Mr. Blond and I were in Puerto Rico for our honeymoon (♥) a few weeks ago, and we absolutely fell in love with the history and culture of this island! Enjoy some photos from this total love fest!

Wouldn’t this make the most amazing print?!

What I would give to shoot a lookbook in here!

what a flirt…

our family pickles for the gift bags!

gotta get her real pet pig one of these days…

Been down on the ranch in Wimberley, TX…prepping for Mr. Blond and my wedding (1 month and counting!!)…here’s a few snapshots from this week!

We love our peacocks!

Hair test

A night in ATX for some TexMex, Tequila and old friends…makes you wanna jump.

my loot from the road…vintage necklace and belt and some lovely rocks from Wimberley’s magical Broken Arrow Rock Shop

heading HOME!!…see you soon, Beautiful!

(source: http://certiorari.tumblr.com)

(source: http://redwolftreasures.tumblr.com)

(source: http://inspiringinsanity.tumblr.com)

While home in Texas for the holidays, I was invited to mentor a few undergrad fashion students at Incarnate Word University in San Antonio, TX in preparation for their senior collections they will be presenting in April. I’m a sucker for the “art-student” way of life, that communal feeling of sharing creative space and collaborating on ideas, so I was stoked to head back to school for an afternoon. This being my first time to work with students, I was a little nervous about my ability to be completely objective and disregard personal style and taste, and give constructive advice that they could actually use. Fortunately, these girls knew their stuff and made my role as mentor more fun than critical.
Sarah Stevens

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Adelle Stivalet
Adelle’s purse she made below is absolutely spectacular…she hand embroidered the entire thing. My terrible iphone photos (need to get an android now!) don’t do it justice, but I could see these sold at Barney’s or any special artisan boutique from Texas to NYC!

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Ricki Martin

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Christiana Lazarine

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Veronica Hernandez

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Adriane Mendez

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Heather Fitz
I adore Heather’s illustrations!

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Paige Digiovanni
Her collection was inspired by the circus…a girl after my own heart!

Me with the other mentor, Ayse Derman of Niche, a very successful local San Antonio missy label that mentors and hires many students from Incarnate Word.

(I’m wearing a Monki tunic, Twenty 8 Twelve jeans, Young Frankk Collar necklace, COS bracelet)

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach in Galveston, TX…a beach town where most Houstonians have their summer houses. In my family “going to the beach house” means many different things. To my dad it means fishing, my mom and aunts’ cooking and jigsaw puzzles, the kids, well, total freedom, and to my sisters’ it means cocktails and suntans. I definitely partake in all of the above (esp the latter), but for me a trip to Galveston is not complete without a stop at Col. Bubbie’s Surplus Senter. It has been a staple of Galveston Strand for 40+ years, and since I have not lived in Texas in over a decade, I haven’t had my annual Bubbie’s trip in a very long time. After discovering the sounds of the 70’s in grade school, Bubbie’s supplied me with every pair of sailor bellbottoms I could find in my size. During my 90’s grunge years, this was my go-to source for used combat boots and army jackets. These days as a designer, it was like walking into a thick inspiration book of soldierly seduction. Now I’m not saying you will see military as a major inspiration source for this peaceful pearl, but I can’t help taking a few cues from such utilitarian details…along with scoring a few vintage threads to add to my eclectic wardrobe.

We fell hard for this jumpsuit print…some “camo” we may actually wear.

my sister and I found some hats…

Mr. Blond is laughing at the fact that I am just now covering PFW..yes I know it has been 3 weeks, but it has literally taken me 3 weeks to sort through my pulls and narrow it down to my favorites. I almost blew it off (thinking my coverage of Dries and Chanel were enough) and jumped on to Vancouver to cover some of my favorite eco movers and shakers (which I will soon), but after thumbing through the images how could I dare skip Paris?! The city alone means more to me than I could ever write…It’s where I started my career, where Mr. Larkin came alive, and let’s just say I found out about one very “lucky Penny” in this magical city! To help take us back, here are a few snapshots (courtesy of Mr. Blond) taken on the streets during PFW…Je t’aime, Paris and you Mr. Blond!

view from Kong…