Well, since I just lost ALL my blog posts of the last nearly 3 months, i am going to put some quicky versions of some of them up again…probably sans all the words…i think the pics are always the best part anyhow!

Here are a few pics of MADE IN THE 216 from set up to the actual event.

It started as an empty shell:

slowly but surely it kinda became a store…

with a little help from super intern Courtney!

tearing the paper off the windows the day of the event was MOST gratifying!!!

lucky enough to have the help of my BFF beth during the entire weekend. xoxo

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As the founder of MADE IN THE 216 I am pleased to FIRST announce the launching of a GREAT new online magazine…OHIOAUTHORITY.COM brought to you from the editors of Northern Ohio Live.  We have a mutual vision of the virtue of living in and creating a fulfilling life in Cleveland and I am pleased to collaborate with them.

To coincide with the launching of the new online magazine, Made in the 216 and Ohio Authority are partnering to offer OhioAuthority.com readers a special gift package with locally made items hand selected by myself.

Here’s how to win: In 216 words or less, tell us why you love Cleveland. Bonus points for essays that are exactly 216 words. Be creative, but realistic. Tell us something we’ve never heard before. Submit your essays to info@ohioauthority.com.

The editorial staff of OhioAuthority.com and Danielle DeBoe will announce the winner for most original and thoughtful essay on November 29 on OhioAuthority.com. The winner will receive a special gift package featuring items that were Made in the 216, in addition to having their essay published on OhioAuthority.com.

We look forward to reading your essays!

– Danielle DeBoe & the OhioAuthority.com editorial staff

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ok, i know i have been a sucky blogger and every so often i blog with a bunch of reasons why, but this time, i made it slightly more interesting by putting it into video format with the help of my bff jeffrey.

i will be on that’s life with ith Robin Swoboda this morning between 10am-11am so check it out!

in the meantime, enjoy this video synopsis of how i turned a space into a store dedicated to 50 cleveland based designers in 2 weeks!

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Things will become more consistent VERY SOON!!! BUT in the meantime, another peak into what is going on in the world of RS…

So here is the deal…

RS will be open as usual, now 7 days a week…

monday 12-8

tuesday 11-6

wednesday 11-6

thursday 12-8

friday 12-8

saturday 11-6

sunday 12-4

THE HOLIDAY SHOPPE located directly next door to the CAPTIOL THEATER:

HOLIDAY SHOPPE HOURS
monday 5-9

tuesday 5-9

wednesday 5-9

thursday 5-9

friday 5-11(with BYOB parties including live bands in the shoppe each friday)

saturday 11-9

saturday 12-7

over 50 designers including 15 NEW designers

home goods, apparel, jewelry, accessories, and much much more!

yay!

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i know. i suck as a consistent blogger these days!  but truth is, i feel like these blogging reprieves end up yielding more blogging material in the end, so hopefully one day I will be able to sit down and blog all about the things i have been doing, seeing, reading, viewing.

I am three weeks away from my next iteration of the MADE IN THE 216 event.  This version will be different yet from all of the previous shows.  I will be hosting a MADE IN THE 216 HOLIDAY SHOPPE from November 6-29 at an empty storefront directly next door to the Capitol Theater across the street from my store, which is now open 7 days a week and till 8:00pm Mondays and Thursdays.

I received the keys today to the space for the event and OMG is this ever going to challenge me like I have never been challenged before.  It is in need of a LOT of work to say the least and I have about 2 weeks to make it come together.

Creating even more of a challenge for me in executing this, is the fact that I, personally, am moving tomorrow.  I was too distracted to remember to change over my utilities in time, so I will not have electricity until Friday and NO HEAT until Monday.  This is particularly disheartening considering the forecast here includes SNOW…yes.  S N O W.  ugh.

SOOOOOOO, I was not in the store earlier this week because I was an assistant stylist on an exciting project for FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE at Chef Michael Symon’s house with THE MOST AMAZING AND WONDERFUL Photographer, Stylist and Food Stylist EVER!  (thank you Abbs!)

