Everyone's favorite compact reading glasses are gone. Slendereyes have been discontinued, are no longer manufactured and no where to be found. Here is our J Petermanesque story that used to accompany this great style. It was just to good to let is disappear:

Skinny Specs

You have tried every diet you’ve ever heard of. Once you ate grapefruit and ground beef for an entire month. You’re also no stranger to cabbage soup. You have the slimming haircut, the contouring makeup and the flattering accessories. You know every trick for dressing to appear 5 pounds lighter. You have two closets in one. The left wall houses one size, the right wall houses a smaller size. You aim to dress from the right side, but it doesn’t always happen.

No one realizes you think about your weight every minute of the day. You try to sound nonchalant when friends discuss weight-loss tips, even mentioning a few of your own. You gladly accept any piece of birthday cake that comes your way, thinking you’ll draw more attention to yourself if you refuse it. Not that you would. The truth is, you love to eat, but who doesn’t?

Through all this dieting, the only aspect of your appearance that you’ve remained consistently happy with is your Slender Eyes reading glasses.

These compact specs are made with a Monel alloy frame and anti-scratch lenses. The tips of the temples and the nose pads are silicone to ensure a comfortable fit. They’re available in the shiniest of finishes, including gold, platinum and silver. They come in a protective case that measures only 7mm in thickness, so they can slip in your purse or pocket with ease. Their slim lines and compact frame make for superbly simple specs.

You’re just happy to find something on you that’s slender.

I came home to my little suburban cookie cutter neighborhood one late summer evening to discover it was apparently an early Christmas. My roommate, an avid Christmas fan, was unpacking boxes and boxes of holiday lights, nutcrackers, advent calendars, garlands, and mini-trees. The second I walked in through the garage door, Frank Sinatra was wishing at the top of his lungs for a white Christmas and I was wondering what was going on.

I followed the wafting music up the stairs to our office. There was Bryan sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of strewn bits of packing paper and bubble wrap, humming along and giggling like a little kid on Christmas morning.

“Um… whatcha doin’?” I asked.

Bryan’s face lit up when he saw I’d come in the room. He jumped up and came bouncing towards me; all smiles and pure happiness. “It’s almost Christmas!!!” he squealed.

“It’s August,” I immediately retorted. He tilted down his head to glare at me from over the rim of his reading glasses.

“It’s only four months away.”

If it wasn’t for my friends and family who truly appreciate and embody holiday cheer when it’s that time of year, I’m not sure if I’d enjoy the festivities as much. I’m not one to dance around my house by myself, decorating the halls with boughs of holly or drawing faces on gingerbread cookies alone. But to be able to see the holidays for what they truly are – a celebration of those we love most – through the eyes of those we love most, is truly a blessing.

The first snow has already fallen at my house. It was a fairly serious snow, too – two feet in a matter of two days. It snowed and snowed. And snowed. I watched throughout the day as my car seemed to disappear into an ever-growing ground of white.

I live for snow days – it’s the only time I will take a day off and not go into work anyway. Nor can I go shopping, run errands, or out for a beer. I built a fort in the middle of the front room out of pillows and quilts so I could curl up with a stack of books I had been meaning to start reading for quite some time. I was able to make a substantial dent in the reading – considering every two hours I had to get up to re-shovel the sidewalks.

Each time I went outside to shovel, I could almost feel my glasses freezing to the bridge of my nose. I shoveled with my sister and my roommate, laughing even while shivering. Before stepping back into the house, we would peel off the wet, messy layers of boots, legwarmers and gloves to leave on the sun-porch. And each time I’d walk back into the house, the rush of warm air would immediately fog up the cold lenses of my eyeglasses. It was a sweet reminder of the warmth and safety I was so blessed to be held in for the entirety of my two Snow Days.

Check out this great cartoon at Bearman Cartoons celebrating Sesame Street's 40th birthday while also making mention of the need for reading glasses.

Though I don't agree that EVERYTHING turns to crap after 40, near vision certainly does. I really got a chuckle out of this cartoon and have found myself revisiting it time and time again today.

It seems like far too long ago now that I spent a week visiting my buddy in Hawaii. He was stationed in Pearl City for the Army for quite a few years and I was finally able to afford a plane ticket during my junior year in college.

My buddy is a country boy – and his giant truck seemed at least three times the size of my tiny little rental car. I drove that little thing up and down every road I could find on that island. In true form for me, I hopped from beach to beach, afraid I would miss the vast expanse of sky and ocean if I stayed for too long in one place.

But there was one beach that kept me coming back, day after day. Each afternoon, my buddy would call me when he got off of work to ask where I was. And each afternoon, I had eventually settled into contentedness at the same beach. “Elizabeth, are you kidding me?!” he’d say. “That’s THE furthest place from my house on this whole island!”

