Paul and Lydia

Paul and Lydia is a brand of lifestyle products including apparel for men, women and children and home furnishings.

The marketing and advertising will follow Paul and Lydia’s story as they journey around the globe and through life.

The plan right now is to start small. We are thinking about ties and scarves or maybe a line of jewelry. We are also having a few sample Rodeo shirts made. A Rodeo line is something we are looking into as well. We plan to start local in boutiques and stores around our home community.

The main goal driving Paul and Lydia as a company is to be able to give back and help those in need. We are also working on our “Buy Global Impact Local” plan.  The plan is to be able to track every purchase made and half of that purchase would go back into the buyer’s own community. This is exciting for us because we will be able to incorporate the latest new technology  into our company.

Well,  those are my thoughts for now… as always feel free to comment.

Heather

Family First

As we three sisters began talking about starting a company we all agreed that family would be first. Family, Fashion, Business. You’ll see that sometimes on our stuff.  We of course are sisters, family. We also all have to care for children, husbands and homes. We agreed those priorities would come first.

I got my first real experience with that yesterday. I had an inspirational meeting with Paul and Lydia’s lawyer on Wednesday. She is also a mom and wife.  Then Thursday morning I woke up ready to go. I couldn’t wait to log on and start looking up business stuff.  Working on that Paul and Lydia to-do list.  As soon as I came down the stairs, I was pulled in every other direction… dogs, emails, helping my son register for classes next semester, grading my daughter’s math.

Finally around 4pm every one was settled and I was exhausted.

I still went to the fabric store and the grocery store and the bank and the dry cleaners…

I came home and I put the groceries away and I weighed my options, log on and work on the logo dimensions or watch a movie with my daughter. I watched the movie.

You already know what the moral to the story is… that’ s not my point.

The point was to share with you, to remind you that, dear moms and dads who are working hard at home and working hard on that dream too… you are not alone.

Heather

The Youngest Sister

Finally I have started my post!! Sorry it has taken me so long. For some reason I have had a hard time thinking of what to write. As the title says I am the youngest sister, I am 33 and married to my wonderful husband Jimmy. Together we have three children whom we home school: Zach 10, Eden 3, Finn 2. Life is good, we are very busy and have lots of fun, right now we are the middle of potty training Finn..looking good so far.
When I was pregnant with Eden we moved into a bigger house in the country. I have really enjoyed transforming it into my place. I love to decorate, not always is it good! But I will move furniture, pictures, bookcases, ect. around until I find what I like. Many times Jimmy has come home to a different environment or a complete mess, waiting for his help to move everything back the way it was because I am now to worn out to do it alone. He has never complain once about it, what a man!
I really like to mix different pieces together. I do not have many pieces of furniture in my house that match. Usually I like to look at my area and study it and try to get my vision first, once I have an idea of what I want…good luck trying to stop me. Not all have been good ideas but I learned from them all and usually like something unexpected from it. Everything though has to be easy to live with, take care of, comfortable, and with stand children.
But this is about fashion! I guess you can say my take on fashion is like my decorating.

Step by Step

One year ago I had the vision of Paul and Lydia and what it could become. It has been very difficult figuring out how to start to reach that final goal. This week we seem to be taking two more steps forward. We met with a seamstress who has agreed to make two sample shirts for our Rodeo Line. I am also meeting with a lawyer on Wednesday to talk legal stuff and, sigh, a business plan.

I’m trying to enjoy the process.

H

The Middle Sister

     I am Amy, the middle sister, and comic, so I am told.  I am 33, a stay at home mom, and a wife.  My husband Mike and I have three children, Ally 11, Brady 5 and Ryder who will turn 1 the end of December. 

    Heather has always had big dreams, and lots of plans, I knew she would do something wonderful.   On one of the drives for our girls vacation a few years or so ago, she began talking to me about this idea for a company.  At first, like normal, I just think she is using me as a sounding post, but the more she talks, the more I am seeing her vision, and it actually looked like something we could do, something we could all THREE do!  W knew that as we kept Jesus as our foundation and who we were working for, it was all possible.    We spent the next several weeks talking and dreaming while we watched our children playing on the beach.  Our excitement and eagerness increasing all the more.  

     So here we are today, in the beginning stages none the less, but doing  something is a start!  As I am told introductions are important, so here is mine, well the rest!  I like to take care of people, I always thought I would do something in the medical field.  If it wasnt for all the schooling I would loved to have become a doctor!  I did schooling here and there, but just really couldn’t get into at the time.  I worked in social services for a small hospital for a while and enjoyed it tremendously, all but for the working everyday!  But I was young and single, and had to fund my shopping addiction!   Then, I met Mike.  A blind date,  for a Superbowl party.  Well, short story short,  six months later we were married, and that was almost 13 years ago!    Three months after getting married, we found out we were expecting our little girl, and I have not really worked since then, well, you know other than the 24 hour 7 days a week mothering position!   With in that,  I have been able to set up our homes, and create wardrobes for our family, building and inspiring our children (well, mainly our daughter!) to have a love for fashion, for decor and for the ability to put it all together, that is where it all starts for me.

