Cool finds of the month: September 2008

Sometimes I wonder: how I am ever going to be able to stay up to date on all my favorite blogs, the latest fashion, health & fitness news, the latest book and movie releases, the best deals, the most interesting websites, and when will I finally be able to stay on top of my e-mail inbox??

Because even when I say "to heck with everything else" and spend most of the day on the pc, I somehow still don't manage to get it all done. Are you in the same position? I figured. So I decided to help out by putting together the best things I run across throughout the month, all here in one spot. It may not be all the best on the net, but it's a lot of cool stuff. And why would I do that, when I already don't have enough time for my stuff? Good karma, babe.


- First things first: the Sex and The City movie is finally out on DVD!! As one of the few who didn't actually make it to the theater to see the movie, I am particularly excited about this - so my copy is already on pre-order :-) Candace Bushnell, meanwhile, has moved on to One Fifth Avenue. Patricia Field moved on to HSN.

- Keeping in theme, here's your road to fabulous: GiftGirl 2.0 has finally launched! Need style advice, recommendations for a gift for your fabulous friend or even someone to help people get YOU presents for your birthday or other special occasion? Look no further, Gift Girl has got it all. You won't be disappointed. Jean is fabulous - just check out her style recommendations at The Style Observer!

- PoshMama: For a few months now, I have been a member of PoshMama, a lovely web community that is an online magazine and a social network rolled into one.
Posh Mama is a positive and upbeat community made up of women from around the world. You will feel immediately welcomed as it is the sweetest spot on the 'net. Come hang out, network and make some great friends! Click on the PoshMama banner on my sidebar of go to at www.poshmama.com. And when you get there, look me up and feel free to add me as your friend - because only a friend would give you such a great tip!

- Want to get a fun little gift for a forgetful friend? Look no further than this To-Do tattoo kit! You'll both have a laugh, and she might remember to buy the bread, send that e-mail... and maybe even the name of that really lovely OPI nailpolish *wink*

- Every year Sephora asks its customers to cote for the best beauty products products in 30 different categories. Find out what the 2008 winners are, as well as the top 10 beauty tricks, recommended from the same beauty addicts who elected the créme de la créme for this year!

- As part of the weird/awesome things they are releasing for their 30th Anniversary celebration, Lego unveiled some interesting celebrity Lego characters: ShinyShiny shows us Amy Winehouse, and you can see some of the others here.


- If you love original, artsy jewellery, I have one word for you: Fragments. They have a fantastic selection of fashionable, unusual, classy-but-not-boring jewelery.` And through October 6, shipping is free on all orders. Now the question is: what to order now, and what to add to our Christmas wishlist ;-)

- I already told you about Butter London, the fabulous line of nail polish free of Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP. The great minds behind Butter London have created a special package of shades designed specifically around the season’s latest fashion collections: the Fashionista’s Favourites Fall/Winter ‘08 Collection, which includes the following shades: Cream Tea, HRH, Chancer, Swinger, and Chimney Sweep.
The collection, a $60-value, is already available for purchase at the Butter London website; and through September 30 you can purchase it for $40 with the coupon code fashionista08.

- Ever heard of private sales? Here's your way in: Gilt Groupe just opened! A free membership grants you access to all private sales running on the website. Sales last 36 hours, include a variety of clothing and accessories for men, women and children as well as home decòr, and feature items from luxury brands, for a fraction of the price (up to 70% off!). If this isn't exciting, I don't know what is!

- Remember Alima? My favorite brand of mineral makeup? They are about to launch their line in Europe, during Paris fashion week. To celebrate, they are offering 15% off your entire order through October 1st. Use promotional code PARIS2008 at check out.

- This is a biggie. LifeBooker is an awesome site that allows you to find the best deals in NYC for any beauty- and wellness-related service you might need, from massage to microdermalabrasion, from acupuncture to extensions and anything in between. LifeBooker also regularly sends you offers and deals for said treatments and services, and one such offer landed in my mailbox a few days ago with the current fabulous deals:

$50 gift at Midtown's Spa & Salon Chinois (for any service priced at $100 or more);

50% off at Boom Boom Beauty Bar (West Village)

50% off at Confidence Beauty (Union Square Area)

50% off at Stuart Hirsch Salon (Soho/Village)

50% off at Salon Santa Cruz (Gramercy/Flatiron)

50% off at The Skin Spa (Midtown East)

- I love nothing more than a nice handbag. And if it's free... don't even ask, just sign me up! Handbag Planet is launching on October 15 and to celebrate, they will be giving away one handbag per hour the first 24 hours on the day of the launch. Pick yours here.

- Victoria's Secret started stocking some cool beauty products in the past year - and right now (through October 15) you can get a free purple tote with 9 beauty samples (trial-sized) when you order $50 worth of beauty products. Just use code FREEBTY.

- Endless.com is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to shoe shopping. With every purchase you get free overnight shipping and free return shipping as well. I love it! And if that still isn't enough to entice you, they are now running an amazing special: with your $25 purchase you get a free subscription to Vogue, Teen Vogue or Men's Vogue. If you hurry, you might just be able to take advantage of the limited Sephora special, too: a free sample of Sephora Lip Attitude–Chic in Talented Berry, as well as an exclusive Endless.com offer for a Bare Escentuals foundation and brush sample with any Sephora.com order.

- I saved the best for last: there are some lovely things on sale (up to 70%!) on the BCBG website, including some items from the new fall line! Don't believe me? Look here.


So there you have it. Think that counts as my good deed for the day?

Teaching responsibility

I am a mom, and it was just a matter of time.

This year I found myself uttering that sentence, yes, that one, the one that is so cliché it makes me cringe: "They grow up so fast!". My oldest daughter, Sarah, turned 9. She is tall, with long legs like her dad, and dark brown eyes like me. She is wonderful.

