yay!

Cute new tote bag now available through my etsy shop. And there's also a special January offer: 5 free greetings cards of your choice if you buy any tote bag.  It's too good to be true!

Bonjour totes

Sometimes as you get older your relationship with your parents changes and the kid becomes the parent and the parent becomes the kid. Like when you go for a few pints with your dad and you text him 83 times when he gets the train home to make sure he got home safely.

And like when your parents actually ask your advice on pretty hefty life decisions and you tell them they should go for it and despite feeling sad that you will miss them loads you wholeheartedly want them to go for it because you know it will make them happy.

So when your parents listen to your advice and move to France to start a business, and make friends almost immediately with loads of people and take french classes every week and produce potatoes and figure out how to get a (french) plumber in to fix a leaky shower (over and over again.) And despite a lot of people doubting them they succeed and most importantly they're happy and they have made something you're so proud of,

You sort of become the proud parent.

This is Maison Calon Lan, a pretty darn sweet place to stay in the beautiful Breton countryside.

And this is the new supercool tote available for Maison Calon Lan guests to purchase, as a reminder of their stay.  "Bienvenue dans notre Maison Bretonne" The totes are part of a range of cool products I am working with my Mom to develop.  The greetings cards especially have already been a hit with the guests!

If you're interested in purchasing one of the tote bags just give me a shout and I'll put you in touch with La propriétaire!

In the meantime, if you're looking for a peaceful and relaxing getaway, listen to this proud parent and seriously consider booking a week at Maison Calon Lan.

...tempted yet?

They're also on facebook and twitter so please go and say hello :)

Happy running weekend

HEY GUYS I'm writing this in a tired Tuesday afternoon haze; surrounding me are receipts, packing tape, pillows, half a cup of cold earl grey tea, airmail stickers, various writing implements and upwards of 16 lists of things I need to do.  I'm so glad I have run club this evening because a) I baked some (tasty) dark chocolate brownies this morning and consumed a number of them throughout the day and b) I need to get out of this pit I seem to have created today.

When there's just one of me working 15 different roles to keep this business rolling I swap from one task to another and back again so many times throughout the day.  It works for me, it satisfies my personality and it comes naturally to prioritise as I go.  It just means my workspace is eternally messy.  Don't get me wrong, I can't stand clutter and am more or less pretty clean - and try to start and finish each day with a tidy desk - I just feel like in between I seem to be doing upwards of 6 things at any given time - at least one of which involves bubble wrap.

New BABE tote. Thanks for being a TOTAL BABE and listening to me moan on about my sweet job. 

Anyways I don't know why I'm complaining. I had the weekend off, away from my desk.  Our weekend began on Thursday evening; I went for a nice 4 miler and packed our bags up ready for us to head over to Harrogate after my bearded man came home from work.  We had a wedding to attend on Friday so I got out early Friday morning for an easy 5 miles before showering and making myself presentable for a day of boozing and dancing.

If you're wondering why my runs seem a bit repetitive it's because I'm trying out Hanson's Marathon Method, a different training plan to my previous one - I'm excited to see how it plays out.  The reasoning behind it is you run more often but you only train up to 16 miles as your furthest distance.  Don't get me wrong I had no issues with my long runs last time around I just literally thought I'd try something different.

I'm only doing the beginner's programme but there's charts which help you calculate pace for your goals and when the tempo sessions come into play in a couple of weeks time I should be feeling some of the changes in this training plan versus what I'm used to.  So, where I would usually run Tues Thurs Sat and Sun I'm running Tues Thurs Fri Sat Sun and starting week after next Monday gets up in the mix as well.

Friday morning in Nike // Saturday afternoon in my new Hot Tuna shorts  // Oklahoma Benefit Tank arrived!

My weekend runs were nice, was glad to get out on Saturday - I guess after finding a beautiful wedding dress on Saturday morning (!) any inkling of a hangover seemed to disappear and I couldn't help but enjoy my run.  And Sunday was also a good one - I've forgotten which routes are which distance since my last training cycle so I accidentally went further than planned.

Anyways I'm off now to try out some new kit.  Well, after I tidy up this massive pile of aprons I just labelled up (they're back in stock now, get your paws on one before they sell out!)

(Another new tote - well, it was new until I sold out of it.)

