Barbie got BACK

wouldn't this be awesome?
Demi's endorsing it and Mattel is working on making it happen

Hot Yoga

If you have never tried hot yoga you are truly missing out

Its basically yoga, but in really hot temperatures - go figure

in the sessions that I did the room was usually set between 100-107

you sweat A LOT

This may sound unappealing..why would anyone want to work out in temperatures that make you sweat buckets just by standing still?

Because it feels FABULOUS

The idea behind it is that the heat helps to flush out any and all toxins from your body

when all is said and done you walk out of there 100% exhausted, refreshed, and drenched all at the same time.

Oh and PS, you lose weight in places you didn't even know you had

I feel like yoga gets a bad rep in the workout world as being too easy of an exercise to actually produce results.  For those of us who do yoga though, we know that this couldn't be further from the truth.

Why?

1. YOGA IS HARD - I've been a gymnast, a dancer, and a diver (so always flexible & strong) and yet yoga has always presented a physical challenge for me

2. Yoga works muscles you didn't know you had

3. The deep breathing that yoga encourages is fabulous for your health

I think in the past decade the benefits of yoga have been more widely recognized, and you can see it being integrated into some of the more "intense" fitness programs

All my fellow P90X'ers out there will know that yoga is a weekly part of the workout plan, and is essential to the muscle growth & development plan that Tony Horton has created... this is a program that prides itself on being totally intense, yet it still puts a huge focus on the importance of yoga.

I highly suggest you give hot yoga a try

If you are in the Los Angeles area a good place to start out would be at Hot 8 Yoga on Wilshire and Gale

They have a promotion for first-timers that allows you to attend unlimited sessions for 1 month for only 45$....an awesome deal for how nice the facility is

Yoga is just one other way for you to go forth and be fabulous....just remember to bring multiple towels if you do

oh yeah and don't wear long pants. You will die.

How To Get an XL Ponytail

I came across this trick recently and I thought it was really cool, and worthy of a repost...

To get an XL ponytail without extensions or XL hair here's what you do

It's very easy

First, separate your hair into two sections, top and bottom. 

 Pull the top section into a high pony

and the bottom section into a low pony

Second, Drape your hair from the top pony in a way that it covers up the sides of the low pony

hint: it also helps to tease the top pony to better hide the bottom one

and voila, you have an XL ponytail

LA to Wauwatosa

Once I finished my finals at FIDM I got on a plane and flew from LA to my hometown, Wauwatosa Wisconsin.   Whenever I tell people where I'm from they always ask what there is to do in Wisconsin

Truthfully, a lot of netflix gets watched

but every once in a while when we get bored of Portlandia we go out and do cool stuff!

My personal favorite thing to do has always been biking,

which is all Ive been doing since I got home

The main thing I miss about Wauwatosa when I'm in the city is having nature around me.. hiking runyan canyon is way different than hiking in real woods or taking a bikeride to the middle of nowhere... plus no one at home is checking to see if youre wearing lulu lemon or target brand workout attire.  My friends only care to see if I showered in the last five days.  

Its a refreshing dose of reality really.

Today we went biking on the Oak Leaf Trail
Its a trail that loops all around southeastern wisconsin and will take you to some really beautiful places.

just taking a break at mile 8

After we went to one of our old hang out spots, Dewey Hill, and then out to a late dinner at an adorable hole in the wall called Juniper 61... they have a fabulous blue cheese dip

my friends are cuter than your friends

these are the people for which the idea for young broke and fabulous started.... cause no one knows better than a tosa kid how to be goodwill chic

heres juniper....SUPER adorable in the back and the food is bomb af
(one downside about being back in Tosa is that you start to talk the weird slang i.e. "bomb af")

So if you ever find yourself in the area with nothing to do, I suggest you come here

Denim for Dayz

Here is the last thing I ever did in fashion school.

Its a little bittersweet I must admit

but it still feels fabulous to be finished

This is a line of all denim I designed for the premium denim market

Its all about the classic cool vibe, and is athletic-wear inspired

I did my trend research on Stylesight, focusing on the megatrend 'Real' for spring/summer 2014

It would be done in a lightweight 4oz denim that can be easily gathered, and I included a heavier 10 oz denim for the more structured pieces.

What I Do All Day

This is what I do all day every day

literally.

all day.

every day.

The majority of these are fragments of my assignments from FIDM

Every week I'm required to design a different clothing group for different market segments.  They are designed for the spring/summer of 2014 and are based off of the trend predictives from sources like Doneger Stylesight and WGSN

The collages are either representations of current (SS 2013) trends, or they are my depiction of the upcoming trends for SS 2014

The Golden State

I feel like one thing that california natives lack is a true appreciation of just how beautiful this state is.  Every once in a while I'll take an awkward walking pic, and I noticed yesterday that some of them are actually kinda cool... So here's some I thought looked particularly nice.  They're a compilation of the area near my apartment in mid-city, downtown la, palm springs, and venice beach.