happy new year's eve!

wishing everyone a happy new year!

whatever you end up doing to celebrate,

hope you all a year full of laughter, health, peace & happiness

xoxo

making progress

Yes, I keep it real.  I still use the old pen & paper.

The past month has been spent prepping & writing everything for the site: the return policy, terms of use, shipping rates... basically everything except updating this blog!

Not everything has been going according to plan which can be really frustrating at times. In the last month my dedication to making langsura happen has been tested a few times. There have definitely been some "what the &$@!" moments but that is bound to happen. Luckily for me (and probably not for them) I have a great support system that listens to me bitch and gives me some amazing advice.

Everything now seems to be back on track and I'm hoping for a launch date by Spring 2026 2012 :)

vintage gems

With trying to perfect a logo, working on the template for the website and working on the Spring line all at the same time, I finally made some time to do what I absolutely LOVE... vintage shopping (oh and blogging ;))  

In addition to all the new pieces that I've been buying at the tradeshows, langsura will also feature exclusive vintage dresses that have been reconfigured and redesigned by wonderfully talented mom & myself.  Looking forward to finally debuting the collection that I've been working on for the past 10 years. 

an early birthday present :)

For the past 2 months, I have been working on a gift for my husband's 30th birthday. I've been sneaking behind his back, making secret phone calls, putting things on my business credit card and basically lying through my teeth to him...
the foundation of a healthy marriage.  

His bags have been packed (and probably with 5 pairs of shoes and no underwear), the flight & hotel are booked and he has NO clue (muhahahahahaha) :)

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WISCONSIN!!!

Ok, not really but when I was looking up images to put on the blog Wisconsin actually looks pretty nice. Possibly our next vacation spot?

 We are actually in...

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NEGRIL, JAMAICA!

My main goal here was to cross one of the items off his bucket list: to get his scuba diving certificate.  Tomorrow we hit up the Ocean (we don't look so cool scuba diving in the hotel pool)!

Have a great week everyone!

Highlights of Chicago

Last week I was lucky enough to go to Chicago (for the first time!) for the StyleMax Spring 2012 trade show.  It was definitely a lot easier for me to transition into the spring mindset with the unseasonably sunny & warm weather in the city.  The tradeshow was a big success, I got to see some amazing new lines.  For the spring line I've signed on 4 new labels for langsura, all of which I am VERY excited for and will be previewing in an upcoming blog!


There were many things on my list of things to do eat which included: Italian beef, overstuffed sandwich & deep dish pizza.  To sum up the trip it was full of food (maybe too much), shopping (again, a little excessive) & lots of time with my family (not enough).

Chicago style deep dish pizza from Giordano's.
We pulled a completely glutinous move by ordering a large.

Spent the day walking around the many parks all over Chicago

The Architecture Boat Tour is a MUST to see all the stunning buildings in the city 

A beautiful day at Navy Pier

a happy October

{skull head above the fireplace}

After spending almost 6 hours at the mall cancelling my phone plan last Friday, I decided to stay in & decorate my house for Halloween.  It's feeling much more like fall now: my "fall" cold is right on time, it's dark by 6pm, I've pulled out the Apple Cider Spice candle from Bath & Body, and my blue flannel 2-piece pajama set is on heavy rotation (yes, my husband is a lucky man).  Despite my cold, I am really looking forward to the rest of the month ;)  

{webs around the door frame}

{purple net cloth}

{please disregard the book called "Teenage Hackers"}

{the two best accessories for Halloween}

things to be thankful for...

having him in my life 
the most amazing person i have ever met 
my always supportive & loving husband

friends that make me laugh so hard 
that my abs hurt the next day

a family that makes me feel blessed everyday <3 

happy thanksgiving

  

ohh what twitter can tell you. a great lesson learned

One of the perks of starting a business is that you get to pick the people that you want to work with.  The tricky thing is, how do you know who the good ones are?  To be honest, I don't have time to call their references and really, how do I know I'm not calling their best friend?

After I look at their portfolio there are 2 things I usually base my decision on.

1) my first impression of the person/my intuition/gut feeling - friendly demeanor, smile, ease and confidence.

