Sewing circle chic

What a delightful morning it is when you can wake up up, enjoy a cup of coffee, and stumble upon these amazing photos ( while skipping over EXXON's record breaking oil profits ) of Amisha's Alabama Chanin Workshop adventure. This a very chic version of the old school sewing circle.

For those of you who are big fans of Alabama Chanin ( Natalie Chanin founded Project Alabama but is no longer involved in that company and went on to start this one ), you can imagine what a treat it was to see this experience first hand and feel like you actually took part in the process ) these workshops are upwards of $1000 ).

Consider yourself displayed

Is this a f-a-b way to display our wares or what? ( via Country Living )

More inspiration

LOVE... ( from Vogue )

Malibu ( Beach ) Americana

When you are about to tackle 1000 square feet of retail space in Malibu, CA. You need to do something a little different to get the attention pointed in your direction ( aside from pursuing LOTS of press ).

As I have explained in my previous posts, "Boho Hippie" has been done again and again - especially within my city limits, so I knew we had a big job ahead of us if we wanted to set us ( Revolution Malibu ) apart from the rest.

The pictures above gave me the first burst of inspiration ( from House Beautiful a few years back ). The Revolution Malibu logo is red, white and blue ( not intended to be patriotic, but rather inspired by the Fred Segal logo ) so when I saw the skateboard - especially - the ideas started flowing.

I envision our version of "Malibu Americana" to be more ethnic - a tad bit bohemian - but more in the "world traveled" category than the "60's bohemian".

Damon Dash and Rachel Roy's house pictured above ( In Style 2005 )has the ethnic vibe I love too - and in my colors. I love the stencil design on the pillars...



and the beach umbrellas in this picture from Vogue ( again - a few years back )...

Looking for lots more inspiration so please chime in! Two cents is much appreciated!

The basketball diaries...

Kevin Garnett and his wife Brandi...



Our new retail space is located a stone's throw from "The Barrel" wine bar in the Colony. I was having a meeting with one of my new partners
( he is a former pro basketball player ), and as we are talking, Kevin Garnett
( Celtics player and now world champion ), strolls up to The Barrel with his gorgeous wife Brandi to enjoy some afternoon nosh and such.


We go on with our meeting and after Kevin and his wife leave, we decide that we should continue our meeting at The Barrel. ( FYI the reason we didn't go there while Kevin and his wife were there was because we knew that being summer there would be a few tourists/fans that would eventually disturb them and subsequently our meeting and it turns out we were right )

As we are talking and then enjoying some conversation with the chef, a lovely lady named Mrs. Sterling joins the conversation. Mrs. Sterling and her husband own the other basketball team in town, the L.A. Clippers.

What kind of crazy energy is that in one hour?















The lovely Mrs. Sterling

Swappin stitches

I finally finished my Alabama Stitch Book swap project. When I started it I didn't have nearly as much going on as I do now so the deadline snuck up on me.

I made the bandana and added vintage studs. Hope my swap partner likes it!

The road less traveled

I am a fortunate person not to have to commute to work everyday like most people. That is all about to change...well kind of. My commute is going to be to be from my house to the Colony, where I go everyday - except now I am going to stay there for eight hours. Believe it or not, this is a dream of mine - not the commuting but the ownership of a reatil store. The fact that it is in Malibu is the icing on the cake.

Here are some of the products we will carry:



































































































Thirsty 4 Souls recycled, deconstructed t's, recycled wool hats and other wonderful pieces from this line.




and...









































































Project Ecoart martini glasses, coasters, belt buckles and more...

Ther will be much more and I will post as I produce ( and purchase ) ...say that 10 times fast :)

It's a "Good Day L.A." when...

you stumble upon a fabulously creative blog written by one of the show's beautiful reporters! "Good Day L.A." is a super popular morning show here known for it's "non-traditional" approach to news. I personally love it because even when they report "doom and gloom", it's not nearly as stressful. Aside from the fact that it's downright funny too. Two of the reporters on this program actually live in Malibu, so I see them from time to time (one had a son working at the Colony Starbucks with my daughter Tatum )so in a way I feel like I know them...

Where does Suzanne find the time is what I want to know ( I know it's a stretch for me! ). Who knows... but you can visit her blog Simply Magic and follow her interesting life... This is a great opportunity for us all to get to know her too!

I know I will!

Photo via Simply Magic

Surf Blue. Live Green.

