A newborn in 2006, a toddler in 2008 and a fully fledged pre-schooler in 2010. YLF turns four today! And thanks to innumerable cups of tea we haven’t missed a daily post yet (we don’t count weekends and holidays).

I can truly say that I’ve enjoyed every minute of these four years of YLF. I like writing my posts, responding to comments, answering questions on the forum, and popping my picks into our store. I also love working with my better half who makes so much of this worthwhile. But it’s the soul of the YLF community and its engaged participation that brings tears of joy to my eyes. I just adore being part of it.

Looking back, the past year was especially exciting and here’s why:

• The YLF Store: Launching and stocking the store with tried and tested items tickles my toes because I miss my fashion buying days just a teensy weensy bit. Reading your rave reviews about its merchandise gives me incredible satisfaction, but I also appreciate the critical feedback on individual items and how they work for you — that, after all, is the point of the review system.
• Fashion Week: It was an honour to have obtained a press pass and we had so much fun that week. Despite the stress and hard work, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.
• Travel blogging: Greg and I travel frequently but have only recently started to blog about the fashion and style journey while we’re on the road. As a nod to YLF’s global spirit, we’ve included several travelogues over the last year and hope to bring you many more.
• More guest writers: We’ve increased the number of guest writers this year because they add a classy and entertaining dimension to YLF. I thank them wholeheartedly. Their voices enrich our site and often speak louder than mine.
• Two posts a day: Phew! I hope we can keep it up.
• Hitting our 1000th post: And on to to the next thousand posts.
• The gift: As a confirmed bag lady, I still can’t believe that you gave me the bag of my dreams. Know that my Valentino gets put to very good use, not only at home in Seattle, but on my trips abroad too.

The YLF readership grows every year and we couldn’t have done it without you. A very big thank you to all our subscribers, forum members, daily readers and occasional visitors for making the YLF community what it is today. As I’ve said many times before, your intelligence, compassion and sense of humour shines through, adding to the integrity of our site and inspiring us to continue.

If you’d like to share your meaningful YLF moments and favourite posts we’d love to hear them. If we can improve our site in any way, we’d love to hear that too. But more importantly, rock your style and keep those fashion feet moving. Don’t let anything ever stop you from having fun with your wardrobes.

By Greg (Angie’s partner in crime).

I’ve been an interested Apple watcher since their early days — initially as a fan of many of their products, but later also as a direct competitor when I worked as an engineer and manager at Microsoft. These days I’m an independent entrepreneur and some of the projects I’m working on (including YLF) involve writing programs for Apple devices.

So it is exciting to watch Apple release what they believe is the next big revolution in personal computing: the iPad. The concept is a tablet computer — a portable PC that you use with finger touch (like the iPhone) instead of a mouse and keyboard. Many companies have taken a run at the tablet concept before, but no-one has cracked it. Apple has a good chance of being the first to do so — they have demonstrated with music players and phones that they can take a nascent category and make it successful. They certainly have an unmatched ability to generate hype around new product launches — the iPad has recently appeared on everything from Letterman to Time Magazine.

The iPad’s launch day is tomorrow and no doubt thousands of people will be lining up outside Apple stores to be among the first to get their hands on one. The big question is whether the demand continues after the initial rush, and whether Apple manages to succeed in taking the concept of tablet computing mainstream. If they do, it has the potential to open the door to new ways of doing things with computers, so I’m really interested in your take on this new product. I’ve put together a short informal survey, and I would love it if you could give your opinions in the comments below.

Three questions:

1. Did you know about the Apple iPad, or has the hype passed you by?
2. Did you pre-order an iPad? If not, are you thinking about buying one?
3. What would you like YLF to do on your iPad? The obvious thing is to use the iPad web browser to access the site, but if there were a dedicated YLF application for iPad, what would you like it to do? Don’t hold back! It would be great to hear some wild suggestions. In the spirit of brainstorming, there are no bad ideas.

Of course, Angie and I also have plans for the iPhone. If you have an iPhone (or another smartphone) and have some ideas on what YLF should do on that platform, let’s hear those too. And of course, anything else you think is relevant.

