Thursday, June 1, 2017

New venture

We are in Minnesota for the summer! We arrived May 3rd and have been hard at work on our townhouse in Saint Louis Park. I bought this place before I met Brandon and we have had it rented out for about 7 years. Our tenants moved out mid April and we moved in. We are hoping to have it on the market by June 15th but the seemingly small list of tasks to complete keeps growing so we will see.

Charlie is doing well with the adjustment. The pool in our community opened and we went for the first time this morning. He loved it and I see us spending a lot of time there this summer.

Before coming back I worked for 3-4 months on a project that I am really excited about. I fell in love with the textiles of Guatemala and the history and tradition of the weaving process. I have been told by some close friends in the past that I should be a personal shopper and that thought kept coming back to me as I was shopping the vintage textile markets.

Eventually I decided to give entrepreneurship a try. I sourced textiles and worked with local artisans to create beautiful leather and textile purses, decorative pillow cases, textile clutches and cosmetic bags. There is a large need for employment opportunities for all in the village that we live (Santa Cruz) and the need is even greater for women. My goal is to create employment opportunities for women in Santa Cruz.

I hosted a SOFT launch last week and received some fantastic positive feedback. I still have a lot to learn about branding and marketing but I am really excited for the feature and am really looking forward to getting back to Guatemala to create another line! I still have some product left from the current line so please check it out.  The name of business if Tesoros de Atitlan.
 
                                                       www.tesorosdeatitlan.com



Our current plan is to return to Guatemala at the end of August. It really has become home to us. Being far away from friends and family is a challenge and so being able to be home for 4 months is great but we are sure that we will be very ready to return!


Parks in the USA are amazing!


And this park is even better!


Spending evenings with friends. 


Walking in the woods with Papa


The last day on the lake


Saying goodbye to our Guatemala home for a few months



XOXO,
Katie, Brandon, and Charlie