One-stop shopping in Yorkville
November 19, 2009
Rita Zekas
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Visions of sugar plums were dancing through Yorkville on Halloween day, as prima ballerina Sonia Rodriguez got an early jump on her Christmas shopping.
The mother of two, who will be starring as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker from Dec. 12 to Jan. 3, visited Teatro Verde (in full costume), the home accessories/decor store that relocated to 100 Yorkville Ave. last summer.
Rodriguez, who celebrates her 20th anniversary with the National Ballet this year, was a regular at Teatro's old Hazelton Lanes location and is impressed with the new.
It's one-stop shopping for those on her Christmas list, which includes her husband, champion figure skater Kurt Browning, and their sons Gabriel, 6, and Dillon, 2.
Books are no-brainers. Teatro has a great selection at all price points and sizes, from kids' books to coffee-table tomes the size of oil tankers. Gabriel would love the Looking at Pictures art book (Joy Richardson, Harry N. Abrams Inc.) for $28.50, she says. For her fashionista sister, Vanessa Rodriguez, it's the Coco Chanel book, Chanel: The Universe of Fashion (Francois Baudot, Universe Publishing) for $69, still cheaper than a Little Black Dress.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies, (Harper Paperbacks) a $13 book of zombie Christmas carols by Michael P. Spradlin, is perfect reading when the weather outside is frightful.
Rodriguez was born in Toronto, raised in Spain. Her Christmas traditions, back in Spain, were very different. "We go to church on the 25th to celebrate the birth of Jesus. On Jan. 6, we receive gifts because it is when the Three Wise Men came with gifts for Jesus. The night before, the kids leave a bucket of water for the camels because the Three Wise Men arrived on camels and they leave three glasses of wine for the Wise Men."
Rodriquez has already located some stocking stuffers. A western-saddle tree ornament cries out for her husband for $19. There are also fedoras, watches, binoculars, golf bags and cigars.
The pink Christmas tree in the kitchen area is decked out with gingerbread cookies and kitchen utensils, and coordinates perfectly with her pink tutu. "I'll find things here for my mom and sister," she predicts. "Somebody can buy me the Jamie Oliver book Jamie's Food Revolution ( Hyperion) for $45.
"This year, a lot of my good friends in the company had kids, so I need a lot of kiddie things," she says, approaching the kiddie corner stocked with such goodies as a bib set inscribed with BURP! and BELCH!, selling for $36.
And what little girl wouldn't love a You Are Invited to Tea With Princess pink tea set ($90)?
A connectible drinking straw set for $16 would be perfect for Gabriel, she muses.
Sock monkeys start at $10. An outrageous pink poodle rocking chair is $250 and hobbyhorses are a more affordable $50.
In the household section, Rodriguez spies a "moth chaser" of silk sachets of lavender and cedar for $25 and a girlie hammer and screwdriver set at $22.
Handymen might like the $30 tape measurer encased in handsome brown leather.
The quintessential hostess gift: a bottle stopper that looks like a vintage crystal doorknob ($25).
For the Ninja on your list: a samurai sword umbrella for $40.
For big spenders: a python leather green chair at $2,495.
Every Sugar Plum Fairy needs a container of sugar cubes for the bath ($44) and the Wise Men could use whiskey stones ($24 for nine) to freshen their drinks. They are soapstones you put in the freezer to chill your Yuletide cheer and are flying out of the store faster than Santa on Christmas Eve.
Toronto Star