Yesterday’s mention of Dutch clogs was all about April Fool’s fun, but there is actually a real resurgence of the style happening at the moment. Inspired by the Spring 2010 Chanel Show, high heeled clogs are trending. It’s such fun to see things filter down from catwalk to retail level in such a short space of time (remember this post?). Wooden soles, leather and suede uppers, studded trims, and a platform heel to boot. Casual, earthy and very 70’s.

I saw a few high heeled clogs in action during our recent trip to Europe, but I haven’t yet formulated an opinion on the look. My initial impression is that they won’t work for me because they’re just too high and my feet slip out of clog styled shoes. Also, their 70’s bohemian vibe is not my style. But clogs were on the Chanel runway show, so out of my sheer passion for Chanel, I’ll keep my eye on the trend. Who knows how clogs will continue to be interpreted as the season unfolds.

I’m sure pretty sure high heeled clogs can be worn with style. What’s your take on the look? Is this something you would wear, or could appreciate on others?

One of the things I enjoy most about YLF is its global integrity. It makes me extremely happy that we have active members participating in great forum topics from all corners of the globe. It enriches the character of our community and certainly broadens my fashion and style horizons.

After spending two weeks in Europe, and in particular being back in the Netherlands, I feel an extra strong connection to my roots. I’m fluent in Dutch, and even though I speak it daily over the phone with my Papa in the Netherlands, I really miss writing in my mother tongue. So in keeping with the global integrity of YLF, I have decided to change the primary language for my blog posts to Dutch. I will still write a few posts a week in English, but the main post each day will be in Dutch. Those who have an understanding of Germanic languages should have no problem getting the gist of what I’m saying. And I’m sure the rest of you are fast learners.

So without further ado, my first post in Dutch…

Na mijn vorige blogposts over Arnhem en Amsterdam weten jullie al dat Nederlanders zich hip, stijlvol en erg praktisch kleden. Helemaal mijn ding. Ik ben wel toe aan iets nieuws, dus heb ik besloten om met onderstaande drie mode-updates hulde te brengen aan mijn Nederlandse afkomst:

Klompen

Klompen met hakken mogen deze lente niet ontbreken in de kast van al wie de nieuwe modetrends op de voet volgt. Bovendien zijn ze heel comfortabel, dus bijzonder geschikt voor mensen met moeilijke voeten zoals ik. Als trendsetter neem ik graag wat extra risico, daarom kies ik voor authentieke Nederlandse klompen in lichtbruin hout, met een laag hakje. Heel mooi onder bootcut jeans.

Zonnebril

De zomers in Seattle zijn kort maar toch komt het zonnetje regelmatig tevoorschijn. Een zonnebril is dan ook een must. En omdat oranje nu eenmaal de nationale kleur van Nederland is, verruil ik mijn Ray Bans graag voor een oranje zonnebril met oversized glazen, à la Jackie O. Dé manier bij uitstek om een outfit in neutrale tinten op te vrolijken met een streepje kleur.

Tulpen

Tulpen zijn mijn lievelingsbloemen, en net zoals bij vele andere Nederlanders, staat ons huis er vol van in deze periode van het jaar. Ik ben echt gek op tulpen en ben van plan om een bosje van deze kleurrijke bloemen als accessoire mee te dragen. Dit is een compleet nieuwe look voor mij, maar ik ben altijd de eerste om mijn modegrenzen te verleggen en kijk heel erg uit naar deze stijluitdaging.

Ik sta te trappelen om mijn lentelook nog actueler te maken met deze drie patriottische stijlelementen! Knipoog naar onze lezers die Nederlands begrijpen: jullie zullen wel al doorhebben dat we vandaag de eerste dag van de vierde maand zijn en dan wordt er traditiegetrouw al eens een grapje uitgehaald.

Update: If you have read the comments on this post, you will have realized that this was all April Fool’s fun. I will continue to write my blog posts in English!

Click here to read an english translation of the Dutch text above »