My Dog Dogging the Table at Fifth Annual Beacon Barks

Here's my girl, manning the table (dogging), at today's Beacon Barks parade. It was our first time, and was so fun! We were vendors, selling my accessories. The weather was perfect, and all the shops were out as vendors on the sidewalk. We were across from the bus station, which had become the band station for the amazing band (name escapes me at moment, I'll be back to edit it in). The parade opened with "Who Let the Dogs Out", and a surprising amount of Newfoundlands, Chiwawas, mastiffs, and other breeds paraded by, some in tutus, others in prams, and others who had to rough it on just leashes as the decoration.

In our area of vendor tables were The Coffee House, chair massage from Sacred Space, Hattie's sweet tea and lemonade as well as her fried chicken and BBQ. I didn't get to see who was on the other side of Willlow, but I heard great things! Crumb made a bunch, and I mean a bunch of their delicious chocolate chip cookies, and all were sold out by parade's end. As you know of my cookie obsession, I wasn't even phased when I visited them at 3:30 for an iced latte, as I was distracted by their chocolate and strawberry parfes, and cream puffs. Parfes? Really? Who do they think I am? Totally weak? Ok fine I am. But I went with the cream puff after a long day in the sun - with a dash to swim class in the middle for Ruby.

Yay for spring and yay for Beacon Barks!

Katie James to Vendor at Beacon Barks Parade!

So just a little ps...I have a few businesses going on. I'm somewhat of a business-a-holic, or an entrepreneurista. The first businesses I officially created was Katie James, Inc. I design accessories and currently get them stitched in Alabama (and am on the lookout for someone to help me develop patterns for some new products). I jumped into an open vendor slot for the Beacon Barks Parade, and even if I don't sell a thing, I'm really looking forward to it. Ever since moving to Beacon from Manhattan, and having my lovely baby, I've been a little out of my old scene. So if you see a table with bright fabric accessories on it, that's me! Jewelry pouches, sexy sleep masks for travel, dog treat bags, coffee cozis, and makeup rolls.

My next business was to create a "digital division" of this design business, so that I could quit my day job. My day job was as a manager of a national nonprofit website. Very fun, and taught me everything I know about SEO (search engine optimization). I opened for business to design websites for people, help them think out the structure of their sites, and strategically guide their SEO (or implement it, which is the most fun). I've been doing that for 5 years now, and I'm finally giving it its own name: Studio Pixelated. Portfolio website is being created right now, but you get the idea. I've challenged myself to build the whole thing on a blogger blog, to see how bare bones I can go, since so many people need to do that these days.

Then, I co-created a membership organization for entrepreneurs called Collective-E, that helped entrepreneurs promote their brands using benefits we developed around PR, online presence, and business development. We're rebranding it and it's very exciting. We're making the website more organized, featuring members in different ways, and other big things.

And this blog is the newest project!! So fun to channel my love for our new home of Beacon into an outlet like this.

So you might see all of this at my table. If I have time to make any take-away sheets, but otherwise, it will be great to see you!

Crumb Menu Board - And Cookies!

In case you haven't seen the latest renovation at Crumb, this us just one section of their menu. Yes, that's right. Brunch, salads and drinks are on the other side, but this is what my narrow camera could capture. And the best part? Tanner is the carpenter behind the counter!

My favorite? The Almond Chicken sandwich. Yumb Crumb! This is a sandwich to crave! I'm bringing home a Chicken Bruschetta for my hubby who is working from home today.

And they have chocolate chip cookies today! I normally get here by end of day, and by then the town has cleaned them out of chocolate chip cookies. But do always check, don't take my word for it.

Thursdays are for Chair Massages in Beacon at Sacred Space

That's right - chair massages are in Beacon on Main Street on the East end at Sacred Space with Donna Brickwood, L.M.T.. Book it!! It's the standard $1/minute, and a little 10 minute chair massage can perk up your day. This is a very easy Thursday habit to start. I get my 10 minutes at Love Nails in Fishkill, but this doesn't involve a car for Beaconites...

Be a Prize for the "Where Is This?" Contest

The "Where Is This?" Contest is a fun guessing game of locations in Beacon, where the winner is awarded a small prize from a Beacon shop in or near Main Street. Katie is out and about quite a lot in Beacon, pushing a stroller, shopping, working at coffee shops, you name it. On these outings, she snags obscure pictures of commonly seen locations in Beacon, NY 12508. Beaconites are challenged to guess where the picture was taken, and the first right answer wins the prize. Beaconites have enjoyed this contest so much, they even visit past pictures to test their knowledge just for fun. The contest was created to help people notice what they drive or walk by all of the time, but may not notice. And, to just feel that "I know it!" moment.

To be included in the grab bag of prizes for the "Where Is This?" Contest is free for local shops in Beacon. A new contest is posted at least one week apart, and if a good picture was taken. People find out about a new contest by way of their RSS feeds (and sometimes guess before it's shared!), BeaconCitizen, Facebook and Twitter. Each time you are a prize sponsor, you will get exposure in the following ways:

• Your logo on the Prize Sponsors page.
• A link to your website from the contest picture blog post.
• Mention of your company in the contest picture blog post.
• Mention of your company in links shared on BeaconCitizen.com, Katie's Twitter, and personal Facebook friend profile.
• Click here to see the contest archives for examples.

