Monday, June 11, 2007

An Abecedary of my favorite things

Inspired by Kara...

Abecedaries -- especially the ones Cristi makes for Miss J.

Bike Rides

Cookie (the magazine)

Dark Chocolate

Ellen (my mom!)

Flowers and flower arranging

Gelato

Haircuts

Isaac Mizrahi (at Target, of course!)

Jazzercise

Krispy Kreme Chocolate Cake Donuts

Labyrinths

Mint Body Wash

Nerve

Old Navy

Parenthacks

Quotidien things done contemplatively

Rooster Sauce in Pho

Steampunk

Thrift Stores

Umbrellas

Velvet

Whole Wheat Artisan Bread

Xylophones

Yogurt (specifically Fage Nonfat -- it tastes like sour cream!)

Zilker Park
(Austin)

What Miss J is....


Reading

Singing


Listening To

What Sara is...



Reading

Watching

Listening to

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

water bottles -- a consumer dilemma




So Miss J.'s just moved up to the 2 year old class at school, and one of the new supplies required is a water bottle.

You'd think this would be easy.

But I *hate* all the sippy cup/water bottles that are full of Disney or Viacom characters -- I know J knows who Dora is, but do I really need to line the pockets of a media giant just to give her a bottle to drink out of?

Additionally, J. loves our old MS 150 Water Bottles. I should probably just send one of those to school with her, but I think they are a bit big and I've managed to lose both of them at Jazzercise in the last week. (A full year with no loss, and then I lose 2 in a week because it's getting hot and I'm carrying them with me when we do floor work instead of leaving them by my purse...)

So what I really want to get her is one of the very trendy new Sigg bottles that are popping up everywhere. I first noticed them on my friend Waqas's kitchen counter, then at Whole Foods, and now they are at Borders has knockoffs of them, too.

I can argue they are better designed -- they are, with the cover that goes over the pop up top -- or more healthy -- no horrible BPAs -- but really, they are just cooler. (And hotter at the same time -- metal with no insulation in Texas during the summer -- am I crazy?)

Interesting -- by the time I've become aware of them, there are already many chinese manufacturers knocking them off. (Hey Kara -- here's an idea for your fall festival next year -- order and sell some of these water bottles with a custom design -- maybe your installation artist + school name? I bet they'd be a big hit! You'd have to come up with some way to label them with kid's names, too.)

And while I'm at it, maybe I should get myself one, too. In fact, that's what this whole dilemma is about. It's not about whether J. should have the cool water bottle -- she could care less. It's about whether *my* daughter should have the most trendy thing, because *I* actually want it. So the obvious thing to do is buy *myself* the Sigg water bottle. Miss J. can have a plain plastic one (still no Dora, sorry!), and if for some reason she takes a shining to my water bottle I'll consider getting her one too.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Right Now

The power has been out for 45 minutes due to a thunderstorm. We shut the server down, but the UPS is still powering the cable modem and wireless router -- so I'm websurfing by candlelight until the battery runs out on the laptop, listening to the rain fall.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Showering Babies, III

So for the baby shower this weekend -- for my financial advisor, who is extremely picky and incongrously green (the invitation came with an insert titled "Eco-friendly registry" that informed me she was registered at Whole Foods and Wildflower Organics, as well as pointing me to a number of organic baby goods websites) -- the Organic Cotton Cloud Tee



and monkey pants



from Sckoon.

Added bonus! My carefully edited list of neat organic baby goods:

Thursday, May 31, 2007

It's showering babies, part II

For some reason, it's baby shower season. I hosted the aforementioned baby shower last weekend, I have another one this weekend, and yet another one next weekend. Since the point of showers is to, well, shower the parents-to-be with gifts, I thought in a fit of exhibitionist consumerism I would mention what I'm giving as gifts at these showers.

For the Little Monster shower -- whose mom is also my oldest friends (22 years and counting) -- alterna-trendy, design conscious filmmaker/musician family:

A Wedgehead Uglydoll (I didn't pay full price, but no one knows that...)




A pair of pirate Robeez (the baby will be a girl, but who cares). Based on the dad-to-be's comment "Pirates are very popular right now" I'm guessing they'll be using the gift receipt on this one.


A black Old Navy baby tank



that I modded with a white flocked velvet gothic cross iron-on (the dad-to-be liked this one...)





And a Skip Hop Changing Pad -- the only thing I got them that they registered for.



I didn't go so crazy on the other showers (how often does your best friend have a baby?), so I'll mention those in a separate post.