Sarah is growing, she is quickly approaching her tweens, and it shows. Because although I do mean it when I say she is wonderful, she is also developing her own personality, her own tastes, and starting to make up her own mind about more and more things - which translates into her disregarding what I ask her to do, or what I recommend she wear for the day, and so on. It's fine, it's normal. Except I do want her to know the difference between duties and hobbies, between things that need to be done and things that are nice or fun to do.

It's the eternal question for a parent: finding the line between letting them develop their own tastes, form their own personality, make their own decisions and giving them enough guidance to make the right decisions, not to become spoiled brats. Of course the best thing is to set a good example. But kids don't spend the whole day at home - how to make up for any bad influences they might get? We all know that at a certain age, what our friends do seems so much cooler than what our parents do, especially if they go in opposite directions.

But recently I found a tool on MomCentral that I feel helps me show that playing "on my team" is also cool: The Responsibility Project. Sarah enjoys watching the videos, empathizes with many of the characters and forms her own conclusions, based on what she sees. Sometimes she likes me watching with her or discussing the topic with her, other times she lets a few days pass before she bring it up - almost as if the video she saw provided her with food for thought and she needed time to form an opinion, decide where she stood on the topic or issue. That's how I like to think of it, at least; I like to think she she is reflecting on how to treat others, giving help when it's needed, being nice without expecting anything in return. And she likes to have the chance to form her own opinions.

It's a win-win.

Cool finds... and cooler ones

Did you like my post about Alima? Were you relieved to find a brand of makeup without any of the ugly stuff?
Then you will love these two brands of nail polish, both free of Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP and unlike most non-toxic brands of nail polish, they come in great colors!
Zoya is very affordable and boasts an impressive selection: 300 colors. I don't know about that, but I'm in love with their Pulse Fall collection! If you prefer matte to metallics, you'll be happy to see they have a second Fall collectiion, Vibe. I love that you can get sample packs with several miniature bottles, so you can try several shades!
Butter London is slightly more expensive but everyone who tries it seems to fall in love with it. It has been featured on InStyle, Allure, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, you name it. They have some very unusual but gorgeus colors (with some cool names!), as well as treatments, base/top coats and so on (check out the foot care). The coolest thing? They sell color packs based on skin tone, so you there's no guesswork in finding the best shades for you.

I already told you about RememberTheMilk.com, but check this out: if you want something simpler, if you like to get precise directions and wish you had someone like YOU to do just that... or if you have a long to-do list and you get overwhelmed looking at all of it at once... I have the answer: NowDoThis! Input your tasks in order of priority and save - it will show you your tasks one by one, and jump to the next one on the list when you mark one "done". And if you like you can add it to your Firefox sidebar.

As you know, I was very excited about Amazon's Universal Wishlist feature - because sometimes people need a little (or a lot) of guidance to get the right present. But what to do if something is too expensive to add to your wishlist? (We don't want to seem greedy, do we?) here's what you do: create an account with ShoppingNotes, save the item you want and put the highest price you are willing to pay for it - and ShoppingNotes will send you an alert when the item is discounted at or below your selected price. Score!

And if you need a bit of relaxation, the Here Comes the Sun yoga festival (which I told you about here) is coming up, and I still have a $5.00 coupon available for online ticket purchases - just shoot me an e-mail! And if you need some yoga gear, check out the Gaiam sale.

Ahhh... ready for the weekend?

Here's some cool stuff for you. Wanna buy me something pretty?

BlogNosh: no, I'm not going to start including my blogroll in my "cool finds" posts, silly! BlogNosh makes the cut because it's a blog of blogs. Or rather, it's kind of like a "best of" of the blogosphere, except it only publishes great posts that have already been archived. So if you find yourself wishing that new bloggers and visitors could see some of your favorite old posts (from your own blog or someone else's), look no further - just submit your entries to the BlogNosh editorial team, you'll get a heads-up when they are about to be published. So you have time to doll yourself up (and your blog) for the new visitors.

Amazon.com's Universal Wishlist feature: can I get a Halleluja, brothers and sisters? Because I LOVE the Amazon wishlist thing and I have been waiting for years for them to come up with a way to add stuff from stores they don't have a contract with. Finally!!! Now just add the link to your Links folder and click on it when you find something you like. Then just add the price of the item and any comments... et voilà! There you have it. So now people only have to check one wishlist to buy you the right present. Which means I can stop doing this. (Oh, don't look so shocked. I told you I'm an organizing freak. And maybe a control freak. And a bit spoiled, too.)

This is for you, Harry Potter fans: J.K. Rowling's new book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, is now available for pre-order on Amazon, including the beautiful Collector's Edition - I have never read the Harry Potter books (I can hear a collective gasp - they are on my list!!) but the Collector's Edition is so beautiful that I am tempted to give in and order it! Both editions will be released on December 4.

The Human calendar: many of you are probably already familiar with this, but for those who aren't check it out. I think it's kind of dorky but also cool at the same time: a calendar to add to your blog where the day, month and year are written on piece of paper shown by people. No, seriously, this description just doesn't do it: go see it!

If you are one of those who have a drawer full of takeout menus but keep adding more, you will love this: SeamlessWeb is a website that allows you to order your food online. They have over 2,000 delivery and takeout restaurants in New York and other major cities across the US (plus London, UK). They also started adding places in the NY Metro area (yay!). All you have to do is input your name and address and you'll be shown a list of restaurants in the area that will deliver to your address. When you click on a restaurant's name you can view the menu and prices, the delivery time and reviews from from previous customers.
I am kind of picky about food and rarely order in, but I have to say that this is a really cool idea!

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That's not a bad idea, isn't it? I just hope people play nice *wink*