Definitely Count Me In (maybe you too?)

Regular readers of this blog know SmartsCo received a Make Mine a $Million award from Count Me In, OPEN by American Express and the Women's Leadership Exchange in August. Since then, it's been a whirlwind of activity which has been pretty exciting. Thus far, we've benefited from increased financing opportunities, marketing exposure, and business coaching -- all things that are helping our business grow - details on that below, but first:

If you're a woman-owned business you can win, too - How to Apply
We're thrilled that we have this opportunity and know there will be lots of amazing things going on over the next few months that will help get us to the $Million mark (and well beyond). What's even better is this opportunity is still available to other women-owned businesses. I highly encourage East Coast women-owned businesses to apply for this great award by November 18th - winners will be announced in NY on December 2nd, and Jen and I will be there to cheer other applicants on. It's a very easy application (and the folks at Count Me In will help you if you need it) and well worth your time. If you know of any woman-owned business looking for more tools and resources to help them grow, do tell them about it.

Here's how we've benefited from winning the Make Mine a $Million award..Yippee!

1. New Financing Opportunities
As soon as we won the award, the folks at OPEN by American Express and Count Me In helped open financial opportunities for us through new loans and lines of credit. We've always been big users of our OPEN card when we're in a cash crunch as it has low rates and doesn't have penalties for using the 'checks' they send you. Now we have a line of credit from OPEN which will also come in handy when the bank account gets a bit low (doesn't every small business go through that from time to time?).

These new financial opportunities have already played a key role in helping us increase our growth rate as it afforded us the ability to bring on new people to our team to help us sell and market our exciting products Moreover, now that we know we have access to capital and lines of credit, we're able to expand our product development plan for next year so we can create lots more ways to learn about life's greatest pleasures th(hint: think Paris, French wine and bubbly for the near future and lots more fun stuff later in the year).

2. Increased Marketing Exposure
The folks at OPEN have also been really great at generating publicity for us such as featuring Jen on a panel moderated by OPEN's president at the New York Times Small Business Summit last month. This was a great panel, and we were able to connect with other cool businesses such as ZipCar, a very cool urban car share company that we are collaboring with on fun marketing programs.

3. Coaching
Last, but certainly not least, this award comes with excellent business coaching, which is proving very valuable and inspirational to us. We've also been getting great advice from TV producer and entrepreneur Nely Galan, of "The Swan" and other shows and from Dresdene Flynn-White of Action International. It's great to have successful and intelligent women provide us with ideas, opportunities and help us think strategically about continuing to help SmartsCo grow.

Pretty exciting stuff for sure. So if you're a woman-owned business, be sure to apply. If you're just looking to learn more about life's greatest pleasures, get excited for lots more more great new products to come out of SmartsCo.

Wine Party On

So we hosted our first official WineParty sipping on great Pinots and Sparklers at J Vineyards & Winery this weekend. It was a blast. About 50 super fun and friendly folks joined us for a tasting filled with all sorts of fun and games on a gorgeous afternoon in Sonoma. When they arrived, everyone received a copy of our new WinePassport: California and then we quizzed them with questions from WineSmarts and then had them guess about the wines they were tasting which we blinded with the WineWrappers from WineParty.

This type of event was exactly what we designed WineParty for, and I think everyone learned something about what they were tasting because they had to take a step back and think about it. It was great to have our "official" launch at J as we've been fans of J for years. I think their bubbly is my all-time favorite, and it's always such a nice place to visit - friendly staff, nice patrons, delicious food (check out their recipes), and awesome stylish merchandise (and I'm not just talking about our stuff).

We had 3 stations set up outside of J's gorgeous tasting room and our guests tasted two wines at each station.

Station One was manned by our friend Stefani, the creative genius behind J's merchandising program and a super fun gal to boot, who poured their Chardonnay and Viognier. While I'm typically an ABC girl ("Anything But Chardonnay") I really enjoy J's version of it as rather than an oaky and buttery style, it made in a nice and crisp, almost in a Burgundian style. The Viognier, which is currently one of my favorite whites these days, on the other hand had just enough oak to mellow out some of the citrus characteristics of the varietal.

