As close to being Harry Potter we’ll ever get

by Christina Refford | Cool Tech

My children would give just about anything to apparate inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort. The early reviews (and word from CMP Editor Liz who worked with Universal early on in the development) make it look so cool, it almost makes...

Technology is getting smaller; your chance of winning some, kind of big.

by Cool Mom Team | Cool Tech

In case you missed it, you’ve still got until tomorrow, Sunday, to enter to win the super fabulous new HP Mini 210 netbook and the utterly adorable HP V5040u Camcorder.No, seriously. You can win both of them. Would we kid? (Well, maybe. But not about this.)For...

Wallpaper gets unbelievably cool. No really. Why are you laughing?

by Betsy | Art + Decor

In the ’70’s my mom went absolutely berserk with wallpaper. It was everywhere; the walls, the ceilings, even the inside of our kitchen cabinets. Then, for a long time, wallpaper was considered very dated. Well guess what, baby, it’s back with a...

One thing that gets smaller on a mom – her technology

by Cool Mom Team | Cool Tech

I love small things. I do. Crazy about little things. So when HP offered up the new HP Mini 210 and the utterly adorable HP V5040u Camcorder to review, we leaped at the chance to see if they were as fabulous as they looked.The answer: Yes! The purse-sized HP Mini 210...

A blast from your past, now available in wall size

by Betsy | Art + Decor

I remember vividly the first time I played Atari. The angels sang in a joyous chorus (in my head) as I spent the next two hours rotating a dial to move a single white line up and down the screen as a square ball bounced back and forth. Pong. Even now the word conjures...

On my Target shopping list: Milk. Apples. Awesome art from Poketo.

by Delilah S. Dawson | Art + Decor

Cool Mom Picks favorite Poketo has a very simple philosophy: Make real art available to everyday people. Which is good, because I’m at my local SuperTarget pretty much every day, and that’s where their latest collection will land on August 10. From water...

The Paranoid Parents Guide – Perfect beach reading for those of us afraid of shark attacks

by Betsy | Books for Adults

I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of a paranoid parent. But after reading The Paranoid Parents Guide, by clever Denver mom Christie Barnes, I realized how much time I waste worrying. And more importantly, worrying about the wrong things. Does this sound like it...

Fairy tale houses–they’re not just for fairy tales anymore

by Betsy | Living

When I first saw pictures of the amazing, whimsical and unbelievably detailed fairy tale houses and furniture by Mike and Debbie Schramer I simply marveled. This brilliant husband and wife team use real flowers, branches, roots, and moss, to create these breathtaking...

Behold the mysterious STEPONBOX

by Delilah S. Dawson | Art + Decor

Talk about truth in advertising: The STEPONBOX is a storage box that also functions as a stool. That you can step on. And a ton more.Available in four Jetsons-esque color combinations, the STEPONBOX is crafted of Polypropylene and Thermoplastic Elastomeric, which in...

Collage on the quick at Photovisi

by Delilah S. Dawson | Cool Tech

It was a mystery. Suddenly, they were popping up all over Facebook. And now I know where everyone created those adorable collages of their kids. The website is called Photovisi, but I think of it as “Photocollages for Dummies”– definitely including...

It’s not junk if you display it with love

by Betsy | Books for Adults

When I look around my house I find strange groupings of stuff everywhere. A bin of outgrown Crocs. A shoebox packed with old family pictures. Some coffee table books that never quite made it to the coffee table. Little did I know that these were all just charming,...

I dream of Orca

by Delilah S. Dawson | Art + Decor, Baby

Cute little fishies for your baby’s room? So done. Instead, try this very hip, non-cutesy, and eco-conscious mobile that looks as sweet and restful hanging over a crib as it does dangling over a jacuzzi tub. Trust me, I know, because I stole it and hung it over...