That's the motto for Revolution Malibu. The logo is a very patriotic red, white and blue. Although the intention was not so much "blue blood America" when the logo was designed, it seems as though the direction of Revolution Malibu has taken on it's own life and is headed toward " Beach Americana "... at least in the decor for our retail space in the Colony.

The obvious would have been to do the whole "bohemian hippie" vibe. That's been overdone here in Malibu with shops like Free City and Planet Blue. Both have done a fine job and are very successful at it. The obvious thing might be to copy them ( to some ), but we think it's time for a new vibe.

Close encounters of the Courtney Love kind

This is a true story ( like, really ). The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.

I went to the Colony shopping center today, like I do almost everyday. Although today was a little different. I was going to have a meeting with a friend who occupies a retail space there. We were meeting to discuss the prospects of Revolution Malibu opening up in that retail space - soon. I was very excited as you might imagine. This would mean that Revolution Malibu would be the FIRST ecofriendly lifestyle retail store in Malibu.

I went into Starbucks to get an iced coffee before I headed over to see my friend and as I am waiting for my coffee, in walks Courtney Love. As c-r-a-z-y as she might be, I love HOLE ( her band ) and one of my fave songs is "Malibu" ( a favorite long before I lived here ). I watched her go up to the cash register and make her order. The cashier ( who took her order ) is a friend of my daughter Tatum's ( she used to work at this Starbucks up until a couple of month's ago ) and he is very shy. Courtney proceeds to hand him a $100 bill to pay for her order. He says to her "I'm sorry, we can't take $100 bills, do you have a credit card?" ( for the record, it is corporate policy not to take $100 bills - not even for celebrities ). She starts to get a little testy, not too bad, but she is miffed and answers "No, this is all I have". I watch as the cashier starts to get flustered and sweaty, so I called out to him and said: "Alano, I will pay for it. Don't worry about it. " He's relieved and Courtney is shocked. She comes over to me and thanks me profusely and shakes my hand ( seriously firm grip - like it almost hurt ). I must say, she looked healthy, not drugged out and she was grateful - not to mention very polite.

Now I had to call Tatum and tell her. She and I have this thing about Courtney Love. Tatum is a big indie music buff and CAN'T STAND Courtney Love. She thinks Courtney had Kurt Cobain killed...blah blah blah. Having that conversation with her is like talking politics to my mom. NOT GOOD.

She got a kick out of it though, and so did I. Not to mention the fact that my meeting went really well. Courtney was good energy for me, almost an omen since her song "Malibu" is the theme song for Revolution Malibu.

I like that karma!

Malibu beach bunny style

Now that I have the lounge and I am repainting the patio, I need to pull together the "look"
Pam definitely has it down...
Thankfully she has the taste to go along with her budget ( or is it the other way around ).

Here's more from Pam Anderson's estate sale that I didn't get my hands on but would love to recreate. I LOVE this blue and white stripe but I have a Mediterranean style home, more Tuscan than beach cottage. I could do more of a muted red and off white stripe, or a french blue
and vintage white...

I will plant my organic vegetable garden in these... ( bought Roma tomatoes, bell pepper and chives this morning for one conatiner, rosemary for another )...

As I do more research I plan to share the results!

Time to get to work!!!

As promised...a piece of Pam

Here is the lounge chair I picked up from My local Malibu thrift store. A cast off from Pam Anderson's estate sale. Apparently her brother had taken it and decided he didn't want it, so it's mine now :)













It was a sibling of this set ( above )... I haven't washed the pad yet, I am inspecting it carefully if you know what I mean ;) Should I consider some CSI style DNA tests just for kicks? Think we might be shocked with the results? Too Costly and time consuming, but it's fun to think about what the outcome might be...

Lessons in fashion and lessons in life

LOVE this outfit on Talitha Getty.

Lesson#1: Don't throw anything away - fashion comes back bigger and better and it's always more fashionable to have the original. Look at those gladiators!

Lesson#2: Don't do heroin. You will die and leave your child without a mother ( money does not give you a free pass when injecting lethal substances ).

Lesson#3: The "give your baby a ridiculous name so it gets teased mercilessly at school" must have started in the 60's - Talitha Getty ( and her husband Paul ) named their son Tara Gabriel Gramaphone Galaxy. Gramaphon? Galaxy?

LOVE this vintage PUCCI on Nicole Richie

Lesson#1: You CAN bring back a style and have it look better than it did when it first came out.

Lesson#2 You CAN get over addiction, stop partying, contribute to society ( and charities ) and not leave your child without a mother.

