So much to say... and I don't know where to start.
This is how it all began. A trip with a friend to a store, casual browsing is what we were doing nothing special... and then it caught my eye. I held it. Felt it. I fell in love with it, and just like that I had to put it back. I couldn't afford it, couldn't afford to take it home. It was difficult because I know we made a connection. A bond was formed.
Later....much later MONTHS later I went back. Same friend same store. Surprisingly it was there, a fact that amazes me still. This time however there was something different. I looked at the tag and I knew. I just knew. It knew. The bag I fell in love with was on sale. The rest is history...kinda. I have to elaborate because its my blog and I run the show here.
(I shop with my buddy quite a bit. Well... I watch him shop. He loves to go and find all kinds of things and I'm always down to go along for the ride.)
On one of our trips it all happened the same way. Went in to a store and it caught the corner of my eye...scoops of ice cream. It was black with pink trim and it had ice cream. I fell in love. I bought it. I had never heard of Paul Frank. Never seen it. I didn't know what it was. It could have been peanut butter for all I knew. I didn't go looking for the stuff. The stuff found me. I had bought two things a bag and a hoodie. Seeing as these two items were Paul Frank I decided to look into it. I fell in love with almost everything. Almost. I fell in love with their quirky designs, and I fell in love with Julius. Yes, the Paul Frank monkey. He does have a name, his name is Julius.
I had found this thing, that made me happy. I guess it was an obsession at some point. The only problem for me was that I couldn't buy all the things I wanted. I couldn't afford to get all those items that spoke to me. Its always been bitter sweet. Luckily for me there is an annual Paul Frank winter sale. The one thing that enables me to bring home all that wonderful stuff. For the past three years. I have made that sale. We camped out, minus the camp... we sat in the parking lot of Paul Frank Industries for hours on end. Cold, remember it is the winter sale. Every year we got there earlier and earlier. (yes we were always in line first. Why? because we're dedicated fans and a little bit nutty) Every year it got better and better. The bags went from one to three to "hold these two for me I cant carry all of this stuff". I went bananas on these sales. I splurged. I deserved it. All year long I waited. I bought stuff here and there throughout the year but not like I did on these sales. I however didn't buy bags full and put my stuff on ebay. I went to this for me.
This year was great, but ever so sad. It was the last sale at Paul Frank Industries. It was like having going back to get your once a year great shag but this time you knew you were gonna meet, have this amazing shag, and say goodbye, for good... possibly. When I walked in to the warehouse sale this time I was overwhelmed. (we waited in line 14 hours and were lucky enough to get in an hour early to take our time and shop) I saw things that I thought were extinct. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had an eye-gasm. It was such....awesomeness. I wont bore with the actual shopping, but when I walked towards the check out lane... my heart got sad. I watched myself get rung up. My sadness grew with each item that got put into the bag, not because of the money (this year I spent the least amount of $ out of all years and it was the best year out of all three) I was sad because the whole experience, the whole bonding with my buddy, the whole everything was about to be over when I walked out of that door.
I walked out and sat by the car watching everyone in line (which curved around the street by the time I got out) and I contemplated how awesome it has been these past years. Its so much more then just a "brand" for some people, for me. I was angry. A very skinny typical Laguna hills mom like we see on the boob tube came up to me... and said "is it worth it?" Worth what? the line? the wait? The incredible deals? I'm sorry. If you have to ask "is it worth it?" go home. Get in your car and go home. Seriously.
Its so much more then just another "brand". Paul Frank made Julius, he created Paul Frank Industries (even though he doesn't run the show anymore) he made this thing one thing that people embraced. UGGH! I can write and write pages of how much I love Paul Frank, but no amount of words can describe truly how much it means to me.
It gives me hope. Hope that one day like my buddy Vader said I can make something that will make people feel the way I do. I want to make something great. I want to have my own Julius. I want to make my own Johnny Cupcakes, I want to make my own Yo Gabba Gabba.
so... maybe I will.
