Halloween!

Yes, I'm back...sorry for the delay in posting, I have made a goal to write every Sunday even if it is just a quick thought.
I love Halloween, I don't know if it has to do with the chill in the air, the excuse to dress up, or the sweet treats, decorating, the beautiful foliage...or due to the fact I used to work in a costume shop the greater part of my life and I had an excuse to dress as a different character every day. The costume shop is actually run through The Hale Centre Theatre, a live theatre in Utah. The costumes were authentic and weren't your typical run of the mill superheros, rather real renaissance velvet crushed bodesses, draped with gems along the neckline. Most of the costumes were used in the plays, the reason for their high quality and authenticity. As I used to put the costumes on...I felt transformed back into the empire of Rome, or Camelot.
Now that I live in San Diego I am sure you can all understand why I have a difficult time pulling together a costume somewhat worthy for halloween. But, nevertheless I found something from my very own closet! I decided to be a 1940's lady/flight attendant. Paul as he told me he is a "utilitarian", meaning there is no reason for him to get a different costume each year, rather just wear the same one every halloween. I guess we are kind of opposites in that respect...pretty funny. His mom made him this fun Tiger outfit and he gets so excited to wear it every Halloween, unfortunately this year we were unable to find the tiger cap...the best part of the costume. We had to settle with his tale and los tigres shirt, he's so cute!

On Halloween Eve we spent some great time with friends. The first party we went to was at one of my best friend's home. I was so excited to get there early to help set up for the party. I am a little obsessed with decorating...must have picked that one up from my mom! Jos. and I had so much fun placing decor here and there...preparing yummy artichoke dip and delish desserts....and of course Chef Nat brought some scrumptious ghost cream puffs, yu,! It was such a great turnout. The Gunderson's sure to know how to throw down a mean party!

The drink station, with our favorite friend skeletor!

Joselyn and I, Jos, dressed up as an awesome 80's girl, I wish I had a pic of Gibson and Ryan they were dressed up as the man in the yellow hat and curious george....such a fun idea!

We also went to another fun friend's party, Brittany Gharring, she dressed as Lady Gaga! So funny...she is one creative genius, yes she came up with this costume on her very own. I am bummed though because the pics don't do the costume justice she had the blonde hair, sparkle hat and everything! Tira was the mad hatter, which was so cute , you can't see but she had miniature tea cups on her skirt, hilarious.


For Halloween, Paul and I geared up to go to Chipotle and get our free burrito and then we saw the line, so we settled and went to Croutons for some yummy soup and Salad. Then we met up with Natalie and Adam and another couple in Balboa Park for the infamous Haunted Trail at Balboa Park. It was hilarious, Paul and I were making fun of the supposed "scary people" the entire time! I snapped a couple of shots even though it was not allowed....whoops I didn't know at the time.We then took off to Extraordinary Desserts and I had a raspberry tart that was to die for, seriously it was amazing! I will definitely be craving it again within the next week. It was fun as we all picked away at each other's desserts. What a great way to finish off Halloween.
Oh and last but not least we have to introduce you to our dog...Sparky. and our pumpkin chum chums....

In Stores Now...

Disclaimer: This should be one of the last Nordstrom posts, you're probably sick of hearing about it but here's the finale post!!

True Birds are in EVERY Nordstrom store with an accessory department in the nation as of last weekend! They are generally located on the main floor by sunglasses/jewelry/purses. Check out the two styles below that are in the stores, they are fabulous and a perfect addition to your fall/winter wardrobe, great price too. Hope you have time to pop into your closest store and pick some up and/or to give True Birds some theatrical excitement to the sales associates and customers to get the True Birds line sold out so they'll continue to pick up more future orders of True Birds! If you're there, if you could also make sure they're displayed nicely that'd be great! I had two friends go yesterday and they rearranged them all like pretty little birds--thanks girls!

(*click on image to view larger)  

*If you can all spread the word on your email, blogs, twitter, facebook, word of mouth...wherever that they are now sold in stores we would appreciate it more than you can imagine. We are being very blessed, the Nordstrom styles are doing well so far but we definitely want them to sell out so that we can continue to be a vendor there!

**Thanks again for everyone's support, help, cheerleading, kindness, thoughts, comments, spreading the word to others and motivation! You all helped our dream come true...THANK YOU!

