LILL's Team Member of the Month

Congrats to Amy F., LILL's HQ Team Member of the Month for April!

Amy, LILL's Web Store Manager is always warm, cheerful and welcoming! She is very helpful in helping new staff adjust, seasoned staff maintain, and the LILL community as a whole excel to be the best it can possibly be! Amy is known for her creative ideas, such as the Lucky Charm promotion or the name of one of LILL’s latest lines, “Simply Chic”. She is also known for her willingness to help anyone and everyone, aiding in everything from social outings, collecting donations for birthdays, leaves from the office, special potluck things in conjunction with the social committee and all while maintaining her consistent excellent service to the web. Positive, energetic, hard working and friendly are good words to describe this month’s LILL person of the month, Amy!

Let's get to know a little bit about Amy:

(Picture on left features Amy wearing a dress made by Jess Audey, she specially made this maternity design for her)

Where are you originally from? "I’m originally from Chicago and moved out the DesPlaines by high school. Been living out in the beautiful, fun-filled Chicago ‘burbs since then!"

How long have you been with LILL? "I’ve been with LILL for over 6 years now. I first started with Jen as an intern over the summer during college in 2000. I cut fabrics on the floor of Jen’s studio apartment (1154 LILL) with these giant silver sheers! It was my favorite job ever. I loved all the fabrics and patterns she came up with for new bags. I especially enjoyed watching a customer’s handbag go from being a traced pattern on a fabric to a real, 3 dimensional piece of art that you can wear. Any money I made from that internship quickly turned into a LILL handbag!"

What’s your favorite style? "Right now I am loving CHARLIE. I have my AUDREY JANE hooked to it’s handy snap hook. I have been between this one and HADLEY lately."

Top 3 Fabric Picks

From left to right, Amy's current fave fabrics are Lime Leaves, Giselle Paisley and Wild Zebra.

What do you love most about working for LILL? "The culture and the spirit that LILL holds. I look forward to seeing the girls everyday and I think we all work really well together. LILL is very open to creativity and ideas and I learn something new every week.
Not to forget we have the best potlucks ever!"

Do you have a nickname? "A-Dogg. It’s ridiculous, but I love it."

Favorite band or music genre: "Dave Matthews, pretty much all the time. I go see them every year at least once a year, I’ve been doing this with my very close friends since 1997. We call it our “Summer Christmas” because we look forward to it all year and it’s a day just for us - no kids, no responsibilities and no worries. Just good times, good tail-gating food and good friends. If not Dave, then I’m still pretty stuck on music I was into in high-school, all that alternative sound like Beck, Green Day and Everclear."

Where did you last go on vacation? "Key West in May of 2008 with my family and a few close friends to celebrate my husband's and my 5th wedding anniversary. My husband and I renewed our wedding vows on the beach on the day of our actual anniversary!"

Anything else fun you’d like to share? "My husband and I are expecting our second baby boy end of May. I’m excited to meet him and know Jack (my 2 and 1/2 year old) and him will best friends."

"Even though I work at LILL I have a LILL tradition with my family, I guess I really love LILL – a lot! My best friend/sister-in-law and I have a yearly tradition where we bring our moms and in-laws to the Chicago store for Mother’s Day and design handbags. We get each of the special ladies a LILL gift certificate for Christmas and include a “save the date” note to make plans for a day together. We go to the store and create our bags and then off to lunch after to talk about our day at LILL. We’ve been doing this for 4 years now and look forward to it every year. It’s a great time to bond and we always treasure our creations. Last year we all made SOPHIEs!"

Thanks, Amy! We are all so lucky to work with you everyday!!

Emily R.

Potluck Eggs-travaganza!

We recently hosted our monthly potluck! The birthday kids voted on pizza to be served, an oldy but a goody! Being as we always need to have some sort of activity to go with our food, we tied in an Easter theme with potluck and hosted an Easter egg decorating contest. Team members brought in their eggs that they decorated over Easter weekend.

Check out these egg-squisite works of art!

Imelda F., our Cutting Department Manager submitted these. Notice the Mardi Gras inspired egg, completely covered in colorful sequins!

Mandy L., Design Team Director, submitted this elegant egg. Died with onion peels (her grandma's recipe) and a hand-drawn, henna inspired pattern.

Rachel D., Creative Services Manager, submitted these beauties. Dyed with a Martha Stewart recipe that involves food coloring, olive oil and vinegar. You may notice the egg on the right magically appeared with a tiny smiley face on it!

These delectable treats were not real eggs, rather egg-shaped cakes! Submitted by Erika B., Marketing Assistant

Everyone at LILL voted on his or her favorite entry. It was a close race between all 4 submissions, but Imelda F. ended up with the prize! LILL's newest style, NIKKI. Made in Fleur de LILL.

Really, in the end, everyone wins. Not only are these contest entries beautiful works of art, but they are delicious, edible treats!

Mandy and Imelda were caught enjoying a little egg dessert after the potluck.


We hope you enjoyed sharing in our potluck festivities!

Email me if you have a fun idea for our next potluck! lilly@1154lill.com

Spring - A Great Time to Host a Party!

I was anxiously awaiting spring this year - mostly because I was REALLY ready to have my baby, but also because it is such a wonderful time of the year. Full of new beginnings and occassions to get together with friends, I always feel inspired at this time of the year.

Speaking of new beginninngs - I am settling in as a new mother of 3... wheh! I am impressed with all of you who have already accomplished this feat. All kidding aside though, baby Grey is a very sweet little guy. He has been my easiest newborn yet and I'm really enjoying getting to know him. He looks a lot like Joey did as a baby and when wearing some of Joey's old clothes, I flash back 5 years and have remembered lots about Joey that I had forgotten. Pretty fun time. Thank you for all the kind messages after his birth. I've attached a couple new photos of the three, though haven't figured out how to get them all into one picture yet. :-).

We are finally seeing real signs of spring here in Chicago. I hear it may be 70 and sunny on Friday. I hope you are all also experiencing some signs as well. I love this season as it brings about lots of reasons to get together with friends or coworkers to reconnect after months "on the inside." Its the season for showers and weddings, for celebrations of mom and graduations. With all these occassions I find myself looking through my closet and needing something to refresh my wardrobe to match the enthusiasm I feel this time of year.

This year I'm looking to brighten my wardrode with accessories. Its a logical choice given that I still have some baby weight to take off, but also a smart financial choice. With a few added accessories this spring, I can revitalize my wardrobe with something I can wear everyday and feel good about. And what better way to start than to get some friends together to catch up after a long winter and help each other create some versitile spring accessories for all those upcoming occassions.

From exciting style introductions to inspiring new fabrics, LILL has a lot to offer both new and returning customers. I am really pleased with our most recent additions - the Nikki (above on right) and the Brianna (above on left - coming soon!). Nikki is selling very well so far and from the initial reaction by those who have previewed the Brianna, I think she too will do exceptionally well. I am currently pondering fabric for my first Brianna and am looking very forward to regularly sporting it this spring/summer. It will be tough to replace the Charlie I've been carrying for a while, though - I just love it and am not sure if I'll be able to give it up. And, I'm not sure if I can reduce the contents of my purse down to fit in a Nikki yet, but it is a goal. I've tried her out a few times and I love how she feels and looks on my arm.

So many options with our current line and more great things to come.... Its a great time to host a party and check them out yourself!

Happy Spring!

Jen

Founder / President

1154 LILL Studio