Today I am throwing it back to the day I met Jillian Harris at the Atelier conference.
Based on the title, I am sure you might think that I am about to talk about how lucky I am to have met her? Well, I was. Literally, it was awesome and I was so lucky that I was one of the select few that received those VIP tickets for that special event. But, the story doesn’t end there, because.. well, that wouldn’t be any fun. So, let’s talk about Lisha Cash luck and how my life could very well be made for reality t.v. Intrigued? Good. Keep reading… all the way until the end.
I do not usually post this kind of content on the blog, but one of my good friends reminded me recently that I have the most ridiculous luck and should be sharing these stories more often. Obviously I have encountered weird luck prior to becoming a mom. But, it has become more clear, with less sleep, more ridiculous things seem to occur. However, when I look at it deeper, I think that it is also combined with the simple fact that I am just not as well-equipped to deal with these strange occurrences because of sleep deprivation, hormone fluctuations, and lack of patience. So, they are ultimately amplified.
For today’s post and going forward, I am going to be selective in regards to which stories I’ll share because I don’t want to get too in-depth with all of my friendships and personal life. That being said, there was a recent series of events that occurred in regards to this little business and I felt I had to share. This is a great example of my luck, and should help you better understand how ridiculous my life can get from time-to-time. Often, when I tell these stories, people do not even believe it could be true because they’re simply like, how? You cannot make this stuff up. Not only that, it occurs far too frequently.
I feel I have to sidetrack this post to talk a bit about manifesting because it is part of the reason why this post is a few months delayed. If you’re someone who believes in manifestations, then you’ll likely be inclined to think that I somehow manifest these things into my life. I agree to an extent. It may be possible that I am so used to weird stuff happening to me that I almost accept that it will occur. If you’re a believer in the power of thought ideology, the mere mention of this story into the universe means that I will be continuing the cycle of bad luck. What I mean is, when I say “well, that’s just my luck”, believers will think, ‘well, now the universe will keep giving you more of that bad luck because you put it out there’. So, I was concerned about writing this post in the off chance that the universe decided to curse me further. But… I mean, if you don’t share it then I guess it just sits in the volt and no one else can have a good laugh at my expense, and what would be the fun in that?
To be honest, I have not always been a huge believer in manifesting, but I figure, if it requires you to think positively with very little effort, why not give it a shot? What would the harm be in that? I have actually been told that I am a powerful manifestor. The fun part about that is, I never really knew I was manifesting. I literally had no idea that it was even a concept that I could actually be utilizing in life. I always looked at my life circumstances from the perspective that, if I want something it will come with a combination of opportunity, luck and a whole lot of hard work. In school, I never was someone who would just naturally get things done and end up getting those 90s. I would have to dedicate myself to studying, spend hours perfecting my papers, and work hard towards my goals. I have never really been someone to give up and when I set my mind to something, it is very difficult to set me on a different path (just ask my husband). So, for me I had always assumed when things happened for me, I had just simply wanted it, wished for it and worked for it. I am not completely off of that mindset, but I feel that there is a bit more manifestation magic involved than I had previously believed.
Now, lets get to the story! You can tell this post started off strong, but then I began second guessing putting this out into the universe out of fear of it cycling back. BUT, I am including a call for action at the end, so I am hoping that manifestation will only lead to good things.
My luck is quite interesting and I know it can turn around but sometimes I just have to stop and think, wow. really?
Here we go…
So I decided to start this little bow business of mine because, essentially, everyone that knows me, knows about my obsession with baby bows. The honest truth is, I have been told that people often do not recognize my child without a bow on her head. I took time to really delve into why I was so obsessed, aside from the obvious fact that they’re adorable. The reason came down to control. The mere ability to control one aspect of my postpartum life. My physical recovery was long and drawn out, with a lot of emotional highs and lows. With postpartum life, comes a complete change of identity with a need to immediately adapt. Another very difficult element to control seeing as another human being is essentially running the show from the moment they are conceived. Nap schedules, cluster feeding, lack of sleep and everything else in between, really was an adjustment, and rendered me out of control. However, there was one thing I could control. What baby girl would wear and what bow would top off that adorable little outfit. It was my self care. (If you want to know more about that check out my post on the Momma & Munchkin Merch launch).
So, moving into the topic of my luck.. mixed with a touch of Jillian Harris. This is a story among many, many others. I wish I wrote them all down because, believe me when I say, this is standard practice for Lisha Cash.
It all started with the Atelier conference. Yes, I had the absolute pleasure of attending and somehow landing a VIP ticket, thanks to my sister-in-law’s advanced website navigation skills and super high speed internet that day.
I knew it was my chance to see my favourite influencer (person in the world), Jillian Harris. Now… if you do not know who she is… I’m not quite sure we can be friends anymore. But just in case I still value our friendship enough to dismiss this, she was on The Bachelor, became The Bachelorette, and was the host of Love it or List it Vancouver. She also had her own reality series, she is the head of Team Jilly, and just simply, is a pretty cool human being that I admire greatly. She’s also killing it on the social media front and seems like an awesome mom to her two littles. So, if you don’t follow her, do it.
It was literally a dream having the opportunity to meet her and members of her team, Shay and Mindy. I literally felt like I was in an alternate universe. I have never really “fan girled” over anyone, so it was kind of foreign to me. But, like all of my life events, there has to be an alternative game plan involved in our meeting, because I just don’t seem to function on any other level.