2 Years of Blissicity!

Well, Paul and I have officially been married for two years and it has seriously been so much fun! Anyone will agree with me that Paul is an absolute blast to be around. We have both grown together in so many ways!

We had originally planned on going to Wild Rivers waterpark, where we met almost four years ago! Unfortunately, they weren't open...we were a little bummed.

So what did we do to celebrate? Paul took a day off of work. We relaxed and watched the rest of the Laker vs. Magic game. To which the Lakers totally killed the Magic, ah, what can you do. They were definitely the better team.

After the game I made some yummy smoothies, then we ventured on to one of our favorite places to eat out, Islands! Paul had the CA Flyer, which is delicious i might add and I stuck with my classical favorite, the Wedge.

After Islands we went to Sea World! We have had passes for the last year and haven't used them as much as we should have, so we decided to go. It was a blast we first watched the Shamu show, Believe. It was pretty funny because the music they played for the theme was EFY worthy, it cracked me up! We got there a little late and there were hardly any seats left they only had some seat on the third row, the splash zone or the last row way back in the bleachers. We both decided to brave the splash zone. During the show it was pretty funny because the music they played for the theme was EFY worthy, it cracked me up. During the middle of the show Shamu came around to splash everyone and did we get soaked? You can be the judge of that!

Pre-Shamu Wave Run

Post-Shamu Wave
We totally got drenched!

Here's Shamu, he was brushing up right against the glass, I have never seen them get so close before!
Check out the Shrieking eels! They were so scary looking, they all huddled together and grossed me out. They totally reminded me of the monster eels in Princess Bride only that they were miniature in comparison to those suckers!

And yes this seal was a yelper. He was screeching the entire time, literally begging for food. It was quite hilarious, even when someone fed him a fish he kept screeching over and over...seriously? It was a little annoying.

Here is what we call "Wedding Beach", my brother had his Bachelor dinner party here, and Paul and I had our San Diego reception, on the rocks below. It sure brought back some fun memories! We decided to bring our portable grill and grill some hot dogs, surf watch, and just enjoy one anothers company. It was fab! Definitely a day to remember! Love ya babe!

Enough is enough....I am sick to my stomach!

I feel completely sick to my stomach.
I am completely appalled that close friends and family are taking our True Birds designs and are making and selling them as their own. It is eye opening to see peoples true colors come out. Besides friends and family that have come out and tried to sell them as their own (bad enough right?!), bigger stores that we used to love--- a n t h r o p o l o g i e and u r b a n o u t f i t t e r s have ripped us off as well. We sent product boxes to them with our Summer/Spring line as well as our upcoming designs that come out this Fall and they took months to return the pieces, only returned part of the samples, kept the line sheet and are now selling almost complete replicas of many of our styles online and at their stores. So upsetting. We will not be shopping at either of those stores again.
The Friends and Family that are making almost exact replicas of our designs have bridged even into the Baby Birds line which is 100% original, nothing out there is that same concept. They have also replicated our True Birds adult line in many ways from our designs, to even the verbal descriptions and branding they choose to use, I don't understand how people can't get their own ideas. I feel like we are so pro-originality and not copying others which is why it makes it so hard for me to understand others business ethics. This certain friend is from High School, I hope our High School friends, neighbors and others will choose to support our original ideas and hard work.
Its hard for me to understand that some people only look out for #1.
Please continue to support our brand, our designs and our hard work. Heather and I have worked so hard to create unique accessories and appreciate your support and hope you'll continue to choose to support us.
Know that we are moving forward and will continue to do so. For instance, today I'm dropping off requested custom accessories to Smashbox Studios in L.A. for a Seventeen Magazine photoshoot with the cast of America's Next Top Model, a celebrity requested True Birds accessories for tonight's premiere of the new Denzel Washington/John Travolta movie "The Taking of Pelham 123". Last night CBS Red Carpet reporter, Amber Valdez, wore True Birds for the movie premiere of "Hangover" and today Miley Cyrus will receive her numerous accessories she personally requested after looking over our lookbook and website on set of Hannah Montana last week. Noah Cyrus, her little sister will also be receiving Baby Birds and True Birds accessories by the end of the week before the family goes out of town for the Summer. We were also a part of the MTV Awards Events last weekend (post coming soon on www.truebirdsblog.com) as well as supporting sponsors and attendees at Brittany Curran's Birthday Bash last Saturday. We also got confirmation that we'll be posted about on Cosmogirl.com on June 15th as well as www.theluxuryspot.com and many upcoming magazines, see here. This isn't a bragging paragraph, merely a way to share with our knock-offs whats going on and letting them know that we will be calling them out in the media and online because we're not going to stand down.
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True Birds Blog!

