Archive for the Laugh Easy Category

Grand Opening Party

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Again, we would like to thank everyone who came out to support Consuela at our Grand Opening last week. We loved meeting you all. Our Consuela Peeps rock! We enjoyed grapefruit mimosas, our famous grapefruit margaritas, and delish cupcakes from Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop.

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Ladies who love Consuela

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Rocking her new Consuela t-shirt!

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Clay is workin’ the Roxy Mini!

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And now for the winners of the bag giveaways:

The lovely Ravinder visiting from London loving her new Glamity

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Andrea’s new Couture Manhattan Carry-All matched her outfit perfectly!

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Jacque modeling her Couture Hampton Carry-All!

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And that’s a wrap! Viva Consuela!!!

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And the Winner Is…

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A huge thank you to everyone who submitted their cocktail recipes for our cocktail contest! We had a little too much fun testing them :) The winning recipe was the MVP submitted by Trista Lauritsen. Trista, we hope you love your Couture Manhattan Carry-All as much as we do!

MVP Cocktail:

Equal parts Malibu Rum, Vodka, and Pineapple juice. Make in a pitcher with ice and add all of your favorite fruits- blackberries, raspberries, mandarin oranges and kiwi. Is a refreshing twist on a tropical sangria!

 

Stay tuned for pics of the Grand Opening party yesterday. It was a huge success, and we are so grateful to everyone who stopped by to celebrate with us! Your support and kind words inspire the whole Consuela team, and for that we thank you!

Viva Consuela!

 

 

Reveal Your Colors!

Some of you know my story…for those who don’t, I worked in the corporate world for 16 years before deciding to follow my heart.  So many amazing things have happened along the way because of that crazy, but necessary move in my life.  I have traveled to places I never thought possible, and most recently got back from a trip to Italy where I was sourcing the finest leathers available for our next launch in the Spring of 2014.

When I dreamed of the company Consuela, there were many things that went into it.  In particular, Consuela is two things to me. First, it’s my nickname, and alter ego, so all of the things I wanted to do but never dared, Consuela could do! And second, it is based on the word in Spanish consolar, which means to give comfort or make feel better, and it is a personal mission for me through our company to give hope and comfort to others.  By stepping outside of myself I have been able to begin to see these things I dream of happen.

On this trip, I not only got to check out the most amazing sources, I was also able to vacation in Italy where I have never been, with my best friend of 25 years.  Such a gift!  The food, the wine, the landscape, all breath taking.  I can not stop thinking about it and being energized by it.

I hope that you all take a chance and chase a dream that you hold dear, if you see it and put the energy around it in motion, you can make it happen!  Reveal your Colors!!

Here’s some pics of our trip:

In Florence I ate donuts like little clouds (I love sweets! )

Florence

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We visited the Tuscan wine country in the Chianti region and we opened, decanted, and drank a bottle from my birth year, 1968!! Amazing.

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Then we finished the trip with a visit to Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, like nothing I have ever seen! I relaxed, designed, and gazed with awe and appreciation. The attention to detail, in the service, food, even cocktail garnishes reminded me why I love to put detail in Consuela products.  These are things that make people feel special.

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With love and gratitude,

Conni

Consuela Culture Club….Movie Night!

Since our Steady Freddie Clay is touring the country side with his childhood buddy, the girls decided to go see Magic Mike in the theaters.    It was also a perfect opportunity to welcome the two newest members of our Consuela family, Gina and Tara!  What a fun Consuela Culture Club.  There was dancing, booty shaking and just a good ‘ole time had by all.  Sometimes you just gotta shake what your momma gave you…and we like to do it Consuela style!

 

Music Magic

 

Earlier this month, the Consuela Team attended a Foster the People show in Austin at one of the city’s great outdoor venues, The Backyard.  We had a blast.  The music was great, and so was the show.  We are in a really exciting time because we are moving to a new office/studio in the heart of downtown with a retail store too!  All of the renovations are underway, and we have been loving thinking up creative decorative designs for our new digs.

 

 

The lighting and stage show at Foster the People was completely inspirational. They had an awesome lighted sun that had moving line drawings for the face image.  The line art was really simple but modern.  Loved it!  Check our You Tube video to see and feel the incredible energy this show was able to capture.

 

After seeing the show we got to brainstorming about how we could make our office and retail space similar to a theater or stage show, where everything was easily moveable and changeable so that we can make new looks as our moods, show themes, design colors change throughout the seasons.  We are working with Brian Chilton, a great local architectural element builder/furniture designer extraodinairre to make our vision come to life.  We’ll keep you posted as we progress, and hope to see you at our grand opening in the fall!

Just Breathe.

“Laugh Easy” is an essential part of our Consuela covenant.  We’ve taken some lessons from one of our collective favy books—Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  It is a must read for all newbies in our company and we strongly advocate it for anyone thinking about the “soul” of a company.  One of the biggest teachings we’ve integrated is the belief that if we get the culture of our company right…everything else will happen naturally as a result of happy people doing things they love.

We want to build relationships where we treat each other like family.  We make it a point to take time to play together (after working very hard). For example, one day we took a boat out and cruised Town Lake in Austin for a couple hours at the end of a busy week.  With delicious snacks and libations on hand, Clay served as our Captain O’ Captain and eased us down the river at the ripping speed of 1mph. We shared, joked, laughed, and breathed in the springtime air together.

As Hsieh writes so poignantly in his book, the bottom line is “about teamwork and having fun and not taking ourselves too seriously.  It’s about growth, both personal and professional.  It’s about achieving the impossible.  It’s about openness, taking risks, and not being afraid to make mistakes. But most of all, it’s about having faith that if we do the right thing for each other, then in the long run we will succeed and build something great.”

Enjoy the journey of creating your culture!