Shop here for men's and ladies' tees featuring the stylish image of the Uptight and one of his inspirational passive-aggressive slogans.


Image by Rod Filbrandt

Two new Seattle boutiques that originally started as websites are opening brick-and-mortar locations this week. The first, situated dangerously close to the Seattle Weekly offices, is called Totokaelo, which roughly translates to "reaching to the edge of the stars." It's owned by Jill Wenger, who is also the brains behind Fremont's Impulse boutique. You'll find high-end designers from Japan, Europe and the U.S. like Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garcons, Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto. Basically, it's stuff that's so nice, I feel weird about even touching it. Hopefully Totokaelo will be like her sister store whose pieces are expensive but not too trendy so you might be able to justify buying them by telling yourself that you'll get more that just one season's use out of them. The grand opening celebration is tomorrow at 913 Western Ave.

My cute umbrella

Speaking of justifications, I'm trying to rationalize spending $100+ on an umbrella from the new Ballard boutique, Bella Umbrella. It's owned by Jodell Egbert, who has managed to amass the largest source of vintage and vintage styled umbrellas in the world for sale or rent. I've been fascinated with umbrellas since I was a little girl, perhaps because I grew up in L.A. and never needed one (that didn't stop me from sporting a Chinese-style paper one for a little while. Yeah, I was that girl). I'm actually a little afraid to go in because I know my already bruised credit card will take yet another beating. My current rain shielder is cute, but only from the inside which is painted in white clouds. Bella Umbrella's are cute from the inside and outside and I'm tired of only impressing myself--I need the accolades. So if I do break down and buy the pagoda-style umbrella, please tell me how cute it is. I'll really need the validation.

Bella Umbrella is located at 1421 NW 70th St.

How many shopping days are left? It'll take approximately the same amount of time to dig my office out from beneath the seasonal onslaught of gift books, many of them coffee table photo books for which I, humble journalist, have no coffee table. Thus, leaping from title to title, we start the emergency, shovel-my-way-to-freedom Holiday Edition Slush Pile with Pop Surf Culture (Santa Monica Press, $39.95), which surveys album covers, movie posters, fashion, and movie icons like Annette Funicello (because she really knew how to surf, right?). Also on the beach are, yes, the Beach Boys and Dick Dale. The design vibe and cultural cues are all retro, like the Tiki fad or hot-rod mags. And what might be called high surf culture effectively ends, in these pages at least, before skateboarding and grunge. Entirely absent is our current vogue of surfing as emblem of consumption or vacationing, the Laird Hamilton-branded upscale leisure and lifestyle pursuit by way of Hawaiian real estate and Patagonia catalog porn. A short few final chapters try (unpersuasively) to extend the old lineage into recent decades, but Pop Surf Culture mainly celebrates a vintage aesthetic that may've ended with The Endless Summer (or maybe Big Wednesday). The sport was never pure or uncommercialized (hence all the design artifacts), but it was a more innocent form of commercialization.

Oh, but there couldn't be surfing without...
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Usually "the person who has everything" has everything because the person in question is very rich and successful. And most rich and successful people I know -- unless they're 100% retired -- don't have much use for sleep. In fact, sleep is considered a form of weakness among rich and successful people -- until now. Ladies and gentlemen: the vertical bed. This would also be a pretty awesome gift for that special homeless person in your life.

The four pound Pinkster lost in a pile of leaves...

If you've got holiday shopping to do and don't want to leave your pooch at home, South Lake Union's got you covered.

This Friday and Saturday all the retail shops at 2200 South Lake Union (Westlake Avenue and Denny Way) are welcoming dogs. In addition to having all restaurants and stores open to two and four-legged critters alike, there will also be a professional pet photographer on hand to take holiday-themed photos. You can also get your pooch micro-chipped if he/she isn't already. All proceeds go directly to the Seattle Humane Society.

Basically, you can get an assload of Christmas shopping taken care of, make your dog happy, and help the not-so-happy dogs that are in need.

The only stop I'm steering clear of is MaxMobile Pet Adoptions, which allows you to adopt dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs right then and there. I just know I'd end up taking home five dogs and I really don't feel like getting evicted during the holidays.

I will however, be stopping by the photo booth. Nothing annoys/endears people more than getting a Christmas card with your dog's face plastered all over it. Besides, Pinky is incredibly photogenic.

The American Family Association is here to help:

Because nothing spreads Jesus' message of peace and love to all like a brightly illuminated cross on your front lawn.

How Buddhaful. Courtesy of stock.xchng

Feeling the need to improve your karma? Or maybe your inner divine essence needs to put on its dancing shoes and expend some energy before it has to deal with relatives during the holiday season.

Look no further than the 2nd annual Groove Drive from Buddhaful, a clothing company and artist collective that only sells wear that promotes awareness and positive messages. The self-proclaimed "art, fashion, music, life" benefit is a food drive for FamilyWorks Food Bank. The benefit includes a fashion show portion, where Buddhaful's clothing will be modeled, along with clothing from other sponsors, including the stunning and useful Scottish-inspired drapery: the Utilikilt. There will also be live music and stilting, acrobalance (by Seattle Weekly's own Jessica Lenard), juggling, capoiera and the most difficult of arts-yoga.

Tickets are $5 with a donation of two non-perishable food items, and $20 without.
If yoga, capoiera and Utilitkilts are not enough, the Steiner Diner is providing Pina Colada French Toast in the early hours.

Where: The Underground (2407 1st and Battery)
When: November 22, 8 p.m. - 6 a.m.
Visit: Myspace.com/buddhafulclothing
Tickets: $5 with donation of two non-perishable food items, $20 without
21+ with ID, full bar

As we are now being forced to actually pay for those crappy little plastic bags from the grocery store, It's about time that we take the plunge and start buying reusable tote bags. Here are 10 of my favorites.

Here's the Leaping Labs Boat and Tote by L.L. Bean ($32). It's both cute and functional.

This is a bag that you can feel good about using. They're made from recycled fabrics and sewn by Cambodian women who are making themselves new lives after stints as sex workers. They're called Tote-est with the Mostest ($34) and can be found at globalgoodspartners.org.

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The Fallout Boy bassist and Ashlee Simpson luhva boy announced today that he is collaborating with Nordstrom to release his junior sportswear line: Clandestine Industries. This is the best part of the press release:

"I am stoked to collaborate with Nordstrom," remarks Pete Wentz. "We've always aspired to create one-of-a-kind garments with an aesthetic that warrants national exposure and Nordstrom is the perfect fit."

I'm totally stoked to see these one-of-a-kind garments with their aesthetic that warrants national exposure.

There's been pretty significant fallout in Chicago after the dean of the school I most recently attended was accused of faking a quote to support a controversial program. Where do we come down on totally feeding a quote to someone? (Or maybe Wentz actually says things like "aesthetic that warrants national exposure" all the time and I just need to stop judging him by his eyeliner and silly hats.)