File this under San Francisco indulgence- it’s a Presidio warehouse transformed into a trampoline park. I had my reservations, but honestly, anything that you have to sign a waiver for… it’s gonna be good. I was here for a work event, but had to capture the insanity.
The best part hands down was playing trampoline dodgeball with/against elementary school children. Truly absurd.
Last Friday, June 24, was National Bring Your Dog to Work Day. After a bit of finagling, we got it approved at work. It was nice meeting my coworker’s dogs- they were all so well behaved. I knew that Astor would be a handful, so I scheduled to work only a half day.
She looks so happy, yeah? Little brat. I am covered in yellow fur.
My coworker Mary Ellen cuddling her gigantic pup Willie.
Astor chilling out in her under desk basket.
Dog day was a great idea in theory, but so stressful in execution. Astor was so bad! She barked at the other dogs, and was quite restless. These aren’t bad traits for a dog, just hard to manage while also working 🙂
I think I first noticed it at the Gap. Public Bikes had set up a few bikes in the Gap on Powell + Market.
Then there was a striking orange bike in the window display of CB2, the Crate and Barrel offshoot.
I said striking, not attractive. It’s a little too Ronald McDonald for me.
THEN there was the very green bike at Kate Spade.
Ooo it matches my satchel. Lovely, but not what I would want in a bike.
They made this bike porn video for the launch of the bike, but it’s a little over the top. Note the puppy, cupcakes, and stack of pink boxes. Overkill.
After a while it hit me- I thought to myself… Oh great… now bikes are in. Now that marketers have deemed it so bikes are cool again and are not just for poor or environmentally conscious people (I guess that’s how I would describe myself). Even pretty people with money can ride bikes now too.
Turns out I wasn’t going crazy, bikes are IN IN IN. The other day I heard a story on NPR’s Marketwatch that highlighted the trend of using cruiser/Dutch style bikes in retail displays. You know shit gets real when Marketwatch is all over it!
One thing that the story brought to my attention that I hadn’t considered before is that in some cases the bikes are specially designed in a collaboration between the bicycle manufacturer and the brands. Also you can buy the bikes in store! What?! It just hadn’t occurred to me before! Yes I want to buy a t-shirt, a couch, and a bike in the same shop! Yes! Yes! Yes!
I don’t think that Kate Spade/Gap/whatever are speaking to my values any more now than they were before, but I do support the side effects of being marketed to in this way. Bringing somewhat obscure bikemakers into the everyday retail world? Very cool.Encouraging the general public to ride a bike? Awesome. Celebrating beautiful bikes? Oh yes.
At Madrone Art Bar on Divisadero. Dropped by here to grab a couple drinks, and day turned to night, the bar turned into a dance club… and so… and so we became the freaky people who dance with their dog at the bar. Yup.
After much anticipation, my Birchbox finally arrived! I heard about this on Twitter last month and promptly signed up.I am not the biggest beauty junkie, but I like playing around with makeup (and then promptly taking it off).
Birchbox is a monthly subscription of “hand-selected ” beauty samples from “luxury brands”. For $10 bucks a month you get a little pink box with about 4-5 deluxe sized beauty samples. You receive “points” for subscribing, which you can then use for discounts on full-size products on Birchbox.com. The website also has tutorials and other silly stuff.
Here’s the box. When I said little, I wasn’t kidding. SMALL box. It fit in my mail slot.
Seriously well thought out packaging though. Isn’t this beautiful?
My cynicism subsided once I popped the box open. OOO!! Stuff!
Every box has a theme- this month’s theme was “travel”.
In my box I got:
Archipelago Pomegranate soap– This was simply a nice smelling travel sized soap, nothing too exciting.
Kate Spade Twirl fragrance tester– This scent wasn’t for me. It went straight into the trash.
Deborah Lippman Stripper to go nail laquer removers- I haven’t tried these nail polish removing wipes yet, but I really like the idea.
Sircuit Cosmeceuticals Molecular Mist– It’s a refreshing moisturizing spray. It feels really great, but smells kind of bizarre. It reminds me of a bad coconut tan oil. I’m on the fence about this one.
And the best part of the haul… a FULL SIZE Laura Gellar Baked Blush ‘N Brighten blush. I’ve never tried this brand before, but it was quite natural and pretty on me. This blush retails for $29.50 so I really can’t complain about the $10 Birchbox subscription fee. If I didn’t like the product I would totally sell it online at a profit. $$$
I am against the idea of paying $10/month to receive makeup samples (aka “paying for things that should be free”) but I love receiving mail, and I did discover a new product that I liked… So I think this is a YES. 🙂
