TODAY: Adventures in Online Shopping, via Austin's Peacock Plume.

Teehee. I have a post for you guys from Breanna ("B" as I like to call her), fellow Eavesdropper who told us about the Texas Artisan Showcase last week.  This one is about Peacock Plume, drool-inducing local boutique, and a favorite of Austin Eavesdropper!

Anyway, the reason I am giggling is because Breanna kindly gives me a little shout-out, here in this post, here on my own blog. I could delete it like a modest person would...or, I could not.

Thanks for the love, B! You are the sweetest, and I'm so happy you're writing for Austin Eavesdropper now.

Here she is Austin girls, telling you fashionistas what's what!

from breanna:

I’ll admit it: I’m not really an online shopper.

Okay, sure, I’ve bought books and DVDs from Amazon. And, occasionally, skin care products. But in all these cases, you know what you’re getting. There’s really no room for error.

Clothes and shoes, however? Another story. Because, like many ladies I know, my size fluctuates occasionally, and every brand is cut a little differently. One woman’s size 6 jeans are another woman’s OMG you have got to be kidding me I can’t even pull these up over my thighs! (This happened to me in Banana Republic recently. I swear they’ve changed their size charts.)

Also? My feet are slightly different sizes. Thanks, genetics! So I never* buy shoes without trying them on first. Specifically, without trying them on my left foot first. It’s the bigger one.

I know, I know - you can always return something if it doesn’t fit. But to me, that’s just an extra step and a pain in my ass that I don’t want to deal with. Wait for the thing to arrive, be disappointed that it doesn’t fit, send it back and wait for a different size? Hell naw. Instant gratification, people. It makes the world go round.

But all that changed when I perused the online shop at Peacock Plume after reading about them here on Austin Eavesdropper (more proof that Tolly does, indeed, know what is up). Whoa, people! I tell you, I loved almost everything in their store. I covet this dress:

And this necklace:

Oh, and this. This is new:

Plus, Peacock Plume is based right here in Austin. Big-time bonus points! Upon discovering Peacock Plume at last, everything came together in one of those fantastical cosmic moments, and I was compelled to break my own rule. Yes, dear friends, I bought a pair of shoes online without trying them on first. Behold, the shoes:

I could not resist, made a guess on my size, and clicked “Submit Order” like a crazy woman. Fortunately, being an Austin resident, I received them quickly. I opened the box - which contained a sweet, handwritten thank-you note from Peacock Plume’s owners and an actual peacock feather - tried on the shoes (left foot first), and praise Jeebus, they fit! And I love them. Is it weird to say they are slimming? They make my feet look slim. I have also received several compliments on them, which, yay! Hearts all around.

After this experience and all the drooling I’ve done over their wares, imagine my excitement when I heard that Peacock Plume is having an open house event this week. And wait, there’s more: free wine while you shop. The excitement, it builds! If you haven’t had the chance to check out Peacock Plume online, you can drop by in person TODAY, Thursday, July 1 from 5:30pm to 8pm at 5555 N Lamar, Suite C110.

Racks of adorable clothes, shoes, accessories, and free wine - I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of awesome.

*I guess I should never say never, huh?

Get your swap on!

Who has a weakness for vintage clothing, dance parties, cupcakes and alcohol?  You?  Me?  Let's dance.

Friends!  If you are in the Austin-and-surrounding area, the lovely Sarah Dean from The Year of Living Thriftily and I are putting on a par-tay.  The Austin Rock N' Swap is designed to benefit your wardrobe, your dance moves, and the Earf!  Let me just break down this awesomeness one piece at a time:

CLOTHING SWAP.  You bring 10 gently-used pieces of garment magic to the Austin Rock N' Swap, you get 10 pieces of clothing (or jewelry, accessories, shoes) in return.  No clothes (perhaps you are walking around naked)?  No problem: $5 will secure your entry.

POP-UP SHOPS. If you bring a little extra folding money, you get to peruse two ever-so-lovely pop-up shops by Laced With Romance and Magnolia Family Vintage.

DRANK. Treaty Oak Rum!

CUPCAKES. The Cupcake Bar will be there giving away samples of their famous confections.  In true vintage style, they will have nostalgic candy toppings for your cake!

MUSIC. By KUT FM's Laurie Gallardo!

This is all happening Saturday, January 30, from 6-10pm.  RSVP here for guaranteed entry!  Because once we hit capacity, we have to close this baby up, and then you will be sad.  Visit our Facebook invite too, and scheme with your friends for fashion swap ideas.

