Black Eyed Peas Bowl

This is what I'll be using all day tomorrow.

Kitchen bowl from my beloved Fishs Eddy.

Putting the Tee in 3T

Harry needs new tshirts. I know. Weird right? It's so wasteful how he keeps growing out of his perfectly good clothes. Gah.

Good thing Amazon has this easy click three buttons and you've spent $172.72 on tshirts feature. Or maybe I didn't actually click purchase. But if I did, I'd buy these.

The World Peace Please Tee.

The Johnny Cash Tee.

The Peace Music Love Tee.

And the Punk Rock Tee above.

Get On With it Already.

I love cool stuff. And it's all around. (Hooray!) And I'm about eight months behind in posting some of the cool things I've seen or that people have sent me. Sooo... I'm going to stop feeling bad about that and just do something about it. And I'm going to start right here and right now with this lovely and motivating series from Orange Beautiful.

Were You Raised By Wolves?

Do you know someone who needs to get a clue about the mysteries of adulthood?

Perhaps someone who is just graduating from college?  Or entering the adult life force?  Or maybe someone who's been in the adult world for a while, but still just needs a clue. Or two. Or twenty.

Well.

This is your book. 

Were You Raised By Wolves? Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood by Christie Mellor, author of the three-martini playdate.

This girl is funny. And a wonderfully delightful writer.  She says what we're all thinking when the hordes of interns enter our worlds around this time each year...oh people, get a clue! And stop acting like you own the joint. And it's not good to smell like joints. And the way you're bodyslamming yourself to be cool is hurting my joints. So just stop. And read this book. 

It covers it all with style and candid humor.  Straight up guides on getting lipstick stains out off of shirts, first jobs, first bosses, easy recipes, ironing, tipping, paying taxes, throwing dinner parties, and other things to avoid when drunk.

Let it be known that this is my official gift of choice to all college grads, and I'm keeping a copy or two in my desk for overachieving and underachieving interns.

In the author's own words, "It's time to set down that bottle of expensive water, review some simple rules of etiquette, and take a few totally random tips that will help you get through life without irritating too many people." 

Where was this book when I was 22?

Also, I reviewed this for Parent Bloggers Network. And I'm giving a copy away. So leave a comment here between now and Friday May 23. The Hurricane will pick a lucky winner. And as always, I really hope you win.  

Mama Rock. Oh Yes She Does.

Rose Rock has one famous son. But more impressive, she raised 17 children and foster children. So she's super successful. How did she raise all these kids I ask?

She had 10 rules.

And she shares them in this most fantastic book: Mama Rock's Rules (Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children). The lovely parent bloggers of Parent Bloggers Network sent me this book to review it. And I must say, even though I'm only a moderate Chris Rock comedy fan, I loved this book. 

Loved. This. Book.

Each rule is broken up into chapters with titles like "I Am Your Mama, Not Your Friend", "Push Unable Off The Table", "Spirituality is Not Just For Sundays" and "Don't Lie Down With Anything You Don't Want To Live With Forever". No nonsense.

Seriously great.

But the included advice and sections are my absolute favorites. In fact, I firmly believe Ms. Rock should put out a tshirt line with some of her one liners. Because I want shirts with Roseisms on them like this:

"Don't Quack Like a (Gangsta) Duck - Unless You Are a (Gangsta) Duck"

"Feed Them and They Will Tell You Everything"

"If They Don't Accept You Because of Your Hair: Don't Be There"

Fantastic.

I don't want to go into too much detail and give anything away, but this is a must read. A fresh, wholesome very direct approach about raising kids. Because, really, when you're raising 17, who has the time to mess around?

And okay, sure, it takes way more than just a book to raise so many successful people. But it's a great read and a great way to think about this all-important job of parenting. As far as I'm concerned, she knows what she's talking about. At least 16 times more than I do. At least.

So it's official. This is officially my favorite Mother's Day gift I've seen so far.  You can buy it here. You can also watch a fun video of an interview with Rose Rock here. 

Want to win one? Leave a comment here. The Hurricane will draw a winner by Friday morning. And seriously, I hope you win.

It's Shelf Porn.

