Local Happenings: I Maddonari Festival

If you are in Santa Barbara and looking for something to do this weekend, I Maddonari is an Italian street painting festival up at the Santa Barbara Mission. Madonnari, or street painters, transform the Mission plaza using pastels on pavement to create 150 vibrant and colorful, large scale images. The festival benefits the Children's Creative Project, a nonprofit arts education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office.

Festival is the 25, 26, and 27^th, and hours are 10-6 daily. Admission is free! There are Italian food booths and music out on the grass… a lovely way to enjoy our beautiful town and see a ton of talent!

Here’s an example of a of the progression through the weekend of a past chalk art painting:

Waxing Poetic Celebrates the Holidays, in the “Italian Alps” 2012

Imagine, being snowed in, somewhere remote, in a lodge, with many characters and they all have a story to tell about how they arrived here, this cold and blustery night.

We shared our worldly tales, and a bountiful Italian Spread. The evening was filled with laughter, joy and the holiday spirit. We have so much to feel blessed about this 2012 and looking forward to a fabulous 2013!

HAND CRAFTING CHRISTMAS, PART I

We are a pretty crafty bunch here at Waxing Poetic.  So for our new Summerland store's Christmas windows we turned to one of our resident artisans, Jessica Maher, who singlehandedly (ok, maybe she used two hands) constructed recycled paper mache renditions of our Pearl Banner Orb charms.

With all the glitter, glue and homespun, heartfelt sentiment, we are officially ushering in the Season!

Carpinteria Avocado Festival 2012

One year ago, WP was the new kid in town, and wondering what kind of fun there was to be had here, all the locals informed us of the annual Avocado Festival. We cruised down the main street, tasting the delicious food and checking out the vendors. We got to know Carpinteria, and the year flew by.

This year, we are more settled in the cozy beachside town, known for its Citrus orchards, Avocado groves and flower farming. Our generous and fun-loving CEO Patti, took everyone to the festival this year, and the destination was the local brewery, Island Brewing Company, for an Avocado Honey Blonde Ale, a specialty brew that is only made for the “Avo Fest” (that what the locals call it).

The beer was, tasty and we very properly washed it down with guacamole and chips made by the Carpinteria Girl Scouts. Another successful Avocado Festival behind us, and looking ahead for the holidays!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hi All,

It’s already the middle of October! October, as you ought to know, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a particularly big deal at Waxing Poetic.

We’re a company predominantly composed of women, we make jewelry (for everyone, but especially ladies), and we’re generally obsessed with honoring mamas everywhere, so when a designated month appears to spread the word about the ongoing battle to vanquish a foe that threatens our heroines, OH YES we’re going to do something about it. Several somethings. And keep on.

One thing we want to do this month is cheer – for survivors, for battlers, for the wonderful women who left us too early (but not without fighting, or making indelible marks on our hearts), for their families (and ours!) and for the healing power of shared storytelling, which raises awareness and empathy in ways that we can’t even track.

When it comes to profiling Breast Cancer heroines, we have a hard time choosing – you are legion, after all, and we don’t play favorites at Waxing Poetic (which makes selecting a single person for today VERY hard!).

We want to honor EVERYONE! All at once! If only we could make links for ALL your stories! But, that would jam servers and cause all manner of digital problems and probably make Facebook annoyed, so right this second, we’d like to direct your attention to the candid, casually glamorous, sometimes flinty, often-inspiring and really brave survivor blog of Santa Barbara County neighbor, Hollye Jacobs.

Slightly over a year ago, Hollye was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and in the months that followed, opted to chronicle her fight in a one of our favorite 21st century public/private forums, and in doing so, joined an inspiring, motley squad of complicated, wonderful, contradictory ladies who tell us how they are, and in doing so, make it ok for the rest of us to answer, more honestly, the question of ‘how are you doing?’

Read more about Hollye in her own words at www.brooksidebuzz.com, and feel free to share your own thoughts/feelings/stories and bloglinks with our ever-expanding community in the comments section below.

With love, respect, and gratitude,

WP

Take Notice & Welcome Luck

Pictured above clockwise from top right: Wing And A Prayer Charm - Claddagh, Fable Charm - Ladybug, Friendship Seal Pendants - Silver/Brass Cross, Your Heart is Your Map Pendant - Silver/Brass Spread Love, Whimsies Charm - Clover, Free Form Charm - Brushed Rose, Free Form Charm - Brushed Gold.

Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Pictured above clockwise from top right:  Friendship Seal Pendants, Flip Flourish Pendant—you have mine/heart symbol, Camp Charm—Heart, and Remedy in a Bottle—Love Elixir.Pictured above clockwise from top right: Petite Wing and a Prayer Charm—Heart, Mother of Pearl Brass Heart, Flip Flourish Pendant—my one/my only, Flip Flourish Pendant—To have/To hold, and Storybook Pages in Happily Ever After, Dream Come True, and Ever Lasting.  Browse our entire Valentine's Day collection.

Cheers to 2011

To cap off the end of the year, all of our hard work is introduced in the gift market where buyers from all over the country visit showrooms to get a first look at brand new product. This is where they can get their hands on our print catalog and stock Waxing Poetic in their retail stores.

This year I visited Tango, the showroom where we are represented in Atlanta. Tango owner Vicky Muetterties has a great eye, plus she and the reps visited our flagship in Los Olivos this past October (during our catalog photo shoot nonetheless!) so Waxing Poetic’s space in the showroom emanates a lot of love. I went ahead of time to help fluff the space in preparation for everyone who made it out to the show despite record icy conditions. We have new pendants and insignias that will be available soon and there is lots of excitement around the launch of our new candle line! Meeting shop owners and buyers who love the line and wear it and live it, just the way we do, was the highlight of the show. Hearing about how much Waxing Poetic is appreciated inspires us to create more and constantly achieve better designs that enable us to each share our story.

Bowling off steam with the WP staff

A few nights ago, our staff (and significant others) boarded a wine country bus (stocked with lots of cheer) and sang our way down the coast to our company bowling party for a much needed competitive decompressing after a super busy season.  And bowl we did.  Not to mention lots of toasting, eating, and all-in-all general merry-making. We have some TALENT in our midst.   Dylan (shipping) and Janelle (retail) were voted  Most Improved, and Most Likely to Eat a Plate of Fries in Under Three Minutes. It had been so long since any of us had been bowling, and we had such an amazing time partying and getting to know one another even better than we do already.  God Bless the bowling ball, and all things great and small.  And Merry Christmas to All.