I heart Pinterest

I'm not on the Twitter bandwagon. I do have a Facebook and will occasionally post some pictures there. Obviously, I'm addicted to my Google Reader. But THIS? This is awesome.

Let me explain.

I have always been one of those tear-it-out-of-the-magazine people.

Always.

My high school bulletin boards were full of horoscopes, newspaper clippings (with my water polo highlights, of course), and pictures of Tim McGraw. After college I discovered Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple magazines and my bulletin boards turned to binders full of recipes, paint colors, and decorating ideas. More recently, I've learned to bookmark sites, or just email the links to myself and keep them in different folders in my Gmail.

Not any more, thanks to Pinterest.

There, I can keep folders with images labeled:

Decorative

(For decorating ideas, duh)

Creative

(For things I want to make)

Festive

(Party ideas)

Stylish

(I need style help, desperately)

and, Edible

(Easiest meal planning EVER)

You can "follow" other users and stuff they've pinned will show up on your Pinterest home page, or you can just follow certain boards. Or don't follow anyone and just do your own thing.

For me, Pinterest is full of inspiration, an awesomely organized and efficient way for me to store things I want to remember or refer back to, and just a lot of fun! Check it out, but it's invitation-only, so if you want to join, let me know and I'll invite you.

Are you already on Pinterest? What do you think? And let me know so I can follow you!

Favorites List 2010

In general, I'm not all about "stuff". I've become a little green in my old age (haha) and have adopted the recycle/repurpose/reinvent motto that has become so popular. I try to be conservative with my purchases and if I see something I can't live without, I usually try to either create it myself (which doesn't always work out) or find it second-hand. Now, don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of designer jeans and Coach bags-- there are things even this thrifty girl won't compromise on. So in the spirit of "sometimes you just need cool stuff", here are a few of my favorite things from the past year. If you're really interested (and I don't know why you would be), here is the list from 2009. Now then, my 2010 Favorites List!

Etsy (Specifically: Jewelry on Etsy)

More specifically: Stella Jade, Fancybelle Boutique, and Simple Serendipity. Sarah, of Stella Jade, is a blog friend of mine who actually lives half a country away and is one of the sweetest people I know (but don't really know). She saw a book on my wish list on my blog's side bar and offered to send me her copy when she was done-- then she ended up buying me a copy from Amazon. So thoughtful! Her jewelry is super cute and SUPER affordable and more than once I've ordered gifts and *almost* kept them for myself.

Hand stamped jewelry has been really popular for a while and I've wanted a necklace every since I was pregnant with Mason. After losing the baby in October I finally ordered a simple disc from Fancybelle Boutique with my favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11, and one birthstone for Mason and one for the other baby on it. I wear it every day and is the (second) most meaningful piece of jewelry I own. Love.

Finally, Simple Serendipity just has some fun pieces that are WAY cheap. You can totally justify buying several items because they are so cute and inexpensive.

The moral of the story? Shop Etsy. Support handmade and small business. Maybe make a friend or two along the way.

Gap's Real Straight denim

These are the skinny jeans for those of us who have resisted the skinny jean craze because we think you have to be skinny to wear skinny jeans. (Can I fit the word "skinny" in there one more time? Skinny skinny skinny.) Ain't No Mom Jeans suggested the Gap Real Straight jean and I pretty much bought them immediately. Side note: If you don't already read ANMJ, you're missing out. Unless you have fashion sense (unlike me), then you could probably be a contributor for ANMJ. Or start your own fashion blog (Heidi).

Shutterfly
Besides the free photo storage, Shutterfly is constantly offering me free stuff. My 2010 Christmas cards were free, thanks to a blog promo. Then, for sharing my Christmas card on this blog, they gave me $25 to spend on other Shutterfly stuff. I've gotten free photo books (which made awesome grandparent gifts last year) and you can always find promos going on. Thanks, Shutterfly.

Bikram Yoga
Hot yoga. As in, yoga done in an extremely HOT room. Like over 100 degrees. It's sweaty. It's intense. It's an hour and a half class at the studio I go to. Bikram yoga is very challenging but so amazingly cleansing-- physically and mentally. You can burn up to 800 calories per class and I swear you sweat out every single toxin in your body. I think everyone should try it. (Full disclosure: I have no sense of smell, so a bunch of sweaty people in close proximity in a non-ventilated room does not bother me. Just sayin'. Consider that.)

Trader Joe's Well Red Organic Wine
There had to be something TJ's in my list, since that is where I can be found twice a week. Matt recently warned a friend of his who was rummaging through our refrigerator that, "Everything in there is healthy and from Trader Joe's". Anyway, the Well Red is about $6 a bottle and is sulfite-free. I'm totally a sucker for clever-- and the name "Well Red" appeals to my nerdy appreciation for vocabulary and a play on words. Aside from that, it's the perfect wine for a mild, it's-been-a-long day glass at the end of the night. Add to that a packet of their dark chocolate peppermints and O.M.G. Heaven.

So there you go. I hope you found something new or will commit to trying something new in the next year. Now, do tell: What are a few of your favorite things?

Endless shoes and organic laundry soap

First off, this is a long post, but if you make it through to the end there is a good chance you'll learn something you didn't know before. I have to share a few awesome things I've discovered in the last couple of weeks-- and skimming the post is totally okay-- so here we go.

Find #1: Google's "Shopping" Search
So, as a banker-by-day I am required to wear black shoes and I've been searching for work shoes that are "eco-friendly". In case you were wondering, NO ONE sells black pumps that are environmentally responsible. Or if they do, they are way, way beyond my price range. I finally found the Clarks Taipei at both Zappos and Piperlime for $78. In the midst of all this searching I happened to notice the Shopping option on the Google toolbar (you know, up there with Images and Maps) so I typed in "Clarks Taipei black" and lo-and-behold. Endless.com were the first results and they were $59.90!

