Darling Personal Calling Cards for Free!

So the girls at girls night tonight convinced me that I had to share my brand new business cards with you all. www.vistaprint.com is offering 250 cards in a variety of cute designs for FREE - all you pay is shipping. I chose this one and am getting rave reviews so far! So much more stylish than a scribbled phone number on a napkin at the park! What a fun gift for a new mom!

Surf Divas

With all of our rain and yucky weather as of late I've been dreaming of warm weather vacations. My dear friend KG just took off for Parrot Cay and it made me think of one of my all time favorite Girls Vacations - our Surf Diva weekend in La Jolla. The idea for this came during our annual Girls Weekend three years ago when the ever organized TB pulled her "list of things she wants to do before she dies" out of her wallet at dinner (for those who don't have such a list, I highly recommend starting one). Then and there we decided that there wasn't going to be a better time to try our surfing skills so off to San Diego we went. Surf Diva is the perfect girls weekend...we laughed, we sunned and we got some great pictures of us with surf boards! Most of all we were able to cross something off the list of things we wanted to try and now have actually done. Next up Oprah tickets and writing a book! www.surfdiva.com

Darling Decor for Kids

My girlfriend EH found Litsy Designs at the Junior League boutique in Raleigh and has been raving about them ever since. Once you visit their website (www.litsydesigns.com) you will see why! They offer colorful, hand-painted canvases and wooden name plaques designed especially for nurseries, children's rooms, playrooms and bathrooms.

Life Coaching for Real Life

My darling friend SH introduced me to life coaching years ago when we lived in Seattle. I was fortunate enough to engage a coach myself two summers ago and am now a believer in the process! My old coach, Jolie Steers is currently offering a phenomenal deal as part of an R & D Project she has going on.

Clients will recieve all the benefits and services that Jolie offers her full-fee clients in exchange for their permission to record their coaching sessions, a 4 month commitment and completion of a coaching evaluation at the end of the 4 months. The special rate for these R & D clients is $75 a month for 3 sessions.

The great thing about Jolie is that all sessions are done over the phone so it's super convenient and can be done from just about anywhere. As usual, I did mine via headset while driving in the car! :)

For more information, Jolie can be reached at 425-802-7021

Great Grosgrain

As most of you know I love anything striped and all things grosgrain so when I saw these darling dayplanners from www.trulymom.com that had striped grosgrain ribbon as the primary feature I fell in love. They have adorable stationery as well and best of all the company was started by four young moms with a great story! They are also offering 10% off on purchases with the code "treehouse" at checkout.

Flower Power

One of my dearest and hippest friends LM introduced me to the only flower shop I use anymore. www.bbrooks.com promises incredibly special, unique flowers in cities through the country which works out perfectly should you want to send an arrangment to friends in Newport, Nantucket or Nashville or anywhere in between.

Shoes!

Who doesn't love shoes? Ann Roth Shoes just makes our attempts at wearing what we have before buying more that much harder. Check out the darling espadrilles in her Resort 2007 collection at www.annrothshoes.com

She was also sweet enough to offer $25 off any order with the code "25dollars" at checkout!

Now Discover Your Strengths

I was introduced to the book Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham during my days with The Coca-Cola Company and it is still an all time favorite. It helps you determine what you are best at and encourages you to do more of those things and worry less about the things you aren't quite as good at but partner with people who are strong in these areas. The only bad thing about the book is that you can't share it or check it out from the library because you need a unique code on the inside cover in order to take the online assessment.

Merry Merry Day

Meri Meri is now offering online e-cards as cute as their paper products. They are available at: http://www.merimeri.co.uk and are entirely free! What a great excuse to send a hello to a long lost friend!

I think I was a realtor in my past life

As you all know I love all things real estate related. I love touring model homes, I love looking at floorplans, I love dreaming about remodels and anything on HGTV (especially the Dream House) and I love www.zillow.com. This site allows you to look up the value of any home in the country so you can get a sense of what things are going for in certain neighborhoods or just see what your house is valued at.

How much stationery does a girl need?

Darling hubby continues to ask why I need so much stationery . What he doesn't understand is that when you find a website like Lauren Goessling Designs it's hard to choose just one! This is fabulous: http://www.laurengdesigns.com/.

Not only are her designs great but she herself is a doll and has offered 15% off to views from a treehouse readers on any purchase with the code Treehouse15 at checkout.

Go Go Go

So I've heard the hype about the Tide To Go pens and finally decided to see what it was all about. I can honestly say I am amazed. Twin B dropped and smushed a blueberry on her t-shirt this morning as we were running out the door. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect opportunity to try my new little gadget out and it worked amazingly well! I'm sold!

See Jane Work

How can a website called See Jane Work be anything but fun? www.seejanework.com actually makes me want to organize and be organized. And to think we can be stylish all at the same time! Doesn't get much better than that!

Target Pharmacy Gets My Vote

So its very possible that I am easily impressed but I thought this was pretty cool. When filling a prescription at Target today I was told about their "color rings" - a plastic ring around the medicine bottle color coded for each member of the family. Not exactly brain surgery but it sure is nice to know you've got the right bottle when reaching for a late night dose for the peanuts. In case you are interested I chose yellow for myself.

Silly but true...

So I hate to admit it but my new favorite show is What About Brian on ABC. The best thing I can say is that I grew up with 90210 and Felicity and this fills the void that they left in my brainless tv slot. Also sadly, I've discovered that you can now watch every episode for free on www.abc.com should you have endless hours to spare. Enjoy!

Flat Earth Apple Cinnamon Grove Fruit Crisps

I knew it wouldn't be long before I had another must-have-item to share with you all...this time it's a random goodie I found wandering the aisles at Target yesterday! However can I spend an hour and $100 there everytime I go???? I hope I'm not only the only one with this problem! :)

Anyhow, my find is called Flat Earth Apple Cinnamon Grove Fruit Crisps. They are in a potato chip looking bag and after further inspection seem to be made by Frito Lay but offer 1/2 serving of fruit in every ounce and are DELICIOUS! The twins and I nearly devoured the whole bag on the (very short) car ride home!

The (latest) things I love!

I have two things that I can't say enough good about:

1. The iRobot Roomba Vacuum. With two kids and a dog we track enough dust, dirt, crumbs, etc. around the house to make a girl crazy. We were introduced to this by our friends the Stones and it is heavenly. You turn it on at night when you go to bed and it vacuums the house for you and then goes back to it's little base to charge for the next use! Genius! Because really, who wants to spend time vacuuming when a little robot can do it for you.



2. A book called Babyproofing Your Marriage by Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'Neill and Julia Stone. I am just starting it now and am loving knowing that there are ways to be a parent and a wife/friend all at the same time! I know this may not apply to you all but thought it might be a fun gift to give friends who are new parents, etc...