CalifmomReviews

Creative ideas to make your Halloween one-of-a-kind

Image by califmom via Flickr

I can't help but bookmark my finds when I'm perusing the Interwebs. So, why not share, right? Fortunately, Wishpot makes it easy. They have a handy little widget that I can use to share all of my bookmarked finds with you.

As I've been stumbling around, saving my Halloween finds, holiday shopping finds, and the rest, I've been saving them all to different Wishpot lists. Then, all I have to do is upload my handy little widget.

If you see something you like, just give it a click, and you'll be taken to the site where I found it. How cool is that?

View my wish list on Wishpot »

I Need to Rob a Bank

Why? Because the Ruche Fall Lookbook came out and there’s slobber all over my laptop. Big sticky, gooey piles of slobber.

Since I don’t have Dooce’s pickle jar of washing machine savings, nor the $40,000 monthly blog income that bellhop in Chicago thought I was pulling in, my only option is a bank. Or maybe not.

Do banks even have money anymore? I should probably ask Bug. He’s the only one around here who seems to keep up with that stuff.

Maybe I could just go on a clothing strike. I could refuse to wear any clothing until Ruche sends me an outfit from their Fall Lookbook. No, that’s bullying. I’m not a bully. Plus, I don’t want to frighten the small children in Target with my waggly ass cheeks. 

Oh, well. Back to drooling. And saving my pennies. Oops. Almost typed “pennies” as “penis” and that would have been AWKWARD because I don’t even have a penis and if I did, why would I need to save it, and from whom would it need saving?

I do lurv me some Ruche, though. I wore a bunch of their stuff to BlogHer this year and got lots o’ compliments. This Daisy Lemonade Cotton Skirt was my most favorite thing.

Although, this Oatmeal and Honey Flutter Cardigan still gets worn with just about everything. 

 

(I even bought the necklace, which I wear with plain white t-shirts and jeans, fancy dresses, you name it. It's always a big hit.)

But seriously, I cannot do them justice in a review. Their website is just as beautiful as their clothing – full of vintage whimsy, modern twists, and hand-picked touches that will make you want to be the Bonny to my Clyde.

P.S. We only need to knock over a small bank, because honestly, their prices aren't even ridiculous. In fact, most of their clothing and accessories are downright affordable. I do wish they carried some larger sizes, though. As a size 10, I ordered their Large and it was just right. That's going to exclude a lot of women who would enjoy their clothes.

CalifmomReviews: Dirty Sue Martini Mix

I love a good vodka martini, especially one with bleu cheese olives. Yum. Yum.

But, I don't always enjoy stealing the olive juice from my beloved jar of olives in order to make the tasty martini. See, the thing that makes a dirty martini 'dirty' is the olive juice.

Enter Dirty Sue. No, she's not some tart from your spin class. (Notice, I said your spin class, not my spin class. I have a personal goal to never be able to say my spin class.) Dirty Sue is basically a bottle of olive juice. For reals.

The nice folks at Dirty Sue read about my love of dirty martinis and sent me some to try. I sent one bottle home with my friend, and kept one for us to try.

In a nutshell, pretty tasty. I love the idea, but think that when Hubs mixed mine, he may have been a tad heavy-handed with Dirty Sue. She's a strong, salty broad. Just a splash of her goodness would be perfect. Next time, I'll have him stick to one of the recipes from the Dirty Sue recipe collection rather than venture out on his own cocktail shaking quest. I may even get adventurous and try a Hot & Dirty Sue, which involves a little Tabasco sauce and some jalapeño-stuffed olives. With some shrimp fajitas. Oh, yeah!

Technorati Tags: cocktails, martini, vodka, olives, gin, party, food

Finds: Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Idea

ORGANIC!!! Colore Moi Kissable Body Paint: Edible Body Paint

Um, hello! It’s ORGANIC. Edible. Body paint. Good times in a tube. Plus, if you’re soloing this Valentine’s Day, it might be good on ice cream. I don’t know. Just a thought.

For more ideas for your lovely Valentine or just some self-love, check out my Wishpot list over on the sidebar or at the link below. I add stuff almost daily.

