I Feel Pretty.....

F G & Co is a whimsical line created by Gianna Majzler aka ZoZo the Magic Queen.She has a well deserved reputation for creating amazing graphic designs which she translates into paper goods adorned with lavish details & embellishments. One of the new items in her line are the gorgeous Vintage Hairpins. Adorned with sequins, beads and sparkles they are sure to bring out your own magical side!

Anne Taintor is a Harvard educated artist with a wicked sense of humor. Her cocktail napkins and mugs from Paperproduct Designs are collages of vintage images combined with Anne's own interpretation of what the subjects might really be thinking. One of my favorite new designs are the Safe or Sorry Napkins. Hmmmm....haven't we all had that thought at one time or another? Personally, I vote for sorry every time....much more fun than safe!

REMINDER

Tomorrow is the Shop for the Cause day benefiting YMCA Community Learning Center at Chief Sealth High School. Curtsy Bella is donating 10% of our total sales for the day to this fine organization, so stop by and shop for the cause!

XOXO

Curtsy Mama

Mary Jo

What a night!

Sorry for the absence of a blog last night. Finishing up the weekend's birthday celebration of the Captain's mom, a group of us went to Teatro Zinzanni. If you have not yet been to this amazing Seattle experience, go book your tickets...now. Next dress us in something fun and frivilous (a hint, feathers and glitter are right at home here) and prepare to have the time of your life. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I heard that it was a 3 hour "experience" - I've never been much good at staying in one place for that long. Imagine my surprise when the performers were taking their final bows to realize that the time truly flew by. So, so, so much fun!


Waiting for us in the store this morning were boxes delivered yesterday. We began the day unpacking new votives from artist Anna Corba. Using her vast collection of vintage ephemera, Anna creates lovely and unique candles, albums and gift tags. The Curtsy Girls love anything that smacks of royalty, so we just had to snap up these Crown Votives. Made with un-scented wax, these are a great gift for someone who can't tolerate the perfume of other candle lines

Next order to un-pack was from one of our favorite companies, Molly & Me. This Leopard and Pink Tutu would have felt right at home at Teatro Zinzanni last night. If they had one big enough for me, I'd order it in a minute. This luscious piece of fluff is perfect for the little princess in your life. Super fun to twirl in (important in a tutu), it will become a cherished part of her dress up wardrobe.




IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Saturday, February 28th, shop to benefit YMCA Community Learning Center Chief Sealth High School. Ten percent of our sales this coming Saturday will be donated directly to this fine organization.



Saturday, April 18th
Curtsy Bella will be holding a TarinaTarantino Trunk Show We've been working with the girls at the TT show room in Los Angeles to bring in a great selection of Tarina that we don't normally carry. We've especially ordered a lot of items that will be the perfect finishing touch for prom. We've also ordered a great selection of jewelry that will be perfect for the Bride to Be.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo

Who Doesn't Love Cake?

One of my obsessions in life is cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is my hands down favorite! Cupcakes with a mountain of sweet stuff on top are a close second. I don't indulge very often, but when I do, I'm in heaven! One night recently, I had a bunch of friends over to my apartment for dessert one night. I bought a bunch of goodies from Metro Market, including a good supply of Cupcake Royale treats. When it was all said and done, there were a few cupcakes left. They called to me....no actually they screamed at me! I couldn't resist and ate a good portion of the frosting of the leftovers. Total sugar overload resulted in one very sorry and sick Curtsy Mama. You would have thought that would have cured me, but nooooo, I'm still addicted!

We have a whole cake, cupcake theme going on in Curtsyland. This darling little Decoupage Glass Tray has a great vintage feel to it. Perfect for serving cupcakes or holding a luscious smelling candle. We've got several other sizes and matching napkins from the Desserts and Chocolat Collection by Michel Design Works.


In keeping with the whole cake theme, we have brought in the cutest Laser Cut Cupcake Wrappers. How adorable to wrap them around treats for a baby shower or your child's birthday? They come in all sorts of colors and themes.



IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
Saturday, February 28th, shop to benefit YMCA Community Learning Center Chief Sealth High School. Ten percent of our sales this coming Saturday will be donated directly to this fine organization.

