I just stepped off the last plane from sunny skies of L.A., back to the frigidly cold and bleak grey ones here in Michigan. It wasn’t all sunshine however, I was informed, I brought the two days of straight rain they desperately needed. Glad to be needed!

The trip, overall was successful, but entirely too short to get all I hoped to accomplished done. Needless to say, the countdown has begun for the upcoming Bride-To-Be show in Dearborn, and I used the time in L.A. to get many items finalized. Friday all the printed advertisement was proofed and submitted ready for the printer. I am currently anticipating the awesome cards later this week, or next. I also redesigned our business cards to pair more closely to the Full Circle Eventi appearance. My mother and I took a trip down to Artesia, CA to the Little India district to check out salwar kameez suits and successfully purchased beautiful items, and finally more fabric was purchased for the booth display.

After researching where the California Indian population purchases cloting, my mother and I whisked our way down to Artesia for a day of shopping.  Artesia, CA is the little India district that held such great delights as salwar kameez suits, something I was looking for to wear in the upcoming show.  Artesia’s main strip, Pioneer St., is spackled with Indian clothing, grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, beauty salons and home apparel.

Photos by marinarena

Our list of places to visit far underestimated the number of spectacular sites to see. In our 4 hour adventure, we only managed to cover 2 of the 4 main blocks of stores, and we skipped stores that didn’t have clothing! Purples, pinks, blues and greens, chiffon, silk, brocades, and shantung, plain, gem, beaded, and sequenced, theses stores provided us with textural and visceral delight. The most impressive store was Atirma Collections. They carry an extraordinary display of high end and designer salwar kameez, lenghas and everything in between. While personally I wanted to try on everything in sight, and bask in the beautiful colors and textures and extravagance of the lenghas, their target clientele was out of my current reach and desire to spend for the upcoming show. (But I will venture into, explore and share information on the store on a future visit to L.A!) So we moved in and out of the shops along the row. We found many items we loved, and I wish I had taken pictures of them. Finally, after stopping in a sweet shop to pick up a few treats, we found the shop with the golden key! We found two beautiful suits, in purple/blue and a turquoise that complimented each other in style and appearance. I also picked up matching bangles that are gorgeous! I am very happy with the purchases and look forward to showing them off at the show!

Our next and last big adventure was to match the lilac fabric we already have for the booth. Mom and I headed down to the fabric district in downtown L.A. If the fabric is anywhere to be found it’s there, right! Wrong. We scoured store after store, sorting through bolts and rolls of fabric piled to the ceiling to find the same material in every color but the one we need. Ultimately we decided on a gorgeous chiffon crinkle fabric in 3 shade of purple and white that compliments all of the fabrics in the grouping. I forgot to mention on Thursday night when I arrived, we headed out to Jo-Anne Fabric to gather more material and found a striking champagne bubble chiffon to add to the mix. I’m excited to start working with the fabric on the booth to get the best effect.

While the flower district and flower mall I hoped to visit on my trip were right next to the fabric district, time just didn’t allow the walk through the fragrant vicinity. But let me tell you, just driving through the area with the windows down was enough to set any bee to buzzing!

Conclusion: I need to schedule another trip to L.A. and the surrounding areas with little planned just to get more accomplished. Hmmm, maybe March!

Lots of work still ahead, and time in quickly running down, hope to see you there at the show, it will be a splendid event!