Oh dear friends, we miss you more and more every day and we miss the store and each other!
We took a walk to see each other last week and it was so odd not to be able to hug, to wear masks and to walk six feet away from each other. It was still fun and we went to the liquor store, because…Covid, AND we found two bottles of Lysol spray, so it was a banner day.
We are both still in as good humor as we can be. Ricki is doing a puzzle the size of a dinner plate that has 1000 pieces, so she is blinding herself and Katy is taking so many free online classes, she will have a PhD by the time we get back to work.
We have been in touch with all of our vendors and fellow retailers and everyone is working together so that when we come out of this, we can hit the ground running and get you back to looking summer ready and beautiful.
Our incredibly talented client Kate Headley (who is one of the country’s best wedding photographers,) is making masks for medical workers, but graciously sent this one to Katy. Isn’t it pretty? Lots of print mixing on the horizon with this beauty.
And here is Ray in his latest incarnation of his fabulous face masks. Shadow leopard anyone? It will not surprise you that he is being his usual generous self and making hospital gowns and scrubs for the NHS. He is making some of them out of crinkle material which suggests, as we always do, that you do not need to save your Ray for dressy occasions, in fact you should be wearing it around your house right now!
Before we were all in a stay at home lock down, one of our Ohio customers, Kathi, played golf in RAY! Talk about wearing his clothes for everything!
We should be getting our masks from Ray in about ten days and he made us lots so in the order that you responded we will get them out to you.
And here is our friend dressing up for her day at work in her home office looking great as usual.
She has way more energy than we do!!
Mother’s Day is soon so if there is anything you want, to honor your moms or your daughters and/or daughters-in-law, I am going to the store once or twice a week to get mail and to facetime with those of you who have wanted to. We are happy to show you around the store and wrap and send out your gifts, either to your home or theirs. We would be most happy to help and we will give 20% off.
A reminder that since we had to cancel the fall Planet trunk show we put all the styles on our site and below are the new fall colors. While the color chart is for the knits, they used these colors throughout the collection so while they may differ a bit from fabric to fabric, you can pretty much see what the colors are. The lagoon is particularly beautiful and the raison is a very deep purple, almost an eggplant. If you need any help, just email or call. You can order now as the new collection will be in their warehouse ready to ship very soon.
Something to look forward to:
For those of you who saw our beautiful new tables before we closed, well, we had big plans for them and we still do! As soon as we get back we are going to introduce John Derian to our gift range. All of these pieces are made to order and the company is so in demand with their current vendors that it took us seven months to be approved as a new client. Our order was finished the day we had to close, so as soon as we are back it will be in store for you to shop! Here is a taste (those round pieces are small purse mirrors!):
Now for the promised entertainment:
We both love Broadway. One of our favorite things to do when we go to NYC for market is to see shows at night to unwind. But, long before we worked together we met there to see shows. In fact, Katy’s first Broadway show was seeing Sarah Jessica Parker as Annie as a surprise for her 7th Birthday. 40 years of theater together! One of our highlights was seeing the revival of A Chorus Line on their opening night and this video made our week because it features that cast doing the opening number in quarantine. What a reunion!
At the beginning of quarantine one of our clients (we miss you, Nancy!) sent us the first video of one of the real stars of Covid who is a sweet Schnauzer from Montreal named Pluto. Her mother is a wildlife photographer who used to be a stand-up comedian and Katy waits for the alerts for new Pluto videos so that she can laugh-cry while this virus carries on. Some of it is a little off-color so if you have little ones around, maybe save Pluto for yourself. She can be found on YouTube and Instagram under her name Pluto Living and @pluto.living respectively. We hope she makes you laugh as much as she makes us laugh.
Katy and Ray both love Rufus Wainwright with such fervor that it annoys Ricki to no end. She loves him, too, but full days of Rufus for Ricki is like full days of Adele for Katy. Anyway, if you go to Rufus’ Instagram he is singing in his bathrobe at home every day. One song per day with a promise to continue until the world opens up again. He calls it Quarentunes and it is a nice break in the day to have a listen.
Are you learning any new skills? Share them with us. The world may be baking so much bread that yeast has become as rare as toilet paper, chocolate chips, spray cleaner and walnuts, but this skill is much more advanced than bread making, don’t you think?
We hope that you are all safe and healthy and that your loved ones and friends are too. We are thinking of you and wishing you all the best as we navigate this together. We hope this little bit of levity from us brightened your day as much as your messages to us have.
Stay home, stay safe, stay well. We miss you to pieces.
Ricki and Katy