Birchbox bonanza

 Have you heard of Birchbox?  Go to the site now. Good Lord, Run!  This is the coolest thing ever.  I got a 'subscription' for my sister for last year's birthday and it's truly the best kind of gift - because she gets a new gift from me every month!! I paid only $120 for the year. 12 boxes!  Being a Mom of THREE KIDS and working full time, she doesn't get much time to herself for herself so Birchbox was a perfect way for me to give her things she didn't know she could use or that she didn't know she needed. She gets a new box every month of top-of-the-line samples - something just for her. Nothing she has to share with the kids.  And I got to 'customize' the boxes a bit. I could create her profile based on her type of hair, her skin, the colors she likes.  It's, and I quote her, "Total awesomeness."  

Here's what she just sent me:

Omg "eye rock" single use stick on eye liner strips, corrective dark spot solution (hallelujah!),green apple facial peel with vitamins and fruit acids, spicy Maya dark chocolate, 6 free download tunes from Green River Ordinance.  Toooooootally awesomeness!!!!

A little overboard?

Since my daughter started preschool I've finally gotten the chance to meet other parents. Before I just couldn't bring myself to ask for a phone number on the playground. That just felt too weird. Now we are entering the playdate zone. I got an email from a mommy of a child that shared a cubby at school with my daughter. She hoped she had picked up a hat by mistake. Unfortunately no but we struck up a conversation and now have a playdate scheduled for 10am. And I'm nervous. It's one thing to have the nannies meet. They don't care about whose house it is and if it's clean but this child is coming over with her stay at home mommy. And I won't be there. So I'm

relying on my nanny to be hostess and on my temperamental toddler to not knock this kid (or her mom) in the head with a thrown toy. So how do I compensate? With gifts and toys of course! Merely for distraction. Smoke and mirrors so to speak to hide the fact that we slightly resemble hoarders because of the stacks of donation boxes, old mail, rejected furniture and baby toys that no one in the house seems to be bothered by except me.

Anyhow I decorated 2 paper lunch bags and named them each with princess before their names and loaded them up with healthy snacks and a few butterfly bubble wands I had left over from the birthday party. I left instructions with the HB to tell the nanny (yeah that'll work) to set up the princess house, lay out the princess dresses, cut paper to make crowns (ha ha) and give each princess her snack bag while inside the princess house.

Update:  Got an email from the playdate Mom and the girls had an amazing time.  "At one point the girls were dressed as princesses, with shoes, riding bikes and playing guitars!  And dumb me no way to capture the very ridiculous moment."  I feel better now. 

I have graduated.

I've referred to, in the past, my overall disdain for that 'jet fuel' coffee by Starbucks.  But then my sister started working for them and all my prejudices disappeared. I became a full on believer. I am a 100 per cent devotee.  However, previously I only dabbled; dipped my toe into the vast coffee offerings, so to speak (ow) with the easy VIA and other very basic brews.  I always looked with envy upon those other coffee drinkers who ordered their customized concoction with such dignity and aplomb (I always wanted to use that word in a sentence. Will have to look it up now.) How did they know to that extreme level what specific size, flavor and mixture of coffee beverage to order?? What the hell is a macciatto?  So, as you know, I've been visiting one specific SBX location, upon noting what type of person also visits here, what the staff is like and what hours to avoid.  Today I felt confident. My hair looked good. (always helps)  The man who wears the headset and greets me, yes, little ole me, every morning with such genuine sincerity, that I figured now's my chance.  I asked what in hindsight sounds a bit like a nursery rhyme "How many pumps of vanilla are in a skinny vanilla latte?'  He says, 'depends on the size.' I say 'Grande, of course."  He says '4 pumps.'  I venture further, encouraged by his skillful handling of my query.  "How would I order half the vanilla but an extra shot of espresso?  He says " 2 pump skinny vanilla triple latte."  And there at 8:42am my coffee was born. See my new baby? Isn't she precious??