Victoria Update: Our customers are so cool!

We just got an email from one of our customers--Susan, from Salt Spring Island--containing pictures of an art project she's working on inspired by our vintage wool blankets.

This blanket in particular was used to cover a dog crate, and the lovely little bugger decided to use it as a chew toy. Not to worry, though! Susan came up with the (awesome) idea to embroider around the holes and stains and make this beautiful pastel check blanket into something new and totally original.

This submarine (at least that's what my eyes see) totally reminds me of The Life Aquatic. I definitely approve.

Now I'm going to go pull all the damaged blankets out of my goodwill pile (why does this pile never actually get to goodwill...?) and get my art on. Thanks Susan!

Vancouver Update: Spider Wrangling

On Saturday, we had a Wolf spider in our Main Street shop. A customer noticed it conspicuously sitting on the white wallpaper at the edge of the ceiling. They are usually good at camouflaging themselves, but I guess this one was checking out the shop (don't worry, this is only the second Wolf spider we've found in the shop in 8 years).

I usually have no problem sweeping up or catching spiders and putting them outside (with a strong warning to them that they are not longer welcome inside!). This time though, I was not up for the task, nor was Christina who was working with me that day. We asked a male customer if he was into Spider Wrangling and he gallantly took up the task.

Here's the video of his brave feat. Sorry about losing visual composure toward the end, I became a screeching school girl when his technique involved more than immediate capture. I love Christina's dance of joy as the capture is complete. The spider was carried far from the shop to be reintroduced to the wilds of urban Vancouver.

Thank you again kind sir!

People With Talent!

The nice folks down at John Fluevog have a really neat contest on at the moment: people are invited to submit a design for an upcoming advertising campaign, with the winning image voted for by 'Vog fans online! Now, the "birds of a feather" love for Fluevogs from most Smoking Lily-ites has long been commented upon, so I know this will be of general interest to everyone. Even better, one of our lovely Vancouver regulars, Elisabeth, is the artist behind the absolutely stunning picture above, one of the four designs chosen by John Fluevog himself to be voted on--how awesome is that?!

Formerly a high school science teacher, it looks like Elisabeth may soon be at least semi-retired from her current career as a stay-at-home mum, having recently won a contract to illustrate a hotly anticipated children's novel. (Not a bad first gig for someone who claims to have discovered relatively late in life that she is insanely good at drawing! Did I mention she's also charmingly modest??)

Click here to check out all of the final designs and vote for your favourite--go, Elisabeth, go!--until June 7th.

Vancouver Update: Customer Love

I know I've written in the past about how awesome our customers are, but I've been really feeling the love, as it were, the past couple of days. A few days ago, one of our Vancouver regulars came by to pick up a couple of Print Yer Own shirts, including one rather wee-sized tee. Within a day, he had thrown this super cute photo of his son modeling his new duds up on our Facebook page; thanks, Phil! We find it so gratifying to see our things in action and to know that they are loved (and your "little man" is quite the model!).

Yesterday, in the midst of all that incredibly depressing, positively biblical rain we had, I received a super sunny phone call from Sara, another of our lovely Vancouver regulars. Sara was just ringing in to let me know that the white lace Luv Affair Dress and golden silk obi sash she had purchased the day before were her new favourites out of all the Smoking Lily items she has ever had. Furthermore, she was so excited with them she just had to pull them out to show the perfume sales gal at Holt's later that day, who was apparently also very taken with them--yay! Thank you for sharing such a happy story on such a sad, grey day, Sara. (...and if you send me a photo of you modeling your fabulous new outfit, I'd love to post it here!)

Last, but not least, Glenda and I arrived this morning to a very cheerful thank-you note from one of our lovely mail order customers in Saskatchewan. Now, cards of thanks are in no way necessary--we appreciate your business!--but we got such a kick reading that Monique's elementary students heartily approve of her Smoking Lily duds.

....and this is also why I'm not kidding when I tell people that we have the best customers in the world. Thanks for being so wonderful, guys!

