K.Bell offers a a fun line of socks called “The Girls”.  It is pretty easy to identify these styles with different “girls” in your life too, which make them an easy go to gift.

Here are the girls in my life:

 

Quilting Girl: My Aunt Pat, who makes the most exquisite quilts for everyone in the family

 

Arts & Crafts Girl: My friend Andrea with her amazing paper skills

Scrapbooking Girl: My sister-in-law, Liz, the pro scrapbooker

 

Wine Girl: My dear friend Margo who knows her reds

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 Knitting Girl: My mother-in-law Deirdre, knitter extraordinaire

 

Wellness Girl: my mom, the healthiest “girl” I know!

 

You can check out the rest of The Girls here, including the popular favorites: Wedding Girl and Birthday Girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been feeling overwhelmed with different elements at work this week.  Compounded with being pregnant, it has turned me into a sobbing mess.  I realized there were some things I needed to take a step back from and concentrate on staying more calm for this baby.  The stress is absolutely not worth it.  So I decided to welcome the decompression by calling on my old friends Ben & Jerry.

Beau offered to pick me up my favorite flavor, Milk & Cookies, along with some frozen yogurt for himself on his way home from surfing yesterday.  There is only one store in town I know of that carries it so he had to make a special trek to get there.  It was my plan to devour the whole thing once I got Sawyer into bed.

Beau secretly munched on his in the other room while Sawyer was in the bath, before taking off for an evening motorcycle ride with friends.  Five books, several hugs and kisses, and a cup of water later, it was my turn.  Finally.  I opened up the freezer and grabbed my pint of ice cream, immediately noticing it felt really light.  I opened it and saw about 6 bites remaining, while an entire unopened container of Ben & Jerry’s FROZEN YOGURT stared back at me.  He ate the wrong one.  Being pregnant and totally stressed, I lost it and started bawling on the ground of the kitchen.  (Pregnancy is awesome like that!)

I tried texting and calling Beau with no luck.  I resorted to Facebook to wallow in my sorrow.  Friends poured out their sympathy.  I pouted more.  Miraculously, my neighbors read my post and jumped in their car to grab me a new pint.  I started bawling again, feeling overwhelmed by the amazing gesture.  By 9:00, I had in my hand, the Milk & Cookies I had been waiting all day for (thank you Super Nate!!!!!!!!).  Relief, at last!

 

{For the record, Beau was incredibly apologetic the next morning.  :-)}

I am so excited about my new vinyl wall stickers hanging up in the store!

I contacted my friend Elizabeth Howard, who owns Little Lola Red Design Group here in town.  I came to her with the idea of creating some branches to hang high on the wall against the back of the store.  Up until now there have been some birds flying, but I have been over them for awhile now.

Elizabeth designed these beautiful, delicate branches with the cutest little Love Birds (her touch!).  She personally came into my shop to install them herself.  They look amazing!  I keep smiling every time I look at them.

We had a wonderful chat as she balanced on a really high ladder and I got to stand back and watch the process.   I think we have more in common that we had ever realized!

Next time you are downtown, poke your head in and check out the new wall art!

Thank you again, Elizabeth!

Speaking of Gumball Poodle, our customer Erin from North Carolina just emailed us these pics.  She ordered a handful of Beer socks recently to wear with her friends to Warrior Dash.

I was not familiar with Warrior Dash, being allergic to running and all, so I checked out their website.

“Warrior dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell.  This fierce running series is held on the most challenging and rugged terrain across the globe .  Warriors conquer extreme obstacles, push their limits, and celebrate with kick-ass music,  beer, and warrior helmets.”

Sign me up!  Or at least for the kick-ass music and beer.  In any case, I know Erin had a great time and what better place to rock the Beer socks.  Thank you so much for sharing Erin!!

 

 

When I first moved back to San Luis Obispo, Jimmy apRoberts was the first friend I made.

He is an incredibly talented graphic designer who I initially contacted to design a logo for The Sock Drawer.  I think he thought I was kinda nuts (just socks? really??) but luckily agreed to work with me.  (His girlfriend Casey actually became my first sock fairy!)

Over the years he has designed all of The Sock Drawer ads and most recently created our new rockin’ website.

 

my first modeling gigs

 

Jimmy is probably the hardest working guy I know.  I don’t think that he actually sleeps. Somehow, on top of all the design work he’s doing for local businesses, he has gone and created a new business.  It is called Subplot Studio.   I think it is such a fantastic idea – I have to share it with you.

Jimmy teamed up with his friend Brian to create these original theater posters that you can customize:

This is just a sample of the huge collection they have already designed

 

These posters create an opportunity for theater groups of any caliber to have very professional, eye-catching posters at a fraction of the cost of having one designed from scratch.  ”Theater without the drama”, they call it.  So cool, right?

Their company just launched this week, just in time for the new school year.  I encourage you to spread the word to anyone you may know in the theater community!  I think so many different groups could really benefit from this opportunity.

 

I have been so fortunate to have some amazing employees help me here at the shop over the years.  I started calling them Sock Fairies awhile back… it just has a better ring to it.  (To clarify, Beau is the honorary Sock Ninja).

My longest reigning Sock Fairy is Kelsey, who has been with me since I opened the shop in 2007.  She  has always been wonderful with customers and super knowledgeable about all the different socks we carry.  What makes Kelsey special is that I have known her since she was born!

Brooke & Kelsey circa 1988

 

Our families are great friends and we have had many adventures together throughout the years.  Kelsey moved to SLO from Northern California to attend Cal Poly and I immediately lured her into my sock kingdom.  She keeps threatening to move away and start teaching, but it is my plan to keep her here for another 10 years (she just doesn’t know it yet).

Playing with dolphins in Hawaii

 

Kelsey recently started her own blog showing her life around San Luis Obispo to capture her remaining time here before she moves away (Noooo!  Never!).  She wrote the cutest post on working at The Sock Drawer and also has some tasty looking recipes too!

It has been an absolute joy to have Kelsey by my side for so long.  I seriously want to keep her forever.

 

Sawyer high-fiving Kelsey at her wedding

 

Look out Tamar, you’re next! 

1. Goregous Floral Tracy Leggings headed into work at The Sock Drawer {by Celeste Stein}

2. Striped socks looking into fridge {by Smartwool}

3. Two blue striped socks getting ready to head to the park {both by Smartwool}

4. Diving into Mama’s sock collection and finding some “vintage” Halloween socks {by Hot Sox}

 

Which socks are you wearing today?

June 14th is a big day in my life.

It was on this day, four years ago, that I opened the doors to The Sock Drawer – my very own sock store. All the months of dreaming, planning, painting, ordering, merchandising, and stressing came together. It has been quite an adventure since then.

I think my favorite part about my shop is all of the amazing sock loving people I have met along the way. I have formed very special, lifelong relationships with people who entered as customers and left as friends. I am convinced sock lovers are pretty cool people.

This year on June 14th, the celebration continues with the launch date for the The Sock Drawer website. I am so delighted to be here to share this experience with you. It’s a new opportunity for me to reach out and meet more great sock lovers. I couldn’t be more excited!

Cheers to new journeys, friendships, & socks!!