Blogging ‘Spokane Metro’

The February edition of Spokane Metro magazine arrived in my mailbox today—another beautiful issue from former Spokesman-Review Home editor Cheryl-Anne Millsap and her crew over there.

I want to highlight a few bits and pieces that I thought might be of interest to the Dwell Well crowd. Metro’s Web site doesn’t display their articles, so you’re just going to have to get your own darn copy for the full stories. Here’s a taste to pique your interest:

-“Vintage va-va-voom” from a local Etsy shop called Lola Loves You . Owner McCall Stover “cleans and lovingly restores” sexy secondhand teddies, slips and other lingerie. Valentine’s Day is just a few days away, fellas. Show her you can think outside the (fuzzy velvet) box (of grocery store chocolates).

-Spokane artists Margot Casstevens and Dina Fernandez scour thrift stores for cheap art supplies, turning porcelain baby dolls, board games and old greeting cards into new creations. Fernandez also makes hats from secondhand sweaters and turns vintage books into artistic expressions.

-I don’t know a thing about comic books, but I still want to check out Girls Don’t Read Comics , a blog by Angela Valenti, the female manager of a local comic book store (who does read comics, by the way).

-How did I miss this? Looks like there’s a new gourmet food shop at 1311 W. Sprague Ave. called French Quarter that uses ingredients from local growers and fruits and herbs from the owners’ own backyard. Chocolate … wine … I’m clearly not playing my A game.

-On the cover and on page 32 are paper flowers handmade by Mary and Nathan Eberle, two Spokane artists who are as lovely as their creations . Their flowers are everywhere I go lately—for sale at Concept::Home when I was there two weekends ago, on my table during dinner at Moxie last Sunday night, and sold in a kiosk on the second floor of River Park Square , where I’ve been doing the mommy-pushing-the-stroller thing more than normal lately.

-And an ad on page 18 reminds me to drop into Mockingbird, the charming children’s store that opened in the Garland District some months ago. They carry clothes (and toys) that will make you want to make babies just so you can dress them up. 903 1/2 W. Garland Ave. (509) 325-0432.