leaving the nest

I am once again finally moving out of my parent's house

not until the end of the summer, but I have already started the apartment search and found the perfect one!

I have some furniture from when I was living on my own before, but not enough to fill this spacious one bedroom

I am so excited that I can't help but already be looking for decor and furniture for the apartment.

I already have a lot of shabby chic items in black, ivory and other neutral colors as well as a dusty plum color- not exactly the best describing word but I mean, its not a color you see every day. to make this apartment home, I am really liking the idea of continuing the neutral color scheme and the interesting purple but adding a light sage green touch.

here are a few neutral colored staple pieces that caught my eye:

available at: Urban Outfitters $659.00

I love this sofa; but it is not practical for a cozy, comfortable living room.

available at: Urban Outfitters $10

super cute and only $10 each!

available at: Urban Outfitters 2 for $25

this is a great and inexpensive way to hang multiple pictures; frames can be so expensive!

available at: Urban Outfitters $42

this pillow is still feminine but not too feminine

available at: Urban Outfitters $42

this pillow is a mix of screen printed buttons as well as actual buttons. love it

available at: Urban Outfitters set of 2 for $39 

these bird cage book ends would add a nice touch to any bookshelf.

so many places offer such cute home decor for even cheaper than what I have found

if you are looking into moving into a new place; I recommend looking at places like:

- Ikea

- Z Gallerie

- Crate & Barrel

- Target

- TJ Maxx Home Goods

- Urban Outfitters & Anthropologie

as well as any boutique furniture stores you may come across.

one of my personal favorites is Tuvalu in Laguna Beach, CA

happy shopping! xox.

debut 2011

the annual FiDM Debut Show was last night at the Barkar Hanger in Santa Monica

I went, for the third year in a row, and loved it like I always do.

we were running a little late and missed the beginning of the show where they have a small runway show showcasing work done by the costume design major and also what they call "Chairing Styles" where interior design, textile design, and fashion design collaborate to create a fabric pattern that is used in a chair as well as a dress.

we made it just in time for the actual show where the Advanced Study Fashion Design students showcase their work.

this year there were 10 designers that produced wonderful garments.

men's, women's as well as children's wear was created and each line had a very specific inspiration.
I did not get great pics due to where my seat was; but here are a few pictures of a number of the collections:

this collection was inspired by the 50's

this was inspired by a video game

 this collection was inspired by the 30's

this was a complete knitwear collection; inspired by Russia

this was a collection done by Paul Hernandez; it was the last collection of the show and my absolute favorite. he used black, ivory, cheetah, and coral and had a lot of girly, ruffled pieces.


for those of you who live in CA; I recommend trying to go to the show next year.
xoxo.

avant garde

I was recently out shopping with my mom at a mall near my apartment

we went into a number of stores that I frequent, one of them being a small shoe store called Eilatan, which is Natalie backwards.

I originally went in there to see the Jeffrey Campbell's they had in stock as well as some of the  gladiator sandals and wedges, which are my favorite shoes to wear during the summer.

I did not find a pair that I was crazy about which sucked

but I did find some shoes that were pretty crazy for anybody to wear on a daily basis

that humongous flower is attached to those simple black pumps

crazy wooden heel!

side and back view of the same pair.

these are my favorite and definitely the most wearable.

I love finding crazy stuff like this that is so creative.

I wish I remember who had made them. 

I promise if I find out to let you all know! :)

xoxo.

as I have said in previous posts, I work at Active Ride Shop.

I have worked in retail for nearly four years now and this is the first job I have had that has a smaller corporate office.

because of this it gives each individual shop a lot of freedom in how they present the product within the store.

some of my previous jobs have been so controlled by corporate that a sales associate could only dream of being in charge of the appearance of a section or what the mannequin will wear.

at Active it is a totally different story.

in the four months I have been an employee there I have had several opportunities to merchandise the wall on the women's side as well as dress the mannequins and merchandise above the shoes (where our shop showcases a lot of the product we have through merchandising)

here are a few images of some of the merchandising I have done:

- hurley tank top

- RVCA khaki pants

- TOMS black wedges

- RVCA cropped top

- hurley black and white striped tank

- milkyway layered lace tank

- hurley tank

- obey jealous lover jacket layered over a striped RVCA tee

- RVCA sweater over a RVCA top with shoulder detail

- ezekiel wrap sweater layered over an ezekiel tank (featured on mannequin on shelf)

- brown leather obey jacket layered over RVCA lost forever top (bought this top and I love it; there is an open triangle section on the back with button details)

