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November 28th, 2008
Hello dearest readers, and a very Happy Biggest Shopping Day of the Year to you! It’s officially the beginning of the crazy holiday season, and it’s time to get to shopping. We are heavily weighed down with the Thanksgiving feast from last night (and the cold pumpkin pie we just had for breakfast), but with the sales and deals that we know are out there—just waiting for us—we can’t pass up this opportunity. We are on the hunt for marked-down cashmere sweaters, a pair of cute and cozy slippers, and much, much more. Also on the schedule today: breaking out the holiday decorations and music. As we have said before, we love this time of year—it’s so festive! So today, we will shop till we drop, make an awesome turkey sandwich, finish off the pumpkin pie, and then pop in some holiday music and start hanging wreaths, garlands and mistletoe galore! Hope your day is as enjoyable as ours is sure to be! |
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Seattle Picks: |
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| 1 | Wool You Be Mine? While shopping outings are usually euphoric experiences for us, the November rain and winter chill has us perusing catalogues and surfing the Web from the comfort of our own home as of late. In fact, all we have wanted to do is snuggle up with a mug of hot cocoa in a cozy wool sweater. Under a warm wool blanket. On a fluffy wool couch? That’s right. On one of our few recent outings, we stopped by Greener Lifestyles in Ballard. Home to beautiful, eco-friendly and hand-crafted furniture, they specialize in natural fibers (like wool) for their fabrics as well as their stuffing. The result? Unique and green pieces you can be proud to display in your home. Plus they source many of their fibers locally. We were thrilled to lounge on an eggplant-colored chaise while looking at pictures of proud farmers and the sheep that contributed to the piece. We were so impressed with their furniture and their mission, that Greener Lifestyles may even get us back on the streets and out of our shopping funk. Greener Lifestyles |
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| 2 | Doing Good—One Bite At a Time We met two of our BFF’s while volunteering. Those were Lucky for us, Thursday’s Guest Chef Night at FareStart fit the bill perfectly. FareStart is a good restaurant in its own right, but it’s also a food-training program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals. We supported a great cause just by stuffing our faces! Plus, where else can you get a three-course meal for $24.95, composed by one of the area’s premier chefs? Make your reservations early as popular chefs sell out quickly. If you’re on your own, be sure to grab a seat at the communal table and make a new friend. You already know you have something in common—an altruistic nature and fabulous taste! FareStart |
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| 3 | Pulp It Up Back in our collegiate days, we dabbled in a couple art classes to explore our creative side. While our appreciation developed, our skills—not so much. No big deal—there is always a place in the world for art enthusiasts. Who said trendsetters have to actually design trends anyway? We’ll just sport the hottest, envy-inducing clothes and accessories before everybody else and just take all the credit. Pulp Lab in Ballard is literally a lab for the fashionable arts—researching and procuring cutting edge, fashion-forward trends. Pulp features one of a kind, low-number products and exclusive lines from up and coming designers, like Project Runway’s Sweet P and Sage Vaughn’s hand painted clothing collection, Ghosts in the Garden, as featured on Top Design. And designers like Linda Laudermilk bring the eco-consciousness by using sustainable and unexpected products, like bamboo and milk! Thanks to our brief education in the arts, we’ve learned to appreciate clothing (and shopping) as its own art form. And thanks to Pulp Lab, we now consider boutiques to be kind of like museums, and shopping, art collecting. Pulp Lab |
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Chick Picks: |
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| 1 | Give the Gift of Education |
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| 2 | Style Your Life Not to toot our own horn, but honestly, we have a knack for shopping, style and everything that goes along with it. However, as impulsive shoppers, even our closet has some holes. This is where the friendly, energetic personal style consultants from local company Life Styled come in. They shop for us, help us with seasonal updates, clean out closets, and help us create a look to match our lives and the fabulous image we want to project. They’re style superheroes. |
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| 3 | You, Dearie, Are an Artist We are amateur photographers at best, but some of our snaps are pretty darn good and definitely worthy of a frame. Still, we have no idea where to print digital images, so our photos live on the computer. Thank goodness for plywerk photofinishing—send them your digital image (or choose one of theirs) and your snapshots become actual art, on gorgeous, frameless panels that are easy to hang. We are already collecting our friends’ fave shots for thoughtful holiday gifts.... and with a 7-day turnaround, they can be ours! Enter the code seapicks25 and get 25% off until Dec. 5! www.plywerk.com |
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| Event of the Week! | |||
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’Tis the Season to Shop for a Cause The best way to enjoy the holiday season is to give to others. This year, the ballroom at the Andra Hotel will be overflowing with Seattle’s hottest designers and boutiques offering a unique shopping experience where a portion of the evening’s sales will go to Treehouse, an organization that gives foster kids a childhood and a future. Participants include Sweet Beauty, Theo Chocolates, Sabrina Love Handbags, Isabella Fiore Handbags and Marc Jacobs perfume! What: Shopping with TuTu Time for Treehouse |
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Hip Happenings: |
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Happy Holiday Handbags We are suckers for exclusive, limited edition items—kind of like Kate Moss’ line of clothes for TopShop. So, come December, we will be snapping up a clutch from Crystalyn Kae’s exclusive new Holiday Handbag line. One of Seattle’s favorite independent handbag designers, they are going to be very sought after, so get yours fast! What: Special Holiday Purses from Crystalyn Kae |
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| 3 | Super Sample Sale Seattle’s home to our favorite independent handbag designers—including Rian Handbags. These luscious bags are to die for and include designs for men and women (natch). Sooo, come next week, you will find us at the Rian Sample Sale picking up something fab for us and our other fashionista friends for the holidays—at a fraction of the price. What: Rian Handbags Sample Sale |
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Amidst all your frenzied shopping today and the rest of this season, remember us. Because if you want to give everyone you know a gift without spending any money, you can sign them up for www.SeattlePicks.com. It's free, and you'll seem very hip when you tell them it's from you. |
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