Blog Love: Compliments from L.A.

One of the reasons I really love working at Smoking Lily is that the people who come in are always just so lovely, and yesterday was no exception. I had the pleasure of meeting Janene, a fantastically stylish gal visiting Vancouver for the first time from L.A. We had lots of fun chatting, getting the whole store involved in a "Should one move from L.A. to Vancity?" discussion; it's always a thrill to get such positive feedback about the shop--and from a designer, no less (not that we generally get negative feedback, but you know what I mean!)! Imagine our delight upon receiving an email from Janene this afternoon with a link to a wonderful piece she has written about us on her blog, Hairpik!

Thanks for the blog love, Janene! And if you ever decide to trade in your L.A. sunglasses for a Vancouver raincoat, come on back in for a visit--we'd be tickled pink to have you as a regular.

The super cute illustration above was snagged from Janene's blog, Hairpik.

Vancouver Update: Blog-love goodness

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but we just love, love, love getting emails and photos from customers about something they've bought that has made them extra, super happy--it really makes our collective day. This is why it was so nice to get an email from Ms. Ashly Kissman last week with a link to an entire post on her blog, "this is what pink sounds like," about her new Wanderluxe sweater and how much fun she had checking out the shop here in Vancouver.

Thanks for the blog love, Ashly. We think you're neat, too :)

Thank You!

To all of you who joined us at the Customer Appreciation or Sausage Parties last night - Thank You!

And to all of our customers - Your support means the world to us! You are the reason we have jobs that we love. We are so pleased to be able to continue to create lovely things and interact with interesting people like yourselves.

Deep curtsies to you, from all of us at Smoking Lily!

Vancouver Update: Warm Fuzzies

Last week I was looking out our window when I noticed a woman wearing an apron walking along in the rain with an older gal. The younger woman was holding an umbrella for her companion and the two were deep in conversation as the older woman got into a car parked out front. I thought it was a little strange that the one gal was wearing an apron (even though some aprons are definitely nice enough to do just that!), but didn't put two and two together until I remarked aloud to Glenda, "Wow, look how perfect that lady's hair is;" she had just had it styled at the little shop a few doors down from us and they were walking her to her car so it didn't get ruined in the rain!

I don't know why, but seeing that really gave me the "warm fuzzies," as I like to call it. I suppose it just encapsulates, for me, the entire experience of working in a little boutique; you really get to know your clients and, well, you really care. It's so wonderful to feel you've gotten to know people and can pick out things that would be just the thing for them. It may seem silly, but having actual relationships with customers is just so rewarding. Otherwise, you might as well be a little automaton repeating something awful all day long ("Hi! Welcome to ____!" I think you all know what I'm talking about...).

OK, I'm getting pretty sappy here, but you should all come on down to our Vancouver Customer Appreciation Night on Thursday and see how sentimental I can get after some bubbly! But seriously, Smoking Lily customers are about the best there are--you guys are a truly fabulous bunch!

On another note, we now have the absolutely awesome Smoking Lily Undies in the shop: three colours, two sizes ($20). So cute! In case anyone is waiting, we also now have the velvet Pothole Skirt in two shades of green.

See you Thursday!

Another Lily Customer in Action

Nayla is one of our lovely mail order customers. She comes in to the shop when she's in town and keeps in touch via the website, blog and email when she's not. It's fun to feel connected to other parts of the country, and world, through our customers.

Here's a shot that Nayla sent of herself in the St. Augustine Dress - moody and sweet!

Vancouver Update: Customer Ingenuity

Because we usually do small runs of garments here at Smoking Lily, it happens, on occasion, that customers who choose to ponder a purchase for awhile can miss out altogether. It can be disappointing, I know, I didn't get a 113 jacket! I actually went to my coat cupboard the other day to put on a 113 because it would have been the perfect coat for the day, but...it wasn't there - I didn't purchase one...drat! I had to go with my Camouflage Coat instead (not such a sad ending after all). Ok, I'm getting side tracked here.