I would sit and bathe in the gentle tropical sun, periodically dipping in the waves to feel the rushing reminder of the ocean while watching the surfers far off. I had brought with me a plethora of books I had hoped to read with all of my free time – all cheesy romance novels. Once I had had my share of people watching and wave chasing, I would mosy back to my beach towel. I had the perfect routine down pat by the end of the week – put on my reading sunglasses, reapply sun-block, open back to the same page of the trashy novel that I was on for seven days, lay on my stomach, and promptly fall asleep mid-sentence. I would be rattled into a confused state of awake by the ring of my phone. I’d wipe away the little bit of mid-afternoon-beach-nap drool from the corner of my mouth, looking around in hopes no one was watching.

Then I would rinse and repeat.

About the blog that is. Like everything in life there is always so much to do and one never quite gets around to everything, try as they may. This blog has been a prime example of such. I have attempted to run it much like an archive of products discontinued, new item announcements, etc but have never really posted any captivating content per say. That is all about to change. we have a new writer who will be making weekly posts that I am thrilled to introduce. Here is a little introduction:

Elizabeth, or “Elle” as she is affectionately referred to, has catapulted herself into a world of creative expression and play.  In any seemingly mundane act, Elle has a knack of finding how it connects brilliantly with the greater pulsation of life.  Elle currently teaches yoga at om time yoga studios in Boulder and Denver, Colorado.  Check her sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, and usually at least mildly amusing blogs on om time’s Words of Wisdom page: www.omtime.com/news

I am excited to see how she applies her unique vision to the world of reading glasses, presbyopia and all things related.

Thanks,

Cassia

I just finished reading the following article on reading glasses:

"Why some people spend hundreds on designer eyewear"

I must say it was an good read and brought up some interesting questions. The article begins

"One of the talking points you hear from people who sell designer eyewear is that a person who wears $500 shoes and $5 reading glasses is penny wise and pound foolish. (Or, anyway, she's making a big mistake.) After all, you wear glasses right there on your face, which people look at all the time, while hardly anybody but fashionistas and foot fetishists pays close attention to shoes."

The author then goes on to argue that you are much more apt to lose your reading glasses than you are to lose your shoes so maybe it doesn't make sense to spend money on reading glasses. In the end she admits her desire to buy a pair of Eyebobs but fears it will lead to the desire to own more Eyebobs and so forth.

Here is my take on the topic:

I think everyone should spend money on whatever is important to them. If crisp, clear vision and a stylish or attractive appearance is important to a person, reading glasses are a good investment, and finding a quality pair for less than $100 still leaves you way ahead of the game than if you had gone in to a specialty eyeglass shop and had a pair custom made. As with anything, you get what you pay for.

This morning as I went through doing my usual daily checks for our industry I came across a press release under keyword "reading glasses" talking about a company/foundation called Vision Spring. As I read through the article seen here:

http://www.expresshealthcare.in/200908/strategy03.shtml

It all sounded so familiar. Very similar to the model Scojo in it's early days once used with their Scojo Foundation program. I decided to do a little more research and sure enough as I went to the website for the foundation I saw Jordan, one of the original founders of ScoJO. I have often wondered what happened to the philanthropic part of Scojo once OGI took over the product line and am happy to say, from what I saw this morning it is still going strong!

People in third world countries or impoverished villages often need to retire from their trades once presbyopia sets in around age 40. Tailors can no longer see to thread needles or do fine stitching and wood workers can no longer see fine detail. The same can be said for weavers, painters, and any number of other types of craftsmen or factory workers. By offering these people a simple pair of over the counter reading glasses their lives can continue on. It is hard to believe something so readily available to us in the US are not only hard to come by in certain areas but the lck of them can have such serious results.

A long time favorite of all wearers of reading glasses has been the gels line of reading glasses by Scojo Vision. Crafted out of TR 90 memory flex plastic these glasses have always been feather lightweight and ohh so flexible.

They also lend themselves to a wide array of colors spanning the rainbow. Old classics like Aqua, Pink Passion and Emerald have been part of the product line from day one. Flame, Sunflower and other have joined the ranks in more recent years. Turquoise and lilac, seafoam and azure were popular when introduced but couldn’t hold their own in comparison to some of the other options and were ultimately discontinued. So beyond color and comfort what more should you know about gels by Scojo?

The rimless style works for just about everyone. Truly an a sexual style it works on men and women. Color options lend them to a slightly more masculine or feminine appearance but the style truly looks good on all.

There is new pressure mounting on the temples and bridge that eliminates some of the old problems with durability seen with earlier versions of the gel product. Temples are also now reinforced with wire adding to durability. Non slip tips on the temples are another nice feature.

Comfort, color, quality, Scojo gels really have it all. If you tried them in the past but haven’t recently give them another look. If you’ve never tried them, they are a must to add to your wardrobe of reading glasses.