suspended in citrus

have I mentioned lululemon?

I discovered them in Canada at the bottom of the closet in the basement of 47 Laval Boulevard, Lethbridge, Alberta. there was a red bag there, beneath the rack of dresses and skirts. all over this bag were plastered the words of what I later came to know as the lululemon athletica manifesto (see image to the right; there's a text version over here somewhere).

months after this first random discovery, I had the chance to wander one wednesday into the physical lululemon store in Calgary's southcentre mall. their lowercase title impressed me. their branding, their attitude impressed me. every little cardboard tag hanging from each piece of merchandise impressed me.

they are like that gorgeous, happy, perfectly toned girl who sits so gracefully in the second row in your history class. you're almost afraid to be friends with her, she's so intense, so obviously driven and dedicated to something very different. but she's not afraid to be friends with you.

I am not a devoted athlete by any means. I will not, any time in the foreseeable future, be planning to spend $98.00 on flawlessly tailored yoga pants. that's just ridiculous, isn't it? do you really need that kind of fancy apparel to do yoga?

nevertheless, it's hard not to love this place. their website is slow, but it's got character. their stuff is crazy expensive, but the tags on it explain to you exactly, "why we made this." they might be hard-core and intense to the point of making the rest of us feel guilty about sitting behind a desk for so long, but they have good advice, no?

{ image borrowed from lululemon.com }