Setting the Scene...

Photo by Kevin Keeker

I wish that I was as good a writer as the Fug Girls. I want to come up with some instant vignette about spices traveling the world (or maybe just the Spice Girls) to convey a sense of fun about our Spice Rack lollipops shipping free whenever you buy them with something else. But all I've got is something mumbly about a caravan full of spices weaving its way back to Europe along the silk road and aren't you glad that the postal service is so much faster?

So I ask you, dear readers: what scene would you sketch for our Spice Rack lollipops traveling to you?

Hello!

photo by Jesse Oleson, aka Cakespy

We're back! Susan and I have had a glorious three weeks off in which we traveled to see family, played games, ice skated until our legs dropped off (ok, that was just me), cooked non-candy, and generally relaxed and got our energy back.

Our Etsy shop is open and our vacation responder has been turned off. Drop in and say hi!

Eye Candy: Still Life with Onions

I'm a sucker for a Cezanne still life. Not sure why, but I find them appealing and comforting in a way that more formal still life paintings just don't. I'm planning to see this one and hope they have others at the Post-Impressionist Masterpieces exhibit at the deYoung during our break.

Eye Candy: Local Fashion Trends

My recent trip from where I live in California (Silicon Valley) to Seattle and then on to Vancouver made me realize all over again about the little fashion trends that pop up even up and down the west coast. For example, every single person I saw wearing a scarf in Seattle - and I saw a lot of people wearing scarves in Seattle - had it wrapped around their necks like this. (It's folded in half, with the loop end holding the other end in place.) No one wears scarves like that here. Of course, it's warmer here. :)

And then in Vancouver there were a lot of boots, including an extraordinary number of stylish over-the-knee boots like these. I'd never wanted to wear over-the-knee boots before, but by the time I left I was drooling over them. Again, it's colder and wetter in Vancouver than Silicon Valley, so boots are probably always more common, but they were incredibly beautiful too. 

As for what's popular in Silicon Valley? I'm not sure what would pop out at other people. We're pretty laid back - people in San Francisco are always better dressed - but there must be something, right?

Last Chance

If you still haven't ordered your holiday lollipops, this is your chance to do it! We're going on vacation starting tomorrow morning, which means we'll be closing the shop up this evening. You can use HOLIDAYS2010 to get 20% off your order before then.

We'll be taking some well deserved vacation time - the shop will reopen again on January 10th. We may pre-schedule some Eye Candy or Hockey Friday posts, but that's going to be it until then.

See you in the new year! Happy holidays!

Vancouver Wrap-Up

photo by Justine Kamionsky

I'd intended to write a long blog post much earlier than this about our wonderful time in Vancouver. I wanted to tell you all about the cute, delicious waffles and high-quality coffee at Cafe Medina and Rangoli where we had some amazing Indian food (though at least some of its fabulousness was from hunger - the best sauce of all).

I also wanted to tell you about all the wonderful people we met a One of a Kind Vancouver, from Mena Dragonfly to Natur'el Tea (I'm enjoying her Jasmine Pearl Tea right this very second) to the Luv'n Nuts folks who were right across the aisle from us. Not to mention Doug and Ally and Michelle and everyone from One of a Kind who were incredibly helpful and patient.

Alas, it's now three days later and the blog post schedule for the second half of December has gone completely out the window while we catch up on orders and customer service and everything else that you have to do to run a business.

In short: Thanks to everyone who came to One of a Kind Vancouver and thanks to everyone who helped put the show together! You are all awesome and wonderful!