2) twitter

You generally DO NOT want to work with a person who: 

a) uses the F-word to replace nouns, verbs and adjectives

b) thinks of twitter as a virtual "Burn Book"

{Mean Girls reference - please see movie}

c) is starting a project that is very similar to your own. 
Oh yes, this is what happened to me and twitter is how I found out... thanks twitter.  

twitter is definitely not meant for everyone. 

i need an assistant...

who loves me enough to work for free.   

To sum up the past week in one word: exhausting.  

This week we've welcomed 2 cats into our family (needless to say, there has been a lot of meowing and hissing at our house - and the cats have been pretty talkative too), I was asked to submit a company/personal bio for a Women's Commerce group (more info to come) and we started the photo shoot for the product.  

  

{shooting product} 

I've been learning a lot of lessons on photography along the way too (it's a plus when your photographer also teaches photography on the side). I got to see the unedited images and I'm already in LOVE with them.  So thankful that I get to work along side such a great talent such as Nadia. 

So after this eventful week, my plan is to spend the weekend playing catch-up and I managed to score a pair of Foster the People tickets for Saturday! 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

hello fall! exclusive preview of our very 1st shoot

 from our first EVER fall campaign (any any campaign for that matter)!

drum roll please...

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hello fall <3

THANK YOU to

Nadia Cheema : photography

Shan Sarwar : styling 

Sean O'Neil: assisting 

Erin Winn : make up

Devon Winn : model

Ashley Symons : model

Parker Varvochan : model

Tristin : model

backstage at the fall shoot

The best part of this journey (so far) has been shoot the story.  You get to be creative, hang out with some amazing individuals and play dress up for the day (well watch models play dress up).  Such a positive & inspiring environment to be in :)

....

Here are a few photos back stage from our shoot

     {the clothes & the vintage steamer which was NOT practical but nice to look at}

{hair & make up by the very talented Erin Winn}

{my support system} 

{watching the shoot}

{the furry talent - Parker may need braces} 

{Ashley getting frisky with Shan our stylist}

....

a photo preview coming very soon

when in doubt, shoot indoors

Last week, langsura had its very first photoshoot (YEY!) and I had the pleasure of working with an AMAZING team of people.  We had originally intended to shoot outdoors, but with the weather being so unpredictable, a last minute decision was made to move it indoors.   

I contacted the Weather Network and asked them how they predict the weather.  

They sent me this picture

{not really}

With a days notice, I scrambled around Queen St. to find props for the set. We decided on a basic autum theme, with a focus on simplicity to highlight the pieces. 

Here are a few props that were picked.

{Thank you Abrahams on Queen St.}

As you can see, I have a slight love for vintage things.  If only I was able to keep it all for myself <3

All in all, we had a VERY successful day and the pictures speak for themselves (I just saw some edited ones yesterday and they are BEAUTIFUL)!! 

thank you, thank you, thank you

{handheart}
 and you don't even know how many times Tomi took this picture

 a HUGE thank you for all the 

comments, emails, texts, messages & 
even those that came up to me at a party (a little tipsy with beer in hand)
to tell me which logo they liked.
that, my friend, is pretty awesome.

 i'm still working on narrowing it down but i will definitely post it once it's finished :)


thank you once again 
xo


p.s. i've been super busy (which explains the lack of posts) prepping for the very first langsura photoshoot - LOTS of pretty pictures coming soon

it's really important to vote... for a logo

Starting your own business does not mean that you do everything yourself.  It means you are confident that you have a strong support system to help you along the way.  

Luckily, I have been blessed with terrific friends & family.  

With that being said, I consider this a collaborative project that I share with you all! 

 I thoroughly appreciate everyone who comes to visit my blog and I LOVE reading your comments.  

Now that I have you all buttered up, I need help!  

I have had the pleasure of working with Joelle at inBloom Studio for all my designing needs for the site.  She has put together some beautiful logos for me to choose from.

 Out of the many options, here are my top 3 picks:

A - feather

B - hang tag

C - fancy pants (haha, what do you call this?)

What is YOUR favourite?  

Leave me a comment on the blog OR post message on Facebook with YOUR pick! 

my highlights of vegas

My trip last week to Vegas wasn't all about work.  Instead of going to Vegas alone I was lucky to convince my husband to come along.

