The Cuyana Seattle Soirée

Last week, on a beautiful Tuesday night, Cassandra of Coco+Kelley and I hosted the Cuyana Spring Soirée at Seattle's Black Bottle. There is nothing like the first sign of springtime sun to get us Pacific Northwesterners to emerge blissfully from our hibernation. You combine that with champagne, shopping, and noshing and you're gonna see some seriously sunshiny Seattleites, my friend.

This was a perfect chance for people to see Cuyana's wares up close and personal while sipping, nibbling, and socializing. But, lemme tell you what, one gander at the goods and the glasses were getting set down and the wallets were coming out! Woosh! Leather tote in Nectarine? Sold out! How about in Caramel? All gone! Our stylish guests were serving up some serious retail therapy. The mister and I also became the proud owners of an Alpaca Infinity Scarf and the Weekender Bag (perfect for our pending Palm Springs trip). And, man, I'm surprised that there were any of their leather travel cases left as those beauties were the belle of the ball that night! Given their gorgeous candy colors, they were hard to resist. Such a fun night!

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MY CO-HOST, CASSANDRA, WITH OUR PAL, ERIN OF APARTMENT 34, ONE OF THE MUCH SOUGHT-AFTER LEATHER TRAVEL CASES, ASHLEY OF THE STYLE UMBRELLA, OOH! LOOKS LIKE BRIANNE OF THE RAVENNA GIRLS AND MELANIE OF INWARD FACING GIRL WERE IN A FRIENDLY TRAVEL CASE TUSSLE (TOLD YOU!), THE GORGEOUS CUYANA SIGNATURE GIFT BOXES, AND THE CANVAS & LEATHER WEEKEND BAG IN MUSTARD (THE ONE WE GOT!).

ALL IMAGES SUPPLIED BY CUYANA.

The Global Wares of Cuyana + A Seattle Spring Soirée

Let's face it, sustainability and style don't always manage to come together successfully. But Cuyana founders Karla Gallardo and Shilpa Shah have succeeded in what can sometimes seem the almost impossible. Custom designing their own products, they source and have created country-specific, limited-edition collections that celebrate each country's culture and local craftsmanship.

As if that wasn't enough of a great start, a percentage of their profits are donated to "charity: water" in an effort to help support the charity's mission in providing safe drinking water to communities around the world. Does it get much better than that? Um, yeah. Because they also offer free shipping and free returns (on U.S. orders)! I know, right?! (And their reusable gift boxes? Don't get me started! Love!)

To top things off, Cuyana is throwing a "Spring Soirée" in Seattle next Tuesday, April 30th, from 5pm to 8pm at Black Bottle with myself and Cassandra of Coco+Kelley being your hosts! And you're invited! Come and enjoy cocktails and bites while we peruse Cuyana's wares together! You'll get to see Cuyana's products up close and personal plus get 10% off that night. When you RSVP (Yes, Seattle! R. S. V. P! You know what I'm talking about!), select "The Bedlam of Beefy" in the drop-down on the RSVP page and you'll have the chance to win a gorgeous leather tote. And if you refer 5 friends you'll score a free canvas tote as Cuyana's "thank you" for helping spread the word (details on the RSVP page).

Let's get our sustainable, stylish swag on, kids! Click the image below to sign up and I'll see you there!

Fresh n' Fruity

Beefy Go Seattle Go Boom

Still In Your Silence

From Beefcake to Cupcake

(You can click on the image to enlarge.)

Chocolate Box

Matt & The Market: Bloggers Unite!

Sunrise On The City

(click to enlarge)

A lovely shot of the morning sun on the Seattle skyline when sailing into the city. Just pretty...just because.

Mac Attack

Good day, Kids...I'm over in the city (Seattle) right now with my friend Devon. Her husband is out o' town and I'm hangin' with her and her two little ones. She's letting me blog from her PC and I am now well aware, since moving over to the Mac side, that this is foreign territory to me now. I thought I had the whole cut & paste thing down but apparently not...? Whatever. Bear with me Kids and I'll be in better shape later on when I'm back with the Mac.

Was it good for you? Oh yeah...oh...yeah.

