CityMama™

Hot Links for 12/1/08

• Do you know how much trash the holidays generate? Did you know you can't recycle metallic wrapping paper? Read on.
• Towards that end, I want you to join me in the No Gift Wrap Challenge this holiday season.
• I have new makeup and Sarah Palin would love it. (And not just because it was given to me free.)
• Need affordable holiday outfits for your little elves? Look no further.
• And, I deactivated my Facebook account today. (Hallelujah!)  It was just getting too weird what with ex-BF's and current babysitters all colliding in one, online world. I just don't need to know that much about people I didn't really want to know any better in the first place (and I'm sure they feel exactly the same about me). It might lead to unplugging of other things. Stay tuned.

Hotlinks for 11/17/08

I swear I have some real posts in me, but until then:

I'm running another warm and cozy Lands' End contest.

I have a new post up at Tonic about my own personal automotive bailout.

Looking for a unique and purty holiday gift? My blog pal Aimee of GreebleMonkey and Savvy Source--Denver is selling her beautiful nature calendar on etsy.

And I want to tell you about a cool new service from Tonic. It's a new website where you can plan your events (like Thanksgiving) and make a difference at the same time. Be the host that gives the most!

Hot Links for 11/13/08

I'm giving away a brand-new Motorola MOTOZINE ZN5 camera phone. No longer will you need to carry around a camera and a phone, this phone IS a camera. A 5-mega-pixel auto-focus camera. The phones are only available at T-Mobile, or from me! I'll pick a winner tomorrow so hurry and enter today!

I also reviewed the super-cool Step2 Creative Projects table. If you are looking for a crafty holiday gift for kids, look no further. This table is really impressive.

Hot Links for 11/10/08

Kicking off these links is a man well-known by residents of Silicon Valley and the South Bay, the editor of the uproarious Gentry Magazine: Sloane Citron who isn't sure diversity in education is a good thing. I wrote about his bigotry a year ago and now he's back in full-on furrowed-brow mode with another article about racial clubiness at the local high school. My high school. Sloane's still bummed out that his privileged kids have to go to school with "diverse" kids at the old public high school. I cannot imagine the conversations that go on around his kitchen table. I bet his kids are all, "Daaaad, stop writing that tripe! We're going to get our asses kicked at school and it'll be all your fault!" To him I say: Suck it. Seriously.

On to less pissed-offier subjects, my weekly column, Normal Green, is up on Tonic News. I'm talking about greening your Fall with gardening tips and pointers on how to have a sustainable Thanksgiving.

Grow a moustache for a great cause (Hat-tip: Charlie K.!)

And I have a huge crush on this blog.

My letter to Bunny and Wallie before the election (might want to read it, Sloane) won an October "Just Post" award. Click on over to see the rest of them. I'm in great company. Thanks, Jen!

And finally, if you live in Silicon Valley, check a jump on your holiday shopping at this fun shopping event featuring Wati Designs, Glug, Dagmar Daley and Lobird:

Link Love for 7/28/08

Here are some links to my writing elsewhere:

• Normal Green, my weekly column at Tonic, highlights backyard gardens as the original CSAs.
• I'm talking about breakfast over on Gather.
• Please come chat with me, Glennia Campbell, and Joanne bamberger next week for My ooVoo Day Political Edition.
• My thoughts are with those affected by the tragic shooting at the Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, TN.

Hot Links—7/17/08 (Gone to BlogHer edition)

I'm just about to leave for Blogher (cute shoes? check. false eyelashes? check. no kids with me? check!) so I thought I'd leave you with some fun links to check out while I am gone.

I have a new post up at Tonic. It's about one of my personal heroes: artist, blogger, and force to be reckoned with, Jen Lemen, who is going to get a big, huge hug the moment I see her.

I am mentioned—along with the sassy and fabulous Mir Kamin of Would Coulda Shoulda and the deliciously talented Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes—as one of 6 "inspiring women bloggers" in the August issue of Redbook. My piece focuses on Kimchi Mamas.  There are three other amazing bloggers mentioned and I highly recommend reading their inspiring stories.  I'm delighted to be in such great company!  (And a note: the article left out that it was the lovely Nina of Charlie and Nina that first planted the seed to create our fabulous blog. While I reached out to people I knew, she gets the credit for kickstarting plans and for recently "re-kickstarting" us with several new bloggers added to the fold.)

Speaking of inspiring bloggers, please check out who is now blogging for BlogHer!

