grammar girl

So this weekend we were at a sale and we saw this little fishbowl and a light bulb went off. (In our heads, not literally, thank goodness. We hate shopping in the dark). We had some sand and left over rocks from an old display. We definitely had water. We’ve been dying for a store pet. All we needed now was the perfect fish.

Good news. We found her and she’s a fiery mamacita. Her name is Disco.

There is something calming about watching a little fish in a glass bowl swim to the top to nibble some tasty eats. (Her favorite food is something called a blood worm…gross!) You might think it’s a little sad for her to be in there by herself, but she swims around and eats without a care in the world. She is constantly being adored by someone in the shop. Plus, her lack of long-term memory aids in her fight against cabin fever.

She likes making new friends just as long they don’t tap on her glass. Can you blame her? We hate is when guys tap our glass. So if you’re in the neighborhood you should stop by and say hello. She’s real cute. Oh, and if you’re wondering, we’re sorry, she’s totally NFS.

We got our advanced copy of the new Portland Monthly.  It’s their “best of” issue and we made the shopping section as best “Design Store”.  We aren’t sure what that means exactly but we’ve decided we like it because it makes us sound fancy. Thanks Portland Monthly!  (Oh and a special p.s. – check out page 86 of the same issue for a hilarious picture of our best friends and Saint Cupcake owners, Jami and Matt Curl, working out at their favorite anti-gym Recreate Fitness.  Jami, your butt really does look awesome.)

Every time our card rep comes to the store, we feel like our true calling was stationary. All that beautiful paper, colorful envelopes, zillions of cool designs…it’s like heaven. And, for a brief moment at least, it feels ok to cut down another tree if it means it will end up looking like this.

So if you’re as big a fan of letterpress stationary as we are, we think you’ll be happy to see some of the new designs that came in this week from locals Egg Press and Lark Press. There are so many beautiful cards, we had trouble choosing which to share with you. In the end, we decided our favorites had a sense of humor to go along with their good looks. As Pacific Northwesterners with Scottish ancestry, you can see why we just had to have them. Check ‘em out! (cards pictured by Egg Press)

Aside from our giant pink fridge, our store doesn’t exactly specialize in “kitchenware”. Sure we’ve sold lots of breadboxes but usually we send them off with the suggestion of turning them into a sweet desk organizer. However, on occasion we bring home an awesome egg slicer or a totally amazing set of push button salt and pepper shakers. As it turns out, this last weekend was just one of these rare occasions. When we went shopping for the store, these two pieces (after living across the river from one another for decades) just seemed destined to meet and share a display space in our store. Meet Mr. “Tea” and Ms. “Things”. Aren’t they cute together? They have so much in common as canisters – having space to store utensils, flatware, take-out menus or yes, even tea! We think they’ll be ready soon to take their relationship to the next level and move onto your kitchen countertop permanently.

When we were coming up with the theme for this month’s shopping post we weren’t really sure what to do. We really had to think long and hard about exactly what July is all about. We love July because it feels like summer. Not the beginning of summer like June or the end of summer like August – just pure, unadulterated SUMMER. And then we thought, summer is about cerulean bird-filled skies, aqua colored swimming pools, navy blue stripes in our 4th of July flag and, of course, lots and lots of weddings. Pretty soon the choice to share our most beautiful blue pieces with you became clear. We hope you like them as much as we do.

Click on a photo below to enlarge the image and to get the details on each piece.