Recently Acquired . . .

thelookbookphilosophy — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:29:48 +0000

Spaghetti strap sundress: Young Fabulous + Broke c/o Wasteland $15 | Perforated cropped faux leather jacket : BCBG c/o Wasteland $35 | Double Gold Buckle Sandals: Bamboo c/o Veronica M. $25 | Gold Scissors Necklace: Erica Weiner c/o Wasteland $60

Found all these fabulous things during my Mother’s Day weekend excursion last Saturday. Had really been wanting to find a black sundress that was long enough for me. The cropped leather jacket was really a find. You know I just LOVE anything black + leather! But this jacket has a really beautiful silhouette. And it’s just lightweight enough for summer evenings. The Erica Weiner scissor necklace was another yummy find for me. I love the detail of the scissors and I feel they represent me in so many ways, from my industry (cut+ sew) to the crafting side of me, and even my personality. I like to think of myself as constantly cutting away @ the parts of myself that I want to refine and change as I go thru life. In the end, I hope I will have created a much more sensitive, loving and giving me. . . too deep? . . . . Ok, well how about I just like scissors!!!! ☺

BTW, the gold buckle sandals were a great find. I paid $25 for them @ Veronica M. but I just saw them today @ Citiwear for $13!!! Great pair of sandals for the summer. Especially @ that price!

Happy Hunting!

Sneak Peek: Our NEW Cross Body Chain Strap bag!!!!

thelookbookphilosophy — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:37:35 +0000

Her name is “Valor.” Can’t wait to formally introduce you to her!

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!!!

xo,

Life in Pictures | Mother’s Day Weekend

thelookbookphilosophy — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:39:23 +0000

Hey guys! I trust life is treating you wonderfully!! To all my Mommies out there, Happy Belated Mother’s Day!! How did you choose to spend your day of recognition? I had a fantastic weekend. On Saturday I had a girl’s day with my friend Nikki. It’s been a minute since we hung out. We spent the day in LA, visiting some of my fav shops on Melrose. Btw, Melrose Ave is NOT what it used to be. It’s been a few years since I visited Melrose, and it wasn’t the same even then, but I won’t complain too much because my favorite stores Wasteland + SLOW are still there. Wasteland was having a major sale and I scored 3 great pieces that I had been searching for. You know how you have a running mental list of key items that you want to add to your wardrobe? I love that I found 3 of them all at once!! Happy Mother’s Day to me!! Anyway, we had lunch @ a great Mediterranean restaurant called Cayenne on Beverly. BEST. GREEK. SALD. EVA.!!! It was such a beautiful day. I was even able to squeeze in some location scouting for the photo shoot when we got back to Pasadena. Sunday was family day. What a blessing it is to spend time with the ones you love. Couple that with great food and weather and you got a very happy me!!! What did you guys do? I hope you were able to spend your weekend exactly the way you wanted to . . . . and now it is already WEDNESDAY!!! I can hardly believe we are already @ mid-week!!!

Hey, can you keep a secret? Earlier this week I received some images of the new samples from the factory!! I will share a sneak peak with you tomorrow. This is so exciting!!! Progress makes me happy.

Well, I hope your Wednesday is fabulous. Go forth and create!!

Write the Vision Down . . .

thelookbookphilosophy — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:19:41 +0000

Playing in my Vision Book today. Gathering ideas for the new line. There’s so many ideas floating around in my head. Sometimes the only way I can calm my brain down is to get then out visually. That gives me something to focus on and helps me to organize my thoughts so that I can make them cohesive for the customer . . . and myself for that matter!!!

What kinds of things do you do to gather your ideas?

ReDecor Project | Phase II: Project White-Out

thelookbookphilosophy — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:53:30 +0000

How yall doin? It’s been a minute since I touched base with you. I hope life is treating all of you well. My plate has been pretty full lately. All good stuff though. I’ve sort of fallen back into my old Project Manager role by coordinating, furnishing + installing my brother’s house. It’s so much fun, I could do this all day long, takes a lot of organization and planning, but I swear interior decor is my 3rd calling… (I won’t tell you what my 2nd calling is . . . I’ll just let your little minds ponder on that one! tee hee hee.) But I digress . . . naturally, as life would have it, I started back on my own ReDecor project, which was never really finished in the first place. The focus this time is my bedroom/office. I (translation: Rob) have painted myself into total and utter happiness! Who would’ve thought the color white could make one so happy!! I’ve been wanting to do a white-out for a while and it was well worth the wait. I feel like I am shedding my old skin!! We get so much beautiful sunlight in our bedroom throughout the day, and now our room is starting to take on a really fresh + crisp vibe. We have one accent wall (I guess when it came down to it I couldn’t totally give up color) and the rest are white, even the floor is white! Very Scandanavian . . . ☺ Anyway, the room is in flux, but I will post pics as soon as we (translation: he) is done. I snapped this pic of [the cleaner side of] my desk this morning. The new paint job just might make working out of my bedroom a little more bearable . . .

p.s. do you like my poster? It’s another one I designed specifically for my office. Just a friendly reminder to self . . . one can never have too many!

Instantaneous Obsession: Jil Sander Nicaso Tote . . . Yessss!

thelookbookphilosophy — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:16:30 +0000

Does “Nicaso” mean Dope?