I covered Station Two which featured two Pinot Noirs: 1998 Nicole's Vineyard and their 2003 Russian River. I had a blast getting our guests to identify which was which. At first they were stumped, but after I explained that with age, the flavors in a wine are going to blend together and it will become smoother and mellower, almost everyone got it (and they went home really understanding how age impacts a wine). I really would love to do a tasting with the same wine from various years and see how well people do. (The first photo is me manning my station with some yummy Crimini mushrooms on creamy polenta).

Finally, Jen poured a yummy Zinfandel and of all things a Pinotage at Station Three. The only Pinotages I've ever had have been cheap ones from South Africa, and I found them to be thin yet jammy and they didn't really impress. But J (which, by the way, is one of just three wineries that make the stuff in California and I believe there are only 15 acres of it under vine in the state) has done something really nice with it. In fact, it was so yummy that I was duped and mistook it for the Zin - Oops. Oh well, I've never claimed to be a wine expert, just passionate about it and love to continue my education too. (Second photo is Jen pouring wine for some of our guests).

BTW - Jen and I would love to hear about your wine tastings and fun themes or comparisons you're doing so we can provide suggestions on PartyCentral of our website. If you have some good stories, please send them our way

Wedding Non-Crasher - Part II

So the last of my 5 weddings this summer took place last weekend, and to be honest I'm a bit sad. Not that my social schedule isn't packed with SmartsCo parties across the country this fall, but I do see what the "Wedding Crasher" characters were onto (not that I'm bringing home strange guys from each of these - I just like the dancing).

This last one was for my dear friends Tracy and Carl and it was georgeous. I was particularly honored to be able to play the flute in this one (I don't get too many opportunities to perform anymore other than the occasional wedding - and I much prefer the flute to being a bridesmaid). I think the best part of the whole weekend for me was the arts and craft projects which I helped out on. I just love weddings where friends and family chip in and create beautiful things.

Tracy and Carl's moms made yummy cookies that were family favorites and we boxed them up, and tied cute ribbons around them. Next up was tying bows on the programs which was a 3-step project: folding the programs, punching the holes, and then tying. As a former process consultant myself and Carl being a product manager, we both were quite interested in streamlining the process so there were no bottlenecks. I think we did a pretty good job reconfiguring the assembly line when certain people got behind.

The highlight of the wedding weekend for me began the next morning at 6 am when we got up and drove up to our friends McNultys house in Sonoma County to pick roses. They have about 1000 absolutely gorgeous rose bushes and were kind enough to donate roses to the wedding. I learned a lot about roses that day. The rose pictured here is called "Perfect Moment" - how fitting! According to Terry McN. "It is one of our favorite roses. However, it is not at all
fragrant. What it lacks in fragrance, it makes up for in its spectacular color scheme."

So here's what I learned on my rose pruning expidition, thanks to Terry's great lessons.

1) You should always cut a stem so that your cut is about 1/4" above an outward-facing leaflet
2) when you prune, from the base of each rose you select for cutting, count down at least 5 leaflets until you locate an outward-facing leaflet. Then cut just above that leaflet.
3) some bushes are more prickly than others (boy can it be painful if you aren’t careful).

Storing
1) You should immediately put them in a clean pot filled with TEPID water. NOT warm, as warm water tends to blow the blossoms too quickly. And NOT cold water, as cold water will cause the cut ends to seal themselves, and then they die too early.
2) you should remove the bottom leaves, but keep the thorns on

Cool stuff.

Types
There certainly seem to be a heck of a lot of roses out there: different species, different colors, different varietals. It’s actually pretty fascinating, and beautiful I think they create a new rose for every first lady as I saw a lot of names of former president’s wives. (My favorite rose was believe it or not – the Nancy Reagan. Not sure what to think about that one.)

Hmm – maybe one day I’ll leave the City, get a house of my own and grow roses. Could be fun.

Now that's my kind of fundraiser

Last weekend my friend Darcy and I ventured out of the City to an "It's a Girl Thing" fundraiser for Katrina relief out in Diablo (that's in the East Bay). It was a fabulous party filled with fun shopping, spa treatments, and great food and beverages. We brought lots of clothes and toys for Katrina survivors and raised money through a silent auction and proceeds from the product sales.

At first Darcy and I felt a bit out of place in the 'Burbs, but we quickly settled in and had a blast. First stop was covering up with our favorite Relish Sunscreen so we would keep our skin young and beautiful (okay, full disclosure: my friend Michele Dispensa owns the company, but I swear by it - particularly the bronzer which I love to apply to my pale skin when I go out - it's got an awesome shimmer). (Photo is Michele (R) & her friend Laura Markstein, the hostess of the party).