What one ingenious customer did when she realized she should have bought the Double Take Skirt below,

was get her Smoking Lily Chevron Skirt

altered to be more of a pencil skirt! She even added the buttons for a closer approximation.

Here's a photo she sent of herself in her creation. Way to go Janie, you're sharp!

She's adventurous in other ways too. She and her husband cycled from Terrace to Prince Rupert this summer - woah!

Vancouver Customers: Adult Child of Hippies

We love our customers here in Vancouver. They are so engaging and diverse, and make our days all the more interesting.

A couple of weeks ago we received an hilarious and sweet email from our lovely customer Willow Yamauchi. Here are some excerpts:

This is my favourite shirt, I wear it by itself or layered, here I am also wearing three hats and three large bags, I don't recommend that everyone try to carry off this look!

This picture is taken in an outside art exhibit in Iceland, the rabbit and grey and black fit in very well with the Icelandic aesthetic!

Here's the Louis Riel again, this time with layered stripy top which takes it right into winter and fall-a must!

I'm not crazy about this picture, it's at my art show opening in Kaslo this September, but if you look, you can see the owl looking out of my pocket in the skirt! He is so wise and gives me fashion guidance.

Please feast your eyes on the glory of this outfit, this is full Rejykavik fabulousness, the Smoking Lily ship print skirt pulled it all together and was a focal point for fashion fun in Iceland!

Here's a link to my book, "Adult Child of Hippies", which started a "support" group for other survivors of communes and nudist colonies such as myself. It's a short humour book full of photos and hippie child memories.

http://www.amazon.ca/Adult-Child-Hippies-Willow-Yamauchi/dp/1897415249

http://www.insomniacpress.com/title.php?id=978-1-897415-24-5

Thank you Willow! As someone who's spent my life on the West Coast, and much time on the Gulf Islands, your project struck my heart and funnybone most acutely.

Vancouver Update: Happy Table

I was so happy to have this email sitting in our Vancouver inbox this morning:

Dear Erin & Glenda;

Here is a snap shot of the set of drawers I bought last year. Thanks for helping make my house a home:)
Best wishes,
Margaret

I remember this set of drawers well (I think I may have even tried to convince glenda to skip the shop and sell them straight to me, I thought they were so cute! She *does* find the best stuff...). So glad to hear this piece helped put some finishing touches on your place, Margaret--and thanks for taking to time to send us a picture!

P.S. We really love getting pictures of Smoking Lily things in action from our fabulous customers, so don't be shy!

Vancouver Update: Hama Hama Cousins

We are so lucky in the Smoking Lily shops to come across a wide variety of people. Our customers are awesome! We have loads of lovely regulars and are constantly meeting interesting new customers.

These two gals are cousins, well second cousins I think, their Mom's are cousins. Irène (on the left) is from Switzerland, she was visiting her cousin Astrid in Vancouver. They came into the Main Street shop a couple of weeks ago.

They were so much fun. We kept feeding the change rooms with garments as they giggled, told stories, encouraged and assisted each other. They looked so cute in their Hama Hama Dresses as they accessorized with Obis that I asked to snap a few shots on my phone. When they left the shop, with their piles of new Lily garments, we all had big smiles on our faces. Thanks ladies, you were sweet!

Vancouver Update: Oscillators love barbeques!

Imagine my delight last Friday, showing up to an after work barbeque and finding Susanna, one of our awesome Vancouver regulars, snuggled up in our fleecy Oscillator Dress. Being fairly cold and dusky--thanks, Juneuary!--she had it paired with jeans and threw one of her sweet homemade sweaters over top for extra warmth. (And herein lies the genius of the Oscillator: breathable cotton is great for our not-generally-super-scorching summer days, while the fleecy goodness on the inside is perfect for our generally chilly summer nights.) Being a good sport and all, Susanna even agreed to strike a pose for the blog--lookin' good, lady!