Saturday, April 18th Curtsy Bella will be holding a Tarina Tarantino Trunk Show. We've been working with the girls at the TT show room in Los Angeles to bring in a great selection of Tarina that we don't normally carry. We've especially ordered a lot of items that will be the perfect finishing touch for prom. We've also ordered a great selection of jewelry that will be perfect for the Bride to Be.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo

Hiya Strangers!

My goodness it has been awhile!! Curtsy Mama and I have been off mixing business with pleasure. We flew to Vegas last week to attend four different trade shows taking place during the same week. We got a deal on rooms at the Wynn....we highly recommend staying there next time you jet off to sin city....gorgeous hotel & gorgeous rooms & you get a personalized key with your name on it. ;) Anyways...Curtsy Mama, myself and my brother flew down a day early. Our babysitter/nanny from when we were growing up in Arizona flew up to spend the night with us....whom we haven't seen in about five years! We all had an absolute blast. We got tickets to see Cirque du Soleil Love that night....of course it was amazing....can never go wrong with Cirque du Soleil. Our nanny had to fly home the next day, so Curtsy Mama and I got down to business. It seemed every hotel we walked through had some kind of trade show or convention going on. We shopped & shopped & shopped and found some fabulous new lines for Curtsyland.

Once we arrived home after Vegas...we had a day to spend some time at the store before jetting off to Olympia for the much anticipated 60th Birthday celebration weekend for the Captain's Mom. I am pretty sure she started talking party plans soon after I met her about two and half years ago! And all the planning absolutely paid off....it was a wonderful, eventful weekend with oodles of wonderful people. The Captain has five sisters...each of whom have at least two kids....the Birthday Girl has a total of 19 grandkids, 1 great-grandkid!! The weekend was full of family games, pedicure & massage appointments for the ladies, shooting & go-carting for the fellas....and a fancy formal shindig Saturday night. And even though we are back home now...we have more family fun to look forward to! Eleven of us are all going to see Teatro ZinZanni on Wednesday night....uber excited as I have always wanted see it.

Our divine Curtsy Girls Pamela & Heather took care of Curtsyland while we were away. We kept receiving reports that the baby department was being raided everyday....baby season is officially here....babies popping out everywhere! Thankfully a new baby line we ordered while in Cali arrived today to help fill in the holes. Baby Eileen is now supplying Curtsyland with darling new onesies. My favorite is the Class of 2025 Homecoming Queen...sometimes you just know when little ones are destined for royalty ;) I also adore the His Majesty onesie for little boys....it has a very handsome bulldog wearing a king's crown. And for the sure-to-be-a-fashionista....the Queen of Couture shall suit her beautifully.





xxxx

Pleasure & Lust

In today's tight economy, everyone is looking for the gift that keeps on giving. That's exactly what the tokens in the Pleasure Pouch do. You get the pleasure of giving your sweetie the tokens which promise all kinds of future fun. The pouch comes in 2 different versions, a PG rated or and R rated. Really, they're as much fun to give as they are to receive!

What is Lusty? It's 3.5 ounces of impure thoughts disguised as deliciously luscious all natural premium dark chocolate from New Zealand Chocolatier Bloomsberry. A perfect little gift for your sweet.

The Curtsy Girls are heading off to Vegas next week to attend the Magic Apparel & Accessories Show. We're hoping to score all kinds of great finds for the lingerie, wedding, baby, jewelry and guys sections. The blog will be taking a break while we're gone, but the store will be manned by the fabulous Curtsy Girls Pamela and Heather.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL OF OUR FABULOUS CUSTOMERS - WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

XOXO

Curtsy Mama

Mary Jo

Don't Cry Baby!

Those babies....always crying! What's a parent to do? Always have a supply of stylish, cute funny pacifiers on hand. Do you know that the Mayo Clinic reports that researchers have reported an association of pacifier use during sleep and a reduced risk of SIDS? We love some of the new additions from Personalized Pacifiers. Whine Connoisseur, Flirt, I Party Naked and Mute Button are just some of the fund new styles we've received in this shipment.


