Newz From The Castle :: The Southern Jewlz Blog

Life is a Little Bit Overwhelming Right Now

2010-06-28T17:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry SJ Fans and Followers for the delay in my blogging. It has been right at a month since my last post. Unacceptable, I know. But this whole building up a business thing can be a little bit overwhelming at times. Of course, I am very thankful for this "problem", it is definately a "good problem" to have.

If any of you know me personally, you will know that my main fault in life is piling too many things onto my plate, which also leads me to always answer "yes" instead of "no".

As SJ continues to build and grow, the work behind it is having to change a bit as well. SJ actually started as a business that focused on "customizing" jewelry for our customers. Now, with the growth in numbers of our clientel and the amount of inventory we turn around, these "custom" pieces really become tough. So, I have recently made the decision that SJ will only do "custom" pieces when multiple pieces are involved. I am still going to listen to "what the customers want" and keep those requests in mind when creating new pieces, carrying clothes, etc., but in order for SJ to grow and be able to focus on processing our online orders quickly, book and travel to shows, and stay on top of current fashion trends, this is what needs to happen. I guess this is me learning to say "No", in order to make SJ operate more efficiently.

Building a business from the ground up (and I mean 100% from the ground) is extremely rewarding to me, but at times can be very overwhelming. However, I know as SJ continues to grow, more team members will be incorporated, which will definately help! I guess today is just one of those days where I get discouraged because there is not a specific "list of rules to follow" on building your own business. Instead, I have had to learn everything through experience. But, a year ago when I decided to commit to SJ full time, I had no idea about payment gateways, secure online shopping, carrying apparel, customer efficiency, customer service, etc.

All in all, I love my job. SJ is truly a dream job for me. It allows me to share my sense of fashion, travel to many events, meet tons of intriguing people, still have flexibility to raise Brangus show cattle. Sometimes when things seem so overwhelming, it can be very refreshing to take a step back and see just how good they really are. With the help of family, friends, loved ones, mentors, and some pretty fabulous customers, I know SJ will be rockin' and rollin' so fast, that not only I will be able to LOVE my job, but I will get to share that with multiple team members in the future. It's just traveling the right roads, learning from the speed bumps I hit, listening to constructive criticism and researching other successful business along the way that will help make it all come together.

Moral of the story - realize that sometimes your "problems" are "good problems" to have. Remember the glass is 1/2 full! And enjoy what you do, who is in your life, and everyday that God blesses you with!

Until next time, stay fabulous, and keep those votes coming in for us at bestofthebrazos.com for "best accessories" and "best local online shopping!

Cowgirl Boot Heaven

2010-05-27T10:12:00.003-05:00

For those of you who know me personally, then you know that I have a fetish for cowgirl boots. Specifically those by Old Gringo and Western Corral!

I recently made a trip to the University of Texas in Austin (boo I know, I definately bleed maroon) with my friend and roomate, Amy Hughes. She is a high school teacher in Franklin, TX, but her boyfriend is the cheeerleading coach at UT. Amy invited me to come along on a Friday to take some students to tour. Now even though this was completely dramatizing for me, because never have I ever seen so much burnt orange and horns, I soon learned to enjoy the day! I really began to enjoy the day whenever we left the University and started SHOPPING!

We went and visited South Congress Street, somewhat close to the infamous 6th street! The by far, hands down, absolute best stop of the day was at a Western Wear and Boot Store named "Allen Boots".

In this store was the largest selection of Old Gringo boots that I have ever seen altogether in one location. And keep in mind, I visit almost every major livestock show, both in the state of Texas and out, as well as Market. It was overwhelming to say the least! And then, to make things even better.....the lady who started to help us was the daughter of THE Old Gringo Designer! What a talented lady she is!

Needless to say, I was sure to ask if the staff would mind if I took some pictures (of course I explained I was only going to blog about them)! So, after lots of pictures of boots and even convincing Amy's foreign exchange student from Germany to purchase a pair, this blog now exists! Enjoy!

I love pink and brown together! I think it is an awesome color combo....so I obviously loved this boot!

Cowhides and Zebra hides are another infatuation of mine, so of course these were a favorite as well!

Turquoise, brown and cheetah...oh my!

These boots were fully crystallized up and down with wings! Swarovski crystal delight! My oh my, so stunning!

Brazos Valley Women's Show

2010-05-03T12:29:00.005-05:00

Hello SJ Fans and Followers! Southern Jewlz just finished up with an outing this weekend. We went to the Brazos Valley Women's Show hosted by Elmore Productions. It was located right here in Bryan, TX at the Brazos Center. Our favorite (and only!) employee, Miss Ashleigh Sowell did a great job working the booth and promoting SJ. I had to go out of town for a friend's bachelorette party in New Braunsfels, but we still had a successful show. Here are some photos of our booth set up!

I also just got done designing some new belts! So, there are more choices to pick from. Be sure and get your order in while they are in stock at www.southernjewlz.mybigcommerce.com. We also have a nifty promotional for the month of May that allows you to win free store credit! Be sure and check it out on our facebook or on the store under "Recent News". Here are some pictures of the new belts!

Branching into the Team Roping world.....via Allen Bach Roping!

2010-04-26T13:11:00.003-05:00

Well hello SJ fans and followers! If you follow me on FB or through my online store, you will know that I have been plenty busy bringing in and creating new designs for the spring time. This is a very exciting time for me, because I personally L-O-V-E all the bright colors and flowers that come along with spring time! Butttt.....back to the main reason that I am blogging....

Last Thursday evening, I received an unknown phone call. This of course is not unusual, especially since my customers are located all over the world, but this was a phone call that caught my attention. It was from a young lady named April. She is the daughter of Allen Bach. It's okay if you do not know who he is (I actually didn't realize who he was at first either)! But, here is a little information on Mr. Bach: He is a 4 time PRCA Champion and a 30 time qualifier to the National Finals Rodeo. He has won almost every Team Roping or Rodeo at least one time. But, his real fame might come from his gift and talent to teach and instruct ropers all over the world. He teaches roping clinics all over the country, as well as Canada, Brazil and Israel. So in my lingo........HE IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL!

Mr. Bach's daughter, April, works for him full time focusing on marketing and public relations. Allen Bach Roping hosts summer camps called "Camp of Champions". This camp is very prestigious and hard to get in to, as the ropers have to apply and be reviewed before accepted to attend. This year will be the first ever ALL GIRLS camp. So, this is where Southern Jewlz comes in! April called me asking if I was interested in being a sponsor. Of course with building up a business and trying to make SJ as well-known and prestigious as I want it to be, I said yes. But, little did I know, there would only be ONE jewelry sponsor for the girls camp. So, as soon as I realized what a huge deal this could be, I made sure to shoot April an offer she couldn't turn down, or at least what I thought was a pretty good deal. Needless to say.....IT WORKED!!! Straight from her email, here is what April said, "I am excited to say that you will be Allen Bach's Camp of Champions (girls only) jewelry sponsor for 2010! What sold us was you as a person and your story. I think all girls should feel like a princess too ;)"

So, the Southern Jewlz banner will now be hung in Mr. Allen Bach's arena! They are also going to use SJ items as prize give-a-ways to all the girls that attend the camp. Also, the SJ website and logo will be linked onto Mr. Bach's website at www.allenbachroping.com, the camp's website at www.forevercowboys.com, as well as Mr. Bach's personal facebook and the "Camp of Champions" facebook.

The camp is going to be May 23-27 in Graham, TX. I more than likely will be traveling down there one evening to give a presentation to the young ladies, not only on fashion, but more importantly about my personal story, life and overall success in general. Anyways, I am really excited about this opportunity and wanted to share it. I will conclude with a quote from April about her father.

"There are not many men in the world like my dad. He is faithful to his family, friends, and commitments and he always made time to spend with his children, even if he was really tired. I have never seen him give up, and he has always made me feel like I could do anything. No, he is not perfect, but I would say he has the most important things down. His priorities: God first, family second, and then everything else." - April Bach Patterson

So, here are a few pictures of the famous Mr. Allen Bach!

An Aggie Fun-Filled Weekend

2010-04-19T14:28:00.005-05:00

Hello SJ Fans and Followers! This past weekend, April 17-18 was the Annual Parent's Weekend at Texas A&M University. It has almost been an entire year since I graduated from TAMU. It is still a bittersweet feeling, because those 4 years were honestly the best days of my life! The rewarding part about it all is the fact that I still live in College Station and play an active role in the Animal Science Department, The Beef Center and the Saddle and Sirloin Club (due to all of my fabulous friends and role models!)

So, I figured I should share a little bit about this past weekend and my career at Texas A&M in the blog this week. Saddle and Sirloin is the largest club at the University and its primary focus is the promotion of animal agriculture through meetings, career opportunities, socials, community service events and supporting the judging teams. I served as an officer for 3 years while I was a member of the club, those being Treasurer, Sweetheart and President.