- brown leather obey jacket layered over milkyway top with leopard shoulder detail

- RVCA bomber jacket

- Ci'Sono leather jacket over a hurley tank

-brixton vamp flannel layered over RVCA lady like ghost chant tank 

 I never would have realized how much I enjoy doing the visuals like this in a store had I not come across the position I have at Active

the women's section in our specific shop makes up about 15% of the entire store, we do not have that much product

this makes merchandising even more of a challenge for the women's side.

but I love it and totally love my job!
the assistant manager of the store has recently called me the backbone of the women's section and depends on me for the merchandising for most of the shop.
what an amazing job this has become


if you are out of work I recommend that you work hard to find a job you love, regardless of the pay or if it is exactly what you are looking for.
being enthusiastic about your job will get you far with the company.


xoxo. 

I have lived in California for nine months,

and in the past nine months I have lived in two different apartments.

at both apartments I have had a lot of difficulty trying to effectively organize all of my jewelry.

I have always wanted a nice jewelry box but I did not want to spend a couple of hundreds of dollars on it,

so I looked at a number of my favorite low-priced home decor stores (Ikea, Target, etc.) and continued to have no luck finding something that would hold all of my jewelry..

Thankfully I have finally  found a solution.

this is a magnetic strip and small magnetic hooks that I found at The Container Store.

it isn't the most beautiful solution but it is an option that I can organize my necklaces however I want and add or take away hooks depending on the amount of jewelry I have.

I used this magnetic strip to hang my long necklaces

I was in serious need of a solution for my many pairs of earrings

my mom found this earring tree at TJMaxx HomeGoods for $10

it is an ivory, metal tree with a little bird at the top.

very simple but cute and useful! I have 13 pairs of earrings hanging and still room for plenty more!

this jewelry tray was also found at the HomeGoods store for a decent price

it allows me to display my rings and bracelets in an organized and very visible way.

my final solution for my jewelry issue is this pegboard with hooks

I bought this square of pegboard from Target for $5! 

I hung it with a cute ribbon and bought hooks for the various pieces I decided to hang from it

.

in my old house, before I moved to California, I had an enormous walk in closet

I had pegboard similar to this on one of the walls that held all of my accessories

being in an apartment did not give me this sort of luxury

so finding a solution until I am willing to spend the money on a nice jewelry box was very exciting.

having my jewelry organized in this way makes me feel as if I am practically shopping for jewelry every time I accessorize my outfits.

it makes getting ready an even more fun process. 

I hope this post gave you all some ideas for you to get organized!

xoxo.

(the picture upload issue is obviously resolved! sorry for the bad picture quality of these though. I used an application on my phone that did not give me the best picture)

every spring FiDM has a Debut Show at the Barkar Hanger in Santa Monica.

I have been fortunate enough to go the past two years, when I still lived in a completely different state, and did not officially attend the school;

and was thankfully able to get my hands on tickets for this year's show

as it says in the name, the Debut Show's purpose is to debut select students work from the fashion design major.

the show has been completely different each year.

the first year I went they did an entire collection as a tribute to Barbie and Ken for Barbie's 50th Anniversary.
the previous year was a tribute to Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland
I can't wait to see what is in store for this year..

this gown was the final piece of the final collection from the Debut Show in 2009. definitely my favorite from the show. seeing it in person is so incredible.

I promise to take plenty when I go to the show next Friday to share with all of you! 
xoxo.



milk & cookies

I am currently working at Active Ride Shop

it is a smaller skate, surf shop that has guys brands such as Obey, RVCA, Krew, etc.

and girls product from some of my favorite brands such as; Timing, Milkyway, Audrey, etc.

as of today, we are one of the few stores in all OC to sell the TOMS for toddlers and kids.

this is a huge deal! because of this, we are having an art show on March 12; the event is called Milk & Cookies.

yes, milk & cookies will be offered throughout the afternoon.

we also are showcasing art work done by children.

for those of you who don't know about TOMS here is a little bit of background,

it all started with a guy named Blake.

he traveled to faraway places and during his travels to Argentina he befriended some children and found they had no shoes to protect their feet.

as a result he created TOMS, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of shoes for a child in need.

the TOMS sell like crazy in our store location;

we have always offered women's and men's TOMS but this will be new having Tiny TOMS.

anyway; whats so great about the event is that children can come and decorate their own TOMS. this will obviously require the purchase of a pair, leading to a kids to kids exchange.

www.toms.com