A Perfect Saturday

Paul and I had such an amazing Saturday yesterday. I slept in while Paul ventured out on a mountain biking ride, then we headed out to the Jewish Community Center played a little tennis swam in the amazing pool and finished off with some fine mexican cuisine with the Jacobsen's.

Fabulous day start to finish. I love my Saturdays and of course my Paulie!

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!

Nasty!

Last Friday I was chillin by my computer and then Paul walks through the door. He told me something crazy had just happened in the elevator. He told me he was sitting in the elevator minding is own business and then he reached behind his ear expecting to find his skin and nothing else...but oh no what does he find?! A spider!! At first he thought it was a black widow...luckily it was just a harmless one. Poor Paul, at least he can get over it. With me I would have been in complete shock and I would be afraid to go to sleep, expecting a spider to crawl anywhere and everywhere. Nasty! Oh and I totally had to post a picture of a spider cartoon...just looking at a spider captured in a picture gives me the heebie jeebies!

Mountain Biking Adventures of Paul & Heidi

This last Saturday Paul and I headed out to go mountain biking for my very first time. We went to Sycamore Canyon located in Santee. It was so nice to escape the city and get some fresh air. I wish I would have taken before and after picture of us, oh man were we filthy after. We had some nice mud tans going on!

Here I am pulling a face...thinking I look so tough!

Here is my handsome hubby...looking mighty fine I must say!I am not going to lie I was a little nervous mountain biking since I had never done it before. There were times where I did let out a couple screams. But man it was a rush, the first hill we pretty much went down was so steep. I didn't know if I should have braked a bit or not but I was so nervous. I made it up the slope that followed the steep hill and asked Paul for a couple of tips. He told me that I never wanted to use the left hand brake (front wheel), he said if I used any braking that is should be with my back wheel. Good thing I didn't brake down that hill...otherwise I would have been in for a crazy crash.

We went through streams, over jagged rocks and up some slopes. Since I had never mountain biked before I had a lot to learn. But it was fun and such a great workout. It was so nice to look out beyond the trail and see nothing but bare land...I never knew such a place existed in California.

On our way back was quite a challenge because I had a pretty bad crash that I am still trying to recouperate from. I will spare you the picture since it is pretty nasty looking. This is how it happened; I was heading down a somewhat steep slope but the tricky part of this spot was there was a very narrow bike trail you had to follow surrounding the trail on both sides was mounded up dirt. I happened to lose my balance a little bit and then all of a sudden I was smacked in my leg by the handle bar of the bike. I was in some definite pain and when Paul rushed back to meet me we both noticed my inner thigh of my left leg welted up and it looked like I had a softball in my thigh! Luckily, I was still able to ride back alright but to avoid any stree on my thigh I walked through parts of it. I definitely got my battle wound. I am so grateful that it is finally starting to bruise...it is still swollen but with the bruising comes the healing!

Even though I had what Paul called a "freak accident", I still thoroughly enjoyed the day and am looking forward to going mountain biking again! It is such a fun couple's activity. Oh and I forgot to mention on the trail I heard a rattle snake for the first time...good thing I was on my bike!

Double-Wedding Week

The weekend of February 7th unttil February the 13th I was in snowy Utah. February 7th was the day my brother got married and it was truly a blessed union. My brother found this fantastic girl who suits him so well. I love how Danielle brings Eric out of his shell and makes him feel comfortable in any situation. We are thrilled to have her in our family, you rock Danielle. Here is a pic. of the handsome couple. My awesome cousin Jess took this picture.

I wish I had more pics of the day, but I totally forgot my camera...boo! The temple sealing was incredile and Eric and Danielle were given great advice. The reception was held downtown at the Gallivan Center and it was so amazing. Instead of flowers Danielle had sparkly branches as decor and it was amazing I wish I had some pics to show. It was seriously one of the best dance parties I have ever been to. I have never danced so much in one setting! The DJ rocked it up.

Heather and I stayed for the next week awaiting yet another blessed wedding from one of our best friends from college! During the week Heather and I seeped in as much time with our older sister and two nieces because they had just moved from Cali back to Utah. Tears were definitely shed! Here a couple pics of the little gems!

