The ABC’s Go to the Zoo
November 3, 2008 by Lauren · 6 Comments
(If you’re looking to read about the Mrs. Goodbee Dollhouse Donation Experience - it’s just two posts back)!
Grab your kiddos, snuggle up in front of the computer and get ready for a fabulous trip to the zoo! There’s no end to the fun you and your children can have learning the alphabet with the amazing animals at Bembo’s Zoo (flash player required). I guarantee you will be mezmerized by this creative menagerie (with a great educational bonus!) My family has chosen the D-Dragon as our household fave - what’s yours?
You can bring the whole zoo home with you too! Bembo’s artist, Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich, has compiled his animals into a charming book as well.
Lauren’s blog: Supermom Central - tips, tricks and tidbits for the aspiring Supermom.
Kelly Ripa’s 10 Secrets to Happiness
September 12, 2008 by Emily · 2 Comments
I don’t really have a favorite celebrity, but if I did I would probably be a HUGE fan of Kelly Ripa (OK, maybe a few actors from The Office would rank high on my list too). In addition to being an incredible TV Host, she’s also a wife and mom of three. Even though she’s super-woman in many aspects, she’s also down to earth about her daily life and comes across as very relate-able.
You may have caught a glimpse of her on the cover of First Magazine this month at the grocery store, but just in case you didn’t, she opens up about parenthood, happiness and how she manages it all. Here are a few quotes from her featured interview:
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On her traditional family life: “Marriage and having kids really agrees with us. Mark helps with homework, while I’ll do a baking project for school. We look at each other and think, if our friends could see us now, they wouldn’t believe what we’ve become! We really enjoy what our life has developed into. I try to do it all, and I don’t do any of it particularly well. But at least I try. Sometimes the cookies get burnt, but what are you going to do?”
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Her favorite rainy day activities with her kids: “With my daughter, we’re really into fairy house. They’re lots of fun. You gather sticks, weeds, toothpicks, seashells and any other materials you have lying around, and you build a house for a fairy. People actually build them and leave them in the woods. You can stumble upon them if you know where to look. The boys aren’t so much into organized rainy-day activities. They’re more into bartering for video game time—I’ll take out the trash if you let me have 10 minutes of video game time. We also do a lot of tie-dye outside in the garage.”
HR Baby
September 11, 2008 by Emily · 3 Comments
Just wanted to give a quick “shout out” to HR Baby. It’s a pretty helpful resource that has answers for many of your mommy questions, HR (Health Record) Baby was formed when two people set out to simplify health care for U.S. moms. This site contains tips, articles and contributions by professionals about a variety of topics from safety to toddler dental care to time saving tips.
Uptown Liz
August 20, 2008 by Emily · 2 Comments
As you know, I feel strongly about giving back in some small way and I love writing about places where your shopping can really make a difference. So today, I wanted to spotlight a website that also lives by retail philanthropy (the opportunity to purchase quality products that benefit worthwhile causes). Uptown Liz is a wonderful resource that was founded to promote products from companies whose proceeds directly give back to charitable organizations.
Ramona, the founder of Uptown Liz, created this company in memory of her 28 year old sister who died from a long and painful battle with breast cancer. To help fulfill her sister’s dreams, their mission is to “build a bridge between compassionate consumers and concerned companies in order to improve the world.”
A feature that I love about this site is that you can finds shop or stores by “cause” or by “product” - that way if you feel strongly about a particular cause, you have a list of all the places that support your similar goals.
The Sonora Grill
August 13, 2008 by Emily · 4 Comments
Being originally from Arizona, Mexican food is a regular staple for my weekly meal plan. I love fresh Mexican food and am always happy to find a new restaurant.
If you LOVE Mexican food too and are anywhere near Ogden Utah, you absolutely must visit The Sonora Grill. Chef Mortenson, of the Sonora Grill, has spent 40 years in the kitchen and has learned from famous celebrity chefs to bring you only the best.
They also buy many of their ingredients locally, which means that everything on their menu is fresh. You will definitely want to keep tabs on this site as they are planning to introduce a few interesting recipes on their blog that you wont want to miss.
Bonus:
The Sonora Grill also has an Early Bird Special from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. where you can get 2 entrees and 2 drinks for $20 and they also have a printable coupon on their website for a free dessert.
Are you a Posh Mama Yet?
July 9, 2008 by Emily · 6 Comments
I want to give a little shout out to this super cool girls club that really is one of the sweetest spots on the net! Posh Mama Online Magazine and Social Network is made up of women of all ages, from all around the world, and from all walks of life. You will find that Posh Mamas are CEO’s, Students, SAHM’s, Artists, Designers, WAHM’s, Models, Authors, Mompreneurs, and more.
Posh Mama is also a positive community and I promise that you will feel immediately welcomed and will make and connect with friends each week. It’s a place where you will be able to shine with your own personalized page as well as learn tips about fashion, beauty, style, home interiors, art, book reviews, author interviews, fitness, nutrition, unique products for women, cool gadgets and lots more.
I was recently invited to be a weekly writer/editor for Posh Mama Online Magazine! Yea! I am so delighted to contribute. You can find my articles featured on the front page every Wednesday with even more charming ideas for you, your home, and your family. My first article for Posh Mama was published today…
Are you a Posh Mama yet? If not, please stop by to hang out with me at www.poshmama.com and be sure to invite me to be your friend too.
See you there.
Sites that Save You $$
July 4, 2008 by Emily · 1 Comment
Why pay full price if you don’t have to, I mean seriously! There are fantastic free websites out there who are all about making life easier on your bank account. I want to mention these next three sites because I like them and I think that they are easy to use, up to date, and are really helpful for anyone!
