Joli at Spunky Sprout contacted me a few months ago to let me know about her online childrens’ furnishings store. I’m so glad she did because I haven’t been paying close attention to that product category. I’m past the small kids phase in my home (mine are now 16 and 12), but boy, am I sorry that a store like Spunky Sprout wasn’t around when they were little. Kid’s furnishings were, “back then”, largely uninspired or if of modern and sleek design, they were unaffordable. Actually, the uninspired factor is still omnipresent in today’s market, except for some real gems [...]

It’s official. The mustache has made a comeback. This was confirmed when I saw the mustache “bumper sticker” on my son’s Facebook page. But now, they come in applications other than just facial adornment. Some are wearable, some decorative, some simply amusing, but the ‘stashes are eve.ry.where in all shapes and sizes. If you’re yearning for mustache wearing here are a few fun ideas:

We all know that moving ranks up there with divorce and death as one of the top family stress and trauma inducers. Even when the move was planned with much eagerness.
One of my great takeaways from this harrowing move is my new determination – as a very conscious decision – to live with less stuff. This seems like an obvious and auspicious awakening in these times… Like, duh. In my defense, I knew all that already (see post), but this renewed, steadfast determination is prompted by the realization that we hauled stuff across three states that was not worth moving.
No [...]

Dearest Readers,
Thanks so much for sticking with me. The last 6 weeks have been consumed by a cross-state move of home and business that has taken all my attention. The family is now – sloooowly – recovering and getting settled in our new ‘hood of Chicago’s North Shore. We chose to self-relocate to this destination, following a four year Q & A exercise that involved Excel spreadsheets (with weighted averages on each considered city’s quality of life and cost of living attributes), on-site reconnaissance tours and loads of reading, including Richard Florida’s instrumental “Who’s Your City” book:
Where we [...]

Here is one fantastic stop motion ad for Olympus cameras. I can’t even begin to phantom the estimate of hours of planning, shooting, editing to put this piece together. Brilliant.

I always like to guess how companies choose their names. In this case, with the tagline of “Everyone needs an Alice”, it’s a “duh” to guess that loyal, no-nonsense, do-it-all Brady Bunch’s Alice was the inspiration. Close enough: Alice.com is a virtual home manager. It’s household shopping with all the extras and none of the hauling.
The benefits in a nutshell:

Free shipping – always, whatever the order amount
Lower prices – they eliminate the middleman, the consumer gets the best price available
Coupons applied automatically – if there is a coupon for that product, it will be applied, no action needed
Arrives at your [...]

I’m a yoga person. I have had the privilege of having the best yoga instructor around who really thought me to love and respect the practice. But. Yes, but. The weight, mostly lazily gathered through a year of undiagnosed anemia plus general stress, was not budging. I had to do something other than sun salutations. After driving by the “Boot Camp Las Vegas” equipment trailer a few times, and then being prompted by a Facebook ad (the first one I ever clicked on), I decided to give it a go.
It was as hard a workout as I expected, [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
Living in Southern California, I am quite familiar with the Barefoot wines and bubblies and especially with their distinct label, the purple one with a footprint on it. But when the company contacted me in the context of their social networking marketing efforts, I realized I knew nothing about them.  So, I did a bit of research and found out that these are my kind of people. Not just because they are a wine company (personal weakness revealed) but because the Barefoot Wine company is doing great work cleaning up our beaches in partnership with [...]

What a cool idea for our times… The Uniform Project, started in May 2009 by Sheena Matheiken, is one where she pledges to wear ONE dress for one whole year as an exercise (and creative challenge!) in sustainable fashion. She styles the dress in a barely recognizable manner every day, reinventing it with an impressive trunk-ful of vintage and otherwise donated accessories and jewelry.

I know wait, every morning, with bated breath, to see what quirky concoction Sheena has devised. All are delightful and all based on the uniform dress designed by Eliza Starbuck.
The mastermind behind the uniform dress is my [...]