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Hi Darlings! This is what I wore during my panel at Hispanicize and I got so many compliments on it. This pattern is one of my favorites, which is why I have made it three times now. I usually don’t make one pattern that many times, but I must confess that when I need a little kick in the mojo butt, I pull out a pattern I love and know front to back like Butterick 5950. Using a pattern I have already made assures I can get instant gratification with no fuss, fitting, or modifications needed, and that will usually get me back in the mood for sewing. I first made and reviewed the dress in a lightweight metallic HERE, then I made it again in off white HERE and most recently in the striped double knit in today’s post. I think I am done with this one for a while, but you never know. DIY Dress Pattern HERE / Fabric HERE / Steve Madden Heels HERE / Necklace F21 The App Store and Google Play!

Hi Darlings! I hope you had a good start to your week. I spent my Monday knee deep in fabric at Michael Levine’s, sourcing fabric. I have so many new projects coming up that trying to keep up is getting harder and harder. I am so thankful for the team around me that is helping me stay on track. I know I would be a mess without them. The weather has been so warm here, that I was able to pull out my F21 playsuit. It’s so cute and comfy that, although I bought this one, I plan to make one or two more this season. Because so many of you would rather just buy, I posted the link below. For the other half, who love to make, I have linked a new McCall pattern for a romper, #6969 that is so cute! Ann, at Gorgeous Fabrics, has some great prints HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, that would look fabulous as a romper. Don’t forget to use my coupon code mimig1h2014. Forever 21 Playsuit HERE (I am wearing size small) / Bakers Shoes Platforms (old) / Charming Charlie Necklace

Hi Darlings! I meant to post this yesterday, but I had some family to do’s that took over my day. I know many of you don’t follow on Instagram, or just don’t do Instagram (like my mom) and just prefer a recap so I thought I would do an insta-view of my week. I use my Instagram as a place to share more of my regular day to day life with the family, so here is a lil bit of that. First I will start with the third video as part of my “Family Friday” segments on my YouTube channel. This is last Friday’s video on how we met. Every Friday on YouTube we will be doing a video highlighting our family, questions asked by many of you and just some fun wholesome love. #socute We took the kids out for the day last Sunday 4/6 and had a great time together! You all have seen my baby boy plenty since he is a ham just like mama and loves the camera. My little girl is a lot less of a ham and prefers not being in front of the camera, but every so often she smiles for me lens. She is just gorgeous! Lexi (my 16 yr old) and I went out to dinner last week before her dance class. She always keeps me smiling and laughing. I spy a Goodwin! I stopped in at Ulta and picked up a few goodies. I’ll be reviewing them soon. When we see new properties being built we always stop in to take tours of the model homes, lol. It always gives me so much decorating inspiration, like the frames below. These are photographs of actual swimsuits, blown up and framed. LOVE! This past Sunday 4/13 I spent the day in my studio working on a tulle skirt for my daughter. I also plan to make one for myself and I might just do a tutorial. They are so much fun and as I am sure you have noticed, they are everywhere! Of course we couldn’t resist having some fun with the left over tulle 😉

Hi Darlings! If you follow me on Instagram you know I made this DIY dress several weeks ago but I only just wore it during Hispanicize 14′ in Miami. It was such an easy modification to an existing Burda pattern so I made a quick sew along tutorial. The flared option for the pattern us super cute but it wasn’t what I was going for. Here I am with another talented blogger Gypsy In The City at the Positive Impact awards. and here I am taking a #selfie with Edward James Olmos Fabric Options: Blended Knits HERE, ITY Knits HERE, Rayon HERE / Burda Pattern HERE

Hi Darlings! You guys know I love to bring you things that excite me, so when Athleta sent me a pair of their new City Pants “Aspire”, I couldn’t wait to try them on. Being a fabric snob I am always on the hunt for great workout pants that FEEL good and are “multi-purpose”. I like to wear them to the gym and to lunch and just to lounge around, and the recycled featherwieght stretch fabric is silky, soft and great to move in. So, I though I would share my day in City Pants… I had a lunch appointment today so I wore my favorite yellow sweater, Steve Madden Wedges, and pulled out my new bright white MK Bag. I knew I had to grab my son later that day so on my way out of the house I grabbed a tank, denim shirt, and sneakers for a quick change. If you haven’t already noticed, one of the cutest features of the Aspire Ankle Pant is the side drawstring. You can adjust the length which is such a great idea. After a quick change my baby and I went off to play… I wonder where he gets his coolness from? LOL I almost broke a hip but we had fun! Then we headed back home so I could get my afternoon work out in. I am not much of a morning person so I often work out mid day when I have more energy. I took off my denim shirt and put on my gym shoes for another quick change. City Pants and Illuminate Tank provided by Athleta and can be found HERE and HERE #athleta #citypants #Fitness #gap

