I could not be more thrilled to be typing my very first blog post on my brand new website! A grande grazie to the Roundhouse Designs guys who totally rocked building the pages that comprise this site. Not only are they programming rockstars, they even taught me a new word: skeuomorphism — they're so smart! My site is going live just in time for the annual design blogger conference, ALT Summit. Before I jet to Salt Lake City to hob nob with fellow bloggers, let me whet your appetite with a few things you can expect on my corner of the world wide web:

~ A sneak peek behind the scenes at the design process and the inspiration for Lupa & Pepi's custom and ready-made papergoods. You'll also have a front row seat as I face the ultimate design challenge: designing paper goods for my own wedding!

~ While design has my heart, food occupies my mind! The evidence? My Instagram feed. On the blog, I will share favorite recipes, culinary adventures and my attempts at cracking the code of my great-great-aunt's (she's the "Lupa" of "Lupa & Pepi") recipe book. She never wrote down a recipe without omitting an ingredient or altering measurements for fear one of her friends would claim the recipe as her own!

~ The women in my family have had tremendous influence on me and serve as the inspiration for the name of my company. My mom — known around here as MamamiaRita — will be a regular guest contributor, sharing everything from classic pasta recipes to sage advice. She is one amazing lady! You will rarely see her in the kitchen, yet there's always a home-cooked multi-course meal on the table at dinner time. Maybe if you ask nicely, she'll tell you how she does it!

Ok, time to dash off to the airport!
Arrivederci!

Photos by Lupa & Pepi. Left to right: Custom papergoods order, our Thanksgiving table setting, homebaked Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, MamamiaRita and Me at Eataly in New York City