6.24.2014

Tunes: Love and The Outcome





This is the jammmmm!

Check check check it out!



You are bigger than any battle I'm facing//

You are better than anything I've been chasing//

Savior and Royalty the only hope for me//

Jesus, you are the King of my Heart! 


6.22.2014

For the Love of Vintage

I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone reading this that I started collecting vintage pieces right out of college. 
Oh how I love to get elbow deep in a bunch of CRAP to find a treasure. 
I started by collecting FUR. Now don't get all crazy and dump some red paint on me PETA lovers... they are ALL vintage and I would NEVER buy a new fur; neither do I condone raising animals for their gorgeous coats. 
My first purchase was a fabulous Blue Fox Fur right out of college which to this day may be one of my most favorite treasures I own. I went back to the consignment store probably 10 times until the owner practically gave it to my broke self!! LOL! Since then I have collected 3 stoles, 6 coats and close to 10 vests (the vest are also VEGAN fur). 
Today we went estate selling and I found the most fabulous MINK hat. I have been scoping out mink coats for a while and I think a certain someone maybe working some sneaky maneuvers for our upcoming anniversary...  {{Puhleaseeee say it's true!!!}}
Here is my preshyyyyy mink hat!

I also scored this intrinsically beaded top and leather skirt for 5 bucks each!
Woo-hoo! 
I'm sure you are thinking WHERE in the world do you wear a mink hat being a new mom and living in smoldering hot Texas....
Well today I pranced around my house in cut off demin shorts, washing dishes and playing with my mini man in it. Sure I didn't have on any make-up but I felt fabulous. So I'd say it was worth the whopping TEN BUCKS to invest in a piece that is worth well over 20x what I paid for it! 
Lemme know if you are on the hunt for some fur because you know I love to scour the racks at every sale and may just run across the perfect piece for you!! 
{I'm also way into silver, barware, china, crystal, tea sets and of course all things fashion}
{So stay tuned to see some of the fabulous silver and china I also snagged this weekend!} 
xx, 
Lauren

6.20.2014

My Best Friend's Wedding: Custom Couture Bridal Gown Designer

Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to sit in on a bridal gown fitting for my best friend, Jana. 
Jana is wearing her late grandmother's wedding gown and has selected couture wedding dress designer
 Nardos Imam to help create the vision she has for her gown. 
Y'all, as I walked into her studio I knew something great was happening here. 
The attention to detail in the design of the studio was incredible. 
They had lovely sketches for artwork, beautiful fresh floral arrangements in each room, and ornate detail to the entire design. 
The customer service was second to none. They brought sparkling water and helped me entertain my little man without hesitation. They gushed about how precious he is as he tore apart their studio. 
We talked future ready-to-wear collections, gold Chantilly lace and upcoming trips to Paris for fabric. 
I got to hear the heart of a designer where passion for my industry was apparent. 
Nardos was genuinely interested in my past endeavors in the industry and spoke of meeting in the near future to learn more. 
As we spoke of Jana's impending back surgery she had faith in Jesus Christ as her healer. 
Nardos unique talent to make such elegant, timeless and exceptional bridal and event dresses was astonishing. 
I absolutely love inspiring woman and Nardos was certainly that. 

Obsessed to say the least
He pulled all the under-pinnings out
{Boys will be boys...}
Some gorgeous impromptu sketches 

6.13.2014

Farewell Little Pink House

Well the time has come to sell our little pink house! 
I loved this precious little home. 
I love the sweet memories of Mitch and I remodeling, painting, landscaping, decorating, re- decorating and changing this home. I love that I spent my first pregnancy here and brought baby E home here. I love that is was humble and we put our hearts into making it our own! I love the long conversations with Mitch here about how no where feels like home except our home together anymore. I love that we built such a strong life together here. 
But by no means does this feel like our 'first home'. Mitch and I have spent a lifetime together. 
We are fortunate (and in some way unfortunate) enough to have walked a vast majority of life together. 
We started dating when I was 14 and Mitch was 15. Mitch and I fell madly in love so very very young. He told me he loved me and was so serious about his love for me. 
We broke up for 3 solid years while we both did some soul searching and ended up back together when I was 19 and he was 20. We moved in together a year later. Yup, you read that right we moved into a precious little 2 bedroom apartment together in Lubbock, Texas at 20 years old. I played house that whole year. I hung curtains, bought rugs, searched the Hobby Lobby clearance isle and turned that little space into a home for us. We cooked meals, hosted cook outs, played guitar hero, drank beer, and fell even more madly in love in that apartment. What a hard decision we made, to go against everything our families and society said about how to live your life. But we simply didn't care. We wanted to be together and we wanted it NOW. When you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you want it to begin immediately. So we threw caution to the wind and just lived! Without worrying about anyone else. Junior year of college rolled around and we wanted an upgrade, so we rented a 3 bedroom duplex in Lubbock. What a fun home that was! I bet I could have 30 friends write on this blog about the fun we had there. Mitch and I turned the garage into an entertaining center. We had full bar which probably had 50 signatures on the top by the time we moved out on it (Mitch found it in the ally and moved it in), we had carpet, music, beer pong table, games table, couches and anything else you can imagine. We spent so many fun nights singing at the top of our lungs in that garage. We had the most precious roommate, Brandon, who humored me alongside Mitch as I attempted to cook them meal after meal! We all were in business school and spent many nights studying (well I would study and they would mess around) at the kitchen table. After graduation Mitch and I spent a summer apart. Whoa, that was HARD! We had spent the previous summers road tripping, traveling to the beach and New York... and to all the sudden be apart... after being attached at the hip for years was really different for us. Well we didn't like it much so Mitch finally popped the question and I moved to Dallas to be with him! We lived with my parents for a short stint and decided to rent a cute little apartment at Austin Ranch in The Colony, Texas. What fun memories we had there. This is where we started our careers, where we dreamed big dreams for the future, where we committed our lives to live for the Lord and where we planned our wedding. It was such a whirlwind of a year with our long commutes and crazy schedules but we were so happy there. Before we tied the knot  I decided we needed something a tad bit fancier for our 'first married' home so we upgraded to a 3 storied condo at Austin Ranch. By this time life was in full swing and I didn't have time to decorate so our '1st married home' was the least decorated of all our homes! We had so much fun being newly weds in that condo while chasing down our career dreams! When we were finally ready to buy our '1st home' we searched long and hard and moved into our precious little pink home in North Dallas. This was another chapter in our beautiful love story. It was ours and we loved it. We finally had our own space to entertain and host house guests. We had Super Bowl parties, tons of cook outs, birthday parties and numerous out of town guests. We prayed, loved and had fun here. We fell even more madly in love in this house and turned a family of 2 into a family of 3. 
I thought I would be more emotional about moving out of this home but I feel like we finished a chapter there and that it's time to move on. 
The Lord reassures me that The best is yet to come! 
And honestly, a home is just a place to create memories!
Sure I am excited for our new home and all that entails but I am more excited about having a place big enough to have friends and family around to build more memories! A place to have more fun! And a place to fall even more madly in love (if that's even possible!) 
xx,
Lauren 

