Vintage Mayle

My dear friend Susan at Odessa sent out an email this week that she was selling some vintage Mayle pieces  in mint condition. So exciting! (Jane Mayle of course closed her eponymous line—to the horror of all of her fans—in 2008, saying the fashion system had gotten "out of control.") When I stopped in, I was so, so happy to see a certain floral geometric top from the Spring 2006 line, which I have always regretted not buying! There is just something about this print—the teal and gold with the flesh color, paired with the triangles on a black background—that I can't get enough of. It's vintage looking and ultra-modern at the same time, and I can't stop looking at it.

Time For A Glass of (Natural) Wine

Wonderful, wonderful wine...

This was not a good week to finally watch Chris Smith's film Collapse. (Click on the trailer below if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Say what you will...the film is interesting, and it definitely rattled me. Coupled with the oil spill still raging in the Gulf, my anxiety level is higher than I'd like. Which brings me to...wine. Frivolous? Yes, but then, that's the point.

The Times ran a story Wednesday about the Natural Wine movement, but the far more interesting read was on Grist. I always knew there had to be a reason I didn't like "2-Buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's...now, thanks to writer Tom Philpott, I know why. Here's to buying wine from small, independent (and even better—organic, sustainably-produced or biodynamic) producers, where you can actually taste all the weird and wonderful flavors of the wine.

Hurry: One King's Lane sale!

Selected Plover tabletop is 50% off for 3 days only on One King's Lane

Big news: Starting today, for 3 days only, selected Plover tabletop is half-off at One King's Lane. (Full disclosure: basically everything but place mats and table runners are on sale!) We love shopping on OKL (the deals on there are always incredible—and it's stuff you actually want), so we couldn't resist the opportunity to get Plover up there, just in time for summer picnic season. Go soon, though...some pieces are already sold out!

Genius: Anthropologie M&M Tool

How many times have you wished you could take bedding (and furniture, and curtains, and rugs...the list goes on) home to try out before you commit to buying them? You must visit Anthropologie's new Mix-And-Match Bedding tool online. It's pretty exciting—you can actually select which sheets you want and see how the toppers would looked paired. Yes, Plover's exclusive sheets for Anthropologie are up there, but I promise would be blogging about this even if they weren't. It's too handy.

The Thorns print in these colors is exclusive to Anthropologie

Outtakes

Blue Flock sheets with Teal Confetti cases and quilt...heavenly, no?

I met Sheila in Seattle this week for a quick photo shoot with the very talented and very patient Curt Doughty. (Thanks again, Curt!) When we started Plover, the idea was to create amazing prints in organics...at the time, all that was out there in organic cotton was neutrals. (Which is still kind of true, although less and less so every year.) But one thing we've learned over time is that there is a place for a clean white bed (just check out this post from Marais USA), or at least a simpler bed. (Sorry, plain white beds still remind me too much of hotels! Also, with two kids: stains.) So we were inspired to show Plover's linens in a new light. After all, the reverse side of all our bold prints is a more quiet one. We wanted to give those prints the spotlight for once. Here's some outtakes...real photos to come soon!

Blue Dots bed with bolder accents: a Pinwheel throw pillow and Blue Geometric standard pillow

Had to post this pic because I was in love with Sheila's yellow headband (borrowed from her daughter)...

There was something about this Pink Flock and Pink Waves bed...I just wanted to jump in.

Edun Excitement

Just read on Refinery 29 that Edun will be relaunching its website soon with super cool colored tees from the Kenya Kids project. (How cute is the zebra tank? I can't wait...) The t-shirt designs were done by Kenyan school children, and 100% of the proceeds go back to the school. So wonderful. Edun is a brand that has inspired us from the beginning, and their "Grow to Sew" initiative, which would make apparel a sustainable industry in Africa, raises the bar. (And—not to get too hopeful, but—might work to change how people approach "business" altogether.)

Yet Another Reason to Buy Organic...

Just finished reading on CNN about the "Dirty Dozen"—the twelve fruits and vegetables that you definitely want to buy organic, because their conventionally-grown counterparts are ridden with pesticides. (And these pesticides cannot be washed off. The pesticide tests in the report were actually conducted after the USDA had power-washed the produce. Scary, right?) Non-organic celery, for instance, had traces of 67 pesticides on it! Click the link above to read the full list of produce (strawberries, peaches and bell peppers are among them) to avoid; there's also a handy list of fruit and veggies that are OK to buy conventionally grown (like corn, avocado and sweet potatoes).

This is definitely something to forward to family/friends who still think the organic movement is a racket! I did the same thing when the studies came out showing that organic ketchup had three times as much cancer-fighting lycopene as conventional.