Me convincing him: "Hey babe, you want to go to Vegas with me? I will be at the trade shows during the day but I heard the pools here have these things called 'bikini parties'? 

{hahaha. FYI this is NOT what he experienced at all}

So here are a few highlights of our Vegas trip

...

{I like to call these the *click, click, click* guys}

These guys are as common as slots in Vegas (I said SLOTS ;)).  Since prostitution is some-what legal in Nevada, these guys are paid to hand out cards with pictures of girls on them and a phone number.  The clicking noise comes from the guys running the cards through their fingers to get your attention - click,click,click,click,click

They will deliver a girl to your hotel room in 20 minutes. 
I ordered pizza and it took 30.

{Cirque Du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio}

This water-themed show was beyond words, everything from the elaborate costumes, to the amazing stage with 1.5 million gallon pool, to the performers with no spines (literally!).  It was unbelievable and I am proud to say Cirque is Canadian!  

{watching the sunset in Grand Canyon}
This was hands down my favourite part of the trip.  The Grand Canyon was so.... GRAND! Being there, sitting at the edge of this tremendous World Wonder with my hub, I was in such awe of how breathtaking it was.  

viva las vegas...

This week I attended a fashion trade show in the scorching (I mean like 42 degrees) city of Vegas! For those of you that have never been to a trade show before, it's basically a place where companies in a specific industry come and show off their latest products/services. I have been to different trade shows in L.A & New York but this one was by far the most massive one I have ever experienced! It probably felt even bigger to me because I was solo; most companies here had a team of at least 5 buyers and were working with some big department stores (i.e. Bloomingdales... you may have heard of them? ;))

{My badge I had to wear at the trade show}  

Vendors rarely look at your face when you walk into their booth, they just look at your badge to see what company you are from.  Having "Start Up Retailer" on there tells them that #1) you're a newbie and #2) that you probably wont be their biggest sale ;)   One vendor told me that they actually don't work with "small companies like mine" and I should "probably go visit another vendor". 

Do you remember the scene from Pretty Woman where she gets kicked out of the store. Well, it was sort of like that (minus the belly baring blue and white hooker number)!  Although my first reaction was to take it a little personal, I remembered that this is the reality of this business... When stuff like that happens you just have to shrug it off because everyone at one point or another has to start somewhere.

{Just a peek at some of the pieces I picked up...}

All in all, I met some great vendors and picked out some beautiful new pieces for Fall!

"ooh na, na, what's my name?"

The word is a combination of two words put together.
"lang" in Cantonese translates to pretty (靓)
"sura" in Croatian translates to girl (actually spelled cura but for pronunciation purposes we'll just spell it with an "s")

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perfect for an online women's boutique

Being that I am Chinese and my husband is Croatian, I played around with trying to come up with a name that combined the two languages.  While the languages are very different (in every way!), there were two words that seemed to fit perfectly together.

There you go... a little piece of me :)

fingers crossed

Most New Year’s resolutions happen in January; mine happened in March. It was then that I decided I would take on this great opportunity to start a new and completely foreign chapter in my life.

In order to start a new chapter, an old one must come to an end. One of the hardest and scariest things a person can do is leave something behind that is comfortable and familiar; especially when it pays the bills – but, I had to do it. So, I left my full-time job as a Marketing Co-ordinator and decided to follow my heart and listen to my creative desires in order start my future in fashion.

I have been warned by countless people that starting up a business is a long and tedious road, but I’ve always been up for a challenge! This blog will be a way to document the entire process, and one day look back and remember the ride. Most importantly, I wanted to show others with similar dreams that it CAN be done. Through my ideas, I hope to not only find inspiration but inspire you as well. 

This blog will focus on the creation of my Dream, and I will be sharing with you the people, places and things that I love so that you too can see and understand my vision. 

And like my good friend Oprah says 

"You've got to follow your passion.  You've got to figure out what it is you love--who you really are.  And have the courage to do that.  I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dream."

(let's be real here, if Oprah was my good friend..I probably would not need to start this...)

So here it goes, welcome to my Dream...

All I can do now is cross my fingers & toes that it all works out ;)