Photo Drop of our preshyyy little house!! 

Pieces collected from Granbury, Texas- Charleston, NC- Paris,
France- Rome, Italy- Gift from Iran- 

Mitch intalled the stair banister himself
Arrow from Santa Fe
Gun was Mitch's dads















6.11.2014

Fashion Industry + Baby

Since becoming a new mom I've had wayyy less time to work. 
I love being mom and I love the fashion industry. 
Finding a balance is really tricky, I'm a very hands on kind of mom. I've had a really hard time letting go of some of the control and having other's help a sista out! But we are getting there!! 
So this past year has been different! 
I started my career in wholesale and I absolutely, positively LOVE wholesale and hope to go back to it at some point! I loved traveling and being an insider on what trends are to come... I loved working with major stores like Neiman's and even getting to present collections at their largest managers meeting (Conclave). I loved meeting with the designers and them valuing my opinion on their designs (gasp)! I love looking back at the time one of the most incredible designers  kissed my check and told me "We are having a moment" (I still hope she was referring to her collection and our sales as a team! LOL!) I love remembering the feeling of getting a small collection I repped into Neiman's and getting the biggest bear hug from the owner of the line. I love it all. Seriously, LOVE it. Other girls would dread market and I would always look forward to it (sure, it's completely exhausting and some of the clients were batsh*z (pardon my french) crazy and girls can be horribly catty). But  overall I love it, and I look forward to a time when I am back in a showroom. 
Until then I will enjoy the freelance side of things. Sherilynn and I still have our company Tres Chic and enjoy styling, personal shopping and wardrobing our set group of clients! Also, I have had some other really FUN opportunities this year! 
I worked on some model portfolios, casted models for an agency, styled and produced a fashion show solo and
worked on an incredible billboard shoot!
Here are some photo's below of the billboard shoot below: 
Baby E was on set with us :) 






For this shoot I got to work with world renowned photographer Wade Livingston
He is ca-razzzzzy good! It was an honor to work as the stylist for such a big name!! 
Check out his work here.
The theme for the shoot was "futuristic" and I had a blast putting together the looks. 
The hair and make-up turned out awesome as well! 
I can't wait to see the finished product in Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami! 

Another super awesome opportunity was working 
New York Fashion Week!!!
I have always dreamt of going to NYFW and never imagined I would be apart of the styling crew for a show for my very first time "in the tents"! 
I worked under the astounding stylist Shauna Mccann {check out her work here} at the Mark & Estel show- note I used to work in a showroom where we repped Mark & Estel- I LOVE their line and actually wore it to my baby shower and home from the hospital when I had baby E!! 
Here is a peek at my behind the scenes pic's! 













Mah gurl Eliot! Love her! 



How we watched the show from back stage 


The energy behind the scenes was crazy- there were reporters EVERYWHERE- the models were stunningly beautiful- the clothes were perfection and it was our responsibility to make sure every last detail was in place! We ironed, steamed, static cling sprayed, touched, re-touched, tied, taped, rolled and more. Shauna's styling was incredible and the show was a hit! Mark & Estel are musical artists as well and rocked out during their show!! 
Here are some 'borrowed' IG photos I found!




I've worked tons of local Dallas Fashion Shows in the past. 
I've worked for a plethora of producers and love the feeling of a good show. 
Honestly, it reminds me SO much of cheerleading- the adrenaline- the smell of hairspray- the performance aspect- the music- the lights- Love it all! 

Y'all can watch the full show here
I am thankful to have a place to record so many work memories! I hope to look back at these small milestones in a bigger picture! 

xx, 
Laur