Lesson #3: You CAN name your child something unique without making them feel like a freak...even when you're a celebrity.

Now go out, do something positive and look good while doing it!

If only the lounge chair could talk...

My fave thrift store is located right here in Malibu. Some of the funkiest things show up there from time to time - including a Golden Globe award or two, maybe even an Emmy. I have yet to see an Oscar.

I am also a garage sale junky as you can imagine. When I moved to Malibu, I was worried my thrifting would be cut down to a minimum. I was so wrong. There is a plethora of incredible things to be thrifted in this town. I found a vintage Gucci travel bag in perfect condition for $50 ( would have been $250 on Ebay ), lots of designer clothes for pennies on the dollar, but my biggest score to date is my fabulous find from yesterday - one of Pam Anderson's lounge chairs. See the chairs above with the linen chair pads? I got the shabby chic style wood lounge ( painted white and distressed ) with the pad - which will be washed - maybe even a couple of times - not just once - and for a song!

Oh, if only this lounge chair could share what it knows.

Pam did some major purging when she decided to shack up with Tommy Lee again.

GLIVING.com did a story on her garage sale ( I can't believe I missed out on that one ! ) - and come to find out, the garage sale was just a teaser to her getting rid of everything.

I was blown away when I heard she was selling everything and moving in with Tommy Lee because she had quite the collection of wonderful furniture and china, mostly purchased from a very expensive store in Venice called Bountiful ( pics below ). Why wouldn't they just blend what they had? Or why not keep it in storage - isn't she famous for frequent change - in men and homes? It just seemed a little strange - although that's just par for the course (for her ), I guess.

Never the less, I scored. Paid only $40 ( and I know she paid waaaaaaaaay more for it ) for this special piece of Anderson memorabilia. Schedule pick up is Monday ( I will squeeze another post out of it of course ). I would have had it already if it would have fit in my Prius.

Something to look forward to ( for me ), and the past for some ( Pam ).

100 times better - and my 100th post!!!!

Remember my previous post re: Sienna pixie cut?

Well I did it - again - Yay!!!! Short hair rules ( courtesy of Rudy's Barber Shop in Santa Monica "no cuts, no nicks" is their motto ) and no fuss, no muss ( well maybe a little muss ).

I even made myself some dangly semi precious stone earrings. Yes, I said made.

I feel 100 times better, in time for my 100th post :)

Heavenly home stuff...

I am so excited to see that Alabama Chanin posted new pics from their interiors collection. So inspiring!

I wish I would have seen the chair pads a week ago - and before I spent $100 on seat cushions at Shabby Chic here in Malibu. Alas, it was not to be... Not the usual me to do something like that - spending money on a project I knew I could sew them myself but, at $23 a piece I felt it was well worth it - and it felt good to finally shop :)

Back to the beautiful pillows above. Aren't they heavenly?

O-M-G

I am freakin' exhausted!

Thankfully I have a very cooperative 16 year old who was anxious to help ( and make money )...

Kerry's gifts were picked up by a messenger today ( see the boxes above - my house doesn't look nearly as dirty as it is from this job : ). They were supposed to be done yesterday, but since filming went all night so they didn't get picked up until today. Whew!

My kid now has a new appreciation for that cush job she has at her dad's office. This is some serious manual labor and she knows it now :)

I wrapped each tile with a candle in clear cellophane. It shows off the art and doesn't require opening it to see what the gift is. I am sooo tired I can barely speak or type...

I need to go now. Wine's a waiting. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH.

New fun posts tomorrow - promise!

Blame it on Rio

Look at this great little outfit I found in Vogue a few years back. It was an article on Giselle and her summer gear. Very "Rio"wouldn't you say? ( For those of you who don't know, Giselle is from Brazil ).

Anyhoo, I feel a new ASB skirt design coming on...and a bedazzling tank too!

More than words can say

1 of 125!

Had to take the day off from posting yesterday...I am hard at work on the wrap gifts that are due tomorrow for Kerry Washington's movie "A Thousand Words"...


I have to make 125 candle tiles and 3 dozen wine glasses. They need to look good because Eddie Murphy and Nicholas Cage are among the recipients. I will have another post later though so please check in!

This friendship will last forever

Friendship bracelets are back and better than ever. The upscale versions have diamonds and semi precious stones ( above are from Scosha Woolridge ), lucky for us the designer shared her talents with the L.A. Times image section so you can make your own.

* images courtesy of the L.A. Times photographer Ken Hively.