I can't explain it beyond the fact that for some random, probably insignificant series of events that have culminated into me being probably the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. A very bold statement, and I plan to back it up with careful reasoning and evidence, but I needed to start this post with that simple and clear point.

It happened around 4pm today, I got an email from Jeff on an otherwise uninteresting and boring day saying that we were featured in the LA Times. It took me a second to register, and a few minutes for this to sink in, but eventually it did, and I realized how significant this really is for DressMonkey, and for me. No matter how small the print, placement, or even tone of the article, this has brought me up onto a high greater than anything I've experienced before. One thing that no book about business, no professor, nor anybody thinking they know anything can tell you is how you'll feel when risks that you have taken, crazy ideas which made sense to no one but yourself, and late nights spent slaving away for some distant and undefined goal are all somehow legitimized. Thats exactly how I feel right now, I don't know why it happened, I really don't but I feel absolutely amazing. Someone in a position to supply even a shred of legitimacy to this crazy-ass thing we call DressMonkey has just bestowed upon me something that is beyond words, and beyond value. This is why I was poor for a year and a half, barely eeking by by the seat of my pants. This is why I took the bus and ate dumplings every day. This is why I missed Ziggy Marley (one of my now favorite reggae artists) when he came to Shanghai because I couldn't afford to go. This is why I worked 14 hour days at home. This is what being an entrepreneur is all about.

Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone public, seen an enormous spike in orders, or passed even the beginning of the hard parts that will surely surface over the next few years. But what we have done is achieved our first moment of solid, serious recognition and that has brought me to a mood and feeling far beyond money or material things ever could bring.

I should note that I've had a pretty difficult few months up until now. Our order levels weren't increasing the way we had hoped, my girlfriend left me, and I was in utter disarray for a solid chunk of time there. That came out in apathy towards blog posting among other things that I feel are now well behind me. And then things started to turn around a few weeks ago. We got a solid set of order volumes, new press, our wicked awesome movie finally came out, and we got some spankin new fabrics up online. I cannot begin to tell you how opposite I feel now of my former self. I told my friends today that I was on Cloud 17, and it's true.

I'm not looking to promote anything, tell you a funny story, or do anything but vent my happiness in this post. I have no explanation for my overwhelming sense of joy, (well, maybe part of it was because a LA Times reporter called my product descriptions 'hilarious') I have never felt so reinvigorated about anything in my entire life. This feeling I'm having right now is why I started this company, this is why I'll continue to do work for this company, and this is why I don't have a single regret about anything, not one. Time to drink a bottle of champagne for the first time ever that I paid for by myself, this company, and we deserve it.