My friend, Dustin Burke, who was also an S&S member and fellow livestock judging team member, headed out the the Little Southwestern Showmanship Contest, Cookoff and Ham Auction taking place at Louis Pearce Pavilion on Friday night. We had a fun time watching all the members compete in the showmanship competition, enjoyed the yummy food cooked by all the cook-off teams, and even bought a few items in the Auction. Burke and I split some brownies baked by Jeannie Smith, mother of Jennifer Ann Smith (Current S&S Officer and dear college friend of mine). I also bought a photo session from an officer who is starting up his own photography business, so look for those in the near future!

On Saturday morning, I headed over to the Washington County Fairgrounds in Brenham to judge a Texas Junior Brangus Show. For those followers who don't already know--I grew up actively showing Brangus cattle and am still a breeder raising show heifers. Tanner's mom and little sister came to watch me, since Tanner was busy working at the Beef Center preparing for the 1st Annual Production Sale. Also, Tanner's little sister, Emily, is a new Junior Brangus member and will be showing a "Royal Genetics" bred Brangus heifer this next year.

Saturday evening was the Spring Banquet, and even though this event takes sooooo long since there is so much business to cover, but I still went to support some dear friends, see old Animal Sciene Alumni and enjoy the Pork Loin prepared by the Meats Judging Team. Also, I am proud to say that Ashleigh Sowell (my brother's girlfriend) was selected as the Outstanding Freshman of the club and Emily Huskinson (a dear S&S friend and SJ model) was selected as the Outstanding Sophomore of the club! Yay!

After the banquet, the 2009 Livestock Judging Team dunked their rings together at Pearce Pavilion. This of course brought back memories from our ring dunk which was this same weekend a year ago. Some other members of my livestock judging team along with my favorite roomie Mandi McDaniel all dunked our rings together! But, it was fun to see a lot of old friends and parents at the ring dunk! And a shout out to Devin Felger (my favorite Rodeo Queen) for sharing her super awesome Peach Smoothie drink with me that night.

And the last event of the weekend was the 1st Annual TAMU Beef Center Production Sale. I was very proud to see Mr. Paul Maulsby (Beef Center Manager) pull off a very successful first sale. Tanner worked all weekend at the beef center preparing the cattle, keeping them nicely presented to be viewed, and working in the back during the week.

Now on to some pictures, rather than rambling....

This is Emily and I at the Little Southwestern Showmanship Contest watching Devin!

Below you will see the absolute cutest dressed rookie sheep showman: Miss Devin Felger!

This is my new favorite picture of Tanner and I. It was taken right after the S&S Ham Auction on Friday evening.

This is a picture of my family and I after the S&S Banquet last year. I was awarded as the Outstanding Senior and won the Brewer Award, which is awarded to the top senior in the Animal Science Department each spring.

This is a shot of us right before we dunked our rings last year. From left is Luke Neumayr (check out his blog at www.outlittleranchintexas.blogspot.com), Shelly, Mandi, myself, Burke, and Kari Bailes.

This is a shot of Dr. Hussey (Dean of College of Ag) and myself last year at Ag Convocation. I received a Senior Merit award.

But even after I shared all of this from my time at TAMU, I am soooo glad that I pursued Southern Jewlz full time, rather than taking any of job or staying in graduate school. Until the next blog........peace, love and jewlz!

Paying Attention to the SJ Facebook Pays Off!

2010-04-12T23:58:00.002-05:00

Okay SJ fans and followers, this blog post will be a little bit short and rather boring, as there will be no pictures posted. I have been really busy managing the online store, shipping out orders, and scheduling shows for the rest of 2010, but I haven't forgotten about the blog.

This morning, I just had a regular 'ol "Monday morning feeling". You know, where you feel blah, not really too excited about the day, wishing you were still in bed, or that it was Sunday, etc. So, I decided to liven the day up just a bit. I went into my handy-dandy SJ online store (by the way, I am completely in love with it and would love to thank Catherine at the RHD office for leading me in the right direction) and I created my very first coupon code. It was a discount of 15% off any purchase made today, by midnight (that is right now, ahhhhh I should be in bed). And of course I named it the "Just Because It's Monday" discount. Needless to say, it was a very big success, both for SJ and our happy customers who saved a bit of money!

So, this is just me reminding all of our fans and followers out there to always be checking the SJ facebook page. You never know what kind of fun I will come up with and decide to share with the SJ fan club.

And while I'm on the subject of facebook, be sure to check out our April promotional. Anyone and everyone is welcome to nominate their mom as the "SJ mom of the month" by posting on our "Fan Wall." The really cool part about it all, is that YOU (that's right, the SJ fans and followers), will decide the winner! The post with the most activity (likes and comments) at the end of the month will win a $50 store credit just in time to be redeemed before Mother's Day. Even if you don't nominate your mom, please take some time out to read the other nominations. There are some pretty special moms out there!!!!

Until my next blog, remember to stay fabulous. If you wake up feeling "blah", just throw on a big pair of earrings, a few more bracelets, and maybe some crystals or pearls around your neck (if you don't have any, I think we could hook you up), and then you will be rock-star ready to conquer the day!

SJ Home Party along with "My Vintage Baby"

2010-04-04T23:36:00.004-05:00

Well hello SJ fans and followers! I of course have continued to stay extremely busy after Rodeo Austin. Between organizing inventory, working on orders to get shipped out, creating new designs, and hosting some home shows --- well, you can imagine, there is barely time to breath!

I had the pleasure of hosting a home show in Houston last Thursday at the home of Michelle Goss. Michelle and I actually just met through FB! She had ordered some items from me, but she sells "My Vintage Baby" and was going to be hosting a show to launch the new Spring Apparel line, so i joined in with her.

Michelle and her husband have a beautiful little girl, a beautiful house and what seems to be a fairy tale life. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet her and visit with her and her husband after our party.

So for all of my followers out there who have little ones (they also carry a boys line!), check out these adorable clothes. These were some of my personal favorites. And if you are interested in "My Vintage Baby", I will be glad to put you in contact with Michelle!

I mastered the Tutu!!!! And welcome to the "Royal Highness" Collection

2010-03-29T22:21:00.002-05:00

Hello to all of my fabulous SJ fans and followers! For those of you who keep up with me on FB, this might be a bit repetitive, but still fun! While I was working the SJ booth at Rodeo Austin, a customer walked in wearing a "tutu". She was a girl close to my age, maybe just a few years younger, but obviously I fell in love with the idea. And I was fortunate enough to be able to buy one at the Rodeo!

Now, for some of my followers (for instance Cheramie or Catherine), I'm sure you might be thinking I'm a bit crazy. And believe me, I do not plan on wearing this thing everywhere. But, while working the booth I figure if I hear someone say, "There is no way I can wear that!", when referring to an SJ item, then I can reply with, "Mam, I am 22 and wearing a tutu. If I can wear this and pull it off, then you can definately wear that!" And, the pictures I posted on FB stimulated so much buyer interest, it won't be long until we are carrying tutu's for grown size girls here at SJ!

Now, on to some new SJ creations! We recently debuted the "Royal Highness" necklace collection! Not only are the necklaces very different, new, popular and fun, but check out that name! My friends, Jessica and Kaycie Carter, were visiting the booth (and picking up their new SJ belts) while at the Star of Texas for the steer show, and I was telling them how I wanted to start naming the similar groups of my designs to make things a little more organized and fun all at the same time. So of course, between the 3 of us (if you know each of us personally, you would understand), we agreed that it had to be "queen or princess" oriented. So Kaycie spit out, "How about Royal Highness!?"......needless to say history ever since! Plus the fact that Tanner and I recently named our cattle business "Royal Genetics", well it all totally fit!

So, be looking for many new color comibinations and designs that feed off of the "Royal Highness" collection. Also, Texas' very own Miss Rodeo Texas, Devin Felger, already wore one to a performance last week! I think these are going to be a huge hit, and hopefully each of you like them as much as I do. Check out the pics! Oh, and Anna Spencer, from The Grace Photography, and myself will be traveling together to Round Top to shop and meet up with some friendly competitors, so check back to the blog for posts on the trip! Until the next blog.....peace, love and jewlz!

And my apologies for not being able to make the pictures fit where they would look best, I am a necklace designer, not a graphic or print designer. I need help, I know!

The Miniature Hereford Show! Starring: Mason Leifeste and Aubrey Blissard

2010-03-19T10:28:00.007-05:00

One of the funnest things about my job is traveling to livestock shows and rodeos. In my down time (which isn't much), there is alwasy a show to catch, a friend to visit with, a concert to attend, etc. But, one of my favorite events that I have attended while "working the SJ booth" was the 2010 Miniature Hereford Show at the Star of Texas in Austin.

For the blog members who are not cattle enthusiasts, you may wonder: What are Miniature Herefords? And what is their purpose? Well, as posted on their association website, at www.mhbaonline.org, there are many reasons to raise and exhibit miniature herefords. They are smaller in size, which means they are great for kids, take less feed to maintain, take less time to be market ready, and have more appropriate size steaks when harvested. But of co

urse, I focus on their purpose for the kids. I absolutely love children. And I am 100% sure when I have little ones, that I will help them exhibit miniature Herefords if they want to participate!

