By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
You know when you come across something that gives you such a sweet feeling? Well, Hook-Links did this to me. It brought me back to when I was younger (much younger), when my best friend Keri and I were inseparable. We lived within a short walking distance from each other and when we were not together, we were on the phone talking for hours! (I wish I could go back in time and listen to those phone calls.) We slept and ate at each others homes, we did sports together and even joined each others [...]

Though all of us are curious about our roots and sometimes even fascinated by our family history, genealogy used to be perceived as a dry artform practiced by the retired folks, i.e. the ones who really had the time to delve into the research and the connections and the research again.
Well, here’s a company that is making genealogy look fresh and sexy! Just like the people on the family tree branches were at one time – or the tree wouldn’t exist. the company is called My Tree & Me and it designs and modernizes genealogy charts.

It’s easy to order: Choose [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I love these bags. In fact, Scott if you are reading this, I would like the Hipster Flat Bag for my Birthday. The company, U.S.E.D. (Unlimited Supplies from Everyone’s Discard) makes these bags completely from discarded seat belts and seat belt buckles, reducing the amount of waste that goes into our landfills.

This family-owned Canadian company was started by a mother/son team. They head out themselves to the auto wreckers to cut out the seatbelts from wrecked cars. They do all the cleaning of the belts and buckles and then sew the bags themselves. Since these [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
We wrote about Tilley earlier this past summer and shared our article with the company. I had the opportunity to speak with Alex Tilley himself, who shared news of some of the new exciting products that they are introducing. I love the new fall and winter hats, but am head-over-heels with this bag that is making its grand debut today. It’s called the Tilley Intrepid.
After seeing it “in person” I can vow that is one of these heirloom-will-only-get-better-with-age-hand-it-down-to-your-grandchild quality bag. The Intrepid is fashioned after a WWII Canadian officer’s shoulder bag with all the updated [...]

So simple but so effective. Instead of having to re-read the same paragraph(s) as you search to see where you last stopped reading (because we can’t always make it to the end of the chapter!), just line up the Xmarxit bookmark with the last line that you read, wedge into the crease of the book and you are ready to pick up on the exact line where you left off.

I sold massage candles similar to these when I had the shop. And while they were not nearly as luxurious, they were a resounding hit. So, I was quite excited to find the Scandle Body Massage Candle (what a great name!) to propose as an oh-so-affordable Valentine’s Day gift idea.
The Scandle combines two perfectly paired items to stage a romantic scene: a deliciously scented candle that becomes a fragrant massage oil. The candle, when burned, melts to create soothing massage oil. And, good to know for off-nights: the Scandle is enriched with Vitamin E and works wonderfully as body moisturizer [...]

I have a good friend (Jennifer Q., yes, that’s you!) that has a serious aversion to piling on sweaters, or blankets (especially) or anything. And I mean serious, to the point that I did not dare wear my favorite sweaters around her, for fear of causing her to convulse in disgust.
So, I was really ecstatic when I heard about this Sweater Stone. It’s a natural pumice that, when rubbed against knits will brush away the surface pills. Their website’s technical explanation goes like this: “It actually cuts the filament that holds the pill to the garment while the cell breaks [...]

I just discovered my new favorite mascara: L’Oreal’s Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black. Yummmm.
You know the type of question “If you were stuck on a desert island and only had one makeup tool to bring with you, what would it be?” Well, mine is definitely mascara. My mom would like me to say lipstick (you know, it’s that generation), but no, it’s mascara.
I must have tried every brand from Yves St-Laurent, Dior, all the way down to Rimmel and Maybelline’s always top rated Great Lash. These never did ANYTHING for me. Those complicated mascaras with the primer coat? Forget it! [...]