Pinkberry: Good Yogurt, Bad Marketing

On Saturday, I finally tried the much hyped Pinkberry frozen yogurt. If you haven't heard of Pinkbery, it was started by a Korean woman as a small frozen yogurt shop in LA. Its light flavor quickly became popular and has since spread to multiple locations in LA, NY, and even Temecula!

I've been wanting to try this Pinkberry frozen yogurt after hearing so many good words about it. Unfortunately, all the LA locations are a wee bit too far from my apartment in Long Beach, but now that I'm back at my parents' in Temecula, I can finally try it!

(Let's not get into my shock and disbelief that such a cool and trendy dessert joint would be located in Temecula.)

Everything about Pinkberry is light, cute, and minimalist. The decor, the logo, the website, the furniture and, of course, the yogurt itself. The menu consists of just 2 flavors, original and green tea, with a plethora of toppings, including mochi, fresh fruit, almonds, and carob chips. Along with frozen yogurt, their menu offers shaved ice and smoothies.
The LA Times describes Pinkberry's interior style as:

"So he painted the inside of Pinkberry in sherbet hues of peach, green and blue, and used Philippe Starck furniture and Le Klint plastic hanging lamps from Design Within Reach because, he said, they remind him of yogurt. The effect is modern Asian, not kindergarten."

So, how does the Pinkberry taste? Delicious. The flavor is so light yet so flavorful. I mopped up that small bowl and was still craving more.

I wanted to take photos of the store, but I was told that they don't allow photos to be taken in the store. I was shocked. I almost retorted, "That's a bad marketing move." It reminded me of the days Belkin used to forbid people from taking photos of our trade show booth and the products displayed in the booth. Hello, if you're showing it at a trade show, it's already public! That is exactly what rushed through my mind when the counter girl pooh-poohed my photography attempts. They're just hurting themselves not allowing their own customers to take photos and spread the Pinkberry gospel. It's called viral marketing. Duh.

Anyway, I did manage to get a photo of the yogurt itself (I guess you're allowed to take photos of the food but not the shop).

Roomba on w00t!

Oh man, today's woot is a the iRobot Roomba! I'm so tempted to get it. It's only $130, and that sucker normally runs for 300 bucks!! A few weeks ago, I bought an iHome iPod speaker dock and alarm clock (for the shuffle). But it's OK b/c it has an audio-out jack so it will work with any MP3 player; I just wouldn't be able to dock my nano. But who cares-- it was $20!

Woot.

Sailor Moon

Today I wore what I thought was a cute outfit but ended up looking like a Sailor Moon outfit. It was my blue BCBG dress with an orange-red turtleneck underneat and my new brown Biviel boots. I also got comments that I looked like I was Japanese and/or a flight attendant.

Busy busy busy

My life is so busy. I don't even have a family, and I'm super busy. If I had a family, I'd be a negligent mother and I would suck. Work and travel have got me all tied up. I haven't even written out thank you cards yet for my birthday gifts. I'm way behind. I need to clean the bathroom too. And, the newspapers need to be cleared out. Christmas shopping hasn't even begun. People may not get Christmas gifts from me until June.

Everything is busy.