Find #2: Endless.com
Free overnight shipping. Free return shipping. Best price I could find (and seriously, I checked everywhere-- including Ebay.) There you have it. Short and sweet. Check out Endless.com.

Find #3: Clarks shoes

Tage is obsessed with Eccos. He searches them out on Craigslist and Ebay. Don't ask me how many pairs he owns... but I have a feeling I can no longer give him a bad time about it. When my Taipei's arrived I had run home for lunch so I opened them up, tried one shoe on and oh. my. goodness. Seriously comfortable. I immediately took the other one out of the box and wore them back to work. I've been wearing them for a couple of weeks now and they are still awesome, all day long. Thank you Clarks. And they're pretty cute too, as far as work shoes go. P.S. Since we're on the subject of shoes, go read the shoe post HERE, complete with an adorable model, from A Woman in her Thirties.

Find #4: Eco Nuts

Okay, okay. I know you're thinking, "What the?" This find is completely unrelated to the previous three, except for the fact that it is too awesome not to share. I've been looking for green cleaning alternatives lately and found Eco Nuts laundry "detergent". They are literal nuts, like from a tree, that you place in a small pouch and toss in with the wash. I ordered a regular size box that is supposed to wash 90 loads of laundry (or 50 if you use hot water) for $10 ($15 after shipping.)

This is what they look like. Crazy, right? The pouch is tiny and it takes me a while to find it when I'm transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer, but they seriously work! Mason's diapers are just as clean as when we were using baby detergent, take up about a million times less space (and if you live in 900 sq. ft. this is important), are cheaper AND do not harm the environment. After the Eco Nuts have run their course in your washing machine, you can use them to make handsoap or an antimicrobial multi-purpose cleaner for your house. Seriously. How awesome is that?!

So there you have it. Some cool stuff you might not have known about. Or maybe you already did! Whew.

Another great place to find deals!

"Welcome to the Mini Social!"

The Mini Social is a daily deal site where retailers offer a selection of their products at discounted prices for a limited time.

Speesees is featured there from time to time, along with tons of other great mommy/baby/child shops. Click here to sign up and if you use the promotion code NEWYEAR10 through January 31st you get $10 off your order. So if you purchase an item that is $10, you only pay shipping!

Happy shopping. :)

Speesees

A new favorite place to find organic baby clothes: Speesees. They are based out of San Francisco and offer basic, well made kids clothes.

Here is Mase's new Skull Cap in Tomato ($12).

And way cute Bear Jacket (on sale for $32).

We also bought two of the short sleeved Lap Tee's. The packaging they came in was all recycled and ridiculously cute. All of the items are soft and snuggly (especially that Bear Jacket) and are really high quality. Mason doesn't even try to constantly tear the beanie off his head, like he does with all the other ones.

I found Speesees through Rookie Moms and if you enter the discount code "ROOKIE" you'll get 30% off your order (on TOP of the sale prices they have right now!) Go check them out. :)

Favorites List 2009

I thought it would be fun to wrap up 2009 with a "Favorite Things" list (think Oprah's favorites) from the past year. Maybe it will be something I'll continue each year at the end of December. Should be fun to see how the list changes as our lives are constantly changing!

1. The Gap Maternity Cami: And not just because I started out 2009 by being 8 months pregnant. They are super soft, really well made and long, which is fabulous if you're 5'9" or taller. I purchased two, one black and one white, at the end of last year and they are still in good shape. Plus, at $19.50 (or you can find them on sale for two for $15) they are a steal.

2. The Ergo baby carrier: Granted we just got the Ergo a few weeks ago, but already I love it. Easy to use (once you get the hang of it) and it seems to be comfortable for Mason. I never quite got the hang of the ModMum sling and while the Snugli worked well, he has outgrown it. Thanks to Jaime for the recommendation! We found our Organic Cranberry Carrier on Craigslist for $50 and saved $85 as opposed to purchasing it new. I heart Craigslist. Which leads me to number 3...

3. Craigslist: Is there no end to the deals that can be found there? I can't even count the number of Craigslist transactions we were responsible for this year. Our Danish rocking chair, many Miele appliances, our Danish design bedroom set, a fabulous renter for our house (and one not-so-fabulous renter), not to mention the sale of a LOT of extra stuff when we downsized from 3200 square feet to 1600 square feet (and then again from 1600 square feed to 900 just 3 months later) all thanks to Craigs.

4. Blogger: Well, blogging in general. It has been such an effective way to keep friends and family (both near and far) included in our daily lives and a fun way to document and share Mason's first year. Not to mention it is like therapy for me! (Thank you to my employer for not blocking the site... I swear, I am being productive... most of the time...)

5. Trader Joes: Not that that is something new, but I appreciate them so much more now that I am conscious of what we consume in our household (rather, what Mason consumes.) Specifically their organic canned pumpkin, sweet potato spears, frozen avocado halves, raw almonds and 100% blueberry juice. Nothing compares to their frozen lemonade either, which they only sell for like 2 weeks in the summer (okay maybe it's more like 2 months but I'm serious, the stuff is like crack and believe me when I say it is limited time only.) And then there is the wine selection. Any place that carries a large selection of afforable wine is my kind of place. Now please open a TJ's in Spokane before we move back there.

So there you go, a few of my favorite things from the past year.

Your turn! What are some of your favorite things from this 2009?

Maybe they'll end up on my Favorites List 2010. :)

Happy New Year!

If it doesn't already feel like Christmas

It will now!

For a girl who has a big giant cup of green tea every morning,

Trader Joe's Candy Cane Green Tea

is like heaven in a cup.

Try some, you'll thank me.

(Sorry Suzy, there is no TJ's in Spokane yet.)