The Lab & The Lazy

Okay...I confess I am being a REALLY lazy blogger right now. But going to see "the movie" over in Seattle and gotta catch a ferry boat in, like, minutes! But here are some links to information about the evening's event from Mary and Megan. (Thanks, Ladies!) I'll be back tomorrow with some updates about what I thought and learned. One thing I learned...I have a crap camera! But it is what it is...y'know?

The delightful Mr. John Tusher starting off the evening singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". Ok, kidding...he's just warming up the crowd...which isn't hard to do 'cause the man's dna is just downright hospitable!

That's Erin from Apartment34 talking about the upcoming Make Mine A Million event. (The coat and her shoes? Sarah Jessica would have approved!)

The lovely and informative panel. Paola, Elaine, Mary, & Megan.
They were wonderful! (Sorry about the awkward shot, ladies.)


Megan, Mary, & Tula.
(This...being the best shot of the bunch is from Mary's camera...not mine!)

Designers...make it work!

I posted about this a short little while ago and now it's happening! All you Seattle-area designer/crafter/artist/entrepreneurs are invited tomorrow night (Wednesday April 16th) to the Seattle creative meet up from 6pm- 8pm at Velocity's South Lake Union showroom on Yale Avenue, featuring special guest artist Matte Stephens.

"The events will go by the name of The Lab - we are hoping that they will become a place to experiment with new ideas, foster creative thinking and provide us all with plenty of opportunities for networking and inspiration. Please feel free to invite anyone you think would like to come and remember that The Lab is open to both men and women."

And many, many thanks to Paola for helping to organize all of this. As well as thanks to John Tusher and the fine folks at Velocity for hosting and sponsoring and, of course, Matte Stephens, guest speaker extraordinaire! Thanks, Kids!

Also... it's supposed to be raining tomorrow so there are no more excuses for not attending! As if rain would ever be allowed as an excuse in Seattle! See you there! Designers, make it work!

Seattle Sunday

Went into the city (Seattle) on Sunday to meet up with my friend Jenna. Just a leisurely day...cold but sunny...perfect for a cup of coffee and a sit down. I thought I'd take you along.

Overlooking Eagle Harbor from the ferry which travels between Bainbridge Island & Seattle.


Leaving Bainbridge Island and heading out into Puget Sound.




Seattle skyline in the distance. I love this view.


That's West Seattle to the left. Small children and seagulls ride the ferry for free.


The Space Needle


Coming into downtown Seattle.


Waiting to get off the boat.


This is at the north end of Pioneer Square. The only part of the city not to suffer under the general malaise of "tear it down and build a beige box" answer to older architecture. Oh well, history is totally overrated anyway. Don't you think? (Um, kidding.)

The Pergola in Pioneer Square. This always felt to me like a little bit of Paris. That is, until I went to Paris. But I still love it. The structure was original up until several years ago when a truck driver didn't make the turn and brought the whole thing down. I bet that was a really bad day for him.

Looking south into Pioneer Square.


My FAVORITE bookstore! Elliott Bay Book Co. Old creaky wood floors, miles of books, abuzz with people, coffee and noshes downstairs in the basement...albeit along with some rather unsavory restrooms. But what are ya' gonna do? You can't always have everything.


Just a pretty building.


Ornamo. An amazingly cool shop with lots of goodies that I can't really afford.


Occidental Square. Home to a number of art galleries including favorite Davidson Galleries.


Zeitgeist. A wonderful respite. I love all the warm woods and ironwork. Large street-side windows are perfect for people watching and getting whatever light might happen to appear. And the coffee ain't too bad either.


A Seattle-style fika (for a wannabe Swede). Okay, okay, okay...the sandwich & salad was Jenna's! I had a Top Pot doughnut off to the side. But if you can't see it I cannot be held responsible.


Smith Tower. An historical building that I imagine will likely house yet another branch of the Starbuck's world headquarters someday.


Walking up 1st Avenue toward the ferry terminal. The sign advertising "rooms .75" is old. And if it wasn't...would you really want to stay there?


The beginning of nighttime lights on the city.


Heading back home to Bainbridge.

(And now into the studio.......)