Spend a Couple Minutes »The Ballard Farmers Market

Screen-Shot-2013-06-02-at-7.29.15-PMBallard at 22nd Ave, Seattle, WA

Several people have recommended a visit to The Ballard Farmers Market and it’s easy to see why.This friendly street fair boasts fresh produce, bright flowers, seafood, meats, wines, baked goods and more.

I can personally recommend the fresh donuts, the incredible Pete’s Perfect Toffee, the selection of delicious cheeses from Mt. Townsend Creamery, sourdough from Tall Grass Bakery, and the local green onions.

It’s such a pleasant environment that even the gimmicky street musicians have a certain charm.

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Posted on June 2, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »The One Fund, The Blood Center of Central Texas, The Red Cross

OneFundFlag-smWays to Help

Obviously some horrific and heartbreaking tragedies have occurred in the last weeks. It leaves us, surely, wondering how we can help.

To donate to The One Fund, which goes directly to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing, text BOSTON to 80108.

To help victims of the Texas explosion, you can donate to The Blood Center of Central Texas here.

You can always donate to The Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999 and give blood year round.

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Posted on April 21, 2013

Songs,Spend a Couple Minutes »Cyriak Videos

cyriakComputer Animations

Van found these videos by Cyriak on YouTube, starting with Kitty City. He continues to be mesmerized by them, and who can blame him with the clever animation and catchy songs?

A boy could do worse for a creative inspiration than Cyriak, who seems genuinely interesting and has been picked up by rock and rollers to make awesome videos.

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Posted on March 7, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »Follow Chris Hadfield

Untitled-1

Orbiting the Earth

Twitter, once a thing I could barely understand the point of, has since become a source for instant (but not incessant) news, laughs… and now phenomenal views of earth from space!

For amazing, magical images follow astronaut Chris Hadfield as he chronicles his orbit around our planet. (He is also chatting and answering questions on reddit.)

Honestly, the photos will make you feel a childlike sense of wonder and amazement.

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Posted on February 25, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »Toca Boca Games

tocaGreat Apps for Kids

I’ve been meaning to recommend the catalog of charming, well designed and fun toddler apps from Toca Boca for some time since they are an invaluable resource for parents.

I’ve downloaded all of them and find each one delightful but am personally partial to Toca Tailor (where you makes clothes for quirky characters). Van’s interests rotate but he has always loved Robot Lab and playing Toca Kitchen Monsters with his dad.

Some games like Toca Doctor and Toca House have objectives, while others like Toca Salon are more open ended.

I never feel guilty about letting Van play with these games for a bit, in fact, I usually join in the fun. With so much junk targeted at kids it’s nice to find a company that seems to actually think of and enjoy children when designing for them.

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Posted on January 31, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »Tattly

tattlyGreat Temporary Tattoos

“After applying many bad-clip-art tattoos on her daughter, swissmiss decided to stop complaining and take matters into her own hands. Tattly was born.”

Tattly is not only inspiring in a DIY business sense, but their temporary tattoos are fantastic. Not cheap, exactly, but fantastic.

Design super star Tina Roth Eisenberg has asked artists to contribute their art to fun, inventive, beautiful images you can wear on your person (and the quality is equally impressive too).

Van has had a great time with the Menagerie Set designed by Amy Blay and while it is currently sold out, new designs are added often.

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Posted on January 6, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »Get Psyched About The Mars Landing

Yay!

When the last space shuttle launch was announced, a spark of wonder and excitement died in the world. Space travel used to be the stuff of little kid dreams and now I’d never see one launch again.

But wait! Before we sadly mope away from NASA, there’s something new to get thrilled about: The Curiosity, the most advanced rover yet, landed on Mars!

The spacecraft touched down successfully last night and a room full of scientists that had been working on the risky project for a long time, cheered, hugged and even cried.

I missed it live – well most of us probably did since no major network found it worth interrupting their scheduled reruns for but you can see video and photos online.

Plus there’s a Mohawked young scientist who’s become an overnight internet heart throb. Yay!

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Posted on August 6, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Jane’s Carousel

56 Water Street  Brooklyn

This morning was perfect for an impromptu trip to Jane’s Carousel in Dumbo with Van’s buddies Leo and Everett.

The ferry is really the easiest way to travel the city with small kids and we were lucky enough to catch them just in time.

The carousel, a lovely classic that was painstakingly restored by artist Jane Walentas is set in a glass structure along the water offering nice views of the city.
Great 4th of July activity.

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Posted on July 4, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Livie and Luca Shoes

“Adorable Shoes for Adorable Feet”

Van needed sandals. I asked my moms’ group for suggestions and read online reviews. In the end, I am almost ashamed to admit, I was swayed by cuteness.

Rocket ships! And such an adorable design!

Lucky for us, the maker Livie and Luca is also globally conscious and the shoes are completely comfortable and fit perfectly.

Hooray for form and function!

