Category: Shopping

My infatuation with cruisers has been a long one. I LOVE them. I love their retro styling. I love their bright colors. I love their simplicity. I dream of spending a month on The Cape, staying in a lovely place on the beach and riding my cruiser everywhere … ahhh. Back to reality. I still haven't bought one … but that will soon change. Though I like pink, I never approved of the overly little girl pinky shades that they tend to sell cruisers in. And while I like blue (another common girly cruiser color), my adored mountain bike is also blue. But I have found the perfect cruiser for me.. Electra's Hawaii deluxe. It is so coming home with me.

I don't know about you, but I've always found the stylings of RVs and travel trailers to be about as appealing as a maggoty apple. I abhor the fiberglass exteriors and the cheesy faux wood interiors. The sad thing is that they could be really really cool. Well the single manufacturer that seems to get this is Airstream. Their upper-end stuff is just as bad as the rest of the competition, but in their smaller trailers, they have their classic cool silver-capsule styling and in one of their smaller models, they even did a Quicksilver edition (shown in photos above) with some seriously cool styling. They have more of the traditional plush beige couches and “oak” cabinetry, but they also have some lovely modern interiors as well. Definitely a fun browse. Now if I can just come up with $39k and a place to stash the thing.

Is it just Matt and I, or do all of the family units out there wrestle with communicating time-sensitive info to another party in their family, especially early in the morning, such as, “Please take out the garbage when you get up. I'd do it now, but the damned neighbors dog will knock down the can between now and when it's picked up.” or “Can you switch over the laundry, please?”

Sticky notes on the forehead end up lost more often than not, and my dear Matty has so many messages to himself on his computer monitor that mine would get lost. The fridge is filled with coupons and photos and I can never be guaranteed he'll go there first anyhow.

So what I've been doing lately is writing messages to him on our bathroom mirror. He has to go in there first thing … and you inevitably look in the mirror. A couple of Christmases ago, my mom left some Crayola Window FX markers in my stocking and I'd played with them, but as I was cleaning up a few months ago, I found them and wondered what can I do with them. Then it dawned on me … So now they rest in the mug with our toothbrushes, and I can grab one to write a sweet or instructive message to Matty whenever I choose and him to me. It works nicely, especially since they wipe off very easily.

Add this to my covet list. It might look like an ordinary watch, but this is a very sophisticated piece of modern technology. It's the sleeptracker watch, designed to take a 20 minute interval and wake you up during the best possible time in your REM cycle to leave you feeling refreshed.

It retails for around $150, which is pretty tempting for better sleep.

A friend of mine turned me on to the lovely Bigelow Brand Mentha Lip Tint. They sell Bigelow Brand now at Bath and Body Works as well as online at the Bigelow site. This paticular product is tinted (mine is 1136 a sort of light raspberry color), though they come in clear as well, and contains 2% peppermint oil. As well as being very refreshing and nice for your lips, it promises to “give breath long-lasting freshness.” Who knew??

When I cleaned out my bathroom a few weeks ago I was horrified/amused to find that I had enough lip products (not lipstick, I wear that about 4x/year) to fill a small bin all on its own. When in a crowd, I can almost always be counted upon to provide some sort of chapstick product.

Hi all, and happy Black Friday. In honor of America's own SHOPPING HOLIDAY, I'm presenting you with the last post in The Holiday Gift Giving Guide Series. Today I'll tackle and excellent topic for all of you on a budget or trying to fill a stocking.

Under $10/Stocking Stuffers

In Sudoku, in case you haven't heard, you get a 9×9 grid and in each row or column, you have to have all numbers, 1 thru 9, no repetitions. You get a few numbers to start and you have to figure out the rest. Tricky, but not too tricky, and lots of fun. These, and other excellent puzzle books (logic and jumbles are household faves) are available EVERYWHERE for under $10, even starting at $2. Pick them up in the magazine section at Walmart or your grocery store.

Continue reading “Jess's Holiday Gift Giving Guide Part 7?”