Hi Darlings, Many of you know that I am in my late 30’s and that I have given birth to four amazing children. What many of you may not know is that genetically, the women in my family are not what most would consider “thin”. My mom has had weight issues for most her adult life and when I hit my 30’s my body changed. After giving birth to my three oldest daughters (20, 16 and 11) I literally bounced back after breastfeeding for the better part of their first year of life. Having had the ability to breastfeed helped me get my body back and to be honest, I didn’t have to do much. When I gave birth to my first daughter, I was 16 and weighed 96 lbs. I went right back to just under 100 lbs, after she was born, but I was a teenager and my body was like a fat burning machine. When I gave birth to my 16 year old and my 11 year old, I gained a healthy amount of weight but again, the fat just melted off without much effort of my part. I had my son at the cusp of turning 30, and I went from a 115 lbs pre pregnancy to 179 lbs. For me, at 5′ 4″, that was a lot of weight. Even my doctor had asked what I was consuming that I was gaining so much so fast. Being pregnant with my son was much more difficult on my body than my previous pregnancies and after giving birth, I expected the weight to just “fall off”. But weeks past…then months, and nothing was happening. That’s when I realized that my body had shifted and that I was going to have to put forth effort to get back to my pre baby weight. At the time, I didn’t know nearly as much about health and fitness as I do now, so I just made small changes to my diet and began to do moderate exercise a few days a week.  That helped me get back to a place that I was happy with, however, since that pregnancy, I have had to change my lifestyle and for the first time in my life, found myself having to work on staying at a weight that was acceptable to me. Now that I am better versed, the changes are part of my lifestyle, but I can’t say that it is always easy. My body is not “perfect”, but let’s be honest, who’s is? I have stretch marks, cellulite, jiggly bits and things, BUT looking at the above picture (taken two weeks ago) makes me feel good about myself, It reminds me of why I try every day to stay on track. It’s not because I want to look like the chicks in magazines, because not even the chicks in those magazines look like that. I don’t feel the need to stay in shape or compete or otherwise stress myself out over my body, but instead I do it because I FEEL BETTER. I have more stamina. I can enjoy wearing clothes that are fitted and feel sexy. I do it for myself and for my children. I am not always “good”, and trust me, I have really bad days, weeks and months. But I always know what to do to get back to where I want to be, and with summer approaching, I want to be swimsuit ready. So I know I have to start doing a little more work. Taken last week Here is what I will be doing over the next few weeks…. 1. Lowering my sodium intake by 80% which means I am going to start enjoying the actual taste of the foods I am eating and not the seasoning that my Puertorican roots tend to indulge in. Lol! 2. I already drink a lot of water, but I will be trying my best to stay at a gallon a day. It’s not that hard when you spread it throughout the day. 3. I will be cutting out refined sugars and any sort of fried food. (which is so hard for me) 4. I will be including healthy fats in my meals. (avocado, olive oil, flax seed oil, natural peanut butter) 5. I will be eating 5 small meals a day instead of my usual 3 larger meals and two snacks. 6. Finally I will be trying very hard to get at least 8hrs of sleep because, believe it or not, getting enough sleep is extremely important to your body. The bottom line is that no one thing will work for everyone. Not all women must look the same, be thin or constantly worry about their weight, but we should always want to be healthy so we can enjoy our lives now and in our later years. Pick a few things that you enjoy doing like dancing, walking or jogging and make that your exercise. Remove items from your diet one at a time if it feels too overwhelming to do it all at once, and most importantly be good to yourself and tell yourself how sexy you are, and believe it! #Fitness #Health #Swimsuit

*Sponsored Post* Hi Darlings! So, when I got an email asking if I was interested in working on a “Get The Look” post inspired by The Face, an Oxygen original, I was excited and immediately inspired by the looks featured in episode 206 which will be airing Wednesday 8/7c only on Oxygen! I have always been a huge fan of menswear inspired looks and seeing as I love a style challenge I knew I could pull this off with a little Mimi G flair. If you are not familiar with the show let me school you. The Face gives us, the viewer, access inside the world of the fashion industry as the coaches, led by supermodel Naomi Campbell, guide the aspiring models through real life assignments, including photo shoots and commercials. Now let me share why I love this show and clue you guys in on my closely guarded secret. I have no experience in the world of modeling but as a fashion blogger one of the key elements to my brand is the quality of the pictures I share and how well I am able to showcase what I’m wearing. As any good model knows, the purpose of that walk down the glamorous runway is to show off those designer duds and make them shine. Well, the same goes for fashion bloggers. If you saw pictures of me when I first started blogging, you would immediately see the difference. It wasn’t until I began to teach myself how to pose, walk, stand for the camera and work the angles to show off my clothes that I really blossomed. It was because of The Face, magazines and supermodels like Naomi, that I was able to learn and soak in everything I saw. The show not only gives us a peek into the world of modeling, but it is a learning tool. A tool that should be taken full advantage of if you are in the business of fashion blogging, aspire to be a model, or just want to look better in your everyday selfies. These are the two looks I gleaned inspiration from. I couldn’t wait to pull out my crisp white shirt and my husbands black tie so I could start piecing my looks together. Then I realized that my husband’s black tie was, what I call, “a fat tie”, and I needed a skinny, modern and fresh looking tie so I could look as chic as the women in the inspiration pics. So, in full Mimi G style, I grabbed my scissors and turned that fat tie into a cool skinny tie. Then I made a little step by step video tutorial on how you can refashion your old man’s tie. (DIY video below) Menswear inspired pants HERE  / Steve Madden Heels HERE / White Button Up HERE Now, because I had so much fun doing this, I thought I would give you a second, more casual menswear look. By simply switching out my shoes and loosening my tie, I was able to transform my sexy menswear look into an everyday casual look. #menswear #oxygen #stevemadden #tie

