Mom in the City

1. Nintendo Wii: I haven't been a video game person since Pac-man originally came out (wow, time is flying!).  Anyway, I gave this system to my husband for his birthday in November.  It is so much fun!  It comes with a sports bundle (golf, boxing, baseball, bowling) which I find to be a great workout on a cold, wintery day.  What's humbling is that my three year old has beat me in boxing by knocking me out the last two times that we played.  (I blame it on him being left-handed - I never see my demise coming!)

2.JJ COLE's bundleme:  I only hear raves about this product, including from a local mom at a library story hour.  I'm not a big stroller user, but I would definitely get this if they made them for front carriers like the Bjorn.  They are so much more attractive than what is currently on the market.

3. Ann Taylor Loft:  Back in my corporate days, I was an Ann Taylor woman.  Now, I lean more towards Ann Taylor Loft.  They offer a pretty nice selection of clothes at reasonable prices.  (Their shoe selection isn't great, but there are plenty of other shoe stores.)  Be sure to sign up for their email list, so that you can get discounts/sale notices in your Inbox.  Another good tip when doing your online shopping there is to type "Ann Taylor Loft coupon" in your google search engine.  There are usually percent off and/or free shipping coupons available.

4. PBS KIDS: I love that many of their shows are educational.  The show of the moment in our home is SUPER WHY!.  I like that it uses classic books to teach simple lessons.  (I also like that they have a multicultural cast, including a Black princess.)

5. Storybook Escapades: A new thing that I have started doing with my oldest son (inspired by SUPER WHY! and Kids Off the Couch ) is doing activities that relate to the books that we read.  I think that I enjoy our little "escapades" as much as (if not more than!) he does.  Recently, after reading Pinkalicious, we baked strawberry/pink cupcakes together (in the story, the little girl eats so many pink cupcakes that she turns pink).  It was so cute...my son kept saying, "I'm going to eat ALL of the cupcakes so that I can turn pink and then I'm going to jump out and say Pink-a-boo!".  It was a great bonding time.

6. Christmas in the City: As a teacher, my husband does not  work the week of Christmas.  We considered going away, but frankly, I hate the hassle of traveling during the holidays.  Besides, in my opinion, there's no place that I'd rather be for Christmas than NYC.  So we're going to "vacation in the city".  In other words, we're going to do several of the "touristy" Christmas things that people travel from all over the world to do.  If you're looking for Christmas activities, I have compiled a list here.

7. Huggable Hangers: I had never heard about these hangers before (even though they are Home Shopping Network's #1 selling product -- I don't watch HSN on a regular basis).  Then, I received a gift package of them.  They are great!  They are velvet covered (so clothes don't slip off) and thin (in order to maximize closet space).  They are also sturdy (so you don't have to worry about your clothes ending up on the floor) and cute (the ones that I received were black with chrome hooks).  Both my husband and my aunt-in-law liked the hangers so much that I gave some away.  Now, I have to get more for myself!