• Valentine's Gift Ideas - My Finds

Shmoop

I recently learned about a new website for Literature, US History, and Poetry. It’s called Shmoop. Written mostly by Masters and PhD students and Stanford and UC Berkeley, the content is topnotch.

While my kids are on the younger end of the target audience, Bug was more than happy to check out the site and give me some feedback. Here’s what he had to say:

This is Bug, homeschooler extraordinaire. My mom asked me to review the website, Shmoop.

I chose to look at US History section, since that’s what I’m usually interested in, but they also have Poetry and Literature.

My favorite part of the website would be the “Why should I care?” feature. I chose to look at the California Gold Rush.

To embellish a little more, Shmoop’s site is broken into three categories, Literature, US History, and Poetry. Content is continuing to be added as the site is still in beta, but there’s plenty there to get you started.

For example, we used Shmoop on Martin Luther King Day to watch MLK’s full speech. (Something I’m ashamed to admit I’d never done.) It’s just that easy to integrate Shmoop into your day, whether you homeschool or not.

I could go on and on about the coolness of Shmoop, about it’s educational value, and ease of use. Seriously, check it out. It’ll make your book reports bounce, hold your hand while you take that history test, and make you sound smart at parties. Probably. I mean, you do have to be able to read and remember this stuff. Shmoop isn’t your mom!

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Complexion Zen: Clarifying Face Cream for Snazzy Faces

First of all, can you beat that name? Don't think so? Well, when you find out it's made by BunnyButtApothecary, you may have to rethink your decision. Because BunnyButt trumps Snazzy Faces every time. It's in the rule book.
 
Yes, folks. The awesomest face cream is made by the company with the awesomest name.

I bought myself a jar of Complexion Zen: Clarifying Face Cream for Snazzy Faces because:

1. I seem to have acquired acne-prone skin sometime in my 30s, which ROCKS,
2. I cannot stand the feeling of anything greasy, thick, or yucky on my face,
3. I like hand made stuff, especially when it's made right here in the ol' USA with ingredients I can pronounce.

To top it off, should you be concerned, this product is vegan. Please don't eat it, though. Just put it on your face, which will get a fresh tingly feeling for a few seconds, thanks to the tea tree and clove oils. Then, begin to molest your cheeks (not THOSE cheeks, you perv), because you will feel so silky smooth. You won't be able to resist your bad self.

Even my super-sensitive daughter was enamored with this cream. The girl who thinks all lip balms sting. She loved it.

Best part of the whole deal? It's only $10 for a full-sized jar. That's a flippin' steal, people.

All Terrain's Recovery Rub

Image via Wikipedia

I can't remember where I bought it, but I picked up a 1 oz. tube of Recovery Rub by All Terrain with the hope that it would help with some of the aches and pains I've been having.  Turns out, it's fabulous.  I thought maybe it was just me, so I had my husband try some after a 5 hour off road enduro.  He was amazed at the relief he got. 


The active ingredient is menthol.  However, I'm thinking the inactive ingredients have something to do with it - arnica and cinnamon oil, kava kava extract and sweet clover leaf extract, among others.  Whatever the reason, I'm thrilled.


All Terrain - Recovery Rub - 3 oz

Pentapulls: Eco Fun For Pooches

While Bug was at a class this afternoon, Peanut and I had some time to kill. We headed down the hill to Montclair Village for a snack. On our way back to the car, we stopped into Glamour Paws.

As you might guess from the name, Glamour Paws is a store of pooch-related goodies. Unlike most of the dog-themed boutiques I've been in, Glamour Paws had a down-to-Earth woman behind the counter and a number of reasonably priced dog accessories and toys.

I refuse to put clothes on my dogs (unless I'm torturing them for a photo-op, duh). So, we opted for a pull toy.

My dogs are toy-destroyers. They will wrestle with each other for hours. (I think it's Sam's way of distracting Charlie from humping him.) We've yet to find anything other than industrial-strength rubber toys that can survive their antics.

Today's purchase may fit the bill. Pentapulls, as they're called, are made of:

4 layers of recycled 1680 denier nylon for super durability. "X" design on arms and legs forms an excellent toy for pulling, shaking, and general rough housing. 5 squeakers.

