Hi everyone!

Jodie has been holding it down on the blog for a couple of months while I was underwater with work & travel & pneumonia, but just wanted to pop my head up and say hi!

Lots going on…. last week we were on Fab.com and this week you can spot us over at the mini social. We have lots of exciting press and announcements on tap for this week and next week. I have been on important calls and making real life legit decisions and giving talks and having meetings, etc. This probably sounds pretty normal to all of you in the context of running a company, but its really not the norm over here at barley & birch. We have always said that we would never turn into a real “corpo-ish” company and I have always said that I would never act like “a suit.” But lately we have been and I have been.

I was jolted out of this attitude by an e-mail from Jodie. We have been at high intensity work mode lately, with lots of e-mails about lots of projects. But this e-mail said something along the lines of…. “These people have been texting me. I told them repeatedly they have the wrong number. They say ‘oh okay.’ Then today I get texts about someone going into labor and I am getting labor updates from them. Can we send them a discount code as a congrats?”

I cracked up loudly, and then was like “YEP, already activated it. Go.”

And it made me realize that we hadn’t been half as weird and goofy and un-corpo-like as we used to be and said we always would be.

To make up for it, I am cranking up, and sharing, one of my fav fun & goofy jam-out tunes. If you are wondering how I will spend my day, its working like mad, and then, periodically, when this song comes on, having an office-wide dance party, where all typing stops and one hand is in the air and the other is holding a cup of coffee. We are officially making an effort to bring the quirk back to b&b.

Step 1: Here is the code for the random person that was texting Jodie. Help yourself to 15% off this week: RANDOM12.

Step 2: Jam out!  Perfect way to start your week

Love,
Kyle

I have been listening to this song a lot lately. A very special friend sent it to me a few weeks ago when I was a little down and it has been the perfectly happy, strong song for me for the past few weeks.

Life is great. (:

I hope you all have a fantastic week. Stay tuned, as a little birdie told me that we are going to be rolling out our INCREDIBLE fall collection this week. (:

Love,
Kyle

Wowzers, hello, blog! I used to blog every single day, and now I am getting closer to once a month. This is not okay.

Quickly, I wanted to share a quick backstory behind this edition of our long lost Sunday tunes tradition. First of all, I. Am. Exhausted. I have been working 80-hour weeks and travelling nonstop since I graduated. barley&birch has certainly suffered because of it, and I have made a pact with myself and team that things will start to slow down and my attention will be focused on giving you all some coolness for your littles to wear while doing really neat things to change the world

ANYWAY, so the backstory…. I am tired, I have had about 10 hours (total) of sleep in the last week. (I had some of the most incredible moments of my existence last week — get ready to squeal when I tell you in the coming months!)

And then…. I walked into my house for the first time in three weeks, dropped my bags, absentmindedly turned on my iPod, and this song was the first song that came on.

And… I did the same thing that I do everytime I hear this song: I bounced around dancing like I am Jimmy Cliff (see below) and singing every word. (While my dogs and friends stared in consternation.) This burst of energy reminded me that I never used to accept being tired as an excuse to have less fun and do less good work, but I have lately, which is pretty lame of me.

So, thanks to Jimmy Cliff (& Jack Johnson on this version), b&b is back in high gear. We will be posting on our blog every day for the next 60 days. We will be rolling out our fall collection and making some truly incredible announcements.

Happy Sunday everyone. Its good to be back.

I hope this week is the best week of your lives.

Love,
Kyle

Happy Sunday!

This weekend one of my best friends (whom I met on the first day of kindergarten) got engaged to her wonderful boyfriend. I couldn’t be happier for them (despite thinking it was an April Fools joke until she reassured me 8 times that it wasn’t) and have spent the weekend being super giddy about it.

I love being back in Ohio around loved ones and being able to celebrate things like this in person. This is a new thing for me and I am loving it. (:

This song makes me so bubbly and happy and also happens to be her ringtone for him. Enjoy!

I hope you all have really awesome weeks!

Love,
Kyle

Congrats, B & D! <3

I hope you’ve all had an awesome weekend! I spent mine home (for the first time in months) getting caught up on work and errands. My house is clean, the laundry is done, and I put some major dents in my barley&birch ‘to do’ list.

Feeling caught up and not super behind for the first time in a long time is truly the BEST feeling for me.

This song was on my playlist today and I think it’s peppy vibe totally sums up how excited I am to start my week after a weekend of lots of sleep and productivity.

Have an awesome week, everyone!