While I am moving into my new place and making a miracle happen at the 216 venue enjoy some of the following distractions:

are you aware of this cleveland culinary gem? huge fan.

anxiously awaiting the info on my next autumn swap partner organized by this utterly lovely blogger.

more dreaming of paris via this lovely book.

more proof that beauty knows no geographic boundaries found here.

* Focus on some easy positive changes I can make to feel better through the help of this great green living blog.

have you met the latest addition to the ROOM SERVICE team? check out DeAnna’s blog here.

anyhow, hope to be more consistent soon…if nothing else, look out for more on my upcoming MADE IN THE 216 HOLIDAY SHOPPE!

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I have been REALLY behind on blogging lately.  But i have LOTS of good excuses!!!

Well, starting with Wed. the 16th, when I started my evening with a LONG overdue girls night with this amazing group of women:

(me on the left, Brenda (writer & editor), Yeya (co-founder of Ohio City Argus, new mom, non-profit do-gooder, and Rachel (writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, marketing/website guru)

we met for wine and cheese at this Tremont establishment before I had to run out to this Ohio City establishment to meet this lovely group of ladies:

Jill (esthetician extraordinaire in NYC), Sue (uber-mom and writer) Beth (jewelry buyer extraordinaire, my BFF, new bride) Jen (Green-living Guru in NYC) Colleen (on tour with Wicked, amazingly loving person)

Upon arriving for my second girls night in one evening, the bride-to-be gifted all of us girls with the most generous and extraordinary of gifts, a diamond cross ring packaged in antique jewelry boxes she had shipped in from London!

Next up was resurrecting 28 garbage bags full of pom poms from my MADE IN THE 216 event:

to be installed at Beth’s outdoor wedding:

Somewhere in between all these things I was still operating my store, which just received new product

and preparing for my panel discussion at this national arts conference being held in my neighborhood.

Then of course, there was the WEDDING itself!  so beautiful! and the pom poms looked wonderful on the most gorgeous day of the year!

upon wrapping up the wedding I shot over to this moving sale, as i feared it may be my only opportunity to say bon voyage to my dear friend Stephanie and her husband Sean who were packing up and moving to NYC this week…then ran home as i had to quickly put together my slide presentation to turn in for this upcoming weekend’s Pechakucha being held at THE BRIDGE PROJECT!

I am SOOOO excited to be on this bridge for a party at nighttime.  It’s going to be AMAZING!

Soon as I sent off my slides, I hopped in my car and booked over to the LINGG SHOWROOM for a preview of their upcoming sample sale:

A little downtime? No way!  I went apartment hunting and signed a lease at a new place (second place i looked at, when you know..you just know!)

so now…I am also packing and prepping to move.

Somewhere in here I have to start finalizing the details of the NOV. MADE IN THE 216, which will be a little different this time.  DETAILS TO FOLLOW SHORTLY. (promise!)

OOOH!  and PS….can we talk about how GORGEOUS beth’s wedding shoes were?!?!?  I said, if Paris were a shoe, it would look like this:

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STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS REFLECTION ON THE MADE IN THE 216 AND MY CURRENT PERSONAL STATE BEGINS HERE:

So I find myself tonight, about one day away from finally emptying the space that held my MADE IN THE 216 event, taking a break.  I am sitting at my computer enjoying the relaxing and creativity-inducing activity of sifting through the plethora of blogs i have bookmarked.

Neko Case playing on my ipod, a singer i absolutely NEVER tire of, who has the power to make me feel so good about being alone, I am, for the first time in months, letting go of it all right now.  I feel pretty emotional actually.  I knew I put my heart and soul into that event, but I think it went deeper than that, or maybe i am just really really tired.  i don’t know.  

