i was lucky enough to spend the day at the gift show at the javits center in nyc with peter's aunts. (i do have to find a new way of calling them..."peter's aunts" doesn't really cut it, and of course "aunts-in-law" doesn't work at all...but that's another topic). one day was not enough, but oh the time i spent salivating over wonderful designs. i'm sharing a few finds...

giimmo by magic light is a line of so-stinking-cute nightlights. they constantly change color, are rechargeable and portable. their website claims they have also been used successfully by child psychologists and as an aid to prevent bed wetting. that's a bonus!

if i could have scooped up all of the kinno towel collection designed by shinzi katoh i would have. wonderful designs.

Homemade Valentine's Day Crafts

Perhaps it's the torrential rainfall outside that's got me thinking of "inside" projects to do with the kids. Or it could be that Valentine's Day is nearing and I am loathe to buy Hello Kitty or SpongeBob premade Valentine's Day cards for the kids.

Over at the purl bee there are easy to follow directions (I promise!) for making these beautiful felt heart pins.

Tea Party Tea Bag Invitation

In December 2007, Esme and I planned her 4th birthday at Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper West Side. It's a wonderful little tea room that she loves. It was her plus just a few girlfriends. I was trying to come up with invitations "tea related" and was stumped. Then I came up with this idea to make the invitation into a tea bag itself. I took apart a real tea bag to figure out how to fold it, then took vellum and duplicated the folds. The invitation I just printed on regular paper and then slipped it inside so that the wording showed through the vellum. Then it was stapled. The tea bag...tag? what is that thing called--the paper thingy that hangs from the string? i made that out of cardboard and glued fabric to it. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I wish the picture was more clear, I definitely have to become better at digital photography (or get a new camera because ours stinks).

The tea bag invitation sits on shelf with a silver tea set my mother-in-law gave us. As you can see from the photo, it's not silver anymore. I took it to the auto paint place up the block from the architecture firm I work for and asked one of the guys to spray paint the set glossy black. His English is almost non-existant and he stared at me just blinking. I'm assuming he thought he didn't hear me correctly. I don't speak Spanish, but I said "Negro" and motioned as if doing a charade for "all over the this." I had to repeat myself a bunch of times and finally said. "I know it sounds crazy. Loco." He smiled and took the set from me and told me to come back the next day. I love the way it turned out. My mother -in-law will DIE if she finds out. I'm just not going to tell her.

matry-OH!-shka

i have a thing for matryoshkas. maybe it's because i'm polish. they're eastern european nesting dolls (perhaps specifically russian, but i'm not positive). i've seen some scandinavian ones too. in college i had one with all of the leaders of the soviet union. gorbachev was the largest, this was before putin, before even yeltsin...ok, i admit it. i was a poly sci geek. these are a few of my favorite matryoshka finds on etsy, but there are loads more. as soon as we get my daughter a room, i'm getting the wall decals.

the best sound

i realize this is an old video, but it still makes me laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6PNps5N9I&feature=related

getting a stuffy nose unstuffed.

odds are, if you're a parent, your baby has gotten a cold as some point in his/her life.

and with that cold probably came a stuffed up nose you were puzzled to get un-stuffed. so far the only thing available to help were those blue-bulb-y things that just piss off the little one and really don't get the snot out. then my friend juliet (she's a pediatrician) sent me a nosefrida. it's genius. it's a nasal aspirator from sweden and it gets the snot out so effectively and painlessly, i actually look forward to the next time baby bea has a stuffed up nose. well, sort of. how you use it: one end of the tube goes up against baby's nostril--it doesn't go all the way in, but it's angled to fit snugly. from the other end of the hard tube is a filter and then another soft tube with a red mouthpiece at the end. you then use your own suction to literally suck the snot out. don't get grossed out, the snot comes NO WHERE near your mouth. but the joy you get from actually seeing the job being done.

check out their website: http://www.nosefrida.com/. in the states you can buy them at whole foods.

you've got to start somewhere.

it dawned on me, i could sit around and talk about starting a blog, or i could just do it.

first dilema: what to name my blog? all i can come up with is something my son luc keeps saying, something he picked up from alvin and the chipmunks: oh yeah mamacita. maybe i'll change it later. who knows.