Jenna McCarthy is one funny mother. (No, not Jenny McCarthy, although I suppose she is funny, too.) Jenna McCarthy started her writing career in New York for the glamorous Seventeen magazine. Dude. Back in the day, I soooo wanted to work at that magazine. My inner teenager was a wee bit jealous as I read McCarthy’s bio. Anyway, McCarthy’s bicoastal career eventually led her to Santa Barbara where she became a radio talent, a mother of two, and a very, very funny writer of the book The Parent Trip: From High Heels and Parties to Highchairs and Potties.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of parenting books; I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to them and they pretty much all make me feel inadequate. Not so with The Parent Trip. It’s more like reading the diary of one of your more humorous friends - a diary that spans pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and the first year of parenting. McCarthy touches on the highs and lows of pregnancy, labor, navigating the evils of a new mom’s group, breastfeeding, toys, the first vacation, you get my drift. All that crap we never thought we’d spend dozens of hours agonizing about as new mothers.
For all of you fans of Christian Siriano (of Project Runway fame), he’s teamed up with the founders of Moody Mamas for a Spring ‘09 maternity collection.
What’s the name of the collection? FIERCE, of course. The website is a little clunky, but hopefully the line will land in some posh boutique near you soon!
Hey, if you get to drop your kiddo off at school this week, why not look totally hot yourself, too. I love just about every dress Anthropologie ever comes out with. I love the vintage feel to this “Sudden Downpour” dress. Wouldn’t it look great with some red flats? Of course the trick would be to not touch your child so that you actually look put together past drop off. Oh, and be able to afford the dress as well as preschool. A girl can dream.
OK so I am totally intrigued by this company, check it out. How Fast They Grow, a mom-run company, is putting a digital twist on traditional scrapbooking. After the birth of her child four years ago, founder Cathy Bennett became disillusioned with the time-consuming nature of scrapbooking. So instead of sitting around and complaining about it like I would, she went and figured out a way to digitize the scrapbook.
How Fast They Grow allows parents to make lovely scrapbook pages on their computer in about 7 minutes and have them printed by HFTG. Just drag and drop your digital images into a cagillion different pre-designed templates, enter your own copy and boom, you’re done. You can even design and order just one printed page at a time. I like the idea of getting it done per event. Not as much pressure as sitting down with three rolls of printed pictures and no clue where to start.
I got this do-it-yourself brag book kit from Maude Asbury. OK, so I haven’t actually made it yet, but I can’t wait! You get all the fixins to make your own customized scrapbook/frame/bragbook album cover.
How cool is that? I’m basically made of all thumbs, so I am assuming my cover will be less than professional looking. Homespun is in?
Stay tuned for my review.
OK so file this under: Too Late To Use For This Father’s Day, But Cool Enough To Point Out Anyway.
My friend AJ got this custom photo notecube for her husband for Father’s Day. I think it’s a groovy idea for flossin the family at the office.
Just send ‘em one (or three) photos, up to 8” x 10”, and they will transfer the image(s) onto three sides of a notepaper cube. When ordering, you may select black & white, color or sepia. Comes in under $30.00, five cents under, but under is under.
Today I’m tired. Tired of being a Mom, tired of being pregnant, tired of my house lacking a huge spa bathtub where I can run and hide with a box of Calgon.
So I’ll take a break from Parent Stuff and talk about something seriously important: my favorite eyelash curler. It’s made by shu uemera and it is completely off the hook.
When her daughter was born, my friend Shauna got one of these hand-made charms from Tiny Tag Designs. It was one of her favorite gifts to receive and now, to give. I think it would also be a nice gift idea for Mother’s Day, which to all you Dads and Partners out there is on MAY 11TH!
That’s a Sunday.
You’ve got a month and half.
You’ve been warned.
Instead of sorting through paperwork to get ready for tax season, I decided to flip through old magazines. Productive, right? I was cruising through July’s issue of Real Simple and I saw these No See’ems by Bugcatcherz. No See’ems are touted as the wunderkind of fashion tape, a patent pending button front closure system. No See-ems apparently keep your button down shirt out of peekaboo territory. I wonder if they would work well for breast-feeding moms who can almost fit back into their old clothes, save for a few buttons popping open at inopportune moments? Anyone used them?
I lose things a lot. I lose my credit cards (thanks for hiding them under the rug, Sy!). I lose my Kiehl’s lip balm. I lose my personality.
So on the rare chance that I do remember to attempt looking put together, I throw my favorite, fabulous little Eyes Lips Face lip gloss sticks in my purse. Since they are only one dollar a piece, I don’t worry about it sliding under the carseat or into Sy’s grubby little hands. Yeah, you heard me right. One dollar a piece, people!