One of our favorite local companies is Emile Sloan. Founded by Seattlite Lisa Murphy, the products are manufactured with 5 key principles in mind. They must be stylish, functional, have a rain-proof exterior, not scream "I'm a re-usable grocery tote", and be able to carry anything from groceries to files from work. The line has expanded from the totes offered in the beginning to include Cosmetic Bags and Lunch Totes. The patterns are pretty and the products are so well constructed.

For his fan club, here's the latest update on Snicker dog. The vet has diagnosed him with Cushing's Disease. We haven't quite yet decided on which course of action to take as he's an old guy with some other health problems. We're just trying to get him to sleep for more than an hour at night (I'm getting really, really tired!). We tried Valium last night and it too had the opposite effect, causing him to want to rumba around the living room at midnight. Dr. Sarah Barnhardt at Ravenna Animal Hospital is his vet and she is just so wonderful. She has spent so much time helping me to try to figure out a solution to the whole sleep thing and has seen us through quite a few other health problems. I've very grateful to her.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo

Calling all Brides & Grooms-to-be!!

We just received a big shipment of new goodies from the Mindy Weiss for Two's Company bridal collection. Mindy Weiss is one of the most sought after wedding & event planners based out of Los Angeles. She designs a collection of bridal gifts for Two's Company that includes divine items for all those involved in the special day....bride, groom, bridesmaid, etc.....and all events involved....engagement, planning, nuptials, honeymoon, and happily ever after! My favorite item that we received today is the "I Do" Rhinestone Shoe Applique. What I love so much about it is that is meant to be applied on the underside of your walk-down-the-aisle pretty shoes....on the vamp - not the sole silly. All your attendees will get a peek-a-boo to your "Do You?" answer. And it can count as your something blue as well!!



My other favorite item we received today is the Groom Survival Kit. We have a few different Bride Survival Kits which fly out of the store....so I am tickled that Mindy Weiss thought to prepare the fellas' for this most bewildering of ceremonies known to man. Upon opening the kit...he will immediately find a handy supply of buttons of which he can wear to show how much he adores being a husband-to-be and how much he hearts his mother-in-law-to-be. Then the tips begin in a handy notebook...each strategy drawn out similar to football drills but using little engagement rings instead of players...gotta keep 'em focused. He will find two punch out paddles along the way...one is titled the Plead the "Fifth" Paddle and reads "Whatever You Like," the other is the My Lips are "Sealed" Sign and reads "As long as You are happy"...ensuring he always has the right answers at hand. There is of course all the necessary things he needs to know....wedding lingo, suit guides, speech writing tips, etc. But also very important are the games included to occupy his time while bench warming at their appointments...games such as Unscramble the Wedding Cake Batters, Find Your Sanity word search, Don't "Cross" your Bride's "Word", and Dressing on a budget $1 bill bow tie guide.

xxxx

Why Hello Kitty!!!

Curtsy Mama texted me early early this morning to let me know that the much anticipated MAC Cosmetics x Hello Kitty Collection was officially available online!! I have been counting down the days until the launch which is scheduled to hit stores February 12th. So all day my thoughts have been consumed by the prettiest kitty in the world...drooling over the images of all the 'Hello Kitty Creations' that are up for auction on Ebay. MAC asked 30 divine & world renowned fashion designers to create one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by the Hello Kitty Collection. Each piece is being auctioned off and all proceeds will benefit the Acquisition Fund for the Museum at FIT, The Fashion Institute of Technology. Click here to visit the auction!

Sooooooo....I thought it only appropriate to further honor the world's favorite feline but devoting my post to Her Royal Felineness. I'm sure most of you know that Tarina Tarantino designs a divine Hello Kitty Pinkhead jewelry collection. I am currently crushing on the new Peace, Love & Sparkle Hello Kitty earrings. The cameo is actually printed on leather which I adore. TT also designs a line of Hello Kitty Bambino....for little necks & wrists. We have oodles of Hello Kitty necklaces and bracelets - great for little girls who adore Tarina & Hello Kitty.









We also have charming little Hello Kitty charms from High Intencity's Charm It collection. Each one of these charms can be added to a little bracelet, or we have post earrings that have a loop to attach the charm, as well as cell phone charm attachers. And a great little inexpensive addition to any Hello Kitty present you might be surprising some lucky gal with is the Hello Kitty Sniffs tissue packs. Meow!

xxxx
(pretty sure my kitty Juliet is glaring at me right now for all my gushing over another feline ;(

Let Them Eat Cake!

