Ye Old Yule Log

Happy New Year, everyone!

Tired of the same old yule log video? Looking for something a little sassier for your tv tonight? Well, search no more! My good friend, Mr. Jedd, and some associates have put together a little collection of updated yule shorts for your viewing pleasure, available at: http://www.yuleburn.net/

My personal favourite is the "swingers" fire....

Christmas Snowshoeing

This Christmas Day I had planned to do nothing (like lay in bed all day nothing), then friends called to say they were taking their new snowshoes to Mt. Seymour (on the north shore of Vancouver) for a trial run. It was a gorgeous sunny day so what was I do - of course I would join them! We hiked our way toward the summit, stopping for warm tea with rye breaks, water breaks, snacking with the birds breaks... (it was a pretty challenging climb for someone who had planned to be horizontal all day). Fortunately James was thinking ahead and brought along Crazy Carpets. So on a sunset descent, rather than trudging up and down the trail, James skied while Rhonda and I slid and screamed our way down the green runs - soooo much fun! It was a much more challenging and exciting day than I had imagined. Thanks you two!

boxing week sale

Come on down to the Smoking Lily shop in Victoria or in Vancouver and find 30% off selected items. 

Take in the New Year with a little  something something that Santa forgot to put under your tree for you. Supplies will only last so long, so hurry on down! 

Party Time

I would like to wish all our customers all the best this holiday season.
Thanks for all your support this year.


Our studio is closed till January the 4th.
Our shops are closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day.

Ravishing Beasts

For the Vancouver Lily Holiday Staff Party we decided on taxidermy and dinner. A strange combo you may think, but the Ravishing Beasts exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver was not stomach turning - it was beautiful, fascinating and one of our Lily favourites... strange!

Erin, Margaret, Cathy, Ananda and I (glenda) enjoyed a delightful evening together - discussing taxidermy, walking along a moonlit beach and dining at Hapa Izakaya. I love Vancouver, and the whole Lily family. Holiday spirit is alive and well in our neck of the woods.

Holiday Hours

Hello, Happy Holidays! Here are a few photos of our Victoria store Christmas display...Also for your convenience, our Victoria Store hours.

Dec 24 10-2
Dec 25 Closed
Dec 26 Closed
Dec 27-30 Regular hours (Tuesday to Saturday 11-5:30 Sunday and Monday 12-5)
Dec 31 10-2
Jan 1 Closed

Makes You Go "Hmmm..."

It sounds as though this story made the blogosphere rounds a few years ago, but I just read about it and it's far too amazing not to share with Lily blog followers!

William Kamkwamba (pictured above) was a fourteen-year-old Malawian boy forced to drop out of school when his parents could no longer afford tuition in the midst of the 2002 drought that destroyed their farm. Going to the village library to continue his education on his own, he took out a book called Using Energy, which contained a description of windmills in it. He then proceeded to build his own windmill from scraps and bicycle parts!! Amazing! Not content to simply provide his parents with electricity for the first time, he also built a solar-powered water pump to provide his entire village with a steady supply of water, as well as several other "junk" windmills. Wow.

Now that his story is out and he has sponsors supporting his education, it's pretty inspiring to imagine what he will be able to accomplish. I wonder if we should send him a Smoking Lily windmill shirt! You can read more about William at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kamkwamba

Winter Camping

Winter is upon us - but camping continues. I donned my Lily Wool Vest (in-between a silk undershirt and a down sweater) and was off to experience sleeping and fishing through sub zero temperatures. It was a blast! The Squamish River Valley is gorgeous and though the fish weren't biting, the hikes were a satisfying end in themselves.

This New Years Eve, I'll be going a tad more comfy - a roof, running water and a wood stove, with hot springs nearby - dreamy. I think I'll take some Lily slippers along for cozy feet at the cabin.

Oh... the Vest was great survival gear, and I'll be wearing it to a Christmas party over a ruffled sleeve tee with the Hester Skirt and some sparkly tights - yay versatility!

Periodic table of awesome!