So, there were two special exhibitors yesterday that will be featured. They are Mister Mason Leifeste and Miss Aubrey Blissard.

Mason Leifeste is the son of Alan and Samantha Leifeste of Cameron, TX. Mason's d

ad, Alan, is a Brangus breeder (which is the same breed I raise and show). Mason's mom, Samantha, was the Junior Director for the IJBBA the two years that I served on the National Junior Brangu

s Breeder's Board of Directors. Now, this was a couple of years ago.......so, you guessed it! Sam was pregnant with Mason when I was

on the Jr. Board. I remember Mason in her belly, his first show that he attended w

ith his play pen set up next to the cattle

stalls, and now I get to watch him exhibit his own show cattle project. Mason is known by Brangus breeders all over the nation. He is famous for his cute little quotes. Oh, and if you don't know Mason........he dates a very famous singer. Her name is Taylor Swift. If you don't believe me, just ask him about it.

Tanner and I met Miss Aubrey just a few

months ago. We

worked for her grandparents, Bill and Delores Jenki

ns, at the 2010 Fort Worth Open Shorthorn Show. Aubrey's parents are also shorthorn breeders. The first memory I have of Aubrey is her miniature cattle blow dryer. She of course carted her "blow

er" with her around Fort Worth, and anytime anyone else would turn on a "big person" blower and blow out the cattle, well then, Miss Aubre

y would have to turn hers on. Now she might not necessarily have been blowing a heifer or a bull, but she was helping "work".

Mason had Champion Pre-Juni

or Prospec

t Steer yesterday, and he also won this

title a few days ago at the Houston Livestock Show. I didn't stay for the length o

f the heifer show, but I did watch class number 1, which had only 2 entries in it. And those two exhibitors were, Mister Mason and Miss Aubrey. I had to get back to work and relieve my "help" AKA Tanner, so he could be r

elieved from sitting and working the "girl booth". But here are so

me pictures I took at the show. I hope each of you enjoy them as much as I do.

We are here!!!! At Rodeo Austin that is.....

2010-03-15T23:08:00.009-05:00

Okay, my apologies for not blogging sooner. Thus, it will all roll into one. But the good thing is, I have a lot of pictures for the blog, so it will be easier and more interesting to follow.

Last Thursday, Anna Spencer (our super awesome photographer from www.thegracephotography.com) and I came and set up the SJ booth at Rodeo Austin. The best part about it all was the fact that we parked front row (literally right in front of the door by our booth), got to keep the truck there the entire time, were very prompt about getting set up, and....(dum, dum, dum, dum)....WE HAVE A HUGE PINK CROWN AT THE TOP OF OUR BOOTH! Check this stuff out:

Friday was our first day to start selling, so I came that morning to move in all the goodies and finalize the set up. Now this had to be one of the craziest, busiest weekends of my life that required me to run up and down the roads. A good friend of mine from back home (Bremond, TX) was getting married. Therefore, I had to drive 2 hours to a rehearsal and dinner. Then on Saturday, I of course was in the wedding. She was a gorgeous bride, and I had a lot of fun seeing friends that I had grown up with and not seen in a very long time. Roslyn (the bride) was one of my friends that I spent many, many nights and weekends with growing up. I think thanks to her and her family, my gypsy like instincts were created. Her mom (in the picture with her) is also a very good friend to my mom!

Sunday morning, (still in Bremond, TX), I had to go check on some show pigs, stop in Hearne

to meet up with Amy's mom to get her dry cleaning and bring it back to Austin (so she could continue to look adorable while working the SJ booth), get to Tanner's house to get a show heifer prospect we got sold loaded up with her new owner, change into my SJ-attire, and come back to Austin to work! Whew, just typing all that made me tired!

But, after the crazy and fun-filled weekend, it has been time to focus my time and efforts back to SJ! Today (Monday), we debuted our very our line of belts. And boy, were they a hit. If you are interested in one, check them out on our Facebook page, the SJ online store or feel free to email us at randa@southernjewlz.com. But here are some awesome pictures of them! They already make the booth look better and have been selling very well. Not to mention, they are just simply fabulous and can make anyone look cute!

And the last bit of excitement that I will share before I go to bed (which is where

I should already be), is the fact that Mr. Kyle Park himself visited the SJ booth this evening. For those of you who do not know him, he is a very talented Texas Country Singer. so you should look him up. He is also very nice, personable, and appreciative for his fans. For those Kyle Park fans out there, be looking for him sporting a Southern Jewlz koozie the next time you see him, because of course we shared one with him. And ladies.....he is single!!!!

Don't forget about our March promotional! Create your customer account at the SJ online store and be automatically entered for a chance to win $50 store credit. Check it out at www.southernjewlz.mybigcommerce.com. Peace, love, jewlz and GOODNIGHT!

A relaxing 5 minutes...

2010-03-11T22:38:00.006-06:00

This will be a very short post, because the Rodeo Austin posts (that will start tomorrow) will all be very long and intense.

So, yesterday evening in the middle of loading up my truck, finishing jewelry preps, working on orders, laundry, and everything else going on to finalize Rodeo Austin prepraration, I actually stopped for 5 minutes. I realized what a beautiful day it was. And as Tanner and I were getting into my truck to run an errand, I had a few moments to just watch some of our show heifers graze. I know some of you (those that aren't show cow fanatics like me) won't understand this, but for the rest of you---I just love watching the cows graze on a beautiful day! It is very rewarding to me, especially when I had raised them. So, I took a couple of snap shots and of course wanted to share them with my blog. So, I hope all of you (cow enthusiasts and non-so cow enthusiasts) enjoy!

Royal Genetics Debut at the 2010 Houston Livestock Show!

2010-03-08T10:23:00.010-06:00

Hello all SJ supporters and followers! Boy, is this just a busy time of the year for us. We just returned from the Open Brangus Show at the 2010 HLS&R. Let me fill most of you in
on a little history before the story begins.

I grew up in Bremond, TX which is located about 20 miles from Camp Cooley Ranch in Franklin, TX. In high school, I bought and showed Brangus heifers from Camp Cooley, which at the time, was home of the famous Brinks Brangus herd. They also raised Charolais and Angus. Their fall bull sale was famous! They sold over 1,000 head each fall of bulls alone, and of course had a top notch female sale as a preview to sta

rt off the weekend. If you have ever attended a Camp Cooley sale, you know that they also served an amazing steak dinner each night to all of the customers and attendees.

While in high school and even after that, I had much success with my Camp Cooley Brangus show heifers (which are now the basis and donors of our show cattle business 'Royal Genetics'). I won many Texas majors and also the 2005 National Junior Brangus Show. I still own each of these females and enjoy raising show and donor prospects out of each of them.

Tanner, my boyfriend, grew up actively showing American Steers. He has also won many banners himself, but his are breed champions from all of the Texas majors with his show steer projects. His oldest sister, Dusti, however grew up showing Brangus heifers. Of course she was a bit older than me, and I never knew her from showing. But, Tanner and his family both have roots in the Brangus breed. The neat thing about it all, is we both have a love and passion for show cattle!!!

So, now that I am a self-employed business owner (thanks to all of the fabulous SJ customers!), I can also still pursue one of my favorite hobbies -- showing cattle! The Open Brangus Show at Houston is the most prestigious Brangus show in the USA. Many exhibitors from all over the nation, as well as international exibitors, owners and Brangus cattle enthusiasts attend this show.

My dad and I left Wednesday morning with the trailer loaded down with all of our tack, feed, equipment, and of course, the cattle. Tanner needed to stay in school and my brother, Jacob, had recently had his appendix removed. Thus, dad and I were in charge of hauling, unloading, setting up, and taking care of the cattle until Tanner and Jacob arrived to help us Thursday evening.

The bull show was Friday. Even though we didn't bring any bulls we raised along with us, Tanner, Jacob and myself helped some fellow Brangus friends get prepared for the show. Tanner and Jacob helped fit the bulls, while I was in the show ring exhibiting them.

The next day, Saturday, was the day the Brangus females would show. Tanner's good friend, Jason Schroeder, along with the rest of Tanners' family (his dad, mom and little sister Emily) came to watch. Som

e other supporters that came to help us were Amy Hughes (a good friend of mine that I actually met through Camp Cooley and showing Brangus heifers), Ashleigh Sowell (my brother's girlfriend, an SJ employee, and a dear friend), and Dustin Burke (a fellow judging team member and college friend from Texas A&M).

On show day, I had to show both of the heifers of ours, a handful of heifers from Louisiana, owned by Bob Savoie, and because a fellow Brangus breeder and friend, Traci Middleton, from Puryear, TN woke up extremely sick, I was in charge of showing her string of heifers as well. Needless to say, as I am typing this blog, my hands and shoulders st

ill hurt. Not showing in a while can definately make you sore!

Probably the coolest addition to Royal Genetics within the past week and our trip to Houston, is the fancy signs we had made! I am extremely proud of them, hence why they are posted all over the blog.

Tanner and his family are headed back to the Houston Livestock Show this week with market steers. Myself and Southern Jewlz will be headed t

o the Star of Texas/Rodeo Austin to set up our booth! We will be there selling fabulous SJ goodies from March 12-March 27, so be sure and check the blog for upcoming pictures and happenings!