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Posted on June 14, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Silhouette Cut Outs with Erik Johnson

at Mini Jake

Oh,I just adore my silhouette portrait of Van!! Erik Johnson, who is a third generation silhouette portrait artists, is a marvel. There’s no photo, no sketch.. he does each child’s likeness simply by looking and wielding a small pair of scissors. Each piece is one of a kind and something to cherish forever.

North Carolina native Johnson sets up at various shops throughout the city when he tours New York as he currently is, but his Facebook profile can offer information nation wide.

I signed up at the local shop Mini Jake, which was unfortunately quite disorganized and boasts a less than friendly staff (one guy was loudly complaining about what a pain customers were) but any minor inconvenience is worth such a priceless keepsake.

If you miss him this time round, keep an eye out for his name in the future.

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Posted on June 12, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Colored Laces

20120522-121930.jpgPop of Color

It’s a simple effective way to spruce up old shoes.

I got some colored laces from J. Crew for only $4 a pop.

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Posted on May 21, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Dark Sky

20120515-204110.jpgiPhone App

No weather forecast is more annoying than a 30% chance of rain all day. It basically means nothing.

Optimists could get caught in the rain while others could plan a whole day indoors (particularly if you’ve got a little one) only to realize after the fact that you could have gone outside after all.

Dark Sky, which I heard about on NY1, puts an end to the doubt.

It does one thing and one thing only: accurately let you know if it will be raining where you are in the next hour.

It’s been quite useful to me and is well worth the few dollars.

 

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Posted on May 15, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Spring Onions aka Green Garlic

20120506-074159.jpgSpring Specialty

Everyone goes wild for wild ramps this season, but spring onions (young garlic) are equally worth the excitement.

I’ve been having them with scrambled eggs for a most delectable breakfast. The taste is a cross between a scallion and garlic.

Look for them at your local farmer’s market.

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Posted on May 7, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Educo My Creative Cookery Club

Perfect Toddler Kitchen

A couple months ago I started to notice that Van wasn’t as interested in his old toys. As he makes his way into toddlerhood, things that rattle just aren’t as cool as grown up gadgets. So, I started to look for some play grown up toys.

I found this adorable wooden kitchen from Educo that is as lovely to look at as it is enthraling for Van.

Great for small spaces and small kids, it’s not as elaborate as some I’ve seen but perfect for our needs.
Van hasn’t been as involved in playtime as is with this for a while.

It comes with toy utensils, dishes, and food and is relatively easy to assemble.

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Posted on April 25, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »Carved Candles from Enchantments

424 East 9th Street

You might be surprised but one of the coolest purchases I’ve made in the city came from an East Village magic/witch/head shop called “Enchantments“.

Like any subculture establishment, you may feel out of place when you first arrive or at least as though you might be intruding (like the familiar feeling of a woman entering a gaming shop, hearing the Magic the Gathering game come to a screeching halt as she patters by in high heels).
But the key, as really in any place you expect costumer service, is to be polite and respectful.

I was looking for a magic candle. I burned one for good luck while pregnant with Van from the Pharmacia Millionaire in Los Angeles and he turned out awesome so, of course, I wanted one for my new pregnancy.

Unlike my experience in LA, Enchantments will hand carve a candle for you, depending on your needs. It is then decorated (in my case with gold glitter and bronze) an encantation is performed (mine involved pennies, honey and inscense) and you walk away with a pretty sweet looking item for your house and superstitious mind.

Skeptical at first, my accompanying friend decided she may like one for herself to bless her upcoming wedding. It’s a much more satisfying experience than I had even hoped for.

Enchantments is also your source more any witchcraft needs including herbs and talismans.

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Posted on April 22, 2012

Movies,Spend a Couple Minutes »Rear Window

directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1954)

Some of my absolute favorite movies have never been recommended here because:

A. I assume everyone has already seen them and

B. They’re such known classics that there’s not much left to say except “It’s awesome”.

But I am recommending Rear Window regardless because no one needs me to say much anyways and I am always surprised at how few people have seen what I think are major classic films.

Hey, let’s make a week of it – I’ll call it my Top Best Movies You’ve Probably Seen But If You Haven’t You Better Get On It Marathon.

And if you are already a fan of Rear Window and don’t need me telling you to watch it, check out this stunning time lapse video of the amazing set piece.

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Posted on April 4, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes »5 Umami Paste

20120323-214528.jpg by Laura Santtini

Even though I don’t have to disposable income I once did, it’s still hard to walk out of The Meat Hook without one impulse buy.

This time it was 5 Umami Paste, a potent tomato based paste that was perfect atop a bowl of spaghetti for a quick delicious lunch.

I know “umami” has risen quickly to be the latest arguably obnoxious foodie term but it’s actually a century old Japanese discovery and considered the 5th sense.

You could also call it savory if you wanted, but I was much more drawn to “Umami paste” than I would be to a “savory paste”.

The taste is up my alley – all anchovies, sundried tomatoes, garlic and porcini. The uses are undoubtedly endless and I look forward to discovering them all.

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Posted on March 25, 2012