Playing Make Believe

I'm decorating a house we haven't moved into. In fact, we haven't even found one. Yet, I've found myself stuck on Anthropologie's website putting together my imaginary house.  It's my favorite part of their brand- the home section. I will, reluctantly, admit I have a shoebox of knobs I've slowly collected from rummaging through their store sales -bought with the 'I'll use these someday' mentality- and truly believing that- but secretly liking them just as much sitting in the box. We do have to move soon, so the itch to redo and redecorate has started to creep into my brain. We've had no luck (yet) in finding our new home, so until then, it's scouring the internet till midnight on a Friday playing make believe with my online finds.

Cupcake Cravings

I came across this Creature Comforts blog post and it got me obsessing about cupcakes again.  I'm not a cook.  God bless my husband who politely compliments my cooking, even though Im pretty sure I put breakfast sausage in the pasta last week.  I'm not a baker either, but I've always enjoyed trying.  Even as a kid my mom would find me in the kitchen at midnight covered in flour, pans spilling outta the sink, baking away. Sometimes (okay a lot of times) I'd forget an ingredient or mix up a measurement and, well, things don't always taste the same when you use baking powder instead of baking soda or forget the eggs completely.
So when we came across the book "A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes" at a Crate & Barrel Outlet store a couple years ago, my baking wheels starting turning again. The recipes are pretty intense but the outcomes are incredible! Granted, it often took 8 hours over the course of 2 days to come up with 10 cupcakes but (almost) always worth it. Yes, sometimes Im still up at midnight pouring over a recipe, but nowadays I always remember the eggs.

Picking out what recipe I'll attempt for the Fourth--(better start tonight so we'll have them by Sunday!)

Examiner Interview with Mimi & Lu

Check out this interview with examiner.com! Love the shout out to my grandma at the end. Thanks to Parmeeta Ghoman for the great article. You can check out her other pieces & follow her on twitter too!
Click Here to read my interview- you just might learn something new!

Andie Earrings now available!!

The Andie earrings are emerging as an early favorite of this most recent collection. They are hammered with texture and accented with three offset stones. Choose from Turquoise, Red Coral, White Pearl or Gold, Silver or Bronze Czech Fire Polished glass.

They are one of the preview pieces I have selected to launch on the website and are marked at a discounted price for a LIMITED TIME. Order soon!!

A Day in LA

Yesterday, I dropped Lucca off at his brother's house and spent the day up in and around L.A. I was so excited to finally meet the girls at J.Serraino- a boutique in Valencia, CA. They've been super supportive of my line for years and since my reps always took care of in store appointments, I only knew their voices from phone calls over the years. It was great to put faces to the names and if you live or visit the Santa Clarita area, you must stop in to their boutique. Aside from the great lines they carry and fantastic finds- they are so sweet and welcoming & I guarantee you will enjoy your shopping experience. Plus, they will be receiving a new shipment of mimi & lu in the next few weeks!
After Valencia, I headed to downtown LA's garment district to do some research and supply shopping. I've avoided L.A. like the plague and it was about time I headed down and spent some time there. It was Market week so there was  a lot going on.  Since I'm still on the hunt for the perfect ribbon for my packaging, I checked out all the trim stores (still haven't found the perfect match!) and then headed out of downtown towards the beach areas.

My last stop was at M.E. and Blue in Venice. If you haven't been to this boutique you have to go! M.E. repped my line when I was first getting started and today has her own store and clothing line. I love what M.E. has transformed this bungalow space into. Especially the mural on the exterior. You can't miss it driving down the street. I spent a couple hours catching up and talking shop and left with a cute,  casual one shoulder dress in purple. (I finally added something to my wardrobe that's not white, black or gray!) And I love it.
Picked a tired Lucca up after a 13 hour day and we are both spending today catching up. (him on sleep, me on work!)

Lately, I've been lagging with the blogging. And not cause I'm being lazy, or distracted by Oprah & Ellen or putting the dog before my work (ok, sometimes but he is hard to ignore) but because it simply feels like there aren't enough hours in the day. I know I'm not alone in that feeling either. Everyone is trying to do everything at once and I'm no different. If assistants would work for coffee and compliments, I'd have 10.

Mostly, Ive been busy putting this new collection together. Sometimes collections just sorta fall into place while other times it takes a lot of tweaking, reworking and editing to get it to a point where Im happy with it. This time around it was the latter.

Thought I'd share some of the pieces in this new collection. It's available to retailers first but will be (in part) on the website not too long after so keep your eyes peeled!!

(see a must have piece? email me for info and to be the first notified when it's available)