Remember to go visit the Southern Jewlz online store at www.southernjewlz.mybigcommerce.com, or by clicking on the collection tab while viewing the Southern Jewlz website. Everyone who builds a customer account during the month of March will be eligible for the drawing of $50 free store credit! Also, email us your pictures of you and your SJ gear to randa@southernjewlz.com to be included in our customer collage that will be part of the SJ booth at Rodeo Austin!

A very touching jewelry party and weekend...

2010-03-02T19:52:00.005-06:00

This past Friday evening we had our first home jewelry party (well the first in a long 2 years). It was held at Lexington, TX at Tiffany Patschke's house. All day long, my new friend, Anna Spencer of The Grace Photography, and myself prepared for this party. I am also waiting to see the fabulous pictures Anna took of the party and will share them as soon as I have them. Anyways, back to the story. We took over Tiffany's house and decorated it with SJ goodies all over the place! By the time we had left to get ready and returned, many guests had arrived.

There were probably 25-30 ladies in attendance. One thing that I thought was so awesome, is most of these ladies were wives and mothers, but were childhood and high school friends and they still keep their relationships strong. That's definately how I was to be with all of my girlfriends in 5-10 years!

There was one younger girl in attendance. She is a sophomore at Texas A&M University majoring in Nutrition Science. I noticed she look at many, many items but only bought a pair of earrings. I don't know for sure her family life, but I do know my friend Anna put one item t

hat she had wanted aside and let me know she was buying it for the girl. I of course asked, why? what's wrong? I believe she lost a or both (not for sure) parents while she was in high school. One of the young mom's from Lexington was her high school counselor, so that's how she fit into the crowd. Anna soon told me that the girl had worked 2 jobs in high school to afford an apartment for herself. Because she was ranked at the top of her high school class, she couldn't move in with her aunt and uncle like her other siblings, or she wouldn't be able to qualify for valedictorian of her high school class, which would then cost her a lot of scholarship money. Now, this gorgeous and bright young lady is a sophomore by year, but junior by hours and plans to attend medical school. Needless to say, I had to fight back the tears hearing Anna tell me the story.

So of course, I told Anna many of the items the girl seemed to had wanted, that way I could give them to her, but they were already purchased. Little did I know, but some of the other w

omen were buying them for her. The only thing that I knew she wanted that hadn't been boughten for her yet was this necklace.

For all of you followers and readers who know me personally, it will come to no surprise that I wanted her to have this necklace. But the problem was, how were we going to give all of these items to her without her thinking she was needing charity in our eyes. So, we called her high school counselor over, told her we had compiled everything she wanted, multiple necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, and we wanted her to have them. The counselor called her over and explained that the ladies and myself wanted her to have all the items to wear an

d promote SJ while working at the Texas RoadHouse in College Station, TX. She of course did not want to accept the gifts at first, and with tears in my eyes, I told her I would love for a

girl like herself to promote my business. She did accept and by this point, tears had created in her eyes.

By the end of the night when I was taking Anna home, I explained to her how truly touched I was by the young girl. Then, as if I wasn't already fighting to hold the tears back, she told me that she wanted her little girl (whom I absolutely love) to grow up to be just like me. That was one of the sweetest and most genuine things anybody has ever said to me! By the time I had dropped her off, I called my mother (keep in mind it was 1am at this point) and just cried

to her. From telling her how much I love her (my mom), how blessed I am, how I try to be the best influence to others, and explaining how the night worked out, I could barely breathe in between the tears. Of course, my emotions were probably influenced by the time and me being tired, but I explained to my mom that I know I have pursued the correct line of business and am creating an amazing future for myself and others surrounded by me.

So, moral of the story - Realize just how blessed each of you truly are. Say your prayers w

hen you go to bed each night and when you wake up each morning. In today's society, it is so easy to take for granted all the gifts that life truly has.

I am now booking jewelry parties for the months of April and May. Please email me at randa@southernjewlz.com if you are interested! Of course, as a host, you will receive a very nice discount towards your SJ purchase. Until the next blog, stay fabulous SJ followers and customers!

We Now Introduce: Our Very Own ONLINE STORE!!!

2010-02-25T18:48:00.003-06:00

Okay, so sorry about all the caps and exclamation points in the title, but, if you can't already tell, I am sooooooo excited about the new online store! This is going to make ordering from SJ so much easier, secure, quicker and just more practical!

The store features many different categories in which all of our products are split between, this way it is easy to browse and find the perfect item in which you are looking for. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter, create a wishlist, buy and redeem gift certificates, create a customer account to speed up the checkout process in the future, and the list goes on and on....

I will keep this post pretty short and sweet, but be sure to check out the store at www.southernjewlz.mybigcommerce.com.

I am gearing up for a home show tomorrow at Tiffany Patschke's house in Lexington, TX. Check back for blog and picture updates to see if a SJ home show would be beneficial for you!

Randa =)

Fighting the Stock Show Crud...

2010-02-20T17:17:00.002-06:00

Well hello SJ followers.....

Since our last blog, Tanner (my boyfriend) and I have successfully survived 2 trips to the San Antonio Stock Show. So, yes, that makes 5 weekends in a row to stock shows (3 trips to FW and 2 to SA). I can honestly say that I am glad we are home and have a few weeks before we travel out to the Houston Livestock Show at the beginning of March. Then, soon after we will have our booth at the Star of Texas Livestock Show in Austin, TX. We are so excited!

Of course, with the nasty weather and all of the barns and stock show animals, both Tanner and I have been fighting getting sick. Tanner is laid up as we speak with quite the fever and sinus infection. I believe I am finally over my sickness, which is great! There's no time for rest when I am trying to run my own business and please all of my fabulous customers!

In between all of our trips to and from the stock shows, of course we are focusing on SJ. Almost all of our goodies from our Denver Market trip have come in. So now, what was once just a hobby of stringing beads, we have multiple items for sale. Of course, we still are focusing mainly on the unique and funky jewelry we love to create, but be sure to check out our accessories, caps, and apparel. Also, our newest metal cut-out pendants are absolutely stunning, BUT they are also top of the line in terms of quality. They are all hand cut-out and all of the crystals are sauntered on instead of glued, so no need to worry about wear and tear anymore! They are updated on our facebook page and will soon be on our website as well.

Also, from our last post, we are VERY close to our first ever give-a-way. When we reach 4,000 fans on FB we are giving away our most popular piece, the White Nuggets with Offside White Cross which retails for $45.00. I believe we are only a little over 100 fans away! There will be one very happy "Southern Jewlz Fan" within the week! We can't wait!

Also, I want to take this time to give a shout out to the fabulous ladies at Ranch House Designs. For those of you do not know, they are the designers of the SJ website and the very small amount of SJ ads that we run at this point. Feel free to check out their work at www.ranchhousedesigns.com. What I love most about their business, is the fact that they are owned and operated by Rachel Williams and her sister Catherine. They are very young, talented, successful, business-focused ladies that are true inspirations to myself. Here is the most recent print ad they designed for us! We love it and hope you will too! Happy weekend to all! =)

Our First Ever Give-a-way...

2010-02-03T13:52:00.003-06:00

Tanner and I are now on our way to Fort Worth for the 3rd weekend in a row. This time, we are headed there for the steer show. Both Tanner and his little sister, Emily, will be exhibiting steers. We sure hope it's going to be a little warmer than the freezing temperature and rain we experienced while we were at the open show last weekend, but it seems as though it is still going to be nasty.

Once we get back this weekend, we will head out again Monday evening/night to San Antonio for the Junior Heifer Show. We will show (Brangus) on Thursday afternoon after the Brahmans and Red Angus. Although we are excited, it will be nice to have a break. That way I can have more time to organize my inventory and speed up my shipping, rather than just packing and unpacking to meet ourselves coming and going to and from cow shows.

For those of you who don't already know, we do have a Business Fan Page on Facebook. Even though we do perform some business via FB, we are working on a new way to simplify online ordering, and that should be up and running within the next week or two. However, we will always utilize our FB page, as it is a great form of marketing and advertising!

As the title of this blog suggests, we are giving our first ever give-a-way!!! As soon as we reach 4,000 fans on FB (we are currently somewhere around 3,000), we will randomly select a fan to win our most recent popular item, which is the white chunky nugget necklace with the offside white chopper style cross that retails for $45. So, if you aren't already a fan, be sure to add us for a chance to win. If you are already a fan, invite your friends so that we can give away the free necklace! Once we meet this goal, we plan to continue to give product give-a-ways.

Check out SJ employee Ashleigh Sowell rockin' this smoking hot piece below!!! Picture by Anna Spencer of The Grace Photography.

The latest in January 2010...

2010-01-27T10:16:00.002-06:00

Since our last blog post, we are no longer at our location in the Post Oak Mall in College Station, TX. We had a fabulous 4 months there, from September 1 to December 31, and we will be back for the 2010 Holiday time!

