent is going up. This doesn't seem right to us. We immediately decide to start looking elsewhere. One month passes. Cool things happen.

Our super awesome talented friend builds us a bed.

One of my best friends visits from Denmark.

Helga makes me laugh.

I miss her.

Eight hours before we get on a plane to head back to Texas for Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, I drive to the second studio the wrong way and stumble upon a gorgeous empty space. I see flashes and feel flutters. A few days later, we return from Texas and make an offer on the third (and current) betsy & iya studio/shop. In June 3rd, 2011, we sign the lease. Will + Friends build everything in less than two months. In August, we open the doors to our new shop. In the middle of all of it, I do another road trip to LA and back, we attend all kinds of events/shows/fairs/etc in lots of really great places. I design new lines. My amazing sister (iya) gets married. We go back East several times. Will turns 30. I plan a surprise party for him. We celebrate our second year of marriage. Gingham turns One. We take another road trip to Chicago and back. We plan a hugely successful city-wide event for Black Friday called, Little Boxes. We hire 4 new employees and are on the lookout for the 5th. We grow big time in 2010. We more than double in 2011. ...........>>>>> I couldn't believe the pictures I had collected in the 1.5 years since I got my phone. I couldn't believe what they represented. I sat back on the plane and almost felt like I was stopping for the first time since the beginning of the Camera Roll. And it just felt so good. Thanks for hanging with us through all of it. You guys are just SO awesome. xo~betsy ***Song of the Moment: Don't Stop Me Now, by Queen***