In case you haven’t seen it yet this week =)

I read that Gracie is an adopted shelter dog. Here’s what Captain Schmidt (who’s greeted in the video) wrote: “Gracie was on doggie death row — she had been there for four months — when we got her. She was days away, and she’s been the best dog and a vital part of our family for the past five years. It’s funny that a little dog that was found abandoned in a pen in West Virginia, completely neglected, could put a smile on so many faces.”

There’s a great story behind this cute pic. These little guys are newborn African Wild Dogs from our very own Pittsburgh Zoo. Their mother died after delivering them, but another momma dog from a local shelter is nursing the puppies to help them survive!  You can see their story here!
(Thanks to “hand.pecked” for sharing this with us!!)

Do you have a favorite cute find? Email it to cutefinds@modcloth.com, and it could be featured on an upcoming week!

Hey friends, I need your help!

This video made me laugh out loud at my desk, so I had to share. Then, I went to Maru’s website, and it appears that Maru the Cat has written a book! Is he an international cat celebrity that I didn’t know about? Well, either way, I’m definitely going to be following his blog in the weeks to come =)

The Uffizi Handbag from Helena de Natalio

Helena de Natalio makes beautiful, soft, leather bags, but there’s much more to her story! Helen, the founder, learned how to sew while in the Peace Corps, and takes pride in her socially-conscious company that’s growing- even in today’s economy!

Read my interview with Helen

Crystal: From what I’ve read, it seems like the Helena de Natalio story begins when you joined the Peace Corps?

Helen: You’re right. I was in the Peace Corps from 2003-2005 in Paraguay. My assignment was to work with the farmers’ cooperative in south Paraguay.  And as a side project I also worked with women’s groups to put together a small vegetable sale, kind of like a Farmer’s Market, with local goods. And while I was doing that, I was able to interact with some local artisans who created their own handmade goods, which taught me a lot about South American artisans and inspired me to work with them.

Crystal: And you learned to sew while you were there, too?

Helen: Yes- I rented an apartment from a woman who was a seamstress. She had a little quick-e-mart, and also did alterations for people in town. She let me borrow her sewing machine and taught me how to sew.

Growing up, my mother was a teacher and wasn’t much of a homemaker; so she didn’t really sew or anything like that. So I was 24 in Paraguay when I learned how to sew!

Then, following my experience in the Peace Corps, my husband and I (I actually met my husband in the Peace Corps- he’s from Seattle.) decided to move down to Buenos Aires.  And there I took leather-working classes, and started making my own designs and working with factories and artisans in Argentina.

Crystal: You also met your hubby while you were there? How did that happen?

Helen: Yeah! It was funny because we actually had friends in common in New York, but we met in the middle of South America!

Crystal: Did you have an interest in fashion before you moved to South America?

Helen: I definitely hate to admit it, but I wasn’t all that passionate about fashion growing up. Now, I realize that I always liked creative outlets, but I studied and played a lot of sports instead.

So, I think I was exposed more to the fashion world while living in Buenos Aires.  People there were very fashionable. I feel like people are more adventurous in their fashion there than in the States.

The combination of living abroad, and moving to a beautiful city that was so fashionable, and living in an apartment of a very artistic expatriate who used to work in fashion in New York (he was very influential) -all of this made fashion an amazing creative outlet that I’d never had before.

Crystal: How did you choose the name Helena de Natalio?

Helen: The name comes from the name of the town where I did my Peace Corps work. The name of the town was Natalio, and my name is Helen, and so my nickname there was Helena de Natalio (Helen from Natalio in Spanish), which I thought was pretty, so I decided to apply it to my business.

Left: the women’s group Helen worked with in the Peace Corps. Right: Helen buying leather in Argentina.

Crystal: Tell me about your company’s social responsibility.

Helen: Something that is really important to me is socially responsible production.  I guarantee fair wages are paid, and people have a healthy work environment- no child labor. I visit all of my production facilities and do cross-references and guarantee that they’re not sweat shops.

Crystal: Did your time in the Peace Corps influence this aspect of your company?

Helen: I think that when you live abroad in a third world country, it obviously gives you a great perspective on the world. I think you don’t really understand manufacturing until you live in that world, because what I’ve learned in the Peace Corps is that obviously we live very well here.