Now that we are not working long and late hours at the mall EVERYday, it is our plan to keep our blog and website up to date. Within the past week, the website has been uploaded with all our current inventory. We truly appreciate the girls at Ranch House Designs, they are incredibly talented and are so quick to to the updates we send in!

At the end of December, besides being swamped with our Holiday sales, we hosted the 1st annual Southern Jewlz photoshoot. The location was downtown Calvert. Our photographer was Ms. Anna Spencer from The Grace Photography, be sure to check her out online at www.thegracephotography.com. Our models included: Ashleigh Sowell from Anderson, TX (my brother's girlfriend, dear family friend and also an SJ employee), Kaycie Carter from Conroe, TX (my good friend Jessica Carter's youngest sister who I think is adorable), Emily Huskinson from Flower Mound, TX (very dear friend that I met through my time with the TAMU Saddle & Sirloin Club), Devin Felger from New Braunsfels, TX (who is serving as the 2009 Miss Rodeo Texas, and is also a close friend that came about also through S&S), Katy Knox from Hempstead, TX (friend I met through showing Brangus cattle), Kirbie Day from Waxahachie, TX (she is currently the 2009 National Polled Hereford Queen that I met upon her career at Texas A&M), Macy Eaves from Stevenville, TX (past Texas FFA State Officer that I fell in love with on my trip to the Houston Hide Party), and Miss Laci Delesandri from Madisonville, TX (who I actually know through her brother, David, but she is the cutest, funnest chick around). Larry from Larry's Place in downtown Calvert hosted all of us girls, tons of jewelry, clothes, shoes, accessories to master all the photos. Dustin Burke (one of my dear friends from my livestock judging team) also helped us coordinate girls, outfits and picture backdrops. Needless to say, if you are wanting to check these photos out, they are all posted in albums on our Facebook Business Fan Page. Be sure and check them out, as well as all of Anna's work. I can't wait until our next shoot and am looking forward to incorporating these photos into the website, booth set up, and other advertising campaigns.

We also set up a booth at the 2010 Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo at the Heart of Texas Coliseum in Waco, TX during January 7-9. This was our first outting since the summer! We enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones along the way. Once again, to see pictures from this event, check out the Texas Circuit Finals album within our business fan page on facebook!

Then January 15-19, we made a trip up to Denver, CO. We have been this time of year for the past few year to Denver for the National Western Stock Show, but this time we went up for the international market. Roadtripping along including myself (Randa), my boyfriend (Tanner), and fellow friend and jewelry business owne (Ruth Ann Coomer of Two Bling Queens). We had many laughs, created new stories and memories, saw many of our midwestern and out-of-state customers when we would socialize at the Double Tree Hotel at night. Also, Tanner's oldest sister and her brother-in-law were in attendance as they own a tack company, Custom Tack, out of Thorndale, TX. As for the market itself, we about went crazy! But, on the positive note, we met many new contacts within the industry and have lots of new goodies on the way.

Now, Tanner and I are on the way to Fort Worth for the Southwestern Exposition Stock Show for the 2nd weekend in a row. We went last week for the Junior Heifer Show, headed to work on some shorthorns for the Open Show this weekend, and will be back next week for the Steer Show! Whew, we just live on the road. But, the good thing is I always travel with JEWLZ, so I am always prepared to please the customer. Anyways, I'm beginning to get a little car sick from Tanner's horrible driving (haha, jk), and all this typing along the way. I hope all of you enjoyed catching up on the latest and greatest SJ news........

The Fabulous SJ Kiosk

2009-09-14T20:07:00.002-05:00

Soooooo.........there is so much to catch up on since my last post that I do not even know where to begin. Let me start with recent SJ news: WE OPENED A KIOSK!!! It is located in the Post Oak Mall in College Station, TX and is open everyday of the week. Due to the face that it is open 72 hours a week and I am working much more on building up SJ, there will now be time put aside just for the blog updates, and I am so excited about that.

Now to backtrack a little......I recently graduated from Cum Laude from Texas A&M with a degree in Animal Science as well as a business minor. As you can tell from my previous posts, it was my plan to pursue an MBA starting this fall. However, with the encouragement of some special friends and family in my life (thank you to those of you who are reading), I decided to try to pursue Southern Jewlz full time. So far (fingers crossed), all is going FABULOUS!

So, this summer, SJ hit the road. We attended the National Junior Brahman All-American in Bryan, TX, the Junior National Hereford Exposition in Tulsa, OK, the National Junior Brangus Show in West Monroe, LA and finally the National Junior Angus Show in Perry, GA. And yes, we (me and my 2 side kicks Miss Amy Hughes and Ashleigh Hayes) lived out of the living quarters of a horse trailer the ENTIRE time. Needless to say, the 3 of us love to listen to Casey Donahew's "White Trash Story" to remind us of this trip.

This past summer was my last summer to be young enough to show as a Brangus Junior (yes, for those of you who don't know, I do raise and show AMERICAN cattle!). I showed at the State Brangus Show in Brenham, TX and ended up meeting someone very intriguing. Needless to say, shortly thereafter, I have a birthday present that is a toy Australian Shepherd named Paisley and a 17-year old boyfriend.......WHOAH! I know, I know, it is kind of a big deal. But for those of you who have not met him, hopefully you will soon, and you will understand why I proceeded with dating a guy who is so much younger than me.

I also showed at my last ever Brangus Junior Nationals. With a 1st and 2nd in the bred and owned show, a Reserve division, 1st and 3rd in the owned show (all will heifers I raised) and being the Reserve Champion Senior Showman, I would say it was a very successful trip. Plus, it was great as always to catch up with great friends from the Southeast!

Anyways, that is a brief overview of my past few months. Now I am just hard at work building up the business as well as inventory, training my 2 employees Ashleigh Sowell and Megan Murray (who have both been amazing thus far), and trying to still fit in some social life time since I am still living in my college town!

So, stay tuned for updates from SJ and all of the lives associated within its inner circle. Believe me, we are all pretty entertaining peeps!

My Official Return to the BLOG!

2009-01-05T13:31:00.002-06:00

First off, my apologies for ignoring my Blog for so long! Due to the fact that I was traveling so much being on the TAMU Livestock Judging Team, my blog and even my jewelry business got put on hold for a little while, but now we are back up and running!

So, since it has been SOOOO long, I will just give a brief overview of mine and SJ's fall! As I mentioned, I was on the Livestock Judging Team here at Texas A&M and we had a few big wins that I am proud of. We were champion team at the Mid South Fair, The State Fair of Texas, and the American Royal. Although, we did not win the big one: Louisville, we still had a good run and won more contests than any other team. Needless to say, it was an experience of a lifetime for me and I am really enjoying getting to judge shows now. Since the end of November, I have judged 3 and I love working with the kiddos!

As for SJ, we were extremely busy with the Christmas Holidays! We shipped out over 60 necklaces and I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of my clientel! I greatly appreciate you all for helping me move forward with my business.

The latest in my life is trying to figure out my plans for graduate school. I will graduate in May and then would like to pursue an MBA. I have visited the programs here, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. I will also apply to K State. But anyways, my entrane exam is scheduled for this Thursday, so I should really be studying instead of typing.

So, with that said, I will get back to my studying and will be sure to give an update of the test and my applying process, until then, Stay Fabulous!

Trip to Big Sky Country...

2008-08-05T14:47:00.003-05:00

Well here I sit on my couch back in St. Joseph, Missouri and I am needing to pack up as tomorrow is my last day to work at the Angus Association. Right after work I will be heading straight to Sedalia for the Missouri State Fair, then back home to Texas with a detour to Stillwater on the way!

I just returned to Missouri this morning from the state of Montana, aka Big Sky Country. I went there for the Junior Angus Leadership Conference, aka LEAD Conference (Leaders Engaging in Angus Development). And just let me say, it was quite the experience and I hope I remember to include all the cool things we did and awesome people I met!

We left on Wednesday. James, Robin, and I (my bosses), flew to Minneapolis to meet board members Dana May and Andrew Foster, before we would catch our connecting flight straight into Billings (which is the largest, most populated city in Montana, I believe it is #68 in the nation). We soon met the rest of the Junior Board (this trip there would be 18 considering the retiring 6 were still in attendance along with the newly elected 6!) So our crew consisted of James Fisher (MO), Shelia Stannard (MO), Robin Ruff(MO), myself (TX), Justin Brosey (OH), Andrew Foster (MI), Kara Wilson (IN), Rebecca Tokach (ND), Joe Epperly (VA), Dana May (WI), Mallory Trosper (MO), Brandon Creamer (CO), Walt Stinson (TN), Trey Davis (GA), Bridget Driscoll (IA), Ann Blumer (SC), Andrew Rogen (SD), Chris Cassady (IL), Kirbe Schnoor (CA), Robert Myers (OR), Lindsay Waugh (MN), Ashlyn Carter (IN) and then Brooke Bergkamp (KS) (who had flown in early with Kirbe). Wednesday was a pretty laid back day. Just lunch with the crew, an overview meeting, last minute preparations, and of course socializing again after dinner that night! (Or as the JR Board calls it...Church!)

