About a year ago, we received an email from Christine Coppa, the author of Glamour.com’s popular Storked! Blog. She dug our “I’ll Change the World Someday” onesie and wanted to feature it in a piece she was doing on cool onesies. We were, of course, flattered that Glamour had taken notice of our little company and even more excited when we made the cut and landed in the final Storked piece! Since then, JD (Christine’s son) has become quite the TR fan and vice versa. So, we were THRILLED when Christine told us that she was working on a novel about her experience of going from single city gal in Manhattan to suburban mommy in New Jersey after a surprise pregnancy and a no-show boyfriend handed her a major fork in the road. The result is a new novel called “Rattled” that mamas around the world will love.

Christine was kind enough to sit down and do a little Q & A with TR Owner, BreeAnne Clowdus, to share how she copes with being a single mom, how she found time to raise a kid AND write a novel and finally, and perhaps most importantly, why she loves Tiny Revolutionary! Be sure to read to the bottom where you can read a 16 page excerpt from the book!

BreeAnne: What is “Rattled” about?

Christine: Looking at the cover and reading the teaser you might think Rattled! is just a book about some young woman who got “knocked up,” but it has a universal theme. Rattled! is about a curveball or a fork in the road. It’s about something happening without warning and how I decided to deal with it. Life erupts all the time: You get pregnant when you weren’t planning to, your husband of 10 years announces he wants a divorce, you get laid-off, you have no idea what you want to do with the degree you just earned in college…and Rattled! is a metaphor for those unexpected things and more. I hope my story of how I leaped without looking is inspiring and reminds people the future holds many surprises and yes, they can be scary, but they are also wonderful. There are things in life that you do and things you don’t do—both turn into a page of your story. Every decision presents a new road. In my case, my decision to keep and raise my child solo set an unpredictable collapse of dominos. It’s been an incredible journey.

BreeAnne: What is your biggest challenge being a single mom?

Christine: Sometimes there just is no break. There are days when I have no visitors so that means even a ten-minute breather is happening while I cut up my son’s lunch or shampoo his hair, or when we’re watching Yo Gabba Gabba. People say I must enjoy the downtime when he’s napping or sleeping for the night. Yeah, no, that’s when I’m working at my computer, folding laundry or discovering a toy in the toilet bowl. My son keeps me on my toes. I love being his mother, even if he does wake me up every, single day at 6 A.M. I don’t really consider it a challenge. It’s just my life. It’s our life.

BreeAnne: How long did it take you to write the book and how in the world did you work in being a mom?

Christine: I started writing about my experiences two days after I took the pregnancy test, whether I typed a few thoughts down or wrote an entire journal entry. I started blogging exclusively for Glamour.com in July 07 and I sold my book in February 2008. I like to think that Rattled! was always in my head and to be honest I never thought I would have the time to write a 25-chapter book, flushing out my thoughts and blog entries. I wrote a lot of this book while I was working fulltime at First magazine and blogging fulltime for Glamour.com—and I was a fulltime new mom. It was a challenge and it was stressful but I like feeling under pressure. Writing this book and having it published is vindication. When I found myself pregnant, then single, I shed my skin and I wondered if my career would get lost in this new adventure. It didn’t. I was a writer before I got pregnant and I’m still a writer. Some people counted me out, but I never counted myself out. And I’m really excited for my son to know he played such an important part in my career in the sense that he encouraged me to be better, to push myself, to want something—to never give up on my dreams. Working, creating, makes me a better mom, because it is something that satisfies me. I don’t look at my friends and covet their careers and my yesterdays—I have an amazing career and more importantly, I have a beautiful son. I’m living the dream. I really am. It’s not the version I always I imagined, but it’s close enough. I wanted to be a freelance writer, write books and work from home so I could spend time with my children. I’m doing it. Is something missing? No. I’m just single at the moment.

BreeAnne: How did having a child change your life?

Christine: Come on! Everything changed! I have a little shadow following me around 24-7 and a hand in mine always. But, I knew everything would change. I was very realistic from the beginning and not lost on the fact that I would be changing diapers alone at 3 A.M. Change is good. The more tangible changes are moving from NYC to NJ, trading in my two-door accord for a Jeep, working from home and not a busy magazine office, spending Friday nights working or watching bad TV while my son sleeps…and more, all documented in Rattled!

BreeAnne: How did having a child change your world view?