I have been back in Cleveland now for 6 years.  I have had a very steady career in Visual Merchandising/Managing, Interior Design and Buying.  I have had my own store now for a year and a half.  Just when I thought I knew everyone ( a bad habit of mine ) I realized I haven’t even scratched the surface.  This store and event has opened this city to me….and thus given me a reinvigorated sense of excitement about it and the people which make it what it is.

and what is it?  well, I think its a lot more than i ever gave it credit for and i was NOT one of the nay-sayers. I am not saying it is not without its faults but what city is?

When analyzing why it is I originally left or speculating as to why so many people I know have and still do leave; I think for most of us, whether we realize it or want to admit it or not, its often a case of the thinking that the damn grass is going to be greener.  

if people stated their reasons for leaving as simply a need for a change, or a challenge in making it elsewhere (because it certainly is a tremendous challenge), i could understand that.  i mean, when i am feeling my life get stagnant i seek out a big change of some sort (this may explain why it is that in the last 6 years i have lived in SEVEN (7) places) BUT, to leave with a statement such as “this place sucks and is lame”…isn’t really fair.  i have come to realize everything is what we make of it.  i am not waiting for anyone to give me the environment i am seeking or the job i am desiring, i am simply creating it for myself and finding that it’s a lot more satisfying than waiting for it, even if it does come with a GIANT pay cut and even if it does have compromises that come along with it (big ones as it turns out).

maybe we don’t walk into any grocery store, restaurant, bar, neighborhood and trip over like-minded people as one (i suspect) thinks they will do in larger markets, but they are HERE!  they are everywhere! I meet new people through my store every single day that challenge me to create a vehicle for putting them all under one ‘roof’ to prove that they are here!

We could have any ’scene’ we want and create any life we want if we just simply DO IT. This may be a Nike slogan and trite but its no less true.  Are we waiting for someone else to do it, are we ignoring it when they do?  I  have my eyes WIDE OPEN and am seeing a like-minded culture all around me and am utterly motivated to keep it that way and encourage its growth.  I am not trying to create your scene or tell you that what i do is the end all be all, i am simply creating what I DESIRE and if you want to join along for the ride, i am honored. 

the MADE IN THE 216 event, for me, was such a vehicle. I did curate a particular sensibility for it, but I tried to involve a wide-weft of talent and draw attention to all those that are, i believe, in sync with my commitment to building our town to be what we desire (and again, there are plenty more of these people that haven’t yet been included in the event, they’re everywhere!)…the evidence of this to me, is the fact that for one…they are HERE.  they are here building their businesses, trying to either make a living creating what they love, or doing what they love to balance their lives…either way, they are here and they are creating here and i am so proud of that.

I am grateful to every single blogger that posted about the event.  This was such a reward for me, as a blogger myself I appreciated so greatly your powerful contribution to this event.  

The great reward of 4 months of steadfast planning and hard work paid off in the form of the throngs of people that showed up and filled the street.  Every business from the vendors involved to the neighborhood restaurants and shops was grateful for this.  But more rewarding to me than any business it generated that weekend or in future sales from newcomers to the neighborhood was just the sheer response in numbers of people.

It was certainly my most proud moment, and as a single woman in my 30’s societies rules play tricks on me sometimes, making me question my path and ponder whether i will ever achieve more balance, but this cannot be mistaken or taken from me, this….this event, was a success and something that will feed my soul and inspire me to continue.

It is not easy running a retail store in this economy or with construction all around the store.  Sometimes I get bogged down in the ‘business’ of business-ownership and feel a bit like i am flying blind.  I am not very good, as i have recently discovered, at letting people help me.  Its not so much that i am a control freak (although this is debatable) but a disbelief that people want to spend their precious free time helping me?!