On Thursday, the JR Board traveled 2 hours away to Canyon Creek Angus, the ranch who had bought the high selling foundation female a couple years ago for $250,000. They viewed cattle, ate dinner, and just spent time in appreciation for the day. Meanwhile, I had Brooke to hang out with and we were in charge of running errands, getting water shoes for everyone (for the white water rafting), and clothes and props for the skit!

Friday was the start of the Conference, and we had 218 total participants. So all day we had children and parents coming in from the airport and getting settled in the hotel. I must say I was very excited to see my Texas sister, Jennifer Ann Smith! So the most exciting part of Friday was the guest speaker, Mr. Alvin Law of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mr. Law makes a living by serving as a motivational speaker. He was born with no arms, however he is completely independent. He drove down from Canada (10 hours away), all by himself and gave quite an inspirational message along with an overview of his life story and how he operated on a daily basis. I would highly recommend you to look over his story on his website www.alvinlaw.com. I took over 2 pages of notes while he spoke!

Saturday came, and this was our big day to go white water rafting! Of course, with this large of a crew, we had to split into groups of like 8-9 to all be able to fit on a raft. I am proud to say that I believe my crew was the funnest of them all. We consisted of myself, Jennifer Ann Smith, Chris Cassady, Trey Davis, Kirbe Schnoor, Brooke Bergkamp, Courtney DeHoff, Claire Taylor, and Mallory Trosper. We rafted 14 miles total! Even though the waves and tides were not that rough, we still hit a rough spot here and there which of course added to the excitement. However, the thriller moment of it all was when we passed a huge cliff. I begged our tour guide/head rafter to let some of us jump, but he said it was an extra charge. I soon used my persuasion skills and said, come on we have 220 people, can't you cut us some kind of a deal? So there we were (well all but 2 of us), on top of the cliff and ready to jump. It was quite the experience, and I somehow had my huge silver earrings on when I jumped, but luckily came up with them still on. So now, when my mother says, "Randa, if all of your friends were to jump off of a cliff, would you?", I can proudly say, "Yes, yes I would!" So after Vespers that night at a small church on the hill in the mountains of Montana, we were all extremely tired and wore out.

Sunday was full of tours. However, the coolest part of Sunday was meeting Miss Kim Anderson. She was to serve as the guest speaker Monday morning and then was to work with the new JR Board that next afternoon on leadership/team building/ future goals, etc. Robin had told me how Kim was an amazing lady that I should get to know, and as soon as I met her, I knew Robin was right! I wanted to get Kim to come down to do some officer training for my Saddle & Sirloin officers at Texas A&M (since I am serving as the President this year), but due to conflicts of dates and late notice, I am just going to have to look for another opportunity for Kim to come down to Texas. Anyway, she also has a blog at www.iowafarmgirl.blogspot.com, so be sure to check her out as well.

So between the tours to the Midland Bull Test (where I got to visit with Miss Lacey Robinson who works for the Simmental Association who was quite the female collegiate judger during her day), a tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield (where dad told me I had been before when I was younger); Which for a side track note, in the Suburban was Kim, Robin, Shelia and myself and when we drove up, I was the only one who knew the history behind this sacred land which I was very proud of as history is not my strongest point. But, between my Aunt Michelle being an Indian Native and my dad being the History Channel Gurue that he is, I should have known the history of it. Too bad I was also thinking Mount Rushmore was also in Montana, and when I made this verbally known, everyone laughed and said it was in South Dakota. I soon chimed in with the response that I was from Texas and most typical Texans do not believe there is any other place, so geography can be quite tough at times!, then to the Vermilion Angus Ranch and finally back to the hotel for a dance (which had to have been another one of the funnest times of the dance), once again everyone was tired and needed sleep before the last day of the conference.

So Monday, Kim did her thing (very impressive!), I played mom and made sure everyone got on the shuttle at their assigned time to make their flight, then dealt with some delayed and cancelled flights, we eventually went to a CAB steakhouse "The Windmill", and back to the suite of the advisors to spend our last night together of the summer. For the retiring 6 and myself, this was our last night to spend with or as the junior board (tear..).

So after a 6am flight, here I still sit with nothing packed to get ready to eventually head back home.

Now as the SJ....I have been telling everyone I will resume all custom orders on next Monday as I will be back in Texas. Wow, will I have a busy week ahead. Between all of the old orders, new things to put together, along with record keeping and website updates, I will be running 90 to nothing (as always), however, be looking for new updates both on the SJ website and facebook as well. Also, Miss Reba Hicks (from Albama), had the SJ collection last weekend at a show in Montgomery, AL, so look for coverage of that. Until then, stay classy and fabulous!

Randa :)

A Long Needed Update...

2008-07-28T11:07:00.002-05:00

So, I have been horrible and haven't updated the SJ Newz in over 2 weeks....this is horrible I know. But the good news is I am here and ready to type and update all of you readers!

When I last wrote, I was in Des Moines at the very beginning of the National Junior Angus Show. So, I will go on an update from then...

Saturday night, July 12th, the NJAA Junior Board all arrived and little did I know what they had in stock for me! 2 of my new good friends, Miss Dana May and Rebecca Tokach hosted a get together for me. When I arrived at their room, they had a sash, crown, martini glass, my favorite drink (pineapple, malibu and grenadine!) along with homemade cupcakes that were confetti with pink icing and decoriations on top that included my name, 21, crowns and hearts! It was simply adorable. We soon visited Miss Kitty's dance hall in West Des Moines for quite a night. Once again I do not have pictures (I will just have to put all the pictures up at once as soon as I get them since I am the idiot who lost my camera at the chi, maine, shorty jr natties!)

So after everyone recovered from what we didn't realize would be the funnest night of the week, we were hard at work to make NJAS 08 Chrismas in July the best yet! Also, on Sunday, my bestest Jessica was on her way to Oklahoma to stay the night with Amber, where they would then road trip together on Monday to come up with the SJ booth to Des Moines!

The highlight of the week for SJ, was our new found little Princess, Torri DeMeyer! When the girls told me all about her each night at the hotel room, I could not wait to meet her. They said she was 3 years old, that she came to visit them every day at the booth picking out which jewelry and colors she liked. To make it even better she was Andrew Fosters girlfriend she said (he is on the junior board and judges at OSU!) She even had a necklace on one day that he had bought her! Then when the girls told me her mom would push her by on her stroller and she would say bye to the girls, I just could not wait to meet her. So, of course I had to make her a custom design one night just to make her even more fabulous than she already sounded. So a little pink crown and some clear and pink sparkly beads later, we had Torri's new necklace done and I could not wait for the girls to give it to her the next day!

Torri's dad was helping us judge the team fitting contest and Thursday evening when I was getting ready to leave and head back to the hotel, I just happened to stop by the Pavilion to see if the contest crew needing any help wrapping up......and then and there I got to meet the princess Torri herself! She had on her necklace and LOVED it! She kept telling Andrew, "Your friends, your friends, look what your friends made me!" She was just as adorable, if not more, than what the girls had told me. And, she made it very clear that Andrew was her boyfriend! Anyways, she decided she would wear her pink cowgirl outfit with her matching pink boots on the last day along with her SJ piece and take a picture at the booth for the blog, so as soon as miss Amber gets those to me, they will be up on here!

I guess the other super cute thing that happened that week that deals with SJ........

Saturday afternoon after Jessica and Amber had left, I went to the building where the trade show was (of course, it was basically shut down by now) to get my stuff to bring back with me to St. Jo and to take down NJAS contest stuff including posters and photos. Well, when I got to what was left of the SJ booth (sad to see it taken down), I saw at the corner the cutest little blonde girl. She was wearing a little skirt, white shirt and what I could tell was an SJ piece with a little crown on it. Her mom had worked the booth next to mine all week and she of course made good friends with the girls. Needless to say, she told me her name was Sara and that the girls had made the necklace for her! I asked her if she was a Princess, and of course, she said YES! So, we asked her mom if she could spend some time with me, and she was the biggest help taking down pictures from display! All in all, I'd say just from these two little girls, SJ had a very successful week! The Angus ladies LLOOVVEEDD all of the jewelry and once again a big big big thank you goes out to Jessica Carter and Amber Skinner for making it happen!

Since Angus Jr Nationals, I have done a lot of laundry, a lot of jewelry, have been down to Springfield, Missouri for the Ozark Empire Fair, went out on the town in Kansas City with some great girls including Holli Parke, Kelli Armbruster, Rachel Burtzlaff, KC Kinder, Crystal Young and then Chris Stevens! Yes, Saturday night when I returned from Springfield, we planned to go out since my summer is coming to an end! We went to the new Power and Light District in downtown Kansas City! Needless to say, it was a wonderful girls night plus Chris and we all had a killer time!

So yesterday, I met up with Holli to shop at Legends Mall on the Kansas side of Kansas city and I had my first Hibachi experience! And loved it! Of course we had to throw some sushi in the mix....the Godzilla rolls were very good.....not as good as the Chuck Norris Sushi from Des Moines, but a close 2nd.