So....I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this.  (Are you noting the exclamation points exploding from this post?) Sarah and I met years ago when I was interviewing her for a story in Rare, and since then have been good buddies!  Today, she is a vintage stylist for a variety of shoots and magazines, including one of my faves, Boho.  Check out her wonderful post on the event here, and also be on the lookout for "swap pointers."

Candace Carlisle, talented in so many ways I cannot begin to count, designed our poster!

I am sure I will have more to say about this as we get closer to January 30, but for now, just clap your hands say YEAH!

Local furniture porn: Pirwi

It's been a while since we've talked about something non-music related here on ol' Austin Eavesdropper, hasn't it? Just blah-blah band this and blah-blah synthesizer that. Let's shake things up a bit and talk about.....FURNITURE!!!

Are you ready for this? I'm about to break it down, Ethan Allen-style. Actually....not Ethan Allen at all, something much, much cooler. God, how is that even possible? I'll tell you. Pirwi.

So last night Kirk Gallery hosted a mixer of sorts for this Mexican design collective. Everything Pirwi designs is eco-friendly, but also pretty affordable - which probably can't be said of every lofty-minded green design line (in fact quite few I imagine). It was founded by Emiliano Godoy and Alejandro Castro, the latter of whom has worked with uber-photographer Mario Testino. You may have seen his work in this tiny little magazine....oh what's it called.....VOGUE. And, point of trivia, he apparently charges $140,000 a day.

Anyway, when it comes to housewares, I tend to overlook naked wood. This is a stark difference between R. and I: R. could happily live inside the trunk of a Redwood tree! So imagine my surprise to be surrounded by all these whimsical wooden treats....and didn't feel the need to paint and/or decoupage a single one.



This tree below is one of my favorites. It was designed by Mr. Castro and comes in three different sizes. I think it'd be fun to get the small one and use it to hang up your necklaces:

This is a chair whose pieces are stitched together by cotton rope! It actually won an award an International Furniture Design Award in 2005. Don't the legs kind of look like zippers?

This screen comes in maple, walnut, or black veneer, and the scales make the whole thing bendable. You can form little shapes with it.



What does this table remind me of? An Escher drawing? Something.

This bench is called, appropriately enough, "The Centipede."


This is probably my favorite: it's a dog-shaped bench/side table/magazine rack of sorts:

Pirwi makes these together with Proteak, and if you buy several of these "dogs" you can make different...eh...arrangements:

Do you think that's meant to be as funny as it is??

Anyhoo, Pirwi sells these dogs and many other items here in town, and would you believe that a lot of it is under $100? Sorry for sounding so much like a commercial?

To check out the line, head to Kirk: 210 Guadalupe, in between 3rd and 2nd street.

IKEA + So long, coffee

Ok everyone - sorry I peaced out for a few days.

You know when the weekend just engulfs you in a tidal wave of lethargy? That's what happened in between Thursday night and now. (I blame Mad Men: why do you have to be so addictive Don Draper, and your imminently watchable ilk?)

Anyway, another reason I haven't chimed in this weekend is because I've been miffed, perplexed really, over my achy stomach. I think it's trying to tell me something. And if I listen close, I think I can hear it saying, "Help! I'm being eaten away by coffee acid! Somebody help me!!"

Really...it's gotten to a bad place. And though coffee (...plus white chocolate mudslide cream) is hardly the worst thing I consume, it's the catalyst that makes everything else fall apart. Do you guys feel that way? The ones that are helpless to coffee? Besides the stomach-being-eaten-away thing, it also makes me shaky and hungry shortly after I drink it (which is about twice - sometimes thrice - daily).

So I need to make an appointment with my dear, lovely friend and natural-eating guru Sarah and get my head straight. In the meantime, I'm thrusting off the shackles of coffee and am going to attempt this:

Hot water + lemon + Stevia

I know, sorta lame. But is very cleansing. Ironic - since isn't lemon juice also acidic (and thus potentially aggravating)? Well, we're about to find out, aren't we stomach?

I'll tell you how it goes. In the meantime, another big decision happened today: R. and I officially joined the WASPy ranks and took our first trip to Ikea.



Ok, so, on a logical level alone I totally get the seduction of the place. Acres of cheap, fairly cute housewares and furniture. What could be better? One moment you're handling a kelly green houndstooth-patterned pillow for $14.99, and the next, why you are face-to-face with a whole room designed expressly to show off that pillow to its full potential. Very clever, you Ikea people!