It’s true though.  People are generous beyond words and have, with no financial benefit to them, offered up their spare time to assist me…ted, taking down lights in the hot hot heat up on a ladder for hours, charity in between teaching and running her own business creating the cutest signage for my event and even printing them for me, michelle, coming in and assisting me hanging art then sacrificing her freedom at the event to run the bar for me, John A., taking me to home depot to buy materials and haul in his truck then helping me build temporary walls, John D. for hauling heavy furniture in to let me use as a cash wrap and bar, melanie, coming in after the event to take all the bottles and cans to the recycler, Beth, for working her ASS off at the event and the day after in helping me break it down, Brendan G., for building me a fitting room last minute and getting me ice the day of the show, stephanie for taking me to target the morning of the event when i realized i never bought cups, kevin, who DURING the event as a GUEST went to the store and bought me more beer and John M. who i am pretty sure made an ice run during the event as well, Happy Dog for being such accommodating hosts of my after party and assisting me with the kegs, Luxe for providing me with a bandaid when i got a log-sized splinter under my nail during the event and a power strip when my power at RS went out)….These are just a few of the people who helped me out in a pinch with no personal benefit from it.  

I believe so deeply in creating the life i desire myself, but i am so proud to be surrounded by so many others doing the same thing…the waterloo neighborhood is full of like-minded folks, the tremont neighborhood, ohio city, e.4th, mid-town, Gordon Square, CUDC, William Rupnick Gallery, Studio’s at 78th…i am just scratching the surface, you know i am.  

I wrote a city guide to Cleveland for the Design*Sponge blog last July.  Just one year ago, and it is LONG and not at all 100% …and it is already outdated!

I am just waxing on now.  i didn’t really intend to write all of this but it felt cathartic.  

I guess, in closing, without haven proof read anything, as i rarely do, I wanting the general sentiment to be something along the lines of….

I am trying.  trying to do my best.  trying to create a life that inspires me and if it inspires anyone else along the way, its a gift, a wonderful and satisfying gift.  I am grateful to the support of everyone i have met along the way and well, just grateful to have met so many amazingly inspiring people along the way.

xoxo

dd

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so i have been a TERRIFICALLY bad blogger the last two months, but now i am here to show you why!  For the last nine weeks, i closed my store every day at 6pm and walked across the street to the 3000sq. foot space i was going to be using for my June MADE IN THE 216 event and worked till anywhere from 10pm to 2am setting up a temporary store to feel like an extension of my main store ROOM SERVICE.  

This was my 3rd installment of the event, but by far the largest.  not only did i go from featuring 18 designers to 42 designers i also decided to really make the kind of event that i would want to attend and do something different…so i added a lineup of 11 bands and several independent bakers and caterers…..all of which sort of fell under the great umbrella of the design and culture lifestyle that I personally am inspired by.

It was all worth it to see the Cleveland streets filled with people for two days enjoying it all and soaking up a fun summer evening.

I would like to thank you each of you who came out for putting this event, supporting nearly 90 Clevelanders on your busy summer calendars…we all appreciated it greatly!

I am taking a few days off and then will be back to the planning phase of my November show.

Below you will find some pics taken by either myself, Judy of Modern Pixie, Charity of Chartreuse Design and I heart Cleveland blog or Kyle Roth of Epstein Design Partners. (the firm responsible for my store’s logo/branding).

Again, thank you all for your support

xoxo

dd

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I know I have been a terribly unreliable blogger of late, but to say that I have been busy with my upcoming event, would be a staggering understatement.  It has all been worth it though as the show is really coming together.  It has been so long in planning that I have nearly forgotten all of the awesome items that are going to be available…that is until they all started showing up this week and I am even more excited now!

One such Cleveland-based designer involved is ODDBALL PRESS, which I LOVE and can’t believe that this show will mark the first time I am carrying them at ROOM SERVICE.

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Very grateful for the lovely article that Cleveland’s own GENNA PETROLLA and the crew at MESSY MAGAZINE did on the upcoming MADE IN THE 216 event.  Check it and the rest of this month’s awesome issue out here:

VIEW THE MAGAZINE HERE, the article on the event HERE

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