So today, I am at work in the office and I only have 2 more days after this....tear. I leave for LEAD (Leaders Engaging in Angus Development) Conference in Billings, Montana on Wednesday morning and will be there until next Tuesday. I am way way way looking forward to one last she-bang with the NJAA Board and of course the white water rafting experience. I will have my last day here next Wenesday, then head down to the Missouri State Fair, then on the way home make a stop in Stillwater and finally home to TEXAS!!! Look for updates all along the way, and until then stay super fabulous!

Randa :)

My 21st Birthday in Des Moines, Iowa

2008-07-11T09:54:00.002-05:00

Well here I sit at the Sheraton Hotel in Des Moines Iowa. As most of you know yesterday was my 21st birthday!!!! WOOHOO!!! Anyways, it was fan-tab-ulous (words of Dana May)!!! And I figured I should share.

To begin, the Wednesday before my birthday, we were packing fast and furious at the Angus office of course to head to Des Moines for the National Junior Angus Show (our biggest event of the summer!), and one of my new best friends and also best jewelry customers (Princess Holli Parke) sent me B-E-A-utiful flowers and had them delivered to me at the office! I have recently lost my camera (crisis, I know), so I will try to upload one from my mobile on here. Anyways, Holli is simply fabulous in so many ways and she never ceases to amaze me with what she does for me. From helping me with my booth at Kansas City, to being a great dinner date while I am in Missouri, or of course allowing me to decorate her with phenominal jewlz, Holli is a spitfire and everyone needs a little of her in their life!

So, I of course was dead set on going out at midnight that night! My roomate for the summer, Kelli Armbruster who works for the Angus Foundation had gone to dinner in Kansas City after work, but called me on her way home and said she was still up for it! I of course, was making jewelry and not dressed whatsoever! Then, Sarah Moyer Snider, who is the Director of the Angus Source program called us because she had just finished a late night softball game. However, she said we had to meet her right away! So within five minutes I had thrown on a black longsleeve turtle neck and a hot pink polo hat to match my shorts and flip flops and we were off!

As we arrived at Legends Bar in St. Joseph, MO, it was about 20 minutes until midnight but they still let me in. Now, they wouldn't serve me until midnight, but I had waited 21 years, whats another few minutes? So, the bartender and DJ each bought me a shot and Kelli and Sarah each bought me a drink. We managed to booty dance the rest of the night in a totally random place but it was so much fun! Not gonna lie, I was definately dreading having to be on the road the next morning!

So, on the actual day of my birthday me, Robin Ruff (assistant of Jr Activities at Angus Association) and James (my official boss, also director of Jr Activities), drove up to Des Moines! After Robin and I got lost looking for lunch and had an argument with the Garmin, then after unpacking the equipment trailer and van, we soon headed to the hotel to freshen up for my big birthday dinner!

When I got to the hotel, I was surprised by another fabulous bouquet of flowers. This consisted of a random assortment of baby pink flowers and roses with a rhinestone tiara to top them off. And who else would they be from, rather than my Southern Jewlz Repz, Jessica and Amber!

So to be in attendance at my dinner was of course James and Robin, then Glenda and Doug Schroeder (Iowa Jr Angus Assn. Advisors), Don Laughlin (Regional Manager for the Angus Association), my friend LJ Ashorn who of course is interning in Des Moines for the summer and Alex Tolbert and one of his interns, as he is working for the USDA here in Des Moines and was actually recently a member of the Angus Board! We went to Fleming's Steak House, where they only serve prime steaks and it was absolutely PHENOMINAL!!! After a couple amaretto sours, some kickass calamari in sweet sauce, a side salad, and of course a petite filet mignon and sauteeed mushrooms, I was sitting in good shape!

From there, Robin, LJ, Alex, Daniel and I headed to downtown Des Moines for a night out on the town. We had a lot of fun at the Lyers Club bar, however we did not get too out of control as we all still had a big week ahead of us! Needless to say, even though my official birthday is over, with more and more Angus people arriving daily here for the NJAS, it is looking to be a long week with plenty of friends, fellowship and good times to make my 21st simply fabulous! So, look for updates within the next week of adventures with the NJAS board, show updates and of course newz from the SJ girls working the booth up here for the week, Jessica and Amber!

Randa :)

Customer of the Month Report

2008-07-07T10:27:00.003-05:00

I figured it was time for the customer of the month to get her blogging on! Randa and I had been mutal friends for a year or so now, of course, I had been buying lots of SJ, but both of us are spending our summer in the Kansas City area. Randa, of course, at the Angus Association and myself in downtown KC at the Hereford Association. Needless to say with junior nationals will be well underway this time next week, I should be working, not blogging, but I promised I would get on here and write about last week.

Randa and I had met up for dinner the week prior to Chi/Maine/Shorthorn Junior Nationals, and she had shown me her booth decor and of course, I bought some jewlz. We were way excited for the SJ ladies to get here and get the booth underway. I arrived on my lunch break on Monday to find Miss Jessica and Miss Amber hard at work at the SJ booth. I was to pick up a necklace, and went up and introduced myself to the girls. They had of course heard about me because of my very extensive necklace collection. Those girls are great and I can not wait to hang with them again. Pretty sure Miss Jessica and I are two peas in a pond.

I was a walking advertisement for Southern Jewlz throughout the week, as I was the overdressed girl walking around the barn. But of course, as Randa and I know... its just simply fabulous to stand out! On Saturday, I hung with Randa at the SJ booth and tried my selling ability to some jewelry lookers, and handed out my few business cards I had because Randa was out. Pictures will be up soon of the booth, but they are currently still on my camera. Whoops.

Well... I better get back to the Youth Activities Department here at the Hereford Association. All in all, I'd say Southern Jewlz had a very successful week at the Steer Jock Convention of the Year (aka Chi/Maine/Shorthorn Jr Natties). I'd like to personally express my gratitude to the Queen of Southern Jewlz for keeping me fabulously jeweled. I shall blog again.... Stay fabulous!

The Survival of Maine, Chi and Shorthorn Jr Nationals!

2008-07-07T00:50:00.003-05:00

So, as most of you know, Southern Jewlz made an appearance and had a booth at the Maine, Chi, and Shorthorn Junior Nationals the week of June 29-July 5 in Kansas City, MO this past week. So, here's a run down and summary of the events day to day!

Sunday - I drove to Kansas City from Parsons, Kansas. I was there from a wedding of my friends the day before....Ryan Page (on my judging team at A&M) and Jentry Stice. It was a lot of fun to hang out with some of the judging boys that I haven't seen in over a month. Anyways, my two REPZ, Jessica Carter and Amber Skinner rode up to Kansas City with Justin Yancey, his super cute little brother Tyler, and Darin Wiley and of course the cattle. So by the time we all got to the grounds on Sunday, we had to set up both the booth and cattle stalls in full force. Because everybody was tired and had a long week ahead, we just went to eat at Applebee's and my NBF Dana May came to pick me up and take me back to St. Jo as she drove down to help me with preparations for National Junior Angus Show (she basically runs the Jr board!) But on the way home, I managed to get us lost and when we FINALLY got home, I had left my keys with the girls and my car, so I had locked myself out of the house for the 2nd day in a row (the Saturday before I did so, but locked my keys and phone in the house.....really bad deal, I had to call 911 at a nearby restaraunt).....so Dana and I ended up staying the night at Shelia Stannards (one of my favorite staff members at AAA!) I stayed up that night until 3am making jewlz for the upcoming week.

Monday - I was hard at work at the Angus office. Justin Brosey, chairman of the Jr Board, also came in to help so we were very productive. After work, we all went down to Kansas City. After we shut down the SJ booth and tied the cattle out, Amber, Jess, Wiley and I went to the Golden Ox (one of my favs!) before our visit to Connies! The bar was a little slow that night, but it did not keep us from having a good time. However, because we had to work early, Brosey made sure we left by midnight! On the way home, Dana and I decided to drunk dial A LOT of friends...if you are one of those we are truly sorry, but you should feel honored....and we proceeded to sing Leona Lewis 'Keep Bleeding Love' on every voicemail, except we changed the words to Keep BREEDING Love! We truly are stock kids, haha! So after all the calls and the pee stop on the side of I-29 (yes, they made me laugh SO hard I couldn't hold it anymore), we finally made it home. Since this was the first time I drove up to my house in 3 days without being locked out, I felt I should call 911 and let them know I made him home safely...haha!

Tuesday - The boring day. We worked until 7pm at the Angus office, went to Olive Garden and quickly Dana and I went to sleep and skipped out on Kansas City that day.

Wednesday - I left work on time at 4:30 ready to head to Jr Nat'l for good! The only problem was a freaking monsoon or something hit. Lights were out at the barn, high winds, rain, hail and even flooding and it was insane! We finally tied out and left the barn about 11pm, but then had to hit up multiple drive throughs to actually find something to eat since power was out all over town.

Thursday - In the morning, we showed Princess as a Mainetainer and then worked the jewelry booth all day. This was the day that we proceeded to get wild and crazy at Connie's, but it was a good time. My dear friend Amy Draznin and her new boyfriend Nick Smit and his friend Micah joined us as well!