People who follow this contest are from:

• Beacon, NY
• Wappingers Falls, NY
• Fishkill, NY
• Poughkeepsie, NY
• Stormville, NY
• Parts of New Jersey
• Parts of Vermont

To be included in the prize bag, email Katie at khellmuth@gmail.com. She can work with you to coordinate a prize, especially if you are promoting something new. In the meantime, test your knowledge of Beacon!

Love Nails - Love Them! Rt 52 in Fishkill

Moving to Beacon from "The City" (by way of Manhattan) I needed my nail fix. And not just any fix. Must be able to accommodate a pedicure with ingrown toenail removal, and leg and chair massage, like More Nails on Broadway and W. 99th, where there are at least 4 chairs with hardly any wait, dedicated staff who know how to kindly but swiftly dig out an ingrown (where the corner of your nail slowly and throbbingly embeds itself into your skin), and who offer a chair massage. The kind of chair massage where you sit upright, leaning forward on a padded chair and have your back expertly kneaded. And, for my own personal oddity - where you don't have to do a lot of talking to your (what are they called?) nail person, where you can be a little anonymous and zone out to a couple of magazines.

Love Nails on Rt 52 behind the CVS and next to Golds Gym is such the place. And they have a cute rewards points program, where you get points with every purchase and can cash them in for payment toward more manicures, pedicures or massages. Or waxes!

Are you a mom and can't get away or don't want to justify a sitter for your baby? Here are some tactics you can take to escape to the nail salon if you have small children who don't feed themselves yet:

- Go on a Saturday when hubby is watching football. I call this Football Saturday. It's a fair trade. That's if he watches college football. Same applies to NFL on Sunday because Love Nails is open 7 days.

- Go when hubby or friends take their kids to Jumpin Jakes right next door. Then your ride is there!

- Have your hubby and baby do an errand to Babies R Us, and make it for a really specific thing that he'd need help finding, to prolong the trip (or that could backfire, maybe make it vague, although, if you do that, he may text or call you a lot during your pedicure or manicure).

- Bagel Deli is also in this strip mall, so the family could get lunch while you get worked on.

Enjoy!

Rickshaws Come to Beacon's Main Street

Spotted! I'd heard the rumors that rickshaws were coming to Main Street, and here they are! I'll see if I can get more information from the bike store that is behind this. Perfect!

Where is This? Hint: Give me a...!

Hey!
Where is this, Beaconites? If I told you what I was doing to come upon this phot, you'd guess it for sure!
Winner of this week's contest gets a coffee from Crumb! Who is now serving lunch sandwiches and soups!

New Raisin Oatmeal Cookies at Bank Square

I don't know what's going on here, but there is a shortage of chocolate chip cookies on the west end of Main Street. For today's work session, I've gone to Bank Square Coffee to have a decaf and a chocolate chip cookie, but alas, they are out, as was Crumb yesterday. The locals must have devoured them all on the unexpectedly sunny day this past Sunday.
This is a good time to test the oatmeal raisin cookie and tell you about Bank's new baker, Nature's Pantry Kitchen. The oatmeal raisin cookie is big and round and soft, with a spot on touch of cinnamon. The raisins aren't overpowering, and it's not too oat-y. There is another backup option for those who crave chocolate chips of a chocolate chip scone which looks pretty good, but I haven't tried it yet.
The blueberry muffin is a serious competitor to The Coffee House's. Bank's has a nice crumb topping, maybe an inch in thickness? And the blueberries are huge! And pop in your mouth. They are in the entire muffin, not just the top.
Ok, off to start my work session on this rainy day!

Chocolate Caramel Tart at Crumb

Warning: do not make this chocolate caramel tart at Crumb a daily habit, or you will really need double doses of Bootcamp at Hudson Valley Fitness.
Ruby and I visited Crumb today because I endured Bootcamp this morning. Ok, that's a lie. I did go to Bootcamp, but I do have a daily chocolate chip cookie habit, Bootcamp or not. I figure if I carry Ruby to the cookie source, I'll have worked off a fourth of it.
Make no doubt, this chocolate caramel tart is serious. Rich, dark chocolate. Sweet caramel, almost roasted in flavor, sitting atop a sturdy crust that yes you can pick up, and doesn't require a fork (only do this in the privacy of your own home). A party of four could easily split this after an accomplished shopping stroll down Main Street with a Crumb latte, or paired with a rich red wine from Artisan Wine Shop across the street.
Once again, Crumb is Yumb.

Easter Egg Hunt at Memorial Park - Right Now!

Didn't know about it until 15mins prior, but there is an Easter egg hunt right now at Memorial Park, with a folk band, a Beacon Bagel truck, and an Easter bunny! And shucks, just learned that we missed the 0-2 hunt, but we'll find an uncovered egg!

Shoe Repair Cobbler to Open in Beacon

According to this sign, a shoe repair store is set to open on Main Street and Willow on May 5, 2011. First spotted by a member if the Stroller Squad (just made that up right now) and texted to me, I thought you'd like to know as well.
I know which boots I've been needing to re-heel!!

Where is this? Hint: Oldtimers

Where is this Beaconites? The hint is Oldtimers. The sign in the picture says: "Remember, Stressed spells Desserts spelled backwards." Winner of this week's contest gets my coupon card from Homespun for 50% off a glass or bottle of wine during Homespun's new intimate evening dinner hours!

Answer in the comments below!