Hello Christmas-shopping Lily blog followers! My good friend, Alidor, in Montreal emailed me this photo in response to a shirt we sent him earlier this fall and it is just too cute not to post. Since we tend to sell this print straight out of the delivery boxes and get oodles of requests for it this time of year, it also reminds me that if you want to get your hands on this print (or any other specific print) for someone on your x-mas list, December 13th is the cut-off for 'special orders' and 'print your owns' guaranteed to be finished in time for the big day.

Happy shopping!

Erin

Wake For Slickety Jim's - Anza Club Tonight - Dec 10th

Our much beloved breakfast joint, Slickety Jim's Chat and Chew, was one of the businesses destroyed by the fire at Main and Broadway last month. So sad. When will my craving for awesome kooky vintage decor, great kitchen entertainment, and those amazing vegetarian sausages be satisfied again?

Good news is - Mike is determined to reopen Slickey Jim's, at a new location on Main Street.

Tonight at the Anza Club (8th and Ontario) a Wake is being held to morn our collective loss, to party with Chat and Chew fans, and to help raise funds for the next incarnation of Slickety's.

I'm hoping that crowds of good folk will pile into the Anza to celebrate a new beginning for Mike and the manifestation of his unique vision. There is a great line-up of entertainment in the works. Cover is by donation at the door.

Here's a link for more details.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=7ffcc5aa-12b8-48a7-830a-67eff68e264c

Hope to see you there! glenda.

Holiday Decorations

This year our holiday decoration theme was parchment and black - not too glitzy I realize, but we're not really glitzy gals. Instead we put some stellar effort into creating a high impact, monochromatic display. Many German, Korean and English texts were transformed into spherical ornaments and cute garlands. The shots above are from the Vancouver shop.

one more sleep until the sausage party!

Sausage party is tomorrow night!

Smoking lily's second annual men's shopping night at the studio 5-9.

Sausages, beer, darts and wrapped gifts! Get your men there or be square!

Customer Appreciation Night - Tonight!

Just a reminder that tonight, Thursday December 3rd, is our Customer Appreciation Night at the Vancouver Smoking Lily, 3634 Main Street.

Please drop by between 6:00 and 9:00 pm for a glass of bubbly, 15% off your purchases, gift wrapping, viewing our new expanding space, and plenty of Lily banter with our staff and lovely customers.

Looking forward to toasting you!

Shopping with Rachael!!!

Shopping with Rachael is Smoking Lily’s take on a personal Christmas elf. The multi-talented Rachael works in the studio cheerfully answering phone orders, cutting, silk-screening and this month will help customers find the perfect Smoking Lily gift. Each Thursday in December before Christmas not including 24th from 4-8 p.m., Rachael will lend a hand to tackle those hard-to-buy-for relatives and friends who ‘have everything’. This is a behind-the-scenes opportunity to shop in the studio (1221 Wharf Street, upstairs) and purchase gifts from a maker of Smoking Lily goods. Plus, customers who bring in non-perishable food donations for the Mustard Seed Food Bank will receive a 15% discount on all Smoking Lily purchases. It’s shopping to do good and feel good!

L.A. Confidential

This is Erin from the Vancouver shop, here to report my safe return from the land of endless sunshine and endless highways. That's right, I have just returned from my first ever trip to L.A.! We did all the things good little tourists do: Venice Beach is hilarious and beautiful, the Santa Monica Pier is spectacularly cheesy (in a good way), and I loved every minute of being accosted by Scientologists on the Walk of Fame (they are *everywhere* down there. It's amazing!). Naturally, Rodeo Drive was also fairly resplendent; what it lacks in the sort of quirky charm we here at Lily excel at it more than makes up for in pure, unadulterated, shiny-ness.

All in all, I'd say the only downside to our little adventure was having "Hollywood" stuck in my head for four days--sorry to all the Heart fans out there (and I know you're out there!). Also, if anyone can explain the infamy of Hollywood and Vine, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. We were at a bit of a loss to figure out how an intersection dominated by a Chase Manhattan branch and, if I recall, a GAP came to represent such depths of moral turpitude, but seedy tales of murky pasts are always good fun!