PMOY: Ida Ljungqvist

YOUR CHOICE FOR OUR 5OTH PMOY IS QUITE A FINE ONE

. laymates are special girls next door. We often discover them walking their dog, serving coffee or even waiting in line at the DMV. Take Ida Ljungqvist. for exam-f pie. One day our PMOY 2007 Sara Jean Underwood wandered into a Beverly Hills boutique and saw her. Sara then took the Girls Next Door and their video cameras into Idas store to see if she would fit into their scene. It turned out Ida was as comfortable out of her clothes as she was folding them, and she accepted the bid into Playmatedom. But you and Hef felt she was more than just a very special girl next door, and that's why we've named her PMOY 2009. In little more than a year. Ida (pronounced EE-duh) went from sexy shopgirl on Rodeo Drive to being crowned the 50th PMOY at her own ceremony at the Palms in Vegas. Ida hadn't considered being a

Ida's PMOY presents: A big check for $100,000, a party at the Playboy Club at the Palms in Vegas and a sweet ride for our favorite sweet­heart: a 2009 Mazda6 in black-cherry metal­lic finish.

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SOME PERFECTION IS DEBATABLE.

Playmate before we whisked into her shop. "But I figured I would try some­thing new and break out of my shell," she says. And since her issue came out, she has hung up her retailer's hat and put on her Bunny tail, becoming a perfect ambassador for Playboy. She brightened duffers' days on the course during our Playboy Golf Scramble, was an Easter Bunny at the Mansion's egg hunt and even appeared on CSI. For all her hard work, we are celebrating her at the Palms—the first time the Playmate of the Year will be honored in Vegas.

This shoot took place at the $40,000-a-night Hugh Hefner Sky Villa. "It's amazing. The bed spins around," she says. "When I'm in Vegas, I like to watch." Don't get too excited, guys. She continues, "A lot of my Playmate friends are gamblers and are really good at it. I will sit and be arm candy for one of them while they play blackjack."

And why is she a good-luck charm only for female models? She says guys find it hard to open up to her because they think she's unattain­able, but she has news for them. "I am single and ready," she says. "I am the happiest girl in California! I'm a little shy and prefer men to approach me first, but I'll give them a little sign, like a look or wink that says, 'Get your butt over here!"

She is far from lonely, though. Aside from the Playmate sorority, she has a woman's best friend. "I have a five-pound Chihuahua named Bonnie, and I introduce myself as her mom. You know all those things you hear about crazy pet owners? That's me."

Her other pet project is her con­tinuing interest in charity (her father works for UNICEF). "A lot of people ask me, 'What can I do to help?1" she says. "It gives me an opportu­nity to find out what they're passion­ate about. That's one thing that really surprised me: Regardless of what's going on in the economy, everybody wants to help. The United States is a very generous country, and the people are not as self-centered as the news may say."

When we ask Ida about when she is happiest, she pauses for a moment and smiles widely, as she often does. "I'm happy—that's it," she says. "My happiness doesn't come from anything of this world. People think you become happier by doing more, but that's not true. You accomplish more when you realize that everything you have is inside you and you don't need to add anything to yourself."

Just before her PMOY ceremony, we asked Ida how she was handling it all. "Of course I'm going to cry," she said. "Somebody better stuff her bra because I'm going to need a tissue."