Do organized shelves get you going?
Check out organize dot com.

The Keenest Shoes Around

If you happen to be an extremely active two-and-a-half-year-old person with impressively wide feet, I very strongly advise that you spend the summer in these durable, cool, waterproof shoes (Newport H2 from Keen). They are worth every penny. Trust me.

Free Music.

Check it. On Cool Mom Picks.

You Know I'm Obsessed With Cupcakes Right? Now There Are Designer Cupcakes. I'm Doomed.

Wow. These are the Christian Loubotin of cupcake wrappers.
But I doubt they're red on the bottom.

See Kai Run this Spring

The new See Kai Run line is in.
Check it.

In(side) the Loop

I just discovered this blog.

Love it.

Fe-Fi-Mo-Momma

This little beauty from lowercase tee
is the cleverest political merch I've seen so far this primary season.

If you've seen other cute items (for any candidate), let us know.

The Sky Isn't Visible From Here

I've always been a fan of fiction.

Since birth.

After all, that's what most of us first learn books to be...tales of fairies, Loraxes, Fudge, and Ramona. And that's what my bookshelves knew. And so that's what I read. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of words of fiction.

Sure, there were random non-fiction bits throw in, for school and all, but it seems I've always liked the pretend better. So much so that at age 30, I actually broke up with a guy because he said fiction novels were stupid. (Because although he was incredibly cute, he was stupid, obviously.)

But then someone turned me on to the genre of the personal essay and the memoir novel. And I fell in love. And in a round about way, that's what initiated my interest into reading others' blogs. Because in many ways and forms, that's exactly what they are. Just out there for anyone to read, relate to, or not.

Then sometimes, someone takes it to the next level.

I'd say Felicia Sullivan has done exactly that with her new novel The Sky Isn't Visible From Here as she recounts growing up as the adult in a Brooklyn household with a powerfully addicted mother. What's even more moving, even more than the incredible details she includes, is the way she soberly connects these formative years into the life she pieces together for herself seventeen years later. The way that the children that we were, become the women that we are. It's so honest. So honest that even though my childhood in central Texas couldn't have been more different, I completely understand where she's coming from and how we get there.

It's that good.

Her broken heart is quiet and strong. Her details are specific and bizarre. Her story is completely touching and inspiring. In fact, in reading it, I'm celebrating her victories with her and I'm thinking, I'd completely be her friend in real life. In fact, if she had a blog, I'd read it. And then I realized, of course she does. Because she's brilliant. So you can read that too. You can also read an excerpt of The Sky Isn't Visible from Here on the Huffington Post.

And you can purchase the book here.

Or you can win a copy of it here. Right here. By leaving a comment before Wed. Feb. 13th, midnight EST. And as always, I seriously hope you win.

The Ultimate Tea Diet from the Good Doctor Tea.

“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
--C.S. Lewis

Remember when tea was just something old ladies and English people drank? Well, no more, my friend. Now, it’s severely hip. Ever since Moby opened up his own shop. (Or maybe it was cool before that. I can’t tell.) And it's been fiercely cool for at least as long as Miley Cyrus has been in a bra. Give or take.

But Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra, has been going all tea, all the time for much longer. In fact, his family has been involved in the tea biz for generations. And today, he runs a schwanky tea store and wrote about book called The Ultimate Tea Diet. And he swears that tea will “help us lose weight, reduce our cravings for sweets, suppress our appetite, increase our insulin’s effectiveness, lower our cholesterol, and stimulate thermogenesis, which helps the body burn fat for energy.” And stuff.

Big claims from someone whose name reminds me of a certain gold jewelry wearin’ 80s star. But. It turns out this guy is nothing like B.A. Baracus. Except they both live in LA.

I pity the fool who drinks coffee.
The good doctor starts off by making some pretty serious accusations that coffee is the devil. Like, it makes you trap body fat. It raises your blood sugar. It slows down your metabolism. It worsens your PMS. And it makes you kill kittens. Maybe.

But you get the gist. Coffee = bad. Tea = good. I’m a serious coffee drinker, so I already have one eyebrow raised.