But, Ikea is also creepy and frustrating. Creepy in that I feel oddly like part of a larger consumer-habit experiment when I'm in there - "Customer A's walking patterns show a distinct inclination toward items on right, plus a 1:8 item-pick-up to item-placed-in-basket ratio. INITIATE DATA ENTRY." - and frustrating, because it's so damn huge.

I know - everyone told me. Everyone told me it's like a maze, that you have to walk through the whole thing just to get out, that there is a freaking restaurant and daycare inside Ikea, which should tell me all I needed to know.

Still, all of that couldn't prepare R. and I for the onslaught of stupidity we felt walking around the store. Which way? What's an "ektorp? " Is this a real bathroom, or a display? I have to pee? Wait - where'd you go? Wha? Wha-huh?

Picture this: R. on his cell phone, me on mine, like walkie-talkies:

R: Where are you?
T: I'm at the restaurant. I am near check-out.
R: I'm in a warehouse now - it looks like Home Depot. Am I still in the same store?
T: Look for "check-out" on the signs.
R: I see food down here, too -
T: Do you see me?
R: Do you see the Home Depot stuff?
T: No - just follow the signs. I am at CHECK. OUT.
R: Ok, I'm going to follow these signs. Where are you, again?
T: (Sigh) I am - hold on a sec (turn to employee to confirm store coordinates)
Ok, um. Actually Honey, I've only made it through half of the store, according to the Ikea guy.
R: Oh, I thought -

And on and on and on.

By the time we got into the car, we both felt a little bit dirty, and a little dumber too, like lab rats. (But, but - I should point out that the lab rats are now in possession of a super-cute Olega lamp). Still, it's undeniable that Ikea, like Target - which I love - is one of those democratizing big-box stores that makes it possible for all of us to live a little prettier. And many a college student, newlywed couple, and single twenty-something living in her first studio apartment are grateful, I am sure.

I just can't decide if Ikea is redemptive...or evil.

The Domain: DisneyAustin?

I can't make up my mind about The Domain. You know, the shopping center. What's that? You thought it was in Dallas? Well I don't blame you.

The Domain is located at roughly Braker and Burnet here in AUSTIN, and strikes a balance somewhere between The Truman Show and DisneyWorld. It's an outdoor mall that I think is going for "European," yet insists to be "the best of Austin." Here's the blurb from the website:

"Thanks to incomparable cuisine, diverse local artists, and eclectic shopping, Austin is known as one of the most unique destinations in the country. The Domain is bringing the best of Austin to one single, urban location."

Hmm. I don't know about that, Domain. Most Austinites probably wouldn't name Macy's, Starbucks, or - shocking! - California Pizza Kitchen as "the best of Austin." I think Stacy P. over at Yelp Austin stated it best:

"We stopped in yesterday to go to Z Gallerie, big mistake, huge mistake. I was dressed in flip flops and shorts and kept getting the dirty stink eye from everyone dressed to the fucking nines to GO TO THE MALL. Seriously, peeps were dressed for the club with heels, huge designer bags, little pooches with sweaters on and huge sunglasses. This place makes me sick."

Haha. Let's be friends, Stacy P.?

So today I stopped by The Domain for lunch - don't hate, it's close to my job - with the express purpose of going to Oakville Grocery. Oakville is supposed to be this little Napa/Sonoma-like grocer, and sometimes, they have samples of cheese and chocolate and other silly/yummy stuff. Only today - why today, I saw no cheese. Instead I saw something entirely different.

First, it was the bolted doors. Abandoned napkin dispensers. Dusty windows and bare, scratched-up floors. And finally...the shaming little eviction notice, plastered in the front door. Apparently, Oakville stopped paying their property rent, and got their Napa ass kicked out.

Now, whatever company that's developing The Domain is bling-bling rich. It stretches several blocks, and not only is there shopping, but gyms and "parks" and apartments - like the suburbs, only with a pretend urban atmosphere.

But in this economy, will we see more evicted properties at The Domain?

Maybe I'll be sad to see Kona Grill go - we do happy hour there from time to time, and I think their sushi is alright. But Domain, maybe take one from Austin Bergstrom Airport's playbook, and incorporate the city's existing businesses?