$2,300 here.

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody . . . !

thelookbookphilosophy — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:11:53 +0000

April is full of birthdays of people I love. Today happens to be my brother’s birthday! In honor of him I am posting the new trailer for the movie The Great Gatsby which features a song he wrote + produced for the soundtrack. The song features Fergie + Q-Tip.

In highschool we had to read The Great Gatsby for English Lit. I gotta be honest, it was not one of my favs. But the previews and trailers for this movie look amazing! I am really excited to see it, and even more excited that my brother was asked to be a part of it. He continues to inspire me and make me proud every day + I love him dearly. . . . of course this was not always the case. He was QUITE ANNOYING as a younger brother. During our elementary, jr. high and high school days, he basically lived to torture and irritate me. He could make me madder than anyone else on earth! Even he will admit that his favorite form of entertainment (other than Super Mario Bros.) was seeing how mad he could make me. Unfortunately, at the age of 12, I had yet to master the act of playing it cool. Growing up, we were always supportive and protective each other. My mom even says we “spoke our own language,” and that when we’d get together, it was hard for her to get a word in. We had inside jokes that we’ve carried on to this very day. But when we got to college, that’s when I feel like we REALLY became friends. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him and vice versa. It’s a real blessing to have that and I don’t take it for granted. It’s been a joy to watch him grow into the man he is today.

So on that note, Happy birthday Goon!!!! I love you!!!

Caught on Tape . . . . er, well . . . Film to be exact . . !

thelookbookphilosophy — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:53:19 +0000

Reston + Nadiya, Summer 2012 | All images by Earthtone Photography

Hello friends + Happy Monday! Today happens to be my dear friend Loreta’s birthday. In honor of her, I am doing this post to share some of her blessed talent with you. These beautiful images were taken by Loreta of Earthtone Photography. I did an interview with her back when the blog was a newbie. God brought Loreta into my life on my son’s first day of Kindergarten. Her amazing daughter Olivia was in the same class as Reston. After dropping off our kiddies we struck up a conversation and ended up standing outside the school talking for 3 hours straight!!! Needless to say, we quickly formed a sibling-like bond. I could go on and on about the similarities we share, and the differences that make her an inspiration to me. But that is for another post. I just wanted you guys to see how utterly talented she is. We did this photo shoot last summer. It was so much fun working with her. I have so much respect for people who photograph children + babies. It takes A LOT of patience and a great personality. Loreta has both, and she worked her magic on our shoot. It really was a joy to watch her in action. I’m super excited to be working with her again as we gear up to shoot the new handbag line in the next few weeks. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on that project. I can’t wait!!!! I also can’t wait to get these fab photos up on my walls!!! Happy Birthday Lo. You never cease to amaze me!!!!

With Childlike Abandon . . .

thelookbookphilosophy — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:09:38 +0000

Venice Beach | 4.9.13

Spring break is off to an amazing start for the kiddies. They haven’t been home much and they are loving it! Yesterday they spent the day with their cousin and had a spur of the moment sleep over. Uncle Jamahl took them to the beach late in the evening (I opted out of this adventure because it was soooo windy and cold. The thought of getting sand in the fro was extremely unappealing). He texted me back this picture and I just fell in love. I love kids. I love how cold, sleet, sandstorms, hail or thunder doesn’t mean a thing to them. They wanted to get in the water and ran straight for it. It didn’t matter that they did not have a change of clothes, that their shoes and socks would be wet, that they would be cold upon exiting the water and have to spend the rest of the evening in their underwear! I love that about children. It’s something I have to remind myself that I used to have, and can have again if I choose to let go. So that was my lesson learned yesterday.

Maybe a fro full of sand isn’t so bad after all. ☺

Enjoy this day!

Well Booted . . .

thelookbookphilosophy — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:57:50 +0000

Servio Rossi Boots ♥♥♥

This lovely image via

I‘m sure you can probably see through my blogging bluffs and antics and realize that [sometimes] when I post inspiration shots it means I have not had time to sit and gather my thoughts into what I would like to think is a coherent, somewhat entertaining post. Notice I said sometimes . . . I’m pointing this out because this is true for today. But also I just really LOVE these boots and wanted to share them with you. Plus I just love the blogger’s descriptive post about when she received said boots in the mail. I was right there with her and knew that I would have had the same reaction!! Visit A Portable Package for a quick adrenaline rush fueled by this special delivery. I swear I could have written that same post!!

Anyway, the kiddies are off visiting Abuela for the weekend and now I pretty much have NO excuse as to why my workspace is looking like Ground Zero in a paper snowstorm. Yeah, I know. Thats what happens when you come face to face with your own perfectly refined procrastination skills. Well, at least for me, what happens is that I begin to blubberingly confess the aforementioned skills to others in a feeble attempt to hold myself accountable. Which is pretty much what you have just read 4 lines above. See, my thinking is that now that you know that I have no excuse, I will have to clean my workspace because NOW YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE NO EXCUSE!!! And then I can come back and tell you how refreshed I feel because when I sit down to write my next post, I won’t be hunched over and pinched in between a 15″ wide space of cascading books and papers (topped off with a nice stack of neatly folded laundry . . . don’t ask…) Well, thats the goal for today guys.

Baby steps . . . ☺