Good looks aside, this Blake guy is really something special. Bill Clinton recently introduced him as “one of the most interesting entrepreneurs [he's] ever met.”.

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Blake has created a “One for One” business model that is revolutionizing the way people shop, encouraging conscientious consumerism. Not only that, he’s inspiring a new (and crucial) wave of entrepreneurialism, asking people who want to start small companies to incorporate giving into the model. Seeing  Blake’s business thriving during an “economic downturn” makes me wonder. Surely, things aren’t so bad. Maybe it’s time to change the way we do things.

It was an amazing surprise  to host him at the shop yesterday during his campus visit and even more amazing to hear Blake say Toots  & Magoo “is the kind of store [he] could spend all day in.”

Thanks, Blake!

In case you’re wondering, he bought a rainproof journal. Go figure.

Click here to watch Blake’s At&T Commercial

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I have two handmade dolls on my bed right now. The doll on the left is something I have had for so long, I don’t remember where I got it. If you look closely, you can see she is holding another  little  doll on her chest.

The blue elephant on the right was a gift from my God-mother, Magoo. It was made by artist, Boeke Meyer, in Dordrecht, Netherlands. She  calls her creations “zoopers.”

Here is what Maggie said about the Zoopers:

“There was a woman’s artist co-op a few doors down from my first house in the Netherlands.  Billy & I would walk by at night and see Boeke’s lastest creations and then of course we would have to buy them.  Billy loved monkeys and Boeke did a lot of monkeys. These come from circa 1990 and as far as I know now Boeke doesn’t make them any more and the ones at the shop are the last of their breed.”

Wooden. Fine-tip. Ballpoint.

Allison wearing one of her own creations (available at Toots & Magoo).