Poor Marie Antoinette, even though it has been reported through history that upon hearing that the local peasants had no bread that she uttered "then let them eat cake", apparently she never really did say those words. Whatever. It's one of those unflatteringquirks of history. She was an extraordinarily beautiful womansand we love her imade on this cool littke Pocket Mirror from Tokyomilk. Perfect size to tuck in your purse or evening bag.

Let Them Eat Cake is also one of our favorite fragrances from the same company. Made from a lucious mixture of sugar cane, coconut milk, vanilla orchid and white musk, it smells yummy! I just read last week that guys are attracted to the smell of vanilla more than any other fragrance or perfume.....interesting huh?

Update on Snicker dog - they perscribed a tranquilizer for me to try with him at night. I started on Friday night by giving him just one and he was still up all night. Saturday night I gave him 2 (per the instructions) and it was like WHOO HOOO - PARTY!! No sleep, just up and down ALL NIGHT LONG. I tried them one last time during the day on Sunday and this resulted in howling and just basically craziness. Guess we'll be not trying those again.

XOXO

Curtsy Mama

Mary Jo

Sex

I knew the title would get your attention! Valentine's Day is a week from tomorrow (wasn't it just Christmas yesterday?). You know the Curtsy Girls like fun, playful things and the Sex Box of Questions is both. A fun date night activity with your significant other or a great activity for those girls only chatter fests. It's guaranteed fun either way you use it.

The Why I Must Have Sex With You Pad helps you put your desire for love into words. The folks at Knock Knock have listed just about every reason there is to let that someone special know what's on your mind. Some of my favorites from the list are "Just friends isn't working out" "Meditation makes me horny" and "Because I'm uniquely flexible". They even give you levels of desire on the bottom - Please, Pretty Please, I'll Pay You & Or Else. The pad of 60 sheets will give you the chance to try out lots of the reasons :).

Poor Snick dog is a bit pitiful tonight. He's been going through a rough patch lately and getting me up every hour and a half at night to go outside. Makes it really tough to get a good night's sleep. He's 13 1/2 now and the vet wanted to do some blood tests on him, so he had to spend the day over at Ravenna Animal Hospital. I know they are all wonderful over there, but he just howled and howled when I picked him up. Typical beagle! I won't know the results until next week, but I'll keep you updated.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo

Fancy Facebook

The Captain called yesterday to alert me of the fact that my Curtsy Mama just officially became très cooler than me. You see...he received a Facebook friend request from my mom and has been insisting that I create a page for myself for months now. And I certainly have been meaning to. But seeing as I have a Myspace page that I average a login about every four months....I just haven't gotten around to it. My internet crack is fashion blogs....I am so addicted to oodles & oodles of them that I put off necessary things like returning emails, or balancing my bank account, or creating personal pages on friend sites. So obviously my priorities are a wee bit out of wack. I guess Curtsy Mama getting on the Facebook train was just the nudge I needed to jump on board as well....as of today my Wall is available to write on!

Anyways....in addition to myself & Curtsy Mama being cool...Curtsyland is uber cool and has been for a few months now. The Captain created our Facebook page awhile back and we adore all our fans. But in my typical internet fashion....I didn't know the login for the store page so I have not been logging in to update it regularly. I imagine now though between myself & Curtsy Mama being Facebook savvy, our page will start receiving lots of love. Sooooo...I would be tickled pink if all our Curtsy Friends become our Facebook Friends as well! Here is a link to our fancy Facebook page if you are in fact cool yourself ;)

xxxx

Rock Star Babies

Who better to design a line of hip baby goods than a rocker? Rock Star Baby Bottles and Rock Star Pacifiers are designed by Tico Torres, the drummer for Bon Jovi. Initially using the true colors of rock, black & white with shades of gray in between, he created cool designs for cool kids. You already know the Curtsy Girls have a penchant for anything with skulls, so when we saw these designs we fell in love. The fact that he added gold to the color palette didn't hurt either.