So I felt like one thing I could do, working in manufacturing, was to take the time to do the research. So yeah, I was definitely influenced by working with people living in different countries with different economic situations than I was accustomed to.

Crystal: What was the most important thing you learned in Paraguay?

Helen: I think I’d say exposure to living in the third world. The good thing about the Peace Corps is that you’re there for two years, so you become part of the community and make friendships. It’s not a little work trip- you really feel integrated in the community.

I feel like it really changed me and gave me a different perspective on life. Because I was fresh out of college, I’d worked for a few years, and then I went down and I had this opportunity. So, just exposure to other parts of the world- because it helps you look at the world in a different light.

Crystal: Where do you get inspiration for your purse designs?

Helen: Well, now that I’m back in the States, I was actually kind of worried because I had so many great muses and inspirations in Buenos Aires.  And now, I didn’t  know where I’d find my inspiration. But I feel like I’m more of a typical designer now. My experience was a little bit backwards- I studied business and economics in college. But now I do ‘tear sheets’ and take pictures of clothing. I like details – like contrasting piping on clothing or cute buttons or different textures – and I’ll integrate that into handbags. I’ve become more traditional because I’ll now study print trends, and those kinds of things.

And I still love to travel when I can. I’m hoping to go to India really soon because we’re moving some production over there. And I think that that culture and the bright textiles will really inspire me.

Crystal: Is your hubby part of Helena de Natalio, too?

Helen: Definitely- whether he likes it or not, he’s a big part of it. He works in international development, which is similar to what we did in the Peace Corps. I’m mentioning that because it’s something I’m very passionate about, because it’s what we did in the Peace Corps, and he’s turned that into a career. So he’s a sounding board for my ideas. I want to continue socially responsible production, and once we are profitable and have some money to give back, I’d like to work and donate my time to non-profits who do international development work. So we’re always discussing that. It’s interesting how our work relates to each other- like what’s going on in Argentina or India- he has to be aware of that because of his work.

But actually my father is now an active part of my business, and helps me with all kinds of things!

Crystal: What’s next for Helena de Natalio?

Helen: We’re working on a new website. That’s in the near future and should be ready by the end of this month. And we’re looking to move more production abroad because fortunately we’ve been growing a lot in this economy, and it’s been kind of hard to keep up with production. So we’re looking into India and Hong Kong to look at leathers and production facilities and hardware, and I love the idea of working with Indian fabrics-saris and petit prints.

So for summer I’m thinking of doing fabric bags with leather handles out of India. But you just kind of never know. We’re trying to keep moving forward and just trying to keep it at a sustainable growth.

Crystal: That’s really great- in three years,  that you’re expanding.

Helen: It’s interesting because I know it’s a bad economy. But I think it’s a combination of the fact that I’ve surrounded myself with some great people, and I think we’re a really good price point for accessible luxury, so it’s not an $800 bag. But I feel very fortunate for sure that we’ve grown so much!

I have been a fan of Demetri Martin for years- ever since my hubby and I saw his first stand-up special and scoured youtube for more of his clips. (Yes, we like to think we discovered him.) We faithfully tivo’d Important Things last season, and were excited to learn that it’s coming back next year. But I must say, Demetri Martin is even better in person.

Keep reading to hear more about our night with Demetri Martin!

Neal and I took a little drive to Cleveland to see him a few weeks ago. Demetri began the show by genuinely chatting with the audience and welcoming people who were arriving late. He made fun of some open seats with limited leg room in the front row, which became even funnier when the owners of those seats showed up!

I’ve always appreciated Demetri’s unique style. His jokes are smart, and he doesn’t resort to raunchy innuendos or fart jokes. In fact, almost every joke he told made me laugh out loud. It was delightful.

Demetri played a few songs on the piano, then moved to his signature large notepad, where he showed us graphs of statistics like: ‘the amount a man looks like Jesus’ on the x axis, and ‘the likelihood he has weed’ on the y axis.

He transitioned with one of my favorite lines of the night: “Most dogs don’t like Halloween as much as their owners think they do…” I am so guilty as charged. (see below)

(see above)

Demetri interviewed his left shoe, who made a few requests in a surprisingly deep voice, then later invited a fan to come play his guitar while he played harmonica.

All night, it seemed that Demetri was on top of his game, and I was in awe of his brilliance. To end the evening, he took requests from the audience for his old material- just like a rock star.

