Umbrellas and Handcuffs Procreate

Once upon a time, an umbrella and a set of handcuffs fell in love...and 9 months later we welcomed The Shacklie into this world! If you are absolutely sick of losing your umbrellas to theft, then this is the product for you. The hook handle turns into a cuff that you can lock onto any object to prevent it from being stolen. Heck, you could even lock it onto your wrist if you were afraid that someone wanted your brolly so bad that they might rip it from your hands. The little keys that would be required to open it remind me of those keys I used to have for my suitcase locks...and I always seemed to lose those darn things. So if someone actually ends up making the Shacklie (it looks like it is just in the idea phase right now), my vote is for a combo lock...not keys.

Celebrolly

Here's some celebrities photographed recently with their umbrellas:

Hilary Duff cruises the streets with her coffee and scarlett red woodshaft umbrella.
Source: The Insider.


Uma Thurman has an assistant to carry her navy and white golf umbrella on a movie set. Source: Flickr

Little Suri Cruise hits the town with her ladybug umbrella.
Source: Fanpop.



A poster of Beyonce with a stunning floral sun umbrella.
Source: Starstore.

Umbrella Decor for Baby Showers

I'm organizing a baby shower right now and while looking for game and decoration ideas online, I came across this great idea to use umbrellas as decor! Umbrellas are a perfect fit...after all, it is a "shower," right? Plus, everyone has a few umbrellas around the house, so it is a cost-effective way to decorate (which is oh-so important in these economic times).

Here are the instructions from the article:

Collect several different umbrellas from your home. Open them up, fix streamers in various colors (not just pink and blue, though those are fine too) to the umbrellas. Next, fix the umbrellas so that they hang upside down from the ceiling, and the colored streamers flutter above your heads. This makes a great sight!

You can also fill up umbrellas with balloons or even yarn in pastel colors. Hang them upside down at strategic points.

Umbrellas or Weapons?

I can definitely see why kids seem to use their umbrellas like weapons. They're long and thin...perfect for wacking and poking. Heck, they even sort of resemble a sword. Can you blame them? I read this cute article today about a Dad who took his young son to a baseball game and they were giving out umbrellas to the fans. Uh oh...a kid with an umbrella in a large crowd...dangerous!

Maybe the kids are onto something though....it turns out you CAN actually use your umbrella as a weapon if you wanted...for self defense! Check out this video (around the 1:00 mark) and these tips. They even make an umbrella for adults with a samurai sword handle.

Forget perfume, Britney! She should start a line of self-defense umbrellas instead. If you recall, Brit used her umbrella back in 2007 to attack an SUV with paparazzi in it (photo above).

Singin' Rihanna in the Rain

When it rains, it appears that people aren't singing Gene Kelly any more...Rihanna has taken over the rainy day anthem! There are an ENDLESS number of home videos posted online of people singing in the rain to her song "Umbrella". The majority of them seem to be teen girls strutting their best Rihanna moves while getting soaked in a downpour. Here's a few to check out...but be warned...you'll be singing "umbrella...ella...ella...ella" all day after you watch them!







And nothing demonstrates the takeover of Rihanna's "Umbrella" from Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" than this medley by one of my favourite artists Jamie Cullum: