Rounds of Humidity

I don't know if it's my asthma acting up again, or just the common cause of an ongoing winter cold, but I feel like I'm breathing in dry desert air! Waking up parched in middle of the night to chug down water doesn't quite make for peaceful sleep... After a bit of a coughing fot, I finally ended up crashing in Freida's room last night - to get the benefits of her humidifier. Craving this beauty of humidity from PlusMinusZero, designed by the same team behind Apple's sleek creations, for my bedroom... Fukasawa Humidifier by PlusMinusZero

But at close to $400, I think I'll opt for this $45 one.

Family Planning: Redefined

Began the process of switching myself (and my life) over to my new 2011 planner today. Most planners start with the last week of December, and I find it's a bit easier to break into once you get it going before the new year. I love transferring all my dinner menus, schedules, birthdays, save-the-dates etc. There's just something so productive about it... productive, yet calm. Organized! That's the word I'm looking for! It brings a sense of perfect organization, and it's wonderful. While I'm still using my beloved cult-object day planner from Gallery Leather (found a copper colored croc-embossed version last month at Marshalls!), I stumbled upon a truly personalizable planner from Erin Condren. This planner is the brain-child of a working mom, i.e. it delivers! With everything you need to stay organized and put-together, this planner features an assortment of specialty goodies any busy mom would love. My favorite feature is the separate spaces for each day's Morning, Day, and Night - because we all know that the real productivity takes place during the later PM hours... Some of the main features of this planner are; color coded "event stickers" (from play-dates to Vegas weekends), easy-to-navigate daytime planning space (because even planners manage to get cluttered!), "keep it together" pockets (for all those lose papers: invitations, coupons, prescriptions etc.), plastic zip pouch (keep business cards and photographs safe and sound), and built-in personalized notepads (for grocery lists that are meant to be ripped off).

Erin Condren Life Planner, $50.00

Happy transitions...!!

(For some more planner ideas and options, revisit this post on planning!)

Sippy Cup: Roundup

Now that Freida has learned how to open and close her Crocodile Creek water bottle (which, by the way, dents annoyingly easily!), I'm chucking/storing some of our old sippy cups. Thought I'd give a little roundup of the best (and worst) of the bunch...

1. Weil Baby Training Cup $9.99 - Featuring Dr. Weils award winning BPA/EA free with AirWave™ technology, the design makes this cup nice to carry, the cap makes it sanitary.

2. Playtex My First Sipster $5.99 - Hands down, the most efficiently leak-free cup on the market, be it rolling around the back seat of the car, or neglected upside down at the bottom of my diaper bag!

3. Thermos Foogo Sippy Cup $16.00 - Vacuum insulation makes this cup perfect for keeping milk cold, and keeping tea warm.

4. mOmma Sippy Cup $13.25 - This little digit is definitely the Maserati on the playground; it's wobbly nature means the spout remains upright even when chucked into the sandbox! Plus, all cups/caps/spouts are interchangeable making bottle to cup transition that much easier.

5. Boon Fluid Sippy Cup $5.99 -  This one is surely more about the cup than the "sippy"; the spout leaks easily. And while it looks like some futuristic ergonomic design...it is actually quite difficult to grasp.

6. Munchkin Mighty Grip Training Cup $4.00 - The most frustrating "leak proof" cup out there!! This cups spout is so soft, than when you bend it slighty, it's contents pours out! Took soaking through a bed sheet, and finding puddles on my floor before I finally caught Freida in the "bending" act.

Feel free to let me know if I missed any other great/awful sippy cups out there... Which cups work best for you and your brood?

For the Love of Winter

Though it feels as if winter is deeply upon us, today is actually the very first day of the season... While the miserable rain and sleet continue to fall (don't mean to offend you snow-out folk - but this is winter to us!), I thought I'd post some wonderful wintery reasons to love the freezing season!

- Cozy winter tea times like this one.

- Treks up the mountain for some flurry family fun with this Zipfy snow sled.

- Living chilly weeks on end in your favorite hoodie.

- Lots of rainy-day warm chocolate cookie batter licking!

- Cozy-up couch time with a new-for-winter cotton cable knit throw.

- Break out the adorably snuggly and charming baby bundles!

- Epic outdoor skating rinks - be it with palm trees or Prometheus.

- Hot doses of wintery bone-warming soups like this one.

- The arrival of good-looking snow boots!

Either way, wishing you a happy winter all around!

(Also, check out last year's winter round up...)

Hunters Happy

Today I found myself wishing I had a pair of these:

And a little kiddie pair of these:

Would've made for some splash-happy fun!