I’ll start by apologizing for not blogging on Friday. My parents were in town, a surprisingly good distraction from all of my manufacturing woes.
The good news is that I’m done sulking now, and have started following up on several manufacturing leads, many of which are on the east coast. Two of the places admitted that their business was slow and they’d be willing to take on new customers even if they don’t meet the minimum quantities they are used to. I am happy that things are getting back on track, and luckily I didn’t get too discouraged. I just hope that I can still make an October launch date.
I was just about to jump for joy about ending my contracting job tomorrow, and then my team let me know that they wanted to extend my contract. At first I was thinking “Uh, hell no!”, but then I realized that I actually had some room to negotiate. The truth is I’d love to have extra money for the sample do-overs, and there’s also that pesky lack-of-air-conditioning problem in my apartment. I told my team that I could work 15 hours a week for one more month, and they agreed to this. 
My husband and I discussed the mysterious call I got last week, and now I think it might have been Jones Apparel checking on me. I think this because he made a reference to “cosmetic and travel bags” which was listed in my original trademark application, and nowhere else. So if you’re reading this Jones Apparel, I’m on to you. No hard feelings though. Please buy my bags in the fall.