dear rob & lean:

Oh my gosh, thank you! Mr. Lulu's ring is beautiful and it fits perfectly.

We had a difficult time finding a ring for him that we really loved. Everything out there in the big jewelry stores was either too boring or too jewel-encrusted or just not quite right in some other way. The simple lines of this band combined with the exotic wood inlay made it seem just perfect for us. Mr. Lulu wanted something unique and something kind of organic, and we love that it came from real people and not a nameless production line somewhere out of the country. That's probably our favorite part.

In fact, when I ripped open the envelope I found the cute little pouch with the ring, a business card, and a yellow post-it note. I squealed when I saw the post-it. "See- this is what Etsy is all about. Real people! Hand-written notes!" I think Mr. Lulu would have been more confused by the excitement that little yellow paper had caused me if he wouldn't have been so busy drooling over his new ring.

Added bonus: the engraving on the inside. I'm a loving and understanding wifey and I want to make sure that Mr. Lulu never has an chance to forget our anniversary. I had the ring engraved "NOLA ♥ 08.05.08". You're welcome.

Thank you so much Rob & Leighanne, we're thrilled!

love,
lulu

dear abercrombie:

Hey. Just one question- How the hell do you do that?

It's impossible to walk down the block I work on (which features an Abercrombie and Fitch on one corner) without being assaulted by the smell of you. It's like walking through the perfume section at a department store except it always smells exactly the same. I guess it must be the Abercrombie signature scent, but since I haven't set foot inside in a decade or so, I don't know if it's actually something you sell or if it's just part of the whole image thing.

Actually, I would really love to know the mechanics of the whole thing. Sometimes I imagine a giant fan right inside the door that one of the foxy young models employees has to spritz with eau de jailbait every half hour or so. Other times I get a mental image of a giant bubble machine, like you might see mounted to the ceiling of a theater or a concert hall. Only instead of blowing bubbles, this thing just shoots perfume into the air. Constantly.

I have a headache just thinking about it.

love,
lulu

dear sweets:

Hey love! Just wanted to say thank you. You take me to the nicest places!



Honestly though, it was a great adventure. I've never been to a real junkyard before! The only thing that would have made it better is if there were a few rotweilers or pitbulls with ropes tied to their necks lunging at us as we snuck by and then if we had just happened to have a raw steak in our pocket to placate them with...

I think we ended up with some good finds though! And thanks for crawling around in those nasty old cars doing the actual harvesting. If I would have known that was what we were in for I would have dressed a little more appropriately for the occasion.

And I do wish there had been someone around to take a touristy picture of us in front of this pile:



You can take me out anytime!

love,
lulu

dear ross:

Hello Ross Dress for Less! I'm writing in an effort to come to terms with my love/hate relationship with you and your kind. In principle, I despise stores like yours, but I am drawn to the concept of saving bundles of money on the brands I love. For this reason, I continue to pass through your doors once or twice a year only to grow frustrated once again because I am far too impatient to shop the way you must in order to leave satisfied.

Today I found myself sucked into the bowels of your mammoth interior, hoping to fill my void with still more shoes that I don't need. And for once- success! A lovely pair of black patent leather sling back peep toe pumps will be gracing the shelves of my closet tonight. Smuggled home, of course, in my voluminous tote designed to hide such purchases from Mr. Lulu until they're sufficiently aged enough to say "oh these things? I've had them for months."



So thanks Ross, I guess you're not so bad after all.

love,
lulu

**update: don't attempt to sneak things into your home unless you're well versed in the practice! the night i bought these shoes i decided to wear them home from work and smuggle my old shoes in the tote. unfortunately, we went straight to a friend's dinner party where i proceeded to ingest my body weight in red wine. by the time we were ready to go, i had my shiny new shoes in my hand and was insisting to mr. lulu that i needed to find my shoes before we left. of course i'm convinced that i wasn't really out of my mind intoxicated- i was simply looking for my OTHER shoes- the ones i left that morning wearing.**

dear ikea:

Hello you wonderful Swedes! You've come to my rescue once again. We've been talking about curtains in the bedroom forever, since we bought our lovely new cellular shade and opted not to spring for the room-darkening upgrade (big mistake).

Thanks to your flawless design style and Mr. Lulu's keen eye- he spotted these hanging in one of the little room scenes and pointed out that they were exactly the right color for our bedroom- we can now sleep in past daybreak!

It only took a slight modification to the length (about half, really- those dang things were long) and we have a whole new look in our bedroom plus enough left over to make pillows or more curtains for another room.

Here's the finished product (and the inspiration for further craftiness):

Ikea, you're the best.

love,
lulu