As Neal and I drove home, we uttered single words, like ‘birdhouses’ or ‘ladies,’ and both laughed. A good time was had by all.

Are you a Demetri fan? If you ever have the chance to see him live, do it!

Do you have a favorite cute find? Email it to cutefinds@modcloth.com, and it could be featured on an upcoming week!

Today’s cute find is from Lolita, the mother of the most adorable Beatles fan I’ve ever seen!  Here’s what she wrote: This is my 3 and a half month-old son, Seth.  No matter what the crisis is, ‘Yesterday’ from The Beatles always (I repeat always!) stops him from crying… (and makes me a happy mum…)

If you’re a faithful ModLife blog follower, you might remember Emily’s Etsy Post about Ryan Berkley Illustrations last fall. Emily discovered this artist’s charming animal collection, and now we’re carrying some of his most-loved pieces!

Ryan Berkley Illustrations is a husband and wife team based in Oregon. Ryan creates the illustrations, while Lucy maintains their blog and writes wonderful descriptions for the animal prints at their etsy shop.

Read on to meet Ryan & Lucy, and learn how they feel about real animals in suits…

Crystal: How did you two meet?

Ryan & Lucy: We met while working together at the University of Oregon Bookstore back in the previous century. We wish we had a more exciting “meeting” story. We worked in the art department, though. Does that add an element of foreshadowing?

Crystal: Haha, yeah! Also, I read in a previous interview that you two were working full-time, then coming home at night and working on everything etsy. (whoa!) Have you been able to work at the business full-time yet?

Ryan & Lucy: Alas no, not yet. Perhaps it will be easier if we can get some of that universal health care action…

Crystal: Man, how do you guys do it?

Ryan & Lucy: Basically we just work all the time. Even doing that, it’s amazing how many projects we just can’t get to in a timely manner…even the ones we are really excited about. But we don’t like to complain about staying busy!

Crystal: Ryan’s illustrations (especially the animals) have a vintage feel. Are you guys into other vintage- like furniture, clothing, etc?

Ryan & Lucy: We do like things with vintage feelings. We tend to mix up our furniture and clothes with vintage and modern pieces. We wish we had more time to hunt down vintage treasures in both departments! We’re probably have a lot more vintage in our lives if we had the time to track down the good stuff.

Crystal: What inspired Ryan’s animal series (and his other art, too)?

Ryan & Lucy: A few years ago Ryan did an old-timey portrait for Lucy’s dad as a birthday present. He got to liking the portrait style and for some reason he just switched it over to animals.

The first one he did was a tiny little koala in a black suit (which was extremely primitive by today’s Berkley Illustration standards). As far as general influence on his art, though, comic books and children’s books have probably had the most influence on his style. He is entirely self-taught.

Ryan and Lucy

Crystal: If both you could be any animals that Ryan has drawn, who would you be?

Ryan: The turtle because he’ll outlive everybody, he is laid back, and he eats vegetables all day.

Lucy: I’d go with the goose. Not just because of the name-rhyming action, but geese seem pretty smart, they can fly, and I really like his story. Ryan needs to draw more lady animals, though!

Crystal: Do you have any pets?

Ryan & Lucy: We don’t, but Lucy has been cruising the Humane Society web page lately…

Crystal: Have you ever considered making actual suits and ties for animals?

Ryan & Lucy: Ha ha. Another good question! Ryan is neutral on the subject but Lucy isn’t a big fan of living animals in clothes. Although, we did see some goats at the state fair in some cute nightgowns recently. Maybe a necktie on a horse would be okay.

Crystal: What’s next for ya?

Ryan & Lucy: We have a few ideas in the works. We’d like to create a greeting card line- something a little different from the animal portrait prints. There is murmuring of a book, or books. We also want to expand upon Ryan’s superhero creation, Kenny, and possible do a web comic with him. We have lots of ideas!

I was a little late finding this cute pic, but wanted to share- just in case some of you hadn’t seen it yet! It was featured on National Geographic’s blog a few months ago. You can read the story (and the reasons why it’s really not photoshopped!) here.

Today’s cute find is from Shelby who wrote, “Something about the combination of Freddie Mercury’s voice and the little twitchy bunny flips just makes me melt, what can I say.”

I couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for sharing!!

Do you have a favorite cute find? Email it to cutefinds@modcloth.com, and it could be featured on an upcoming week!