Christine: This isn’t just the world I live in now. It’s the world my son lives in. He’s made me greener. We recycle together—it’s a game we play. “Paper in the bin!” I also found myself actively following this past year’s campaign and years past I admittedly did not pay attention. But this election, it wasn’t just about me. It was about my son’s healthcare, the crippling economy I’m working in, in an effort to provide for my son. A job I need. I’m a mother now and I can imagine how mothers must feel knowing their sons and daughters are in Iraq. I want my son to grow up in a peaceful, healthy, prosperous world.

BreeAnne: What initially drew you to Tiny Revolutionary?

Christine: I was researching onesies for an assignment I was working on. When I found Tiny Revolutionary I was hooked on the in-your-face logos and the fact that every, single article of clothing had a kind, positive message. I also admittedly hate generic matchy-match baby outfits. TR rocks and the quality of the clothing is superb! I just gave a friend some onesies JD wore and wore and wore—and outgrew and they look brand-new!

BreeAnne: Finally, how will you be celebrating mother’s day? 


Christine: With my son and my mom and my brothers. We’re going to have brunch and spend a lazy day in the park. I’m not fancy. Eggs and swings will do. And maybe a plant. I like to have plants on my windowsill, looking from the outside, in, it radiates pride. I have a lot of pride.

To purchase RATTLED, click here.

READ AN EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM RATTLED BY CLICKING BELOW!

To celebrate Earth Day 2009, I videoed our annual organic garden planting. We are shocked year after year that our very tiny backyard can produce as much produce as it does across the course of the summer months. For three months, in fact, I rarely have to purchase tomatoes or peppers at the store. That’s pretty impressive for 40 square feet! If you’re someone struggling to engage with the at-home food movement because you have a small yard, this video should give you plenty of inspiration and confidence that you too can enjoy this new movement in food production!

So, there’s this eco-conscious community called Serenbe that is about 30 miles south of Atlanta and has been a collective Tiny Revolutionary family obsession for a few years. It’s like, the promised land for us - progressive people living out a conscious life in an agrarian setting that is utterly breathtaking. This past Friday, Viv and I decided, on a lark, to take a drive down for the morning and grab a cup of coffee (and a Rice Krispie treat) and walk around the small village shops and play along the nature trails. When we stopped into the Blue Eyed Daisy to get said coffee and treat, the founder, Steve Nygren, came over to us and said, “Stay right there, I’ve got something to show you” and ran across the cobble stone street to his house and came back with a magical prize that Viv and I will never forget:

Hamlet was one pig too many for the mama pig who had just given birth and Steve and his family took Hamlet in to give him the special attention he needed. Thank you to Steve for the best coffee shop experience we’ve EVER had :).

Ok, so this might be the most boring topic on the planet but it’s actually really important and kinda fun once you get the hang of it. I’ve yet to find anyone explain it well but leave it to the Ideal Bite gals to come up with this great video:

Watch as our new organic “Peace” tee is printed. You’ll learn about our eco-friendly, waterbased inks and the care with which each Tiny Revolutionary tee is brought to life.

Check out our totally amazing Earth Day tee printed with the Native American Proverb: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” We’ll be carrying it in sizes 6M thru Youth 10! That’s right, this one will have youth sizes! Yay! The tee will be available 4/10!

A big part of what makes our company special is the tightly controlled supply chain that delivers a great, safe, non-toxic product to your kids every time.

Steve Clark, Owner of Zoink, is one of the key members of this supply chain. He prints everything in the Tiny Rev line. Here is an interview with Steve where he explains what our account requires and how we stand out among all of his clients as the most eco-conscious.

Ok, so it’s not available YET but you can get a sneak peak of the sample on my little girl, Vivianne. If you ask me, it’s one of our coolest organic tees yet!

Soon, everyone will be talking about non-phthalate water-based inks due to new CPSIA regulations which require all children’s clothing manufacturers to use them by 2/2010 instead of plastisol inks which contain the softening agent phthalate, known to be toxic if ingested. The great news is that Tiny Revolutionary has been printing with non-phthalate inks since mid-2008! Yep, we were totally ahead of the curve. As soon as our screenprinter shared the new Wilflex waterbased inks with us, we were onboard. They are a bit more expensive to use and require a higher degree of skill from printers but we thought they were worth it to remove even the slightest chance of toxic transfer to the babies and kids who wear our tee’s.

If you haven’t seen it yet, go check out this month’s issue of “Parents Magazine” because our This Shirt Saved a Life Giving Tee is featured in their “Chari-Tees” Goody Bag. Very cool spot and the response has already been amazing!