Real Girls Wear Runners

HI FRIENDS! I'm frantically packing up orders this morning so that I can get to the post office and still catch the sunshine for a short run afterwards.  My 'I Run Hills' tote bags are back in stock and I've already sold out of the new army green colour:

So it's all packing tape and airmail stickers at Nicola HQ this Saturday morning.

Hope you're enjoying JUNE so far and getting some sunshine and running and tacos and beers into your days.  After a whole day of wedding dress shopping yesterday (I know, can you believe I had any energy left?) me and my pal went for a 3 mile jog/wedding dress run-through session last night.

Because wedding dresses are confusing and the pricetags make you question your reasoning skills I was glad to come home to a nice shower, a curry and a read of this really ace article on the Guardian website about running blogs, which lists the top ten running blogs to read - We Do Run Run being number 10 on the list!  It's good to have some real-life shit to bring you back from Planet Silk & Lace.

Enjoy your Saturday and stay here on planet earth, it's much better.

Running to the hills

Tomorrow is the Bupa Great Manchester 10K!!  I'm  hoping to break the sub-50minute mark.  It's the dream! I think I can do it, it's just whether I have the balls to do it.  I'm such a plodder at heart but my coach has helped me pull my finger out and work on my speed- through hills and fartlek and generally laughing at me when I tell him my previous race times.

Did a test run on Thursday at race pace for 8k - and despite a few stops here and there for traffic lights and gates and things I really focused on keeping my speed where it should be.  Lots of food tonight and a good night's sleep and hopefully tomorrow we'll be in business.

Over the course of my winter marathon training and during the past few weeks of run club I've really started to LOVE hills.  I prefer them to speed work.  Especially when it's kind of grey and drizzly and you've really had to drag your ass out the door.  They make you feel alive and like a runner and like you're doing yo'self a favour.

Anyways, here are some tote bags I thought up on a cold drizzly night last week - cuz I don't know about you but I may or may not take a spare running kit most places, just in case there's an opportunity to get my legs out, and it's nice to have a bag to put it all in.  Don't worry, it's spacious enough to fit your sweaty sneakers, a pair of shorts, your shiny race medal with still plenty of room for your A-GAME ;)  Available now in my etsy shop, in two super jazzy colours!

Totes amaze

Just in case you've been dreaming of owning a tote bag with a unicorn on it I have made you one and you can buy it from my etsy shop.  Now if you'll excuse me I have an appointment with some Emmenthal cheese.

These things happened

1.  Pocket manfriend number 250 emerged on the scene.  Peter.

2.  New tote bag packaging happened and thus everything fit into my mailing boxes much nicer.  With room spare for bee stickers, of course.  

3.  Things got folded

4.  New mirrors appeared.  Two of them.  

4. These coasters have been asking me to sew them for at least one month.  There are loads now! 

4.  My hair did that.  A bee necklace from Jenny Topolski was worn.  (Amazing, no?)

5.  Boiled eggs and avocado on toast became top of my list of priorities.  Get this combo in your life. 

6.  Some words were said about my things here, here and here.  

Totes packaged

Two new tote bag designs and an order from Paris called for a re-think of my packaging.  Here's how my totes and tea towels will now be packaged from now on.  Hope ya like it.  Happy weekending, x

Be red

I like a bird who wears a bright red coat and speaks loudly and clearly.  New bags in my shop.

Introducing

Watch out cuz there's two new characters wandering around.  Bad kat and yoga duck.  They're both on cotton totes and they're both available to buy from my etsy shop.

Early Christmas present

In the words of Clark Griswold, "Hallelujah, holy shit!" Yesterday I received a copy of Issue 45 of Frankie Magazine.  They've featured my pocket manfriends and my taco kitty tote bag.  Thank you, Santa.  You done me good.

Taco Kitty Cotton Tote GIVEAWAY

Cotton Taco Kitty tote bags are now available to buy, and as it's my birthday tomorrow, I've decided to give one of these bad boys away.

All you have to do is comment on this blogpost with what you'd use the taco tote for if you won it.

For extra entries
1. Tweet tweet "I wanna get my paws on a taco kitty tote bag from @nicolarowlands  http://bit.ly/oBuQRS"
2. Facebook status "I wanna get my paws on a taco kitty tote bag from @Nicola Rowlands Illustration and Design (you'll have to like the facebook page first to be able to tag it in a post)

I'll choose a winner on October 21. meow!