Monthly Archives: November 2012

Uncommon Goods to Start Your Holiday Shopping

Posted in Wild Cards by

 

I don’t know about you, but I have 100% transitioned into Christmas mode. It is past Halloween, and close enough to Thanksgiving that I’m not that mad at my local drugstore for filling the seasonal aisle with Santas. I may have started throwing a Christmas song or two into the mix on my iPod. I have definitely started brainstorming gift ideas for those who are difficult to buy for, and have already crossed a few people off my shopping list. Yet there are always a couple people who stump me.

Then I got home last night, and there was a catalog from Uncommon Goods in my mailbox. I enjoy catalogs more than the average person (chalk it up to my love of magazines), but this one had some really great stuff. It wasn’t the chintzy items typical of any holiday catalog, but things I could see people in my life really enjoying because as their slogan says they specialize in unique gifts and creative design.

My favorites:

What are yours?

Feeling Blue? Have an Emergency Compliment

Posted in Bitsy Blessings by

We all have those days, when regardless of how many times we touch up our makeup, or the sparkly jewelry we pair with our outfit, we still feel a little meh. Sometimes you just need a few kind words from someone (anyone) to pick up your day, and make you feel better. Or, in this case, a website. Emergency Compliment will fill that hole in your self-confidence when your co-workers aren’t being as forthcoming as usual with how fabulous you look.

Feeling blue? Head on over to this site. You will get funny little affirmations like, “Mensa would only BE so lucky,” or “People at trivia night are terrified of you,” that are bound to lift your spirits and give you a laugh on the most insecure of days. And if the first one doesn’t do it? Just click I still feel crappy for a stream of endless compliments until you find one that tickles your fancy.

Write a Book, Stop Blogging?

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ImageYou know what makes me really sad? When I find I blog that I really enjoy reading, that makes me laugh, and then the writer goes mysteriously MIA and stops posting. For a few days here and there, a week, a planned month-long hiatus, I can understand. We’re all human, and sometimes have life things that interfere with posting. But it’s not ok with me, when said writer completely stops posting, especially after having a book published. While writing the book? Sure. After? Not so much.

I’m looking at you Notes to My Future Husband and Hipster Puppies.

Maybe you made so much money writing the book, you’re out gallivanting around the world spending it. But your regular readers, who liked all your posts before you got your book deal miss you.

 

Fairy Tales for 20 Somethings

Posted in Fill Up Your Cup by

If you’ve ever taken a class on feminism, you’ve probably encountered at least one person in life who has told you that ladies perceptions are screwed up by all the fairy tales they hear as children telling them Prince Charming will swoop in to save the day. Or you’ve been frustrated yourself by popular fiction and tv where the characters have problems that don’t EVER exist in real life. Being pursued by two men at the same time, and one happens to be a millionaire? Living in a spacious West Village apartment on a freelance writer’s budget, and still having money to go out to all the trendy clubs? While fiction is, by design, a way to escape real life, sometimes it’s just annoying to see characters living out scenarios that would never (ever in a million years) come true.

Enter Fairy Tales for 20 Somethings. If Ariel lived in your shoes for a day, she might have an awkward conversation at a bar when someone cracked a joke about Merpeople (does she defend them now that she’s a human?). If Chicken Little ran around NYC freaking out, well, her therapist might send her over aprescription for Xanax.

It’s refreshing, and pretty hilarious, in the pile and piles of vampire and fairy tale sitcoms and novels popping up to see these characters we’ve grown to know and love taken out of their castle in the sky and put into reality. It just might make you feel a little better about not knowing what you want to do with your life, when you realize Cinderella hated her first job too.