So, here we are at the Atelier and what do I have in my bag? (Aside from the Jillian Harris Saje defuser and Jillian inspired tassel earrings I had just purchased at the conference.) Well, a gift bag filled with four beautifully handcrafted bows. I made Jillian a Momma’s Bow to match a Bubba bow for Annie in our golden flamingo fabric. As well as, an Annie and Leo matching Bubba Bow and Boomer’s Bow tie in yellow and blue flamingo fabric. I literally analyzed every last detail of these gifts, as I nervously considered backing out because I am not really the type of person to try to give a gift to a complete stranger and not feel awkward about it. I pep talked myself aka begged my sister-in-law to pep talk me back into doing it when I started to waver. I waited in line to meet her, becoming more discouraged by the minute and finally got that two minute chat and photo op, where she graciously complimented my hair and told me I could give the gift to her team. I may have also blacked out for a moment or two.
Golden Flamingo Mommy & Me Bows
Leo’s Blue Flamingo Boomer’s Bow tie
Annie’s Matching Yellow Flamingo Bubba Bow
Now, the story, in my mind at that point, could have gone any which way. I knew that there was a chance those bows could stay in Toronto. They may be donated to Mamas for Mamas, as I had asked Shay to please do if Jillian could not accept them. But I had really hoped they would be put to good use because my heart goes into each and every one of them.
To recap. Although, I almost backed down, I had gotten this far.. somehow got VIP tickets that sold out in seconds, somehow made it in front of Jillian with my bows, somehow got to talk to her (serious fan girl) and then I got to give her my bows. Epic. From that point on, I essentially was on cloud nine, having attended an awesome women’s event, and having met Team Jilly. That evening I watched Jillian’s Insta stories and saw my gift bag with my little handmade sticker sitting right there and my heart literally flipped! The bag made it back to her hotel!! So cool, but, totally fine at this point for you to question if I am the biggest nerd or what?
Here’s where my luck struck. A few days after the event, I saw an Instagram story late in the evening. It was a few hours after it had been posted. Jillian said how many gifts and swag she had gotten at the conference and that she could not take all of them home. I figured mine would be on that list, and understandably so. But then as she showed her gifts… mine was there. My favourite little Bubba Bow, yellow with the pink flamingo pattern, in Jillian’s hand. It made it back to Kelowna!! In her home! Wow, how special. Except… wait, why didn’t I get a notification? Then I stared at the photo for another moment.. wow. She tagged a different company on the story…. See the photo below.
So, let’s recap.
I made it to the Atelier, into VIP, down the VIP line, gave my gift, into the hotel room, into the suitcase, onto the plane, into Kelowna, at Jillian Harris’ residence, during her gifting freeze, mind you. And there, when it literally was on the screen, my heart dropped to see the wrong company tagged. That, my friend, is Lisha Cash luck.
Now, genuinely, it was my fault… and let me tell you why. This was a lesson learned and I have Jillian Harris to thank for that. I immediately went to my graphic designer and best friend. Simply put, in panic mode, we changed ALL of the packaging. Clearly, it was a huge error on our part. We did not make it clear enough what our company NAME was and who to tag. Rookie Mistake, as my husband would say. (In case you’re wondering, our handle is @mommashealthyhub). So, overall, this was a HUGE lesson for me to learn. My branding was not ready to launch, it needed some tweaks. However, I cannot deny that my heart was crushed, I almost threw up and I definitely did not sleep that night. Yes, I am a bit dramatic from time-to-time and being the true drama queen that I am, I sent ALL of my friends the story and said, “OMG that is my bow but that is not my company tagged in the story. Please help me!” In the past, I have seen Jillian correct some of her tags that were not accurate, so I was hopeful. Thankfully, some of those beautiful, wonderful friends sent messages to Jillian, commented on her wall etc. Unfortunately, it did not reach her but it was definitely worth the effort and so appreciated.
All in all, I try to take these experiences as great lessons learned. Yes, I missed out on a great opportunity for this special little business to get a spotlight. I take pride in my work and it sucks to have someone else actually receive the credit. This is my passion and I work really hard to spread the word in any way I can, so these experiences can be disheartening. At the same time, I rebranded, learned more about my business and grew from this experience. Do I love Jillian Harris any less? Absolutely not. She is legit still my favourite person. I constantly look at her Instagram, her stories, JH Brand page and blog. I want the Jilly Box, purchased her Etsy Collection, Emma Nudsen’s Annie Dress, am attending the Toronto Book launch event, and got the Jilly Joe Fresh Jacket after harassing every store in Toronto/Durham for two weeks. This experience might have made me like her even more.
So why share this story. I have a lot of weird luck in my life. I try not to dwell on it, I try to learn from it. I ruminate OFTEN so, it is something I genuinely try to work on regularly. I know my blog is valuable and my bows are friggin’ cute, so I am going to keep trying to share the love with other mommas who want that little piece of joy in their lives. I want to grow and learn over the course of my life and my weird luck allows me to do that. It sometimes feels like it is literally ruining my life, but I always come out on the other side a stronger person with more insight about myself than before. I have so many more stories similar to this, so, I will share more as they happen/I remember them. Too many to remember them all!
Big thanks to my friend, Katie, for encouraging me to write this and embrace the crazy. I know you always laugh at my stories and it does feel cathartic to talk about them. You’re a great friend for always supporting me even if I am a disaster from time to time.
So… for fun, let’s have a call to action… help me help get this story shared. Let’s reach Team Jilly. I want to send more bows or donate some to Mamas for Mamas or partner on a collection of beautiful baby & momma bows or bow ties.. anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Let’s try to encourage my crazy, weird luck to do something beyond positive for this little business.
The call to action is to share this post with @jillianharris in her comments section of her latest post and/or @jhthebrand latest post/DM. I feel like making noise gets people’s attention, so why not try? I mean, I got the gift in her hands despite my fear or lack of confidence, so I better practice what I preach and make one more effort to reach out!
If all else fails, at least I have another story to tell.
I hope you are having a wonderful week and just in case someone hasn’t already told you today, you are amazing Momma!
Xo
