Gah! Now what?

So Architectural Digest has contacted us. WHOO! We're in the middle of creating a new business name, a new site and a new 'brand'. But we've been picked for AD by a designer we've worked with in the past and the designer obviously remembers the shop name.

Soooo. I'm tired of the shop name because it's been co-opted by everyone and their granny, but.. I have had this name for 7 years. 7 years is a long time to market a name and get it into people's heads.
I hate to walk away from that. Also, we just skipped the local vintage guide this year since we're refocusing on a new name. We've been skipping advertising in Austin-centric publications in general.. Feh. Not sure what the right path is on this one.

Now the question is: will the new site be done by the time the AD article comes out AND... should I ditch the name that we've done so much business under simply because I'm tired of it?
Do the owners of Gumps ever just hate their name?

If it's an Austin designer, we'll move forward with the name change. If it's J-(R)Ad or Kelly, I'll have to assume they remember the name, and I'll keep it because it 'sticks'.

A bummer because we have just picked an excellent new name, bought the www site, and the taglines are looking good. Mainly looking forward to a new logo and new image.

Jim thinks we can split the business and leave the B&B site under Austin Modern, and ramp up the new site under the new name and use all of the contacts we've made over the years to promote that site as something entirely new. The new site will have 90% vintage and 10% bespoke with a movement toward a 70/30 split by December 2010. We've been designing our own items influenced by vintage pieces (ala Anthropologie etc), currently shopping a chair prototype around for production quotes. I want to make something that is mine. My design, my look, my colors.

Today I found a clutch of Fornasetti plates and a gorgeous nickle and brass x base bench. The bench is a little Regency and little hard edged Empire.. thinking of having the bench seat reupholstered in white Tibetan lamb fur. Making it soft and fluffy at the edges.

In other news-
Currently I have two black eyes. Always knew that growing up the whitest kid in Palm Beach would some how come to mean something. It does. Skin cancer. Whoo. Color me lucky! Of course being the over achiever that I am, I'm the youngest my doctor has seen and I also managed to get not one but TWO spots on my nose.

If you have a little bump on your face that won't go away, get it checked while you're young and healing relatively fast. It still sucks. They basically take a melon baller and scoop it out. Effin gross. And people wonder why I like to keep my eyes closed the entire time I'm in a doctors office.

My reconstructive surgeon is a surgical otaku. He's really into it and didn't think for a minute that showing me a photo of a woman missing an entire nose wouldn't freak me out.
It did. All the blood drained from my face and I started laughing hysterically. WTF?? Who shows that kind of thing to people? Who keeps that on their laptop??
Of course I heard nothing of worst case scenarios after that, it was a struggle to keep the giggles at bay. I think I may have actually verbalized the 'wtf is wrong with you?!?' question out loud. Hope not. I sat up the rest of the night thinking about it. Eeeeeww.

So now I have itchy stitches on the bridge of my nose and next monday I get to have some more on the side of my nose. The swelling is spectacular. Husband says I have 'baby lion face'. He's too kind. lol
We were supposed to take a long cruise with S&R this spring, but I think my cruisin to the BVIs days are over.
Screw it. I wanted to go to Venice anyways.