Here is a pic of Camryn and Kennedy playing store. Cam's obviously was the cashier and Kennedy was the shopper!

Look at that face...priceless!

We also had a Valentine's tea party and made sugar cookies. Kennedy was quite the little helper in the kitchen and helped make the frosting and even more she wasn't shy with decorating the cookies...they were fab!




We also had the opportunity to meet up with some college friends...it was so fun to see them! Ali just got an internship in New York...so awesome and Kerianne is going to Botswana for research...so cool!

I love Kerianne's laughing smile...seriously awesome!
Last but not least is the wedding of DeEtte and Jason Carver. It was so fun to be there for DeEtte. She looked stunning as you can see! Heath and I were able to steal some precious moments away from the busy bride to talk, hang out like the good ole days. Here are a couple of pics from the great day! Oh and isn't Palmer the cutest boy ever. such a handsome dude!


Here is a pic of another tea party we had in downtown Salt Lake....called the Beehive Room. It was so fun getting in some time with all the sisters before I came back to San Diego.

Academy Award Gifting Event

This past weekend I had the great opportunity of helping at an Academy Award gifting event. It was so much fun, Erika and Christy also came and we had a blast together. The head coordinators of the gifting event was kind enough to let me pass out my product for free when every other vendor had to pay $10,000-$15,000 for a booth! We sure did luck out. It was located at the SLS hotel in Hollywood! We saw some b-lister stars overall it was a blast. Here are a few faces I was able to snap a shot of with True Birds accessories!


Here is Annalynn McCord the star of 90210, she is also rumored to be in "New Moon" the second book in the Twilight series. I had the opportunity to escort her around to all of the different booths. She was so sweet and nice and had the cutest accent, she was from Atlanta, GA. It was so fun to see how real celebrities are. I guess I was expecting them to be arrogant or something but I did not meet one person of that nature!

Here is Tony Dennison from "The Closer", with Keira Sedgewick. I also had the opportunity to escort him and had fun getting to know him...it is amazing how open he was about his life, he talked about his girlfriend, and his relationship woes he went through with his last girlfriend. He even asked some advice as to what products his current girlfriend would want. It was funny to because he went to another gifting event Heather was at and said he recognized her and Heather asked him if he went to "The Secret Room Gifting Event" and informed him that I was there and that we were twins. He was so nice and told me he would personally gift a True Birds accessory to Keira. What a stud! This girl had to be my favorite of the day! Her name is Holly Fields and she was such a joy to be around Christy and I co-teamed and escorted her around. She was a guest star in a couple of episodes of The OC. But she is mostly recognized for her voice overs, she has done voice overs for stars such as Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore to name a few. She was newly engaged and full of life and a charming personality!

This is Kim Coles, she was such a fun lady and hilarious as well as she is both an actor and comedian.

Last but not least is Melissa Farman from this season's Lost. She plays the young Danielle Rousseau and I completely recognized her as she walked through the door because she was on a recent episode of Lost. She is one multi-tasker she has been involved with acting along with going to school full time...what a go-getter.

We all had a blast and when we left one night Erika said she saw Nathan from Heroes. It was so fun for the weekend, but I do not know if I could handle living there the LA lifestyle is so busy all the time.

Great Big Happy Birthday to my one and only!

Well it is Paul's birthday, he turned the ripe age of 31! All the reason more to love him, he is older and wiser :) He is such a great guy, for his birthday I made him a card of 31 reasons I love him along with a coupon book for treats and such. His main present, however, is in the mail and he is so excited. He is getting a new mountain bike and is super thrilled. Paul is always fun because he is always exploring new hobbies, which keeps things fresh and fun. Thanks for being such a great husband, confidante, and comedian in my life. It is rare occasion when I can stay mad at Paul because he always cracks a joke and breaks any small barrier we come across, he keeps things lighthearted. He is more than I could have ever hoped or dreamed for and I am the luckiest girl to have him as my eternal companion, love ya babe!