At Long Last : The Return of Mad Men

When it comes to t.v., it's pretty much ad Mad Men & 60 Minutes for me. Or, at least it was. Until the Hollywood writer's strike [remember that?] combined with stalled contract negotiations [over creative control (always worth fighting for)] put Mad Men on hiatus 1 1/2 years ago.  

But, patience pays off :

The wait ends & the story line resumes with the return of Mad Men this Sunday.

NPR / Fresh Air ran a good, quick, anticipation piece on the show this morning.  

Here's a link to the transcript:

 So excited.

This Shoppe : Maude Rare Finds

 In this recent issue of Sunset Magazine

There was a small feature of this equally small shoppe, Maude Rare Finds, in Petaluma, CA. 

When I last visited Maude, they were in a space about the size of a walk-in closet.  But it was packed to the brim with - truly - rare finds for children.  To name a few : Flora & Henri, Makie Clothier, Atsuyo et Akiko

I was sort of stunned because, within the blurry bounds of Northern California, there are basically no brick & mortars that carry these lines. I later found out that one of the owners is Jess Brown -- who is the force behind the uber-popular-in-the-boutique-artisan-world : "Jess Brown Dolls."

 Maude has since moved to a larger space (which I haven't been to) & added a number of carefully-curated lines for women.  Some include : Erica Tanov, Qi cashmere, & the very hard-to-find Japanese line : Fog Linen Work.  I hope to return to Maude in 2012, but in the meantime, the Maude blog provides a good glimpse into the shoppe.