Next stop: Booty Parlor, a sassy sex toys company, which really impressed. Now I've seen my share of sex toys through our development and marketing of SexSmarts, but I gotta tell you, most of them really miss the mark when it comes to design. If you're into the girly stuff (lots of pink feathers), Booty Parlor is the place for you. I particularly love how they disguise their "body treats" like perfume bottles ("so you don't need to hide it from the cleaning lady" - love it!).

Next up was some wine tasting from Clos du Lac, a winery in the Amador County (Sierra Foothills). Pretty yummy stuff. I must say I quite enjoyed their experiment with Zinfandel Blanc. That's right, you heard me, this wasn't the sickly sweet white Zinfandel (which is actually a rose) we all grew up on and have since learned to snub. I'm not sure if I'd drink too much of it, but I do applaud the attempt - it's a light, low acid white wine, that's really quite palatable (not unlike some of the light French roses I find (which isn't surprising considering the winemaker is French). Went great with all the delicious food that was served. (Photo of Darcy (R) and me sipping on the Zin Blanc.)

So after a few glasses of wine, it was time to enjoy the body treatments. As Darcy got her nails done, I got a facial from a SK-II Skin Care consultant - pretty cool stuff. Apparently, it's some Japanese line made from some liquid that's extracted from sake fermentation that is "age defying". We then got 10 minute massages followed by a full makeover from a Bobbi Brown makeup artist. Too bad I had to go home afterwards, as I think I've never had so much makeup on in my life. While I felt pretty silly, it did look pretty good. Too bad I don't have the time or inclination to put the stuff on myself.

I really enjoy this trend of having fun and doing good. Instead of just going out to dinner or a bar, why not make all our activities fundraisers for good causes such as the Red Cross who will continue to need money to support Katrina survivors. Jen and I always try to work with our favorite non-profits for our events, such as our upcoming wine tasting supporting the Women's Community Clinic we're hosting with Lolawines.com on October 5th. If you're in SF, please join us - it's a great cause and will be a great party.

Paella Party

As part of wedding season (have I mentioned I have 5 this summer?), I've also had a lot of showers and bachelorettes to go to. Last weekend my friends John and Jess opened up their new Kenwood home for a a co-ed shower celebrating our pals Tracy and Carl's (shown here - aren't they cute?) upcoming nuptuals. It was great. Our hosts hired chef Gerard of Paella y Tapas (shown below) who's paella-making is pretty well-known in wine country (and beyond).

It was delightful. He cooked the entire thing in front of us on an authentic paella pan and filled it with all sorts of delightful goodies: chicken, peppers, prawns, octupus, garlic, mussles, clams, rice and lots of saffron. Mmmmmm! Apparently he's has one coming up at winery featuring a 9 foot paella pan that will feed 1000 people. Now that would be fun to watch!

I suspect guys aren't too thrilled about this new trend in pre-wedding festivities, but I certainly prefer having them around. Now they're finding out how much cash we girls typically shell out when our friends get married - not only do we have 3 gifts (shower gift, bachelorette party lingerie, and the wedding gift), plus at least one new dress and the cost of the bachelorette party, as opposed to their one gift and bachelor party. I'm sure the guys probably spend much more than we do on booze, gambling and stripers on their Vegas trips, but that's their choice whether they want to spend hundreds of dollars on lap dances, not part of wedding etiquette.

I think with the addition of men the not only does the food get stepped up a level, but now the wine seems to be flowing much more liberally. Not that I don't love my girl time, but for some reason, I've found showers tend to be rather both in terms of food and conversation. I can't count the number of light bruches featuring salads and quiche or sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and possibly a glass of champagne or cheap Chardonnay. Now that the men are invited, I'm seeing killer paella parties with great food and lots of wine (typically the good stuff). Moreover, these coed showers are no longer focused on watching the bride open gifts for an hour while the guests are required to ooh and ahh over how great each present is (zzzz!!!).

Gentlemen, you are most welcome.

Getting Beer Smarter

Last night I finagled an invite to help some friends bottle some of their home brews. I’m bummed I missed the initial brewing process that took place about 3 weeks ago, but the bottling certainly was fun. After a few false starts getting the siphon to work, we had a nice little production line going (this picture is Eric and Mark filling the bottles – Jen thinks it looks a bit like a meth lab, but I assure you it’s beer).