Wanted y'all to know that Heather and I finally started a True Birds blog. We've been wanting to do it for a while but wanted to get it to where we could create a whole community of beauty/fashion and not just have the blog be about True Birds updates and such. It will of course have updates on it as well but we have 4 contributing bloggers that are beauty editors, stylists, makeup artists and such from L.A. to N.Y. that'll share their thoughts, bargains and trendy ideas. Hope you check it out, http://www.truebirdsblog.com/!
Also, thank you to those in advance who link it on their blog, that is so kind and generous--thank you!!:)
One more thing--we dropped our True Birds, www.truebirds.com, pricing mega and added some new styles, we're currently loving all things neon so we added some neon flair to some feathered clips and headbands! We've been waiting to be able to drop our prices since our inception but have now been able to because of Nordstrom and other exciting things happening. Hope they stay as low as they are forever, only thing that may raise them is our stores not wanting us to list them that low:(. But know for now that they are low!! We haven't changed our pricing on Baby Birds..yet.
Thanks again everyone for your love and support, it means so much to me and to Heather!!

Married Men and Twirling Rings?

Quick question for all the married ladies out there. Does your husband find it amusing to twirl/play with his wedding ring? Paul is the king of twirling the ring, he twirls here, there, and everywhere! I would always get mad especially in church...trying to kick him of his habit. I guess you could say I was a little paranoid about other people seeing him playing with his ring..because I thought he was the only one out there with this strange fetish.

As it turns out many married men have this strange habit! I commented about this oddity with my good friend Ali, who is one of the most observant people I know. She informed me that even President Uchtdorf plays with his ring...yes an apostle! Today I watched General Conference and Ali's statement rang true, he was indeed playing with his ring. So, I really had no ground to get mad at my dear sweet husband for what I thought was a strange habit.

About a couple of weeks ago I witnessed another married man playing with his ring in church. We were sitting in Sunday School in the cultural hall, and all of a sudden we hear a loud clinkety...clank..clink. Yes, the man twirled... and totally lost control of it...and yes everyone noticed

I guess it pays to be more observant. Had I known earlier I could have saved myself from some pent-up frustration over such a small habit which seems to be very common...silly, silly me!

Hello all. So, this last Thursday was a momentous occasion in my life. Heather and I have been going back and forth with Nordstrom's and negotiations for the past couple of months...making all adjustments they deemed were necessary. We received a most exciting email about the two styles they want to put in their stores this coming August! Surprisingly the two styles they picked up were some of our latest editions we designed with Nordstrom's in mind...so I guess it worked :) Also, Heather had told me the day before was when she had paid her tithing and literally the next day we received the exciting response from Nordstom's. Seriously, this has been a high-shot dream for Heather and I and we feel so blessed from up above. Heather has been the best business partner I could have ever asked for, we have such a great time together and we each have talents and responsibilites we bring to the table...and it works out fabulously. I would also like to thank all of those who have supported Heather and I in our dream family, friends...we feel so blessed to have you in our lives! Especially my dear husband for being so supportive and letting me live my dream. True Birds accessories will be available at Nordstrom's this coming fall. The price point has dropped substantially because of our quantities and ability to negotiate our prices lower with our suppliers. Thanks again to one and all!

At the beginning of March True Birds accessories were requested to be featured on the runway at the W Hotel in San Diego for "Fashion for a Cause." It was so fun to see our products paired up with some amazing dresses and incredible coin purses that are retailed around $1000. The models displayed them beautifully. Leonard Simpson did a great job hosting the event and gave expert tips about this coming season in fashion and said our products were spot on for this coming season. It was so fun to have Paul there along with my mom who flew all the way out for the event. She is such a sweetheart! Also, big thanks to Erika, Tony, Lesley, Elliott, and Natalie for coming to support us for the event, you guys are great! Here are a couple of pics from 944 magazine from the event!