And lastly, if you are going to be at BlogHer, please come and find me during the 3-a-Day-sponsored Milk and Cookie break tomorrow (Friday) from 10:00-10:30.  I will have a camera with me and will be conducting blogger interviews.  I'm just asking 1 or 2 questions but would love to meet you and give you the opportunity to promote your blog on camera! Come even if you are lactose- (or cookie-) intolerant! :-)

Hot Links—7/8/08

Here are just some of things I've been up to lately (and perhaps why I needed this vacation?):

I was recently interviewed by Good Housekeeping magazine, and you can find the entire Q&A here. In the article I give tips about packing lunches and also highlight some of the food blogs and other sites I visit daily. You can also find links to "Bunny Chow", an article that will appear in the August 2008 issue, as well as a link to an article I wrote last year about our poor old (unsold) house.

I've written about how meal planning saved my marriage on gather.com.

I have another column posted for the Tonic News Network where you can find my writing each Monday.  This week's topic column focuses on green toys with a special shout out to the fine laydeez of We Covet. While you're on Tonic please consider ordering a t-shirt or four. They support very worthy causes.

I planned a week's worth of meals + a brunch + put together a shopping list for a 3-A-Day™ of Dairy/BlogHer partnership. It was super-fun to plot out an entire week's worth (that's 17 posts, people) of breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner ideas, all with a delicious dairy theme.  Please check it out and let me know what you think.  And...

Please join me during the morning break on the first day (10-10:30) of BlogHer 08 for a special "Milk and Cookie Break." (Doesn't that sound good right about now?)  I'll have a video camera with me and want to find YOU to talk to YOU about, you know, milk and cookies and food and meal-planning and just...stuff. Are you ready for your close-up? I hope so! If you're going to be at BlogHer and you'd like to meet up with me, please leave me a comment below so I can look out for you. More soon!

I'd appreciate it if you'd give all these links a little click-through-look-see. It'll make the fine people who pay me veryvery happy, and me veryvery happy as well. Thanks for checking it all out!  And hope to see you at BlogHer 08!

Hot Links for 7/3/08

Check out my new weekly column on the TONIC News Network. TONIC focuses on four core issues: education, environment, poverty, and social welfare.  Check out their collection of t-shirts, the proceeds of which support these worthy causes in various ways.

The Savvy City Editors are highlighting Layover Lifesavers. Stuck in an airport with preschoolers?  Check out the roundup here and then click on your city(if not in the roundup) to see more tips for making airports--dare I say it--fun?

Please also check out my sidebar (look right, look down) and help send the MOMocrats to Denver.  Yes, we're begging shamelessly, but if you love our special brand of political coverage and commentary, please consider giving. We're a worthy cause, I promise.

And lastly, the book tour for Sleep is for the Weak is coming to a city near you.  If you are in the San Francisco area, please join me, Jenny Lauck, Jen Scharfen, Grace Davis and Lisa Stone on October 2 at Keplers in Menlo Park and on October 4 in San Francisco (location TBD) for a book signing! I'd love to see you!

Hot Links

This is the "Why Didn't I Plan For the End of Summer Better?" edition.

So summer. Had descended like nobody's business. And I am woefully ill-equipped to handle the needs of an active and curious almost-six-year-old and her equally active and curious little sister.  Happily for me (and her little sister) Wallie will continue her preschool schedule all the way through the summer.  But Bunny, until her camps kick in (in August) needs stuff to do. Fingers crossed that a trip to Hawaii will happen between now and then, but until then...send help.

I do have some tips and suggestions for keeping kids busy (and parents sane this summer—esp. the last tip so please click through!), but as always, please feel free to share what you are doing. Please. My kids' happiness depends on it.

My girls love playing house, but have never been into playing with babies. Until now.  Tata hooked them up with Abby and Lucy from Pottery Barn Kids and they turned a corner. Diapering, feeding, burping—what could be more fun? They are the two best mamas on the block. The soft, cloth babies are so charming, but I think their favorite baby is Ba- Ba- Baby Elmo. He's active and responsive, and even Bunny loves taking care of him because, shoot, he's one of the most beloved children's characters ever.

Hot Links for 5/23/08

Since it's Memorial Day weekend, here are two links for places you can contribute to the recent natural disasters in Asia if you are so inclined.

Half the Sky. Recommended by fellow MOMocrat PunditMom who has vetted the organization and says they work directly with Chinese orphanages. (Note: She is not asking you to contribute and didn't ask me to post this. I share it in case you were already thinking about donating but didn't know where to go.)

Now that Myanmar is accepting aid relief (Thank you, Ban Ki-Moon), one organization that has a long history of putting aid into the hands of relief workers working directly with victims is the Unitarian Universalist Service Organization. They were doing work in Myanmar even before the military dictatorship formally accepted help.

If you have a favorite charity that you know does good work that you'd like to share, let us know about it in the comments below.

Please consider giving, and with that—have a wonderful holiday weekend.