Rather Be Shopping aims to make your online shopping experience even easier (yes, that is actually possible). The individuals behind this site work hard to find and display the best online coupons and bargains to all your favorite online stores in order to help you save a few dollars when you shop. You can find coupons by date, by store, or by category. They even have a bunch of printable coupons you can access and take with you. And they also include the coupon code and the expiration date as often as possible.
Pinching Your Pennies is a family-friendly site that is really all about you. It is a place where you can learn and share how to save money in all aspects of your life. It includes ready-made shopping lists, great coupons and deals listed by state and online, and a forum community where you can socialize and chit-chat with others who are striving to save money too. Here’s what I really love about this site, you can go to the Grocery Guide and type in your zip code and find the local stores near your home. Just select the store that you shop at and poof, the coupons for that particular store will appear! How nice is that? I love that it is available nation-wide so that it is helpful to everyone!!
Savvy Shopper Deals is similar to Pinching Your Pennies, except the thing is that they are mainly based in Utah, which is great if you live in Utah, but it may not be so helpful if you are located in other parts of the US or Canada. :( Savvy Shopper Deals will find all the latest deals and coupons for stores in Utah. You can organize your favorite stores and products in their shopping wizard and they will even email you the deals each week - this is really nice especially if you don’t have the time to go searching for sales!! The coupons are also marked with a “Wow” to let you know if it’s a really good deal and if it will save you $$. Now, I’m told that there are subscribers throughout the US since there are large chain organizations like Walmart and Target that are included, so you may still be able to find a few great deals even if you are not in Utah.
So, before your next shopping trip, be sure to take a peek at these websites, you are not going to be disappointed, I promise!!
What are your experiences with these sites? Have you found them to be helpful with your shopping?
Sweet Shoppes Guide and a Secret Giveaway
June 30, 2008 by Emily · 78 Comments
It’s done! The Sweet Shoppes Guide that I have been dreaming of making has finally come to fruition. This really is one of the main reasons I wanted to start the Little Window Shoppe - to highlight charming ideas from cute shoppes in order to promote Shoppe and Boutique owners, as well as help Window Shoppers find delightful ideas.
I have created a guide where shoppe owners can list their shoppe or boutique so that the Window Shoppe Readers can more easily find them. My blog generally focuses on shoppe products, and so I wanted this guide to be a little more about the shoppes in general.
This guide is of course family friendly and so I try to find and display shoppes and boutiques (photography businesses and other helpful services too) that I think are sensational for your Home and Family, babies, children, teens, women, and moms. (Sorry guys, I just wasn’t sure how to factor guy stuff in too - but this is a great place for you to find gift ideas for your beloved family)…
This is a free guide (yes totally free) - so you can peruse it at your pleasure or if you have a shoppe that you think fits in glamorously with this site, please submit it - I would love to add it to this guide for free too.
**If you don’t have a shoppe, but you still want to be a part of the Window Shoppe, you can submit your blog to my Sweet Links Blog Directory for free too and I will add it to my site.**
Contest:
Win it! To kick off the Window Shoppe’s new Sweet Shoppes Guide, I am hosting a giveaway! One winner will receive this lovely Secrets de Sothys age-defying solution cream by Sothys Paris ~ retail value $180!
To Win:
Just submit a comment or email me at contest@littlewindowshoppe.com within the next week and in order to be entered, please visit my new Sweet Shoppes and Boutiques link and let me know that you checked it out. Thank you!!
*Receive additional entries (both are completely optional):
1. Tell your friends about the Sweet Shoppes Guide and about this Secret Giveaway on your blog.
2. Subscribe to the Window Shoppe.
I will announce the winner on Wednesday, July 9th at The Little Window Shoppe and at Prizey.Fetch! Please see my contest rules for details.
*Congratulations to Mary, she is the Secrets de Sothys winner.
Fitness for Mommies
June 24, 2008 by Emily · 8 Comments
I’m almost afraid to admit this to even more people - just in case I “chicken out,” but here it goes. ;)
In February, My husband and I decided that this is the perfect year to run in a marathon - it will be our first one ever! We are planning to run it at the end of August - and with just two months left, we have been learning as much as possible about how to prepare.
Pictures from the marathon trail we are running in! Isn’t it gorgeous?
We both have run in half marathons before and really wanted to meet our goal to run a full one. So, this is it, we’re signed up and we have been researching and talking to lots of experts about how to prepare. We have great shoes and a super sweet jogging stroller - all set right? Not quite, there’s that “training part” that we are still trying to figure out.
You may already know about Fitness for Mommies, so I just wanted to mention how helpful this site has been for me. I think Rachel, to put it simply, is awesome. This mother of two finds time to run marathons and shares her tips and fitness ideas on her Fitness for Mommies site. A few weeks ago, I asked her a few (OK - a lot!) of questions about my training schedule, and she was so helpful and gave me great suggestions that my hubby and I could incorporate into our running. Her suggestions were about nutrition, strength training, running groups, and great programs to follow. Needless to say, it was very motivating and helpful for me and if you are a runner, fitness lover, or are thinking about it, I highly recommend visiting her site to learn a little more. You can even enter a few of her fantastic fitness-oriented giveaways.
Snails in the Mud and Other Fun Snacks for Kids
June 23, 2008 by Emily · 9 Comments
Snacks always seem to taste a little better when they are fun to eat. Forget escargot (by the way, I actually tried escargot once - drenched in butter - how is that for being brave!), this yummy snail snack from Kraftfoods.com is just one of the collected snack ideas that you will find at Fun Snacks 4 Kids. Rachael finds and gathers fun snacks that preschoolers and all children will enjoy. She lists snack ideas for parties, holidays, and also for playtime.
Rachael also loves to take your snack ideas and photos, if you have a few that you want to share, contact her at preschoolsnacks@yahoo.com.
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