I had “Lavern’s” job of inspecting the bottles to make sure they were capped properly and packing them in their case – an important role for sure (or at least one in which I couldn’t screw anything up). From what I understand, home brewing is a bit tricky and takes some patience. The key apparently is to keep everything super clean, which results in getting a bit wet during the process. But I think it’s well worth it. We tried a few sips of the brew, and it was scrumptious, and will certainly even be better after a few weeks in the bottle so the carbonation can occur. I can’t wait to try the final product.

If you’re interested in learning more about home brewing, our friends at Beer Beer & More Beer and help you get up and running in a snap.

With BeerSmarts coming out in the next month, I’m getting inundated with opportunities to taste yummy beer and learn more about beer and beer making, which has been pretty eye opening. I’ll admit, for quite some time, I’ve had a slight aversion to beer. I suppose it all started during my grad school years in St. Louis where the beverage selection at bars and restaurants was less than enticing. To quote a typical waitress response to my query on what type of beer they had: “Oh, we have all types: Bud, Bud Light, Michelob, Michelob Light, Busch, Busch Light. All types.” And a potable glass of wine certainly was not an option. Which makes sense, Anheuser-Busch rules that town. After moving back home to SF, I steered clear of beer altogether since I had so many great options in the wine area.

But I now admit this attitude was rather short-sited of me. There are some absolutely wonderful microbrews out there doing really cool stuff (21st Amendment’s Watermelon Wheat beer is my current summer fav), and I’m finding quite often beer is as good if not better complement for certain foods than wine (consider beer with your cheese selection next time – yum!). I’m even told from a trusted authority that the image of beer having many more calories than wine per serving is a myth (I’m still going to do some more research on this one and will let you know).

In the meantime, bottoms up.

Wedding Cupcakes Take the Cake

So my oldest and dearest friend / sister Wendy got married this past weekend. The wedding was a blast, held in the back yard of her next door neighbor from childhood. What made this wedding particularly special is that Wendy catered the whole thing herself!!!! Now how's that for a superb wedding caterer. The food was delish and the setting idyllic.

As bridesmaid / best friend / sister, I felt it my duty to pull out something special for this one, so I undertook creating a wedding cupcake cake (or at least I assembled a committee to do it all while I supervised). What a fun and tasty treat for everyone involved (plus a lot cheaper than those thousand-dollar wedding cakes that taste like cardboard).

The first step in the cupcake challenge was baking the cupcakes. Since I was in NY the week before, I had to rally the troops to assist - and rally they did. What was great about the "Cupcake Committee" is we could make a variety of different flavors so everyone would find something they liked. Jenny made 50 red velvet cupcakes (yum!), Suzanne (or more specifically her mom) pumped out 50 chocolate one, and Carrie, the real trooper made 75 carrot (always a hit) and 50 lemon cupcakes. And I pulled up the rear with 30 Magnolia Bakery white cupcakes (mmmmm).

Next step was icing them all, which was the best part. Carrie kindly opened her home to the frosting party / day care for about 8 kids between the age of 1 and 9, that was managed by Suzanne, Becka, Carrie and myself (we think we scored as our other option would have been setting up tables and chairs at the wedding site). The kids were very helpful in helping ensure that all the icing was up to par - thanks kids. Once we iced them all, we popped them back in the fridge and freezer and then put them out at the wedding the next day.

Finally we displayed them on a tier that Wendy got. Since we were a bit busy getting all dolled up for the wedding, we had the staff do this. As you can see from the photo, we decided to take the minimalist view on the tier and then put out tray of cupcakes on the buffet. I think it ended up looking quite beautiful.

My words of advice on making a wedding cupcake cake:
1) make sure all the cupcakes rise to the same level - test out 1 or 2 (versus a whole batch) to determine the right level (we went just to the top of the paper)
2) make sure the recipe you use does well with icing (the one that faired worse for icing was the boxed kind)
3) you can bake them a week in advance (or more) and freeze them
4) make sure you have plenty of tupperware or other trays to transport them
5) make about 1 1/2 cupcakes per guest to deal with "oops" and people who eat 2 - 3 cupcakes
6) icing - we used the butter recipe off the back of the sugar box - worked out great