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, I DECLARE A THUMB WAR!! How many times have you uttered that challenge? Thumb wrestling is a time honored sport that's been taken to a new level. Thumb Wrestling Mask Set contains 2 different luchadors (wrestlers) with names like "El Chupacabras" and "El Diablo" . They even give you directions on the back for 2 on 2 tag team matches. We think this is one of the coolest, funniest guy gifts we've seen.


XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo

Queen of My Heart

Hope you all had a divine Super Bowl Sunday! I am from Arizona and while not exactly a football devotee...I was certainly wishing & hoping for a Cardinals victory. My dad & step mom have been Cardinals season tickets holders for years so they made their way over to sunny Florida to catch the game in person. I tried to spot them on camera all day but was not so lucky...crazy ;) Sooooo...while my Arizona heart was slightly broken come Sunday evening....I thoroughly enjoyed watching such an exciting game. We attended a big shindig at "the boy's house," rather the house that all of the Captain's Footy mates dwell in. They recently converted an old GE fridge into a kegerator...very fancy....and just acquired a great bar complete with stools. There is a large tip jar on the bar for "The General" (as it is a GE fridge). I can't tell you how many times I was told that "If you are good to the General....the General will be good to you!" Good to know....not a huge beer fan but the boys and the General seem to be treating each other grandly.

This weekend we had an order hand delivered to us that we have been anxiously awaiting... absolutely marvelous glitter candles and prints from Queen of My Heart! We crossed paths with designer Paisley Buescher while in LA. We instantly fell in love with her art and wanted to write an order asap. Come to find out that Miss Paisley lives up in Sammamish and has had many a friends & customers tell her that her art would fit in wonderfully in Curtsyland! I didn't get any of it out on the floor this weekend as we were waiting for a few final pieces from her. Well.....her goodies just sitting behind the counter have been getting snatched up right & left! We received the rest of our order today so it will be available as eye candy tomorrow. While she was visiting this weekend we got to talking about some dancer totes she may be making soon and I mentioned I grew up dancing and have recently been taking a ballet class. Well today she arrived with a little Ta-dah! dancer votive just for yours truly...I was so tickled:)

Anyways...the votives we have for the store have gorgeous images of queens & princesses & dreamers & bejeweled lovelies....and are contained in yummy colors of mercury glass with glitter accents. And my favorite from Queen of My Heart are the prints! Each are sized 9 1/2 x 16" and feature an image of one of her lovelies...usually black & white with color accents. Each has a banner that hangs beside the image with the most fabulous quotes, e.g., "I was going to do something to change the world today.....but something sparkly caught my eye," or " Wear pink, make the boys wink." LOVE.

xxxx

It's All About Family

My son's roommate, Greg, has been traveling in Southeast Asia for the past 6 months. After losing his job last summer, he decided to use his savings and see the world. Greg lived with us for several years when he was growing up, so he's like another son to me and a brother to my real son, Josh. He's been missed by his Seattle circle of friends and we were all thrilled to find out that he's scheduled to return to the Emerald City on March 3rd. He's missed a lot of holidays and celebrations while he was away, so we've decided that upon his return we're going to catch him up on all that he missed. We're cooking a turkey dinner (Thanksgiving) that everyone will be required to come to in costume (Halloween) and we'll be decorating cookies (one of our annual holiday traditions) opening gifts (Christmas), toasting to good wishes (New Years) and exchanging heartfelt sentiments (Valentine's Day). I'm big on family traditions and if your family is like mine, small, you adopt people to be your extended family and include them in the celebrations.

Making Memories is a wonderful book by actress Josie Bissett. It's filled with over 200 ways to sprinkle magic and merriment into the moments you spend with your kids. Kids grow, but they will always cherish the memories you make together.


As many of you know I lost my mom last fall. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with her last summer and we spend alot of that time talking about her life. I wasn't so lucky when my father passed away many years ago. I wish that I had been able to give both one of these fabulous books from Compendium. My Mom: Her Stories, Her Words and My Dad: His Stories, His Words make wonderful gifts for parents. It's one thing to hear their stories, but so much nicer when they write them down. The books will become a treasured family heirlooms.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo