Nursery Storage totes on the cheap

I stumbled upon these cute totes at Barnes and Noble. They reminded me of the 3 Sprouts totes in my previous post. They are actually meant to be beach bags, but I picked two up to store Baby #1's growing collection of stuffed animals. They measure 12.75 x 14.75 and are made from a sturdy canvas. I opted for the blue and green totes (they actually do match the play area decor) since the others were a little too summery and beachy. You do need to purchase two items to get them for $9.95 but I picked up a few cheap beach reads. The bags are available until August 2, 2010 or until they run out.

Going to a friend's summer house - perfect as a hostess gift too, just throw in a few books or a towel (and white wine) and enjoy!

Cute Nursery Gear - 3 Sprouts

I am currently redecorating several rooms in our house. One of them is the nursery in anticipation of Baby # 2's arrival. He will eventually be sharing a room with Baby #1 and I wanted to do a neutral room that wouldn't be gender specific. In my internet travels I found these super cute organic canvas storage totes from 3 Sprouts. They are a little pricey, at $38, but they are huge (17 x 20) which is a great size to hold lots of blocks, cars or in my home - stuffed animals. 3 Sprouts offers 5 different totes, but I think the monkey and hippo are the cutest. They also sell an owl bin for those that are in love with the very trendy owl theme that seems to be everywhere right now.

Chick Lit Book Reviews

I love to read and I love to read junk. Most people read junk at the beach or on vacation, but I read it all the time. I even belong to a book club that exclusively reads Chick Lit. Here are a couple of quick reviews (and I mean quick) of the most recent Chick Lit books that I've read

Title: Balancing Acts: A Novel
Author: Zoe Fishman

Review: Not a beach read. This book contained too many characters with too many subplots. I had no interest in any of the characters and had a hard time even getting past the first few chapters.




Title: Heart of the Matter
Author: Emily Giffin

Review: An okay beach read. I've read all of Emily Giffin's books and have loved all of them except this book. Unlike the review above, my complaint about this book is that there wasn't enough development of the subplots. Read Giffin's other books before picking this one up.

I heart FAB

File under products I love:

I am always on the lookout for products that are free of chemicals such as parabens and phthalates, which are chemicals that are suspected of causing a range of side effects and are especially harmful to babies and children.

In my quest I came across First Aid Beauty (FAB). I have been using the Face Cleanser and Ultra Repair Cream for a few months now and love the way my skin has reacted to them. I no longer have red itchy bumps around my eyes. (A dermatologist once told me to change my toothpaste to get rid of the bumps - didn't work but I found a great toothpaste in the process.)

The FAB line of products is sold exclusively through Sephora and is reasonably priced compared to similar higher-end products. The FAB website also has an interesting article on chemicals that the beauty industry uses and how almost none of them are regulated. I am looking forward to trying a few of their other products next time I'm browsing in Sephora.

Motherhood - the movie

The Hubby was traveling for business so I took advantage of the alone time and ordered up a few chick flicks from Netflix. I am also totally sick of everything on TV at the moment. I had wanted to see Motherhood when it was in the theater. I even had grand plans to organize a Mommy outing, but that never happened. So I watched it by myself a year later.

I thought it was really cute and offered a funny look at dealing with everyday life with children while living in a 6th floor walk-up in NYC. I think a lot of city dwellers and semi-urbanites can relate to the way city life is portrayed, like using your car as a storage locker. For any mommy that has debated staying  home or going back to work this movie offers a valid view of agonizing over a lost identity. Overall, I would highly recommend Motherhood to any mommies of toddlers or little ones. I would also recommend it as a cute chick flick in general although if you don't have kids you may not want them after watching this movie.

Dear Craigslist

Dear Craigslist,

You used to be awesome. I first learned about you in 2000 when I was young and only a few years out of college. You would surface in internet searches and people were talking about you. You were kind of like a cool new friend that everyone wanted to know. So when I needed to sell some furniture I sought out your services. One post was all it took to get me hooked on you. You found someone for me, they came to my apartment, gave me cash and took my furniture with them. So simple and so easy. I started telling my friends about you. I loved you so much I wanted to share you.

But I went too far. Your downfall can be traced back to 2004 when 3 things happened.  I brought you home to meet my parents, I brought you into my workplace and told the HR person to use you to find employees and you sold your soul.  It seemed like everyone was using you. You were spread too thin. You didn't have time for me anymore and I was starting to not like your friends. So I left you. 

Recently, against my better judgment, I went back to you. You knew I couldn’t stay away so you played hard to get  – passwords, logins, captchas that I can never read. I just wanted to sell just a few things. I wanted it to be like old times, feeling like it was the two of us again, when life was simpler and finding someone to buy my ‘stuff’ was so easy.

But you didn't find anybody for me. Instead you sent your creepy friends to spam my inbox with crazy and bizarre scams.  And what’s up with your loser friends who email me claiming they want to buy my stuff and then disappear?  I post my items, get an interested response within 10 minutes and then not a word for 3 days. I move on to the next buyer and then they resurface and want to schedule a time to come pick up the stuff. Maybe they are confused and don’t realize that email is instant? Because of you and your crap friends I have since adopted a 24 hour wait rule. You're Craigslist, you're free, and I need to lower my expectations.

So Craigslist, after this recent debacle, we are finally over. Finished. I can't take your drama anymore. I don't like the people you hang out with. You have gone to the masses - or rather, you have gone to the asses.

In love with Sonoma Chicken Salad

I hate cooking and everything that goes along with it - the planning, the shopping, the actual cooking, the cleaning, and sometimes (when it doesn't turn out good) the eating. This results in two things - a lot of takeout and often daily trips to the store where I wander the aisles trying to figure out what to make. And since my hubby loves cooking almost as much as I do he's not a big help.

With the new baby due soon I have recently started to force myself to sit down and make a list and a meal plan for the week. This absolutely makes life easier, but since I dread thinking up meals I don't always get around to doing this. I envy those that can take the weekly circulars, make a list and meal plan, organize their coupons and get a weeks worth of groceries for a family of four for $50. Somehow it seems that when I plan it out I spend even more money!

Everyone I know who cooks has a set of go to recipes. Unfortunately, I only have 5, not even a full weeks worth! One of my go to recipes I call Chicken Salad Salad. It's best in the summer, but great anytime, and if you make enough of it you can have the leftovers for lunch. It's basically chicken salad over greens made 'fancy'.

• I make the Sonoma Chicken Salad from Whole Foods, which I love and could eat every day. In a pinch I buy it, but it's expensive and not always available and can sometimes be dry. 

• I put that over salad greens (the following I stole from a local restaurant) sprinkle some cut strawberries and blueberries on the greens, and add Brianna's Rich Poppy Seed Dressing.

• And now for the fancy part - I put a spoonful of lingonberry jam on top of the chicken salad. I could eat this everyday, but hubby would probably complain after week 2.

Bon Appetit!