Snuggisdottir

My favorite time of the month is when my Swedish Elle Decor arrives in my mailbox. This month they turned me onto Iceland's version of the Snuggie! Bought to you by Vik Prjonsdottir.

De-Lovely

I have never been to New Zealand but I love all the stats about how there are more sheep than people and how it has the highest literacy rate (among humans, not sheep) in the world. It also seems to be a hub of creativity and these designs by Nice Work affirm kiwi's are cool. The "you're lovely" script has been printed on a pillow case, which is genius, because everyone should wake up with such an in-your-face affirmation don't you think?

Stuff I Love Just Because

Perhaps I'm fantasizing about getting a whopping tax return (uh, not) but this coffee table by Autoban for De La Espada has me hooked. We sell this line at Yolk and all of it so, so beautiful. These shoes, on the other hand, are by LD Tuttle and I think are they splendiferous. Usually I think white shoes can look super cheese but these are just super. I can justify the price by wearing them with my cheap stovepipe Target jeans.

Ay Matey.

"Now and then we had hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates." by Mark Twain

Boys love pirates because they are bad ass, girls love pirates because of Pippi Longstocking. Either one works for me.

Sucker for Cute

These Calico Critters are a mild obsession of every girl under the age of 8. We have been waiting with baited breathe for the Hedgehog Family at Yolk for months and today it arrived! Whoever writes the bios for these things must be on heavy painkillers because the descriptions are the best..."Mother Heloise is the lead singer of the family band "Sonic Six" and she comes up with all the songs and lyrics that they perform at local fairs. Heloise also enjoys cooking with ingredients from the forest and is famous for her mushroom pie." Yes she is.

Of course, this got me thinking about real hedgehogs and, quite frankly, these miniature velvety ones don't hold a candle to the real miniature velvety, sometimes prickly, ones. I was reading up on my Hedgehog knowledge and got a bit bummed out when I found out they were lactose intolerant because in Sweden they would always waddle around my grandma's yard and we would put out little dishes of milk for them. This probably means they all left my grandmother's house and got explosive diarrhea in the woods. Sigh.

Reasons To Be Cheerful 1-2-3

Ten bucks to anyone who remembers that song? Hah, okay, it was Ian Dury and the Blockheads. One of the women who works here is Lily Wilson and she takes some delicious photos of all the stuff that rolls into Yolk. She also is a sweet singer and you should check her out if you live in LA.

Feeling in a summer mood so I thought I'd throw some fun, bright, spotty things at you!

All Good In The Hood

So somebody here was written up in LA Times (golf claps). I do miss seeing my name in print, which when I worked in magazine happened a bunch.

On a totally different Yolk note, we are having waaaay too much doing silly window displays (the top of this blog shows our easter garland) and the newest display de hilarity is a bunch of random pinatas with the phrase "hit me with you best shot" emblazoned across the middle (cue Pat Benatar guitar riff). I took some pics, albeit bad ones, but it has really struck a chord with the Latin contingency in the area. Since the window was done by two white chicks (me and window whiz Cathy Callahan) we didn't realize the cultural significance of Chavo del Ocho so we left him out (it was a weird looking kid in a barrel). Apparently, our friend Chavo was a "legendary Mexican sitcom about an orphan boy and his quirky neighbourhood." A kid in a barrel doesn't sound too joyful to me but my husband (Mexican) and my Fed Ex guy (also Latin) went crazy when they saw this pinata and said the show was hilarious in the 70's. I gave paper Chavo to said Fed Ex guy and he rode around with him in his truck all day. Who doesn't love a happy ending?

More Is More

For many years I worked in teen magazines and our motto was always "more is more" when it came to laying out a page or coming up with a good story idea. I'd write stories like "87 ways to ditch your zits!" and "352 Things to do this summer!" or "58 Ways To Know If A Guy Is Crushing On You!" (note: ample use of exclamation marks is key to driving home a point!!!!!!) See, nobody wants TWO options when you can have EIGHTY SEVEN right?

I now realize that this thinking is probably what has made me the scatterbrained, where-are-my-carkeys type of person that I am today. It has also made me fairly adept at cramming a store full of color and fun. Lots of times I'll go into other retail stores and think, "Good Lord, there's nothing in here!" Perhaps they are smarter than me when it comes to things like, uh, budgeting but they don't get to drool over things like this fab poster by Happy Farmers or place a huge order of fabulous bags from Brit chick Mimi Berry.

I am a colombophile

I started to write a post about pigeons because there is a great french word that is colombophile (it means "pigeon fancier") but sadly, apart from loving the word, I am not really a fancier of pigeons at all. I am, however, a huge fancier of stripes and after I found a print by Wayne Pate of a seagull in a stripey sweater I felt that pigeon-ish enough. After that my mind bounced over to the new Orla Kiely line Olive and Orange and the amazing Breton Dress that we have in Yolk. AFTER THAT, I thought about how these blue and white stripes are little french inspired so it made this whole thought process make complete sense...to me.

Some Things Aren't So Great

Usually I'm fairly cheery--I save my pouty outbursts for the privacy of my home so only my husband is really privy to what a miserable git I can be. During the day I am a lover fast cracks, trivia tidbits, neighborhood gossip and general silliness. Yolk can sometimes feel the epicenter of a very small part of the LA universe and for that I am thankful.

And then, someone thinks it's a good idea to shoplift. What the #%$^#&#* people? After a Saturday night full of fun friends, way too much food and endless chortling (a step above giggling) I come to find that some lay-moh thought it a good idea to take a pricey dress from my store and whisk it out the door. I usually don't hold grudges but I hope said person gets hit by a bus and then eaten by squirrels.

Thankfully looking at Italian Vogue always make me feel better. If I had the guts I would dye my hair this bubblegum shade parce que c'est tres jolie!

why dogs are better than cats

I know people dress up their cats in all sorts of goofy outfits but has anyone ever dressed up a series of cats as the various wardrobe malfunctions of Lady Gaga? I think not! I am a massive dog fan...at Yolk we always take pics of people's pooches when they bring them into the store and post them on our Facebook page. If I lived in San Francisco I would set up a session with Jesse Friedin with my two canines lickety split! Even though I can't tell if all the dogs in these get-ups look dignified or mortified I love the insanity of it all.

Merci very much all you crafty buggers

Gah! I have stopped being one of those people who looks at things and says "gurgh, I could make that!" because the reality is, I can't AND even if I could, I wouldn't. While others are busy crafting, I am busy watching "16 And Pregnant" on MTV. Before I opened Yolk, I had convinced myself that I was a "maker of things" and had signed up for a Lighting Design class at Art Center in Pasadena. I designed this very elaborate kids light which was a big bubble with crazy tenticles that sprouted out and lit up. I was so psyched by my own genius but by the time it came to "making" it was basically my husband doing all the labor (with me looking on with a critical eye). We got a B in the class and I have relegated myself to the status of someone who "appreciates" things that OTHERS make.

These lights at the Merci store in Paris took my breath away, I want them hanging like beautiful big balloons in my backyard.

On your marks.....

So I am the last person in existence to jump on the blog bandwagon, perhaps it was all those years of waxing poetic in magazines that has subconsciously stopped me.