More coolness from recent weeks…
The coolest guitar ever is playing a solo in your lemonade
Whether you're into classic Zeppelin or that annoyingly peppy pop song about a party under the Hollywood sign, you can't play it without a guitar. And you definitely shouldn't party without these extra tiny, extra awesome guitars, just in time for entertaining season....
From Cradle to College
I love that furniture designers have stopped looking at cribs as a utilitarian object, and started embracing their artistic nature. GroFurniture is a stunning new eco-friendly furniture line, all made in the USA by real furniture artisans. It was started by a husband...
You recycle, you upcycle…and now you can Hipcycle
There is nothing that gets my inner MacGyver going more than upcycling. The creativity it takes to see something useful in a random everyday object--love it, not to mention the fact it can be an earth-friendlier way to shop. It totally explains my current bag of...
Are you t-shirt obsessed and time-starved? Join the club.
Spending time shopping for myself is basically a joke with two kids under the age of three, but it's certainly nice to receive a little fashion treat every month in the mail. And that's just why I joined StyleMint, the newish online, members-only club for T-shirts...
NYC area parents: Come see us at the New Parents Expo this weekend!
If you're a NYC mom or mom-to-be, you'll want to clear your calendar one day this weekend for the New Parents Expo at Pier 92, hosted by our friends at New York Family Magazine.You'll find more than 100 exhibitors featuring the best brands and services for pregnant...
Supercute superhero dolls
Sometimes it feels like we're in the middle of a plastic doll takeover. Those little dudes are everywhere (pretty sure most of them are in my living room) I am more convinced than ever that the last thing the world needs is another plastic guy. These handmade...
Does your pre-schooler habla perro y gato?
Garfield and Odie, Ren and Stimpy, Sylvester and Hector--cartoon teams of cats and dogs have been used to teach kids a wide variety of lessons for decades. (Sometimes just how to beat each other up.) But now, the creative minds at HBO family are bringing us...
Breaking news: BOB stroller recall
The CPSC action du jour is a BOB stroller recall affecting nearly 500,000 single and double strollers sold in the US and Canada. Evidently the backing behind the company logo on the stroller canopy can detach, and babies, particularly those in infant seats, can reach...
sneakpeeq turns Facebook into a boutique
These days, I keep up with most of my friends via Facebook, even the ones who live close to me; our schedules are so crazy, with carpool and homework and sports commitments, that the only way we can visit is virtually. Which is sad, because those women are some of my...
A cradle that will rock more than your baby
File this one under "Ever-Growing List of Gorgeous Things Celebrities Own That We Never Will." It's pretty much the most beautiful cradle I have ever seen. With the most extraordinary price tag. The So-Ro Cradle ("be calm" in Norweigan) is a stunning piece of...
Shel Silverstein rises again
I have no idea how missed the huge fact that a new book from Shel Silverstein was released a few weeks ago, especially considering he's my favorite modern children's author of all time. But my mother knew. And when I opened the mysterious Amazon package that arrived...
Umba Box: the monthly gift you give to yourself
If you're the Mom, that means you probably buy the birthday presents, the holiday presents, the housewarming presents, the Your First Recital presents, the Sorry Your Husband Got Fired presents. And the only time you ever get a surprise involves the question, "Mom,...
It was a dark and stormy diaper…
Ask my mom, and she'll tell you that she knew I was a writer from the moment I was born, or at least from the moment I started scrawling my first story on the wall in... um... nevermind. Too bad they didn't have this onesie back then. The utterly adorable The...
Build your own zombiepocalypse
Legos are just so timeless, so simple, so wholesome. You can build houses and cities and adorable robots, sprawled in front of a roaring fire with your future architect.Or you can turn those happy little blocks into a zombie-infested nightmare rife with bloodstains...
Bottle accessories that get the drying done in style
One of my least favorite parts about the baby stage is all that bottle stuff. The making of the bottles (especially at 4 in the morning), the cleaning of them and the finding somewhere to put them. Two cool-looking new accessories from Beaba offer relief for at least...
Memory meets Modern Art
We played lots of board games in my house growing up, and with a 4 year age difference, there were few my sister and I could both make it through without quitting. (We in fact have never completed a game of Monopoly to this day.) One of the few games we both loved...
Here kitty, kitty kitty…
I have animal-crazy daughters, a wonderful characteristic I attribute in part to awesome grandparents that think to buy them "animal things" before buying them "princess things." So I was thrilled to see a nice partnership between National Geographic and Pottery Barn...
Special custom invites for very special days
I am fairly confident in my taste, and know when I see an invitation that's special and different. But making it myself? No way. So I am happy to know there are some wonderful artists and designers out there who are willing to work with picky people like me to make us...
Kids costumes that look handmade (because they are)
I did this thing last year where I decided it to hand-make my daughter a Big Bird costume for Halloween--feather by feather. I'm not a natural costume-maker, so the whole thing was imperfect--but it was fun to make and she dug it.This year, time constraints and other...
The Maclaren denim stroller rides again, this time for two
I'm something of a stroller hoarder. We have gone through no less than ten strollers between my two sons--which is actually par for the course in New York, where our strollers are our cars. One of my faves is still the Maclaren Denim Quest which I reviewed some months...
Cool educational toys, hold the batteries
When we're running out the door on one of our million weekly errands, it's way too easy to just grab the iPad or a handheld electronic game to occupy the kids. But in my ongoing quest to "unplug" a little more often, I've discovered a neat line of hand-held edu-toys...