Obviously the most fun list to put together, this list is a whole bunch of things that I feel confident my children would obsess over…plus a few items that the moms on your list will most certainly be into (gold Wookie slippers and '70s-print headwraps, anyone?).
1. What. Are these. (Things that I can't believe I don't already own, that's what they are.)
2. Every cool little girl needs a cool leather jacket (and this one is red, making it even cooler).
I don’t typically pepper my diet with items that could be referred to as “superfoods.” I mean, I know I should, but I just…don’t. Because when I hear “healthy grain” what that translates to in my head is “cardboard.” And cardboard is not especially delicious.
But the thing about these superfoods – and quinoa, which is full of protein, fiber, iron, and lysine (essential for tissue growth and repair, making it a big skin-health booster) in particular – is that while they may not be something you’d want to eat a huge bowl of on their own, they’re excellent delivery systems for much more delicious things. My favorite additions: a citrusy vinaigrette and an assortment of fruits (antioxidant-rich pomegranate seeds and cranberries and vitamin C-filled orange) that are both good-tasting and good for you.
Bonus: this makes for a very, very pretty autumnal side dish, and an unexpected (and super-healthy) addition to your Thanksgiving table.
Are you contemplating getting the man in your life a shaving kit this Christmas? Perhaps a stylish scarf? Then whoa, are you reading the wrong list. Because you know what this list is about?
TOYS. (For grown-up - or, possibly more accurately, "grown-up" - boys.)
“But he probably hasn’t played with toys in decades. Isn't that a total waste of money? Also: how do I know what to get him?”
My skin is always a little trickier in the wintertime – on a 1 to 10 scale of dryness, I’m a six thousand – and when you add in travel on top of it, there’s some serious potential for disaster. You know when you get breakouts and dryness at the same time, and don’t really know how to handle either situation because the remedy for one issue only seems to make the other worse?
That.
But! It is totally handle-able, and the way to deal is to go for the gentlest possible skincare routine, one that lets your skin chill out and breathe and find its way back to normal. In the past, I’ve been an oh-I’ll-just-use-whatever-soap-is-in-the-hotel-room person, but no mas, because really: it’s just as easy to throw a few travel-friendly products in my bag so I can take my regular routine with me wherever I go.
Presenting the perfect stocking stuffer or Secret Santa present: a limited-edition collection of power banks featuring customized prints by designers including Badgley Mischka, Pamela Love and Thakoon. These little pods provide a power boost to iPhones, iPads, Androids and Blackberries, and are available exclusively on eBay at a fixed "Buy It Now" price of just $25, with all proceeds benefiting the CFDA.
My favorite designs are Pamela Love's and Thakoon's, but they're all beautiful. And practical. And perfectly priced. Love it.
(They go on sale starting tomorrow (November 20); click here to learn more and to sign up for an email reminder.)
I’m not a crafting-type mom.
I’d like to be – I aspire to be – but you know those moms who have cabinets filled with things like glitter and pipe cleaners, and enjoy settling down on snowy afternoons to create bedazzled things with their children? They are not me.
But I do like cutting hearts out of construction paper (who doesn’t?), and I very much want to get my son excited about the fact that Valentine’s Day is coming up. It’s a holiday that I have historically not really cared about, but is now – like every other holiday – about ten thousand times more fun, given that I now have a very short roommate who is experiencing it for the third time in his life (and probably the first time with any real clarity).
I had a fantasy in my head of how the Santa Cookie-baking would go: on Christmas Eve morning, my son would perch on the counter and listen in rapt attention while I showed him how to sift together flour and baking soda. He'd help me stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar, and then together we'd form little teaspoon-sized balls of dough and drop them onto parchment paper.
Problem Number One: I forgot to buy parchment paper.
Problem Number Two: Two-year-olds think that Buzz Lightyear is much more exciting than mixing.
(In which I dance to Vitamin C.)
We spent New Year's Eve as promised...
But despite the fact that our previous apartments were less-than-ideal for hosting parties, we've always done a lot of entertaining (that's the aftermath of last year's New Year's Eve party, pictured above)...and I like to think we've actually become something approaching "expert" when it comes to small space fiestas.
