Our Yearly Playlist

#3 done. Celebrated my 38th with my Dad, Georgeanne and Sonia at Hatfield’s. The yellowtail Croquet Madame (pictured) was the perfect appetizer. 

All eyes were on Brit as she led her team to two wins on day one.  She’s in midseason form.

And we’re back. Time for the first tournament of the season, and probably the most important. The state cup begins today in cold and rainy San Bernardino.  Two games today and one tomorrow. The top two teams from each bracket will move on to play next weekend.

#11 in progress. Somewhere is a small, but interesting character piece. 

March Recap. Other than knocking out #93 with some rattlesnake, March was nothing but one long work day. Sorry, I got nothin’.

Atlanta Recap To sum it up, we have nowhere to go but up.  Sales wise, it was only a tad better than Dallas, but double the cost.  Nevertheless, it was well worth the investment.  Despite little traffic, buyers continue to respond very well to the line.  We should have no problem selling out 80% of our styles by the time we finish production in…

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Kim.

#98 in progress.  Some of the better oysters we’ve eaten. The spicy bloody mary reduction was the kicker.  

Not quite #22, but we participated in the fashion show with this little black number.

Struck with Vertigo.  This should make flying tomorrow a blast.

The Atlanta Breakfast with Designers featured two of our clients that we helped launch. 

We visited one of our best clients with 12 stores after the show on Thursday. Not only was it stocked with about 90% of our purchases, but it is one of the first stores to carry our line, Basically Me. Cool to see it out in the wild.

A good day.

It’s been a tough go the last few months, but we finally ventured out for a top notch dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Lucques. Still, it took a business dinner to do it.  I would like to rewind to 2009. 

Dallas Recap. The bad news is that this particular show was very slow. A number of the vendors claimed it was their worst show ever.  We were towards the back, which is never great, but funny enough we were placed next to two of our clients that we produce for. The good news is that when customers came into our booth they usually wrote an…

The days are blending together in Dallas, but we’re not complaining. I’ll give a recap in the next couple of days, but thought I’d post our website so the two of you that asked for it could check out our line.  Click Here. Username: basicallyme  Password: lafashioninsider

The morning after. One day Marquette will learn to play for two halves on the big stage.  

Almost set up for Dallas.

Signage for the trade show. This one?

Or this one?

What a game.  When you live and breathe college basketball, the Sweet 16 is always a, “where were you when”…. I joined the MU family in 1991.  The Warriors hadn’t made the Sweet 16 since 1977, the year they won it all. When I was a “junior” in 1994 they beat Kentucky to advance to the Sweet 16. I rode my bike to the…

#11 in progress. Saw Limitless. Flawed, but entertaining enough.

This is where I am. Watching Marquette at the bar. Alone. They have never trailed to this point. But I am bitter. Angry. I wish I didn’t care. Update: MARQUETTE WINS. I am now off of the ledge. Considering they were up the entire game you would think I would have enjoyed watching, but it’s like pulling teeth. 

Happy Birthday to my big sister.

#11 in progress. One more movie before March Madness. Liked the Winter’s Bone. The teenaged main character definitely deserved her Oscar nod. 

#11 in progress. I really wanted to like this, but it just didn’t work.

My little bunter/speedster played her roll and helped Montclair win their first tournament of the season. 

I knew this was the year to go to the Big East Tournament in NYC.  Every time I go, the Warriors lose the first game.

Had a great dinner at Tomiko and Pierre’s.  Lots has changed since their wedding a couple of months back, but nothing greater than the news that there will be three of them before their one year anniversary. 

#93 done.  After a quick trip to the office on a 85 degree Saturday, we finally decided to try the exotic sausage house, Wurstküche, located in the historic downtown arts district.  Once I saw the menu, I knew it was now or never for #93.  I chose the Rattlesnake & Rabbit sausage, mainly for the irony.  Paired with a german wheat beer and Belgian fries,…

Montclair Prep’s softball season started, but unlike their soccer team, Montclair is expected to contend for the division title. Brittany is the starting 2nd baseman/left fielder. Oh, and club soccer started on Thursday, so lots of shuttling around. Love those gas prices.

Another downtown discovery. Sonia found the wholesale distributor for kumamoto and kusshi oysters.  We usually pay $35 to $40 bucks for a dozen, but yesterday we bought five dozen for $66 clams.

Happy Birthday to my Brother-In-Law, Tom. Hopefully, you are treated to a meal you deserve.

February Recap. It was a short, but sweet month. Cold, too. It actually snowed in parts of L.A. for a hot second.  It was also a busy month at LA Fashion Insider, Inc. as we get ready to launch our line. Hopefully it’s a successful endeavor because we’ve operated at a loss for the third month in a row. Kumamoto oysters are expensive.  At…

My daughter chose Kusshi oysters as her braces off dinner, so no complaints from Sonia and me.

I’ve always wanted braces.  Dentists have been pushing me to get them since I was ten years old. But after seeing what Sonia and Brittany have endured, I will gladly keep my crooked teeth.  Looks good on you though, Brit.

After…

Before…

I agree with most reviewers of the Oscars that described the telecast as blase.  The hosts failed to make the event “younger” or “hipper”, in fact, they just failed. I think the awards went to the right people for the most part, but there was hardly a stand out moment.   On a personal front, it was the first time that I watched the…

#89 done.  Visited Christian Louboutin near the HIlls of Beverly and made good on that Valentine’s Day present for Sonia. 

#97 done. Lucques is one of my favorite L.A. restaurants, so it was a no brainer that we had to try its sister restaurant, A.O.C. The concept is small plates and paired wine. Everything was very good. The clams in a sherry wine sauce was the winner. 

#2 in progress. Added Louisiana to the list.  We’re still in soft launch mode, so we’re only selling to our buying agency clients. We hope to officially launch the line at the end of March.

#98 in progress. 4th restaurant with a kumamoto starter.

Finally, a quality road win. We may just make the tourney after all.