      I love clothes, love fashion, love to decorate  and create.  It is all the better with the help of my incredibly talented sisters.  Together we could do just about anything,  Heather is controlling (bossy) enough to take on anything or anyone!  She has a sense of fashion and design and is always able to see the bigger picture,  and Stephanie has got vision and an enviable ability for making the unexpected spectacular.  Together we will do this and make Paul and Lydia a name all will know.

The Oldest Sister

Ok… so the basic concept  has been delivered. My sister’s and I are trying to start a company called Paul and Lydia. We are going to blog and Twitter and use all forms of social networking to get the word out, log our start-up journey and hopefully receive really great feedback that will help us succeed.  I think I need to introduce myself a little first. My name is Heather. I’m the oldest sister. I’m 36. I have two teenagers that I home school. Boy – 16 Girl – 14 I’m married to Scott.  My husband works in IT /security. I have one lovely, German Shepherd puppy, June, and one old, irritable Yorkie, Lucky…  two horses, two goats, one cat.

As long as I can remember, I have been intrigued with art of all forms, including fashion.  I wanted to be a dancer. I remember in grade school sitting on my mom and dad’s bed in the dark watching a professional ballet on PBS and my body twitching involuntarily because I wanted so badly to be on stage dancing with them.  I wanted to be an actor. I tried out for a tree in grade school and failed miserably but did not give  up. I ended up in New York, L.A. and Indiana University and eventually met my wonderful husband in a community theatre production of 12 Angry Men. The irony abounds in that story but maybe later. I was the stage manager for that production.  I wanted to be a painter. I went to Herron School of Art in Indianapolis.  A photographer, a writer, a stylist, an interior designer… many, many stories. I can safely say I am an artist. Something inside of me craves to create and communicate through a medium. And, after 36 years, I have realized that other mediums have come and gone but one has always stayed… clothes.  I also lined my bedroom walls with Vogue in 6th grade, wanted a light pink silk dress from Paris in 7th grade and insisted on Gucci as my graduation present.  Through fashion, and other forms of art,  my life has always been beautiful and romantic and bearable. Through art I have been able to help create my own world that I enjoy seeing and hearing and participating in and I’ve been able to express and work through my feelings when pain and hurt have been unavoidable.

I’m also an entrepreneur.  And what does an entrepreneur do? An entrepreneur creates businesses. For me it relates to the concept side of art… the process. I never really enjoyed the process of art, mixing paint, darkroom developing, cutting and sewing, memorizing lines…  but when placed on a business palette I have found the perfect combination of end result and process. I can relate in a whole new way to a process that motivates me to use and manipulate the mediums to produce a finished piece of art. In this case, the finished piece of art will be a company.

Im the sister with the great big ideas… I want a label. I want to develop a brand. I had the vision of a purple line circling the globe.  I desire a business that is a true work of art.  But my sisters are an intricate part of everything. Stephanie has probably the most pure, artistic talent. She is genius and she doesn’t even know it. She’s got that artistic focus when she is on to something, she does not waiver or get distracted, whether it’s an oil painting she’s working on or bargain shopping for knock offs in China.  She’s decisive and it’s exciting to watch… and at times scary.  Amy is the rock. And most important, the comedian!  She smiles, she’s patient, she’s wise, she’s usually calm. SHE LISTENS!!! She carefully leads me through my own ramblings to a conclusion that feels as though it’s my own idea yet definitely has her fingerprints on it. Then she just smiles and her green eyes twinkle and I know I absolutely could not do this with out her.  She is amazing.  And, she has artistic talent too! She has a very keen eye as to what people want and are interested in and what works in the real world. What I have in drive and desire, Stephanie has in talent and attitude and Amy has in common sense and dirty jokes. I mean comedic timing.

What a team we are!  I’ve got goosebumps all over again.

Well, that’s a little peek into my brain and The Sisters. Until next time.

H

third sister on board

It’s official… all three sisters are ready to take on this adventure.

Stephanie is the youngest.  Amy is the middle.  Heather, that is me, is the oldest.

Welcome to the Family.

 

Sunday night…

It was a busy weekend…  Basketball games and sleepovers, a movie and dinner, walmart and sick goats and I even managed to work on a label design. Which I will try to upload.  Ok I did it, it’s up there. Its just a purple line… but it means a lot. Purple is our company color.  A line has no beginning or end point.  Kind of like us as a company and as people… eternal. I like simple and I want to be instantly recognized by an image. I can already see it on a small label sewn into the side stitch of a sweater or pillow case.

Hope you like it too… let us know what you think.

We have to do some work this week on finishing up trademark stuff. That’s about what I know about that.

H

what it is…

This is a blog about my sister and I starting a company while we continue to live our regular lives as moms, wives and women. We have a grand vision of what our company will be, one day, and now we are about to start out on that path of making that vision a reality. The name of our company… Paul and Lydia.  This blog will follow our lives, beginning today, and contain every aspect that we find the time and inclination to share including but not limited to trying to start our company from the very beginning, raising and homeschooling our children, our relationships with our husbands, each other, and everyone else, our spelling and grammar errors, just be prepared we won’t be editing each other’s postings… and I must just add, because I know it will happen, our parents.

I could say a lot more, there is so much to share, but  not now… later.

Im going to go talk to my husband and get ready for a  basketball game.

Talk to you soon.

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