So obviously we write this hoping that no one is reading this, because everyone is at the mall or the park or the tropical island having a wonderful vacation. We are sprucing the shit up around here, if you will forgive the entirely unnecessary profanity, and we introduce: our search box! We just searched for “James Blunt” and we found all this stuff we wrote when we actually thought he was cute. (This is unlikely to recur in 2008. Can we say that our brain is so fried that we just had to look up “recur” to make sure it’s a word.)

Anyhoo, we’ll be back stronger than ever in 2008 (er, if we do say so ourselves) and we’ll be doing some behind the scenes work for the next few days. As always we love to know what is up with everyone and we pray and expect everyone is having a super-fun time.

Above, just one of the five million things currently on sale: Charlotte Ronson’s Paddington coat, was $398, now $278.60

Christmas is almost here, and our shopping is ALMOST done. We are still trying to find adequate gifts for some family members – as the time to find the perfect gift has passed. Actually, we DID have the perfect gift in mind for one family member, but we weren’t sold on it. We were told last night that actually, it WOULD HAVE been perfect – except now we can’t have it shipped in time. Grr. So, with that, we will try to bring you some of our shopping tips.

*If you still need a random gift and you want to buy it online, some of the larger sites will still guarantee shipping. We’ve had good luck with LL Bean (gotta order by noon EST today, though), Overstock (same shipping requirement, though), and even QVC (though there is an additional charge). We have to say, we have some insiders at QVC and we know they bust their butts to give amazing customer service. And what can be had at QVC? Let’s just say they have excellent prices on things for older generations – some of whom we KNOW read this site, hence the vagueness.

*Embrace shopping online with store pickup. This seems to be most prevalent at electronics stores, and grocery stores, for some reason. Since you’re not likely to give a box of pasta for Christmas, places like Best Buy and Circuit City make the store experience a lot more pleasant.

*Also, e-gift certificates! Sephora offers e-gift certificates that are sent via email and redeemed online. We would just like to say we see absolutely nothing wrong with gift cards for presents, but if you buy one that HAS to be redeemed online, cough up an extra $5 to cover shipping when the recipient places their order. It just seems fair.

*When in doubt, a raincheck is semi-appropriate. This is appropriate with two catches – one, you HAVE to make good on it (we are still waiting for several presents from one particular family member), and two, it has to be worth the wait. If you are torn between giving someone a gift card for Barnes and Noble, or a really, really awesome handmade thing you saw on Etsy, give them the better gift. But make sure you explain the raincheck. Don’t just be like, oh sorry, you have to wait!

*Make sure the person can use what you give them. We have been given Christmas ornaments every year for about 3 years, despite the giver knowing we do not, nor will we, have a Christmas tree. If you get someone the universal gift (aka an iTunes gift card), make sure they have iTunes. Or drink coffee, or eat packaged meats.

*If you do go out to the stores in person, remember: it’s not worth getting mad about it We have to tell our Loved One all the time that it’s not worth fussing over a parking spot, or someone taking a while at the register, or waiting for the restroom. Maybe we are just particularly low-key, but none of that junk is worth getting in a tizzy about. Chalk it up to experience.

Hopefully, we’ll have something special to show you on Monday. Gotta get permission, but check back!

Above, Best of Bliss set, $45

-LB

Christmas! So we’re taking it easy as we roll into the official yuletide, but rest assured: We are busily working on getting ready for the super exciting 2008 here at Bunnyshop when not not-buying Christmas presents. We are going to keep going with our Madewell contests, and we introduce our next, also-not-super-high-concept contest, with two more winners of Madewell t-shirts: Very simply, best present ever? The one that gets us the most present-lusting-after, for whatever reason, wins the very nice tees from Madewell, one of our newest favorites.

The current two winners! From our question: the best present you’re giving. Chosen by an independent council….:

From jessicadahling: My sister is a full-time nursing student and new mom with a *very* tight budget, so with some help from her fiance, we were able to pay off her credit card debt as a xmas gift.

Honestly, we teared up.

And:

From Lola: a secretary in my office who has no children truly has taken my daughter under her wing…so I got her a necklace that says “auntie” in Chinese!

More winners announced on Friday!

Above! From our most-lovely Madewell sponsors, the waffle dress, $42

It’s time, again, for the twice-yearly Punk Rock Flea Market sponsored by R5 Productions. We went to this last time with Lovely Friend, and we picked up a bunch of screenprinted t-shirts, a necklace with a tooth charm, and a couple canvas tote bags. There are always vintage clothes, records, and handmade goods. It’s definitely worth checking out – what better way to get a last minute Christmas present?