Hi Darlings!!!! Did you miss me? Well, I missed you, and I could not wait to get back home to my family and of course to all of you. I had a wonderful time in Miami and met some great people that will be in life for a long time. I did manage to make several things before I left to Miami but with all the craziness that went on I hardly got to wear them so instead I will be sharing my “What I Would Have Worn” looks this week, on the blog. This blue dress will look familiar to some of you; I made and wore a green version not long ago (you can read that post and pattern info HERE). I loved the dress so much that I made it again, and since I enjoyed making my own belt the first time around I made myself another one. Since some of you asked for a how-to I have ordered more buckles, and as soon as they come in I will do a tutorial on making a covered belt and buckle. Also….. This dress will be making its way to STITCHED9 very soon. DIY Dress Info HERE / Steve Madden HERE / Charming Charlie Clutch / F21 Necklace #coveredbelt #blue #flounce #stevemadden #DIY #Dress

Hi Darlings! I know I am late posting but being in Miami all week makes it so hard to blog and post. I did however promise part two would be up today so here it is! I have missed you guys but I am back on Monday, have a great weekend!!! #family #funny #hubby #Video

Hi Darlings! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I spent my weekend sewing my tail off and trying to get things in order before my flight tomorrow. I am headed to Miami as some of you know to speak at Hispanicize 2014, and I am super excited. I made myself a few dresses for the week, but I will have very little time to photograph my looks so this week there will be many postings of my time in Miami, a #TBT and of course part #2 of the “Get To Know Us” video on Friday. Also, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with my trip since I do most of my postings there when I am traveling. Now, this dress is so super cute!!! It is an old pattern by Vogue (V1027) but I have always loved it and since it is a quick sew and go dress I pulled it out of my archives. The fabric is so perfect for it, and since I wanted the dress to be a little flirtier I shortened it a bit. The fabric is a lightweight CRYSTAL TIE DYE KNIT with amazing colors! and it comes in FOUR different colorways; HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Make sure to use my coupon code MIMI10 to get 10% off your purchase. DIY Dress Pattern V1027 / Fabric  HERE / Aldo Clutch HERE / Steve Madden Heels HERE / Earrings F21 / Sunglasses H&M (old) The App Store and Google Play! #review #tiedye #stevemadden #Dress #V1027

Hi Darlings, I have received SO MANY emails asking me to do a “Get To Know Me” video where I answer 99 random questions about myself, and since the second most requested video I get asked to do (aside from tutorials) is one with the hubby I thought why not combine them and do a “Get To Know US” video. In my quest to make you guys happy, please enjoy the following video and I apologize in advance for the silliness that you will witness. The App Store and Google Play! #family #funny

Hi Darlings, I am going to start incorporating more Work It Wednesdays since you guys seem to like them, I don’t know that I can do it every Wednesday but maybe every other week might work better for my schedule. Today I am excited to share my new favorite workout!!! It is rare that I find a workout that makes me eager to do it again the next day and here is why… Most times the workout videos all do the same exercises for legs, buns, arms, etc. It may be a different trainer; location, music but the exercises are early the same over and again. The other thing is that most times they are too hard on my knees. I have written about this before, after a few weeks I can’t do it anymore. BUT NOW!!!!! I am a complete and total fan of The Bar Method. I have heard of these classes here in LA but had not had a chance to research it, so last month I went to their website and ordered one of the DVD’s “Super Sculpting” for $20. I figured it was a small investment, and if I did not like it I wasn’t out too much. When the video arrived, it sat in my studio for over two weeks before I finally decided to open it and give it ago. I will say that, after the first 15 minutes, I was sold! It was EXACTLY what I was looking for and since my current goal is to create a longer leaner “dancers body” this was perfect. Here are some of the reasons I love this video and can’t wait to move on to “Super Sculpting II” 1. The moves are different from anything I have ever done, and I have done almost ALL WORKOUT VIDS CREATED! The moves are small targeted movements that burn like hell but as you do them you KNOW they are working and targeting those areas of a woman’s body that so many other workouts DO NOT target. 2. It is hard and long (1hr) but it is NOT hard on my knees, there is no jumping, running or normal lunges that kill my poor knees. 3. It was only $20 4. You don’t need to make a huge investment on equipment. All you need are 5lb weights, a small exercise ball and a stretching band (my picks below) I had the hubby do the video the next day with me, and he loved it as much as I did. If you want something to get beach body ready and can do in the comfort of your own home, this may be a great option. I am not sponsored by The Bar Method, and they have in no way asked for a review. I bought the video myself and will be buying the others too! #barmethod #Fitness