QUICK OVERVIEW

I've been slightly absent - but don't panic.

This month has been absolutely insane and a lot of things are happening at once. My schedule has been packed with so many different projects, while my mind is filled with what's next. Anyway, here's the deal - this is a quick little recap of events and I'm sure I'll get into half of them in more detail soon.

Earlier this month, I met up with Robbie and Marlana from the band Milo Greene in San Diego. If you haven't heard their self titled album yet then you really should. Trust me on this.

They're super talented and also incredibly humble and down to earth. Their performance at the Casbah was the last of their recent tour and hearing their stories about that and their appearance on Jay Leno just days earlier was pretty interesting.



I headed up to Downtown to check out Unique LA. I missed out on the one in the summer and didn't want to this time around. It was pretty cool - I saw a lot of the same jewelry designers and artists from similar types of events but Unique LA is definitely bigger so I discovered some other stuff as well.



This handmade and painted pottery was one of the things that really caught my eye - definitely really different and I personally liked the style a lot.



The weekend after that I was determined to be in two places at once - LA and San Diego. Mr. Kate launched her Spring/Summer collection in Venice Beach at the Altered Space Gallery so I browsed through that and chatted with Kate quickly. The new designs look awesome - she always does a great job with creating such cohesive collections.

Right after that it was off to the Locale Magazine event at the Hard Rock in San Diego where the new SD edition was launched. I've been writing for Locale for a couple months now and it's cool to see the magazine grow and expand to the San Diego area.



On 12.12.12 I was up in the Central Coast - even though things are busy, it's nice to take at least a couple days away from the computer.



More and more I've been getting into shooting stills/vids for fashion brands. Obviously, designing and creating is such a dream, but I love expanding my realm of creativity and venturing out to new aspects of that. Here are a couple behind the scenes photos from a recent shoot I did for a fashion brand - they brought in 70 tons of snow and penguins. Anyway, I'm working on the video edit now so maybe someday I'll let you check it out.

Goofing off at the shoot

If you're a real stalker you may have noticed that I've been hinting at the idea of something pretty exciting happening and if you stay tuned then you'll see what I've been up to and a huge chunk as to why I've been behind on my blog game. Again, more sneak peeks. Soak it up.



For years, since I've started designing, I've carried around a notebook for any 'on the fly inspiration'. A few years ago, I made it a personal requirement to carry a moleskine and this year I stepped it up and got the Daily Planner edition. It's sort of a tangible item that acts as a reminder that so much of what I've been working toward in the last year is coming into to place. Plus, now I'll be able to (hopefully) keep track of my life/deadlines a little more - there are extra pages in the back for quick sketches too. Best of both worlds.

BRIANA RENE BOUTIQUE : OC MART MIX

Over the summer I profiled jewelry designer Briana Ellison.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that she has a boutique located at the OC Mart Mix called Briana Rene. Anyway, I went to visit her there recently. We caught up and chatted and she also showed me a few of her favorite pieces that she currently has stocked for the Winter.



I was really excited to see that the Black Sheep Olivia dress was showcased - I think it's safe to say that Bri and I both share a love for that brand. I'm actually wearing the lacy Star Gazer here and love it - which makes me want to get my hands on the Olivia dress too - badly.



Briana's creativity definitely translates well from her jewelry designs to the store set up - there's not only super cute pieces, but it's also curated really nicely. Speaking of the products she stocks, she had a story behind almost all the pieces there. For instance, these Saako scraves are handmade in Barcelona, where Bri studied abroad for awhile. She loved them so much that when she decided to open her boutique years later, she knew she wanted to showcase the scarves - Briana was actually the first American retailer to start carrying these. Since then, this brand has trickled into other stores in the US as well, but I thought that Briana being the first was really cool.

Briana Rene Studded Wrap Bracelets- Genuine leather with 14k gold-fill chain

Anyway, thanks to Bri for letting me barge in and snap a ton of photos at her store. If you want to see more, along with 5 top holiday picks from the Briana Rene Store take a gander at Locale Magazine's site and check out the post I wrote.

Love this DIY ladder light fixture that Briana made herself.

LIFE IN IPHONE PHOTOS - NOVEMBER EDITION

Out my window - Solvang

Birthday Sparks

Blythe

Who invited the Herbivore

NOVEMBER

November is a big month for me...

Of course, there's Thanksgiving and I always spend time back in Scottsdale with my family. My birthday rolls around in there mid-month and this year I ended up in Santa Barbara Wine Country. But also November marks a sort of sentimental anniversary - a year ago this month is when the idea of Hanger Shortage came about and the vision came to life. I was doing freelance fashion design work in Los Angeles and even though I was grateful, I also wanted more. I was designing 8 hours a day but I still came home with so much pent up creativity that needed to be let out.









I have a ton of long term goals that I want to accomplish, which I won't exactly get into right now, but the idea to meet with other creative entrepreneurial women and get inside their heads and closets sounded like the perfect start to it all. And I wanted everyone else who has an interest in these amazing influential designers and artists to see the depth of their creativity through fun personal videos. Last November I filmed the first two Hanger Shortage vids and in the midst of editing them both myself, I was simultaneously working on the Hanger Shortage branding/website and not to mention freelancing on top of it all. The schedule has been pretty hectic - I've got about 5 hours of sleep a night for the past year.



Looking back now, this has actually been the fastest year of my life, which is strange considering I was literally awake for most of it - you'd think that if you slept through it all, that's when it would go by quicker. But I actually don't mind that I didn't get my beauty rest - when you want something so bad and want to see your ideas come to life exactly how you've envisioned it, you need to be willing to put in the time - it's beyond rewarding.





I've had the opportunity to meet so many awesome people this year and I'm so thankful because they're what inspire me when it's 4am and I'm grumpy at my computer trying to do a million things at once. Thanks to everyone who takes a second to skim the blog and watch the vids. There's a lot coming up and I'm really excited to share it all.