Details are here. We will say, if you want the best of the best – or any records – go early. Seriously, early in the punk rock world is 10 am. We’re already halfway done our day by then.

-LB

We, hard to admit, are almost tired of shopping for the holidays. All the good gifts are bought, the sales are over, we are flat broke. But, we still have a couple gifts left to get and it’s not our Lovely Friend’s fault we left his present til last. We are also terrible at getting gifts for friends. Who wants to have the weird, awkward conversation about exchanging presents? And then there’s the weird, awkward situation when you GIVE them said present and you can see the wheels turning where they are thinking, oh crap, i do not have a present for you.

Well. We have a solution. Magazine subscriptions are inexpensive (generally speaking), no wrapping/mailing/shipping/shopping involved, no awkward handing-over. Just enter your info, their address, and click. They get an email, you don’t worry about anything.

Our Lovely Friend got an email this morning announcing his gift subscription to Philadelphia magazine. We think he felt a little strange as we didn’t have the ‘are we exchanging or not’ conversation, but we don’t buy gifts just to get gifts. We just think he’ll genuinely enjoy it.

Philadelphia magazine, $12/12 issues

Before everyone collectively gags at Cooking Light, let us reassure you that this is not a diet magazine. Gah, we’re not that obsessive, we hope. Cooking Light was recommended to us by a friend, and we actually love it. We haven’t made any of the recipes, but we never do. We love reading cookbooks and menus and anything food related. The best part about this? For some reason, they’re offering 3 subscriptions for the price of 1; we went to give one to Dearest Friend yesterday, and then we were like, oh ho ho! Two more! We sent one to our secret santa pal, and one to our dog. Seriously. We come from a family where, at one point, the cat was the beneficiary for a life insurance policy. We take our pets very seriously. In fact, our Netflix account is in our dog’s name.  You have to poke around the site to find the 3 for 1 – we found the 2 for 1 first. The link below should work.

Cooking Light, $18/up to 3 subscriptions

Sigh. We don’t need any more magazines coming to our house, but if we were forced to only get, say, two it would be British Vogue and Vanity Fair. We love love love British Vogue. The fashion is good, the articles are well written and intelligent, and it seems like it’s a lot less blowing-smoke-up-celebrity-ass than American Vogue. But, it’s $110. Someday!

British Vogue, $109.95

-LB

In today’s Reader Mail:

Dear BS: You are always talking about super-expensive beauty products I can’t afford. Tell me five things I can get from drugstore.com that are less than $8. Just the basics—shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, etc.

I still love you.
XO
N.

Now, we know, and we totally hear this. Of course most of the things we use every day are well under this budget as well. Our whole philosophy here is that no one really needs to chat about things that are not super expensive, because they’re, you know, not super expensive—risk is mitigated, and everyone probably has their favorites already. What we always found was that we really wanted to chat about things that were super expensive, just because we didn’t want to fuck it up. We don’t want anybody thinking we’re trust funders. Trust us, and our landlord, who is remarkably patient about always getting out rent a month late. We’re not.

So all that aside, our picks.

We swear we have bought this conditioner on every continent on earth. We will say though that we absolutely just go through it, and we’re convinced that our Kiehl’s works out to be cheaper and is also a better conditioner. Pantene conditioner (24 oz.), $7.19

We feel that sometimes a product will have a crap design, and then you’re like, oh! Ugly, but cheap, and possibly effective! That is how we feel about this. Green Canyon Spa exfoliator, $7.69

For the extremely dry things, like heels or elbows or whathaveyou. The whole cow thing freaks us out a bit, but okay. Bag Balm, $6.89

Again: crap packaging. So: cheaper! And this is also—well, we’ll just let them say it: “Organic Essential Oils Promote a Healthy Scalp & Strengthen and Protect Each Hair Strand. Made with Oshadhi Organic Essential Oils”. Fair enough. Beauty Without Cruelty Shampoo with Rosemary Mint and Tea Tree Oil, $5.59

And finally: this is our go-to deodorant whenever we can’t get our hands on our Nivea. Dove deodorant, $3.13

Now: everybody else! Your favorite, under $8, bathroom must-have?