 

You can choose from a:   

• cow
• duck
• squirrel
• cat
• raccoon
• possum
• hedgehog
• skunk

We chose the duck ($16). Sam fell in love with it right away, but it took Charlie a bit to figure out how he wanted to pick it up. He's got it down now.

Zivio Boom: Can you hear me now?

First, welcome to the new Califmom Reviews site. I decided to break this out into its own animal for two reasons.

1. BlogHerAds requires me to...the advertisers get a little bummed if I'm reviewing a competitor's product right next to their ad. Totally understandable.
2. I wanted to, even though I had to. See how I did that right there. I convinced myself it was My Idea. This is a skill I have. If you're interested in lessons, let me know.

One of the way cool things about BlogHer was the swag, especially the cool swag. See, now all of the swag was cool. Some of it was rather uncool. That swag went to live in the Zwaggle swag recycling room like the rejected puppy that it was. Zwaggle helps homeless swag find a loving, caring home.

Enough about the homeless swag. Let's talk about the swag that came home with me.

For my first review, I'm talking about the Zivio Boom. Say it with me: Zivo Boom. It's fun to say, right?

Well, the Zivio Boom was thunk up by the same cool cat who thunk up the Joby Gorilla Pod. Yep, that bad-ass camera tripod that goes ANYWHERE. Seriously.

So, the cool cat from Joby sent his peeps to BlogHer to fix us up with his latest invention, the Zivo Boom bluetooth headset.

The cool:

• lightweight, like a flippin' feather
• adorable, sleek, stylin'
• retractable mic that makes you look like Madonna
• various sizes of ear thingies from Dumbo to pinhole, it'll fit your ears
• USB chargers in two lengths, plus an a/c adapter
• packaging in a sleek black box
• 300 hours of standby time
• 10 hours talk time
• paired to my Blackberry Pearl in a matter of seconds, a monkey could do it

The uncool:

• Noise. Crackling and static after a few seconds on a call making it impossible for me to have an actual conversation using my Zivio. (I have a tech support request into Joby on this one...I'm hoping it's a user error.)
• Fit. Even with a plethora of earpiece sizes, I need assistance getting this puppy to fit just right. I'm still messing around with it. In their defense, I have minuscule ears. Like baby-small. Freakish, really.
• Pricey. At a pre-order price of $129.95, this ain't your granny's Bluetooth.

If I can work out my issues with the sound quality, I think I can master the fit with the help of a mirror, and it'll just be me and my Zivio lovin' the talk time.

UPDATE:

I got an email from the folks at Joby today. Looks like they've figured out the problem with my headset and are making good by sending me a new one. Woohoo! Here's the email:

Hi Califmom,

It was nice meeting you at the BlogHer conference. Thanks for your patience with this issue and please pardon the delay in our reply. We didn't forget you! In fact, it's quite the opposite - we've been working hard to solve the problem you described.

As we learned from our troubleshooting, it turns out that an earlier version of the software we were using had some problems with the Blackberry Pearl. Strangely, it was only the Pearl model which was affected by this issue. Our engineers have been working long and hard to fix this, and based on some recent tests, it appears we have licked the problem.

I'm sorry you happened to get a headset that had the older version of the software on it, and we'd like to do whatever we can to rectify the situation. If you're interested, we'd be happy to send you a new one along with a postage-paid return box for your to return the one with the older software.

Jonesing for Halloween

Jones Soda has got the fun going on again this Halloween. The kids and I reviewed 3 of the new (or reissued, in some cases) flavors for 2007.

Candy Corn as reviewed by Bug: "It tasted like Jones cream soda with 1% of just plain sweet taste. The burps taste good, too."

Strawberry Slime as reviewed by Peanut: "It tasted like strawberries and once you drink a lot of it it felt like slime on your tongue in a good way, not like disgusting. Even the burps taste good."



Lemon Drop Dead as reviewed by me: "The lemon taste is not at all artificial tasting. It's tart, tangy, lip-puckering goodness. This would be great with or without a little vodka. It doesnt have that too-sweet quality that a lot of fruit-flavored sodas have. A very grown-up soda."