Friday - Now we showed Princess as a Chi and of course worked with jewelry all day. We had no big plans for the 4th, but I was sad because my friends were all leaving me the next morning, so Saturday, I had the booth by myself! However, business was still very good and I enjoyed getting to do it.

Needless to say, look for pictures and customer highlights from the week within the next couple of days. Also, Jess and Amber have now decided they want to come up to Des Moines for the National Junior Angus Show, so SJ is in the process of making this work. It's late and time for bed, so goodnight now! :)

Randa vs. The Big Black Donkey

2008-06-25T09:30:00.002-05:00

So here I sit in the Angus Office and we will be leaving in two weeks from tomorrow for NJAS in Des Moines, so the junior activities department is definately insane and I hardly even have time to write on my blog! But I have one of the funniest stories ever so here goes....

I just returned from Lewisburg, West Virginia from the Eastern Regional Angus Show. Lewisburg is a fairly small town, so entertainment at night can be limited. So after our first night of kareoke with Justin Brosey, Dana May, Rebeccah Tokach, Shelia Stannard and some of the Regional Managers (where I might add that Shelia sang 3 singles, all of us girls sang Britney Spears and I of course sang Baby Got Back), the show hosted an evening full of fun. There was to be donkey races (for those of 16 years of age) and a greased pig contest (open to even the youngest attendees!).

So there we were, preparing for the donkey races. The way it was planned was for the winner of each heat to come back for an auction before the finals, that way the show also raised a little money through the deal. Anyways, heat 2 consisted of the JR board members (6 of them present), Chris Cassady, Ashlyn Carter, Will Epperly, James Fisher (my boss), and myself. I was contestant number 4 and when I was handed my donkey, I was mortified that they gave me the biggest, tallest, blackest one there! I had no idea how I was going to get on this thing without a saddle or stirrup or anything! So I managed to get him close to the fence, where I could climb up and easily get on him, but you have to remember this is a donkey we are talking about. He didn't cooperate, wouldn't listen to the reins, etc. So I was still trying to figure this out. And may I add that I was not well prepared as I had on a pair of jeans that I have had since my junior year of high school that have been ripped up before and the cleaners have since then fixed. But back to the story: there was a guy in the audience (which I must add was as full as the bleachers had been the entire week) who came notice my troubles and came out to give me a hand. Well as soon as he put his hands out where I could step up....RRRRRRIIIIIIIPPPPPPPP! There went my jeans. And I mean this was no small rip, of course not, with me it's go big or go home! So this is still at the beginning of the contest and I of course cannot be a fun hater, so I am still thinking out my strategy! I decide to run with the donkey for a while and then hop on him towards the end to still finish. Everybody was falling off, getting bucked off, etc., so I decide to run my donky over to the picture back drop and get on the little bit of a hill that was there to help me get on him. GREAT SUCCESS........I was on and prepared to finish the race (keep in mind I have completely ripped jeans). Anyways, while I am riding, I am too worried about my jean situation and keeping myself covered, rather than actually staying on. Needless to say, my donkey decides to lower his head, and kick his back legs. As expected, I crash and burn. And when I say crash and burn, that is exactly what I mean. Because I was too worried about keeping myself covered, I didn't exactly catch myself, but rather hit pretty hard. Actually, it was hard enough to get the breath knocked out of me. BUT, I held on so tight that I still had the reins and halter in my hands when I stook up...THE PROBLEM WAS, MY DONKEY WAS LOOSE! Needless to say, I finally had to give in and be a fun hater. I slowly walked across the finish line with the reins and halter in my hand, yet no donkey! So to sum it up, I showed my ass (due to the ripped jeans), busted my ass, and lost my other ass! It is a good thing I am not shy, easily embarassed or modest, because I quickly got the car keys from my boss, ran to the hotel to change, and came back for the rest of the entertainment.

So in the battle of Randa vs. The Big Black Donkey, I definately ended up with the short end of the stick. I gave it my all and didn't give up, but when he ended up loose, I had to throw in the towel. Basically, this is just another funny story to add to my life. The next time any of you see me in person, you should ask about it because my intimidation of the whole ordeal will definately make you laugh.

As for a jewelry update....Jessica Carter and Amber Skinner are well on their way to heading up this weekend. We will be setting up my booth at the Maine, Chi, and Shorthorn Junior National on Sunday! I am so excited as I have been working really hard to get a lot of cute things made. And in addition, Miss Catherine Williams has designed me a display banner (much like those in the yards at denver for the display bulls) that I think will add a nice touch to the booth. So, be looking for updates from that show in the near future.

Until next time, I would suggest not trying to ride any stubborn donkeys, especially with old, previously ripped jeans. Just a slight piece of advice!

Randa :)

Loving the Midwest!

2008-06-17T08:16:00.002-05:00

Well here I sit on a Tuesday morning once again at the Angus office. We have only 3 1/2 weeks until junior nationals, so the junior activities department is very busy. As the intern, I am in charge of all of the contests and because Angus Jr Nationals is so big, we have to do 3 of those contests before the show. So, yesterday we successfully survived through the photography contest (all 540 entered photos!). One of my good friends, Miss LJ Ashorn actually got to help out with the judging as she is also in the midwest this summer for an internship of her own.

This past weekend I attended the wedding of Abe Redden and Hannah Brewer in Bloomington, IN. Abe worked at Deshazer while I was in high school and during my first three years at Texas A&M, so we were really good friends -- from going out to the hall, to helping out at cow sales, Abe and I have many memories together! Anyways, my dearest friend, Miss Amy Hughes used to be engaged to his brother, so needless to say I did also attend due to moral support. But as always, Amy and I turned what could have been an akward situtation into a good time! While in Bloomington, I visited the largest ever tanning place -- 54 beds! That is also the hometown of Indiana University, so I also got to see a beautiful campus! Due to the fact that it was still 8 hours away from St. Joseph, it was a very short trip, but very much enjoyed! And on my way back, I stopped in Richmond, MO to see another close college friend and old neighbor, Chris Peuster. He is managing a Charolais ranch there, so I graced him with my presence and we went to dinner. Little did I know that he would be judging the Clinton county fair the next day, which is only 30 miles away from me!

So, Sunday night Miss LJ stayed with me so that she could be at the Angus office ready to judge on Monday morning. After the photography contest, I finished up some other stuff and we were soon on our way to watch Peuster judge the county fair!

Now, this was no ordinary 'Texas' county fair as I was expecting. I believe there were only 50-70 people TOTAL in attendance. Most of the hogs were brought out as single entries, so Peuster couldn't screw that up too bad. The cutest part was definately the pee-wee showmanship! I went absolutely crazy taking pictures, videos and dying of laughter to see Peuster down on his knees talking on the mike to the little ones. Absolutely adorable! So after an hour and forty-five minutes, the boar, gilt and barrow shows were complete. One of my judging teammates, Cody Sloan, is from that part of the world and even though he was out of town, I did get to meet his little brother Troy. Troy is going to be a senior in high school, just as my brother, and he reminds me of him in many, many ways. So, to end the evening, we all went to dinner which made me very happy because Peuster is one of my FAVORITE friends!

So, today I have a very busy day as I leave early in the morning for West Virginia for the Eastern Regional Angus Show. I will be gone from Wednesday until Sunday night -- always on the road!

As for the jewelry update -- Queen Jessica Carter is definately saving my life right now! My jewelry account is through a Wells Fargo Bank (which is non-existant in Missouri or anywhere within driving distance), so she has been getting checks in the mail, getting the records, sending them to me, and then depositing my money. I definately would not make it this summer without her! She will possibly have a couple of pieces this weekend at a steer show in Conroe, TX. I have been given the opportunity to have another friend of mine, Kate Farris, take jewelry to the state Brangus show this weekend, but I will have to see if I can make it all work! Needless to say, many thoughts and new ideas are in the air at SJ as we prepare for the Maine, Chi and Shorthorn Junior Nationals!

Well, I better get back to work, but I did want to add an update! I hope everyone has a FABULOUS week! :)

Randa :)

.::Royal Welcome::.

2008-06-11T14:57:00.002-05:00

Well hello to all Southern Jewlz customers! I hope each of you are as excited about the SJ blog, because I know I am! Props definately go to the RHD (Ranch House Designs) girls as they are all truly fabulous!

A little bit of background about the blog:

My good friend at RHD, Miss Catherine Williams, is my new favorite msn messenger friend since I am working as the junior activities intern at the American Angus Association! She is the designer and creator of my website and is ALWAYS thinking of new ideas for SJ!

She was just so excited about the new RHD blog (which you should all check out!) and even though I was super busy at work, I took the time to look and read a bit on it. I fell in love and before I could even ask Catherine to do one for SJ, she already knew my thoughts and had send me a message that said "we should do you a blog for Southern Jewlz"!

Needless to say, within a couple of hours, here we are and I cannot wait to get my blog up and running. It will be just another way to keep communication between all of my super fabulous customers!

Please feel free to post any thoughts, ideas or stories that pertain to SJ or any of its Repz!