So, we suffered a loss this weekend when our 20 year old cat, Boomer, passed away. We had the misfortune of finding out as we were standing in the housewares section of our local Anthropolgie. We were shopping with our Lovely Friend who, bless his heart, just stood there and patted our shoulder as we tried really hard not to cry on the upholstery. It was not easy. And we tend to freak out a little bit when we get bad news, so instead of freaking out, we did the other thing we do best. We went shopping. Here’s what we bought:

Above, the Going Green t-shirt from Forever 21. Our Loved One picked this out as he’s really eco-friendly and all about promoting the environment. He’d use CFLs in every light if we let him (which we generally do). We like the fit and shape of this shirt. The quality is what you’d expect – you can see right through it, so layering is key. We plan to match it with a tank underneath and a v-neck sweater over top.

Going Green t-shirt, $13.80

So. Jeans. We hate shopping for jeans because few things make us feel worse about life. So combine a minor tragedy AND jean shopping? Crazy, right? Well. These jeans are $12.50, and that in itself makes them worth trying on. We actually really like the fit. They’re skinny, slightly stretchy, and the waistband isn’t scandalously low. The only problem? The quality control is completely lacking. We bought 2 pair of the exact same ones and there was about a 2" difference in them. So, try before you buy. But we really like them.

Lindsey Skinny Jean, $12.50

This weird looking wedge of pink stuff is actually face soap called Fresh Farmacy. It’s supposed to calm red, blotchy, unhappy skin – which ours certainly was, with the crying and the cold and the snot. Really, we are not attractive when we cry. We haven’t tried this soap just yet, but we’re excited to.

Fresh Farmacy, $8.25 for 3.oz

This we have been using, and we really like it. We’ve always been moisturizer-deficient. Every one containing SPF has made us breakout, and all the others are just gross. We had one we loved, but then it got discontinued, and we’ve been on a search ever since. We noticed on the Lush.com messageboards that in the UK, Ultralight has a documented SPF of about 14. One customer wrote to Lush and asked if it was the same for the US version, and it is! We’re not sure why it’s not mentioned, but we know that SPF is key to not getting wrinkly or skin cancer, and we need all the protection we can get from the sun and wind and dirt. Apparently this is meant for dry skin, but we’ve not had any problems. So far, so good!

Ultralight, $18.95 for 1.5oz

We didn’t exactly stop shopping there; we also purchased 6 latte bowls from Anthropologie, a long-sleeve men’s shirt from Urban Outfitters that we wore all weekend, running shorts and leggings from American Apparel, and, er, approximately 8 shirts of the tee and tank variety from American Apparel. When we are upset, it shows in direct correlation to our wallet. We won’t be shopping for a while. We would like to publicly thank Lovely Friend for thoroughly distracting us from reality for a few hours, though.

Vive le Boomer!

-LB

We totally forgot our fashion film contest! Argh. The winner will receive: the movie, plus a special addition, which we will unveil at the end of the week.

Today’s nominee, courtesy of uahmed (we went with the first comment nomination):

I have to say Secretary with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Her blouses and skirts were crazy sexy in a conservative way (she made it possible).

Totally true. This is actually our sort of favorite at the moment.

Here is a clip from the opening. Man, this movie is bizarre, but it is also incredibly awesome.

These are just in from the Shiny Squirrel, which remains one of our favorite shopping venues for art and design-y things.

Those are screenprinted and then hand-painted penguins. Penguins! We are so going to Antarctica in 2007. Penguins, $100

And oh! We wish this were also in print size, but we can live with note cards. If they are of sleeping bears. Sleeping bear notecards (set of five), $15

Well, we don’t mind saying that we are completely out of gift-giving ideas. This is the way of things, we are thinking, eight days before Christmas, and four days before the exceptionally important cut-off for most online shopping things. Here’s how in denial we are: Until about ten minutes ago, we were pretty sure we could still get something shipped from the farthest corner of Africa in time for Christmas. Like we said, denial.

In any case: again, strength in numbers. This weekend a whole bunch of adorable Madewell t-shirts showed up at our house, and we’re going to give two(!) away every day this week. All anyone who wants to play needs to do is: in the comment section, today, tell us the favorite gift you’re giving anyone. You don’t need to leave any identifiying things, as we’re sure nobody wants to spill their favorite gift on a blog. We’ll be back tomorrow to share ours, since we’re giving it tonight.

In the meantime: tell us your favorite gift you’re *giving*, and we’ll be back tomorrow (really!) to announce the winners! (Who will be chosen at random.)

And in the meantime: We love Madewell, not least for their name, which we think is very clever. Naming is so hard. We spent like three years coming up with Bunnyshop, and then when we were all, “But we’re going to be stuck with the initials ‘BS’ forever’,” just totally gave up.

NB no online shopping yet but we hope soon.

Above: Madewell’s cardigan, $54