He’s not a doctor, he just plays one on tea.
Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra makes no claims to be a doctor. He’s just a guy who owns a cool tea shop and talks to people about tea all day everyday and has for years. (Oh and some little girls at a birthday party gave him the name and then his co-workers wouldn’t stop razzing him about it, so he embraced it. That’s the story.)

So, basically, you could call him the Pope of Tea or the Tea Czar, whatever. He’s just a guy that knows a lot about tea. And in this book he says that is has three main ingredients: caffeine to stimulate, L-theanine to neutralize the harmful side effects of caffeine and act as an appetite suppressant, and ECGC, which causes you to burn fat faster and more efficiently. In other words, tea reduces your appetite and stimulates your metabolism.

So there’s this book about tea.
The book starts off by going into the history of different kinds of teas...white tea, green tea, etc. but maintains they all come from the same plant (Camellia Sinensis) so all have essentially the same benefits. There's a lot of other stuff, but here are some interesting tidbits:

• Tea’s been around for almost 5,000 years.
• There are 12,500 to 20,000 types of green teas produced in China alone
• oolong is he Champagne of teas.
• White tea is the ‘tea of Royals’ and is the most delicate and least processed
• Black tea has the most caffeine but still only half the amount of coffee.
• 75% of tea produced is black tea...which is the type consumed by 87% of Americans

Then he goes into a lot of detail about the details of tea, the history of tea, the nuances of tea, the preparation of tea, the serving of tea, and so on of tea. The dude seems to know his tea, hence the pretend name.

The research found in 2006 that EGCG could “modulate insulin secreation by inhibiting glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH). Which seems to mean that this is good for weight loss. Actually, they go into two pages of detail about what consuming too much sugar and carbs do to your body and not much of it is good. It’s enough to make me want to eat bark for a year. And that’s saying something.

And then they talk about a study that showed drinking tea helped you burn 12% more fat than drinking water.

Lots of talk about flavonoids, free radicals and cancer prevention. The first two sound like people that hang out in my neighborhood, the third sounds like a cause I can get behind. So by page 53, I’m sold.

He puts the T in diet. (So it’s not just die.)
Okay then the diet part starts. A 14-day diet plan and a 35-day totally reasonable workout chart.

Then there are a lot of recipes. That incorporate tea. A lot of recipes. This chapter looked like skiing down the black slopes to me, so I basically skipped it. But it’s nice to know it’s there if I’m ever feeling adventurous.

It ends with tons of great tea store recommendations. With web addresses and phone numbers. This is brilliant. I would be a fan of this book if only for this list. Sure, his store is the first one; but he also includes his picks for other great tea stores (and remember, the dude knows tea) including 20 different cool tea finds online...including my fave, Mighty Leaf.

So here’s what I thought.
I liked The Ultimate Tea Diet a lot. It's smart. It’s a fast read, and it makes sense. I’m completely motivated to try it. So I am. Starting Feb. 4, after I finish this silly thing I'm doing with my co-workers, I'm taking tea to the next level. Of course, I'll keep you posted on the results.

In the meantime, I'm ordering some of the good doctor's peppermint patty tea (since I won't be eating the girl scout cookies.)

Want to win some?

Just leave a comment! I'll pick one lucky pal (on Wednesday @ midnight) to tea with me.

Cheers!

Sofa So Good.

The HcQ and I have different tastes in a lot of things.
Furniture being one of them.
Because if I had to pick a sofa bed today, this is what I'd pick. The Logo sofa from apt.

It just seems happy.

And he would pick this...The Hennessy Leather Sofa from Crate & Barrel

I'm thinking this might be the compromise.Tillary modular from West Elm.
Maybe.

Counting the Days

My friend Adrienne had this Snow & Graham calendar on her desk all last year.
And all last year I thought, next year I too will have this calendar.
And so now I do.
And the 2008 version is fantastic.

This Year, Take Out The Laundry.

I'm loving this bag from Chinese Laundry I found on Glamour.
A bit of cheery yellow for 2008.
Cheers!

After All, It's Not Too Pink

I'm loving this etsy shop Not Too Pink. Check it out.
Very cool designs.
Anyone redecorating right now? I'm thinking one of these prints would make a room happy.