Meet Donna!

Graduation season is upon us! As the mother of two children who are barely out of diapers, I don’t often have graduation ceremonies to attend. However, this year, my beautiful niece, Kylie, graduated from DePaul University with a degree in marketing. She begins her first job at an advertising firm in just a few weeks, and I am so excited to see where her dreams take her.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a graduation, without a graduation party…for which presents are a must! I wanted to get Kylie something special, something as unique and beautiful as her—but also something she could use in her next adventure as a career woman.

I decided to design a Donna bag for her, which is a fashionable tote that can easily fit her laptop, and also has separate compartments to hold everything from pens to a planner to business cards. I wanted to choose bold colors which would really pop next to her business attire, so I chose Blushing Bride for the exterior of her bag, and Wild Poppy Sateen for the top and base.

Of course, I had to make the bag a little more feminine to suit Kylie’s tastes, so I chose War of the Roses for the fabric straps. Now, she has the perfect bag, and the rest is up to her—but I know she will make us all proud!

May's Team Member of the Month!

And the award goes to....Candice G.! Our LILL on Location Assistant Manager. Outgoing, fun, friendly and hard-working are a few words to describe Candice. She's always willing to help out wherever needed and has a funny story to brighten your day. Her bold, bright hair matches her bold, bright personality. Some of you out in the Yelping World may already be familiar with her.

Candice, you're always giving 110% and your peers appreciate the additional work you’ve taken on, especially recently. Candice was noted for having amazing potluck organization and planning skills as head of the social committee, as well as being creative, personable and willing to take charge and take on additional tasks. She's always looking for ways to lower costs and has creative ideas to improve sales and LILL overall. Candice was also voted the person you'd most want to be your sibling, Best Dressed, and Funniest at Lill's annual award ceremony. All this and she's just fun to be around!

Here's a little more about Candice...

How long have you been at LILL: Coming up on 4 years this July

Fave Fabrics:
G is for Giraffe, Lemon Zebra, Snow Leopard… I am “Where the Wild Things Are”

Favorite Styles: JANE with a DENISE attached. Currently snow leopard JANE with Red Rocks DENISE… though I wish the DENISE came with a lock where my credit card lives that made me answer the question “Do you really need this, Candice?” through voice activation before I bought anything.

Last Vacation: How about future trips? I'm going to Croatia for 2 weeks in July and August this Summer with LILL cutting associate, Katie L. and her sister, LILL Design Director, Mandy L. We'll be living the high life on a "yacht" (house boat) on the Adriatic!

Hobbies: I have a personal Time Lapse Photography study… that’s fancy talk for me taking a photo of myself everyday, in pretty much the same spot in my room, since January 1st, 2008. I post all my pics online and when I’m bored I like to revisit my past year and a half… it’s amazing the things you remember from just seeing what you wore each day.

Interests: Cryptozoology and serial killers. I am sooo fascinated with animals… especially ones that aren’t recognized by conventional science, are thought to be extinct, or are found waaayyy outside of their normal geographic range. Seriously awesome stuff… Wikipedia “Bloop”, it’ll blow your mind. And the serial killer thing has always been an interest of mine. At the very least, it helps to know what’s out there lurking… I don't worry though, I won 3rd place for Tang Su Do and Hapkido in the Midwestern karate regionals in 1997 sooo attackers beware. Ps- I was totally cheated out of second place.

Friends & Fam: My sons (cats)! My main babe is Homer X-Ray Cat Spiderman Gatlin-Kelly and my other two loves are Razz Berry Gatlin & Leon Spinx Gatlin. I also love my Dad… he’s pretty rockin’. I want to go on the Amazing Race with him, BIG TIME! Between my day-glo orange hair and his knack for planning and travel, we’d be a shoe in for winners. For a little romance I have my BF of 5 years, Smelly… long story but it’s been his name for well over a decade, I’ve never called him anything but, and it’s not gonna change anytime soon. And I just want to drop a quick shout out to some LILL gals... see photo on right of Jess A., Kristina L., and myself at a colorful Yelp.com Elite event sporting our Audey custom dresses made by Jess A. (Jess has on a dress in LILL fabric Toucan Leaves and mine has bats on it!).

Fave Celebs: My celebrity loves are still Bill Murray and David Letterman… call me! And my personal idols are Dolly Parton and Harvey Milk because Dolly is a stone cold fox and hides a whole lotta brains behind a whole lotta, well, you know. And Harvey because he’s a rock star and advocate for the people. I like to think that we’re alike because we both love getting up on our soapbox and no one can get a coup together like me and Milk.

When I’m not at LILL I’m: Yelping! Anyone at LILL can tell you that I just LOVE putting my 2 cents in. I love giving my opinions on everything and anything and especially love writing reviews. Yelp.com allows me to write reviews for restaurants, stores, gas stations, doctors, etc and post my detailed reviews to their online website. I’m considered an “Elite” member of the yelp family with over 200 (and counting) reviews to my name. For accurate opinions visit here: candiceadeline.yelp.com

Interesting Fact: Okay, maybe this is more a declaration but I can’t afford to have a living will drawn up at this point… I love, LOVE, L.O.V.E. animals and after seeing that Disney movie ‘Earth,’ I decided that when I die I want my body to be fed to starving polar bears in Antarctica. Save the animals.

Candice with her animal friends: (tigers left to right) Leon Spinx Gatlin, Homer X-Ray Cat Spiderman Gatlin-Kelly, and Razz Berry Gatlin.