Hobby Lobby employees are a little dead inside

I have a question for you guys. Why are the employees at Hobby Lobby so pissed off? Specifically, the one on Lamar and 183. I went there yesterday to get supplies for one of these:



I know, cute right. You know how jewelry often ends up spread out on a dresser, on top of bills and old Pirates of the Caribbean ticket stubs and whatever? And you inevitably "lose" your favorite hoop earrings when they're really just tangled up in a bra? That's what this is supposed to stop. Thanks Martha!

Anyway, I'm at Hobby Lobby, where nothing is labeled. But that's alright. What's not alright is how mad they get when you ask them where stuff is. Take this exchange:

"Hi! Could you tell me where wooden shadow boxes are?"

"All of our shadow boxes are with frames."

"Great. Where are the frames?"

(Dramatic rolling of eyes) "Around the CORNER."

Now, I accept some responsibility here - maybe if I had kept on walking, I would have run into the frames area, and eventually the shadow boxes. About 5 minutes later though, I was looking for something kind of obscure - sawtooth hangers - and saw a different employee walking by.

"Excuse me, ma'am!"

(Woman keeps walking, does not turn around.)

"Hi, hey - do you work here?" (Run a little to catch up to her)

"Yes."

"Do you know where basic hardware is? Specifically, sawtooth hangers, for mounting artwork on the wall."

"That's like..." - sigh - "...on the complete opposite side of the store."

"Alright. Near the bathrooms? Near the scrapbooking stuff?"

"Over there. Where I'm pointing." (Gestures vaguely, indeed, to the "opposite" side of the store, indicating with her hand that I shall find hardware somewhere in between party favors and foliage, because those are the two ends of the entire west wall. Oh, I see now! Like, in this quadrant of the store, I'll find something that's about the size of a nail! Great, thanks!)

Hey Hobby Lobby, if you don't want customers asking silly questions, how about labeling the f^*ing store. "Wood." "Paint." "Yarn." Things like that.

Maybe it's because crafty women seem so nice, as a general demographic - old ladies with their knitting needles, teachers with their iron-on watermelon decals, moms with their driveway chalk for the kiddos - that I expect these kind of people to staff Hobby Lobby. But that would be a wrong assumption. A complete opposite assumption. Dawn B. at Yelp Austin put it so much better than I about a month ago:

"this hobby lobby is the suck. but not in the good way. the employees are all dead. no one wants to help you. i think they were all hiding as i saw no one working the sales floor."

Hee. Seriously though - why so grumpy-pants, HL employees?

"Those" jeans

Every girl deserves a pair.

Mine? Gray-black wash. Stretchy. A lucky purchase at The Limited, where I rarely shop.

I remember the purchase well. I had just gotten off work at the magazine (Sacramento, not Austin), I had a party to attend, and I believe I was wearing sweatpants. I headed straight to the mall, where I knew I would be anonymous - my relationships with mall stores are about as intimate as my relationships with kitchenware. I rode the escalator from underground parking to mall level, and walked into the first store I saw. The Limited? Why not? Surely it's evolved since 1996, I thought.

I tried on exactly 3 items: a paisley kimono top, a nondescript cardigan that barely registers a memory, and those jeans. Sure, they were a little long. Sure, I could have gone with a bigger, looser, more tasteful size. But I was shopping for a party, and not just any party, but a party populated by judgmental gay men. The length I could solve with heels. The tightness I could solve with attitude.

The party that night? I hardly remember. But the jeans...Reader, it is a continuing affair. I wear them at least weekly, if not twice a week, since I bought them over a year ago. And every time I do, I feel like my butt is defying gravity! It's a magical allusion created by a cotton / Spandex weave, to be sure - but allusion or no, my confidence is authentic. I feel sassy just picking up dish soap at the grocery store.

It is my firm belief that every girl, but especially girls who live in Austin, where good jeans are nothing less than an allegiance to one's local laid-back culture, needs to have a pair of ass-kicking jeans in her closet. Tight "lift" jeans. Slouchy boyfriend jeans. Low-slung carpenter jeans. NO mom jeans. The pair you can wear for coffee or clubbing, and feel like an "11" in either setting.

Ladies: Where does this jean vendor exist in Austin? Does it exist? Good jeans are sort of like my Holy Grail in this town, and so far, I haven't found a refuge when those jeans finally fall apart on me. Austin is a city of jean-wearing fools, so I know it must be around here somewhere. Until then, I'll keep searching - eyes (and butt) lifted high.