Super Savvy

If you're like me you are knee deep in the midst of looking at preschools...it's wild how early you have to begin and how overwhelming the process can be. Whoever guessed there would be so many options and with so many different philosophies, etc....thankfully the people at SavvySource came along just in time. Their website offers great reviews on hundreds of schools and camps across the country making our lives a whole lot easier!

Girls Guides

This is such a cool idea I wish I'd thought of it myself. My darling friend CM in London recently introduced me to The Girl's Guide to City Life and I've had a ball checking out hot spots in various cities and planning my future (dream) vacations to all of these great locations!

Ribbon Fan

It rained all day yesderday so the twins and I spent the day indoors. We had friends over, made muffins and attempted to clean out my craft cabinets. This last activity made me realize what an obsession I have with ribbon...I just love the stuff and have SO much of it. I'm really not sure what I save it all for but should you ever need some you know where to go. Would you prefer to search a real store, The Ribbon Jar has an amazing selection....even by my standards!

PS. Their "Ideas" section offers some awesome inspiration for crafty types too!

DecorateME

I am in total decorating mode....me, the house, the list goes on. I would LOVE to be on What Not to Wear and have someone give me a total makeover but am not sure I really qualify at this point...maybe if I start wearing sweats everyday?!?!

With regards to the house, my sweet friends at girls night last night talked me out of the craziness that is white couches at least until the twins are a little older and aren't eating goldfish crackers and other equally stainable things! I did find some great new oil rubbed bronze knobs for our kitchen cabinets and am in heaven with the new look! Now just a few new accessories and curtains for the family room and I think I'll be feeling happier with everything.

One of the things that I'm dying to try but not sure I'm brave enough for are Wall Words. I have no idea what saying I like enough to look at everyday but think it's the coolest concept. I've tried to get the photo to attach about a million times but it doesn't want to cooperate (it's been one of those days already!) so you'll have to trust me on this and just check it out!

Monogram Heaven

As I've mentioned before I love all things monogrammed and personalized. When I came across the website for Lauren Nicole I was overwhelmed with the great choices - from jewlery and totebags to baby items and blankets! What unique gifts for all the moms, dads, grads, etc we need to buy for in the coming months.

Calling all Parents

My sweet friend SM introduced me to Lila Guide
and I'm hooked. It's an online (they have book versions too) resource for parents and parents to be with over 100,000 reviews from real moms on the best baby shops, activities and products! Talk about a great way to get the scoop on things to do at home or when traveling.

Free Fun

Free Fun Guides show you how to enjoy California coastal cities like Orange County, LA and San Francisco without breaking the bank. They include a great list of museums, concerts, films and festivals that are all free so you can save your money for fun restaurants and shopping! There is also a New York guide for my East Coast friends!

Photo Find

It came to my attention at a recent girls night that not everyone knows about Costco's great photo store so here goes....as a Costco member you can upload your photos to their website from the comfy of home in your pj's and they will process the order and then send the finished photos to you free of charge. While I know the uploading from home aspect isn't anything new the free shipping is pretty nice. It certainly makes getting the mail more fun when I know I'll have a big shiny stack of pictures to look forward to and we can always use that money we would have spent on shipping for something fun like a new nailpolish (my favorite is Essie Ballet Slippers) or a fun drink at Starbucks.

Book Buying

As you can probably tell I love to read - fiction, self help, magazines, the WSJ - I am a reader. I am also an organizer and love Spring cleaning so decided recently that I probably didn't need to keep ALL of my fun girly beach reads. I discovered the site www.webuyyourbooks.com and was thrilled when I learned they bought used books. What a great way to purge books we won't read again AND help fund future book (or shoe) purchases. I now have plenty of open spaces on the bookshelf so let me know if you have any recommendations!

My all time favorite ribbon site

As you probably know from the 100 Things About Me, I LOVE ribbon, especially striped and polka dotted grosgrain and felt it would only be fair to tell you about the coolest ribbon website I've found. The site itself isn't anything spectacular but the selection is amazing. Check out this adorable pink and green number. To see all of their darling temptations visit: www.jcarolinecreative.com

Love Languages

I just finished an awesome book that embarassingly enough my mother in law gave Darling Husband and I for our 4th wedding anniversary (we are going on 7 years now). Anyhow, it's a fabulously easy read and has some really valuable information about how to love the people in your lives - most notable husbands, boyfriends and kids but I think it's really applicable to friends, etc.. too. It's called the Five Love Languages and it helps you determine how you like to be loved and how your significant others prefer to be loved. It probably comes as no suprise that I prefer "Words of Affirmation" and "Quality Time" so should you be in the mood to "love" me I hope that's helpful! You can see more at their website: www.fivelovelanguages.com

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!

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

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.

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.