Holidays Archives - Page 23 of 41

Mother’s Day: A day for mom to Indulge at Northgate Mall in Seattle

We go to a lot of events at Northgate Mall in Seattle, our local Simon Mall. We’ve been to story time, to Girls Night Out events, to an event with live bunnies and goats for the kids to hold, to holiday events, and even to Seahawks events, but the one event I look forward to all year long is the Mother’s Day event.

If you’ve never been to a Northgate event, then you’re probably picturing a few tables running down the middle of the mall selling you siding and giving you pamphlets about having parties in your home. I know that’s what I was picturing the first few times I saw a note on Facebook about one of Northgate’s parties. But, since we had a mall trip planned anyway, I figured I would swing by the event at some point while we were there to check it out. And, I’m oh so glad we did. Since that day, we’ve gotten our faces painted, got free henna tattoos, colored our hair pink and green and blue {but not all at the same time} and we’ve been introduced to so many companies and services in the Northgate Mall and surrounding areas.

I’ve now learned something very important: When Northgate throws a party, you should show up.

Our new Easter tradition: HoneyBaked Ham

I love Easter. I love all the spring colors, I love pulling out my mismatched “fancy” dishes, and I love having family and friends over to celebrate with tea and snacks and then a full dinner.

But, there’s one Easter tradition I just can’t get behind. You see, I just do not like ham. I do not like it, Sam I am. I do not like it here or there, I do not like it anywhere.

Knowing this, you wouldn’t think I would be excited to write about a company like HoneyBaked Ham, but you’d be wrong. I will admit that when I was presented with a menu, the first thing I searched for was ham alternatives. Once I saw they had turkey {both smoked and roasted}, as well as a ton of sides, entrees, and desserts, I was in.

Find the perfect Mother’s Day present at ReCollected Pieces

What does every mom want for Mother’s Day? The answer is something personal and from the heart.

This is easy if you happen to have crafty kids or love macaroni necklaces, but what about for the rest of us? We can turn to Re:Collected Pieces, a Portland-based company that makes custom jewelry and more that any mother would love.

We’re not talking silver jewelry with personalized messages like anyone with a hand stamping set can make – what Tabitha at Re:Collected Pieces does is even more personal than that. Photo pendants, repurposed items, and artwork all become statement pieces to be adored and each custom work can be personalized in many levels. After checking out the ReCollected Pieces Etsy shop, I was smitten and knew I just had to have a custom piece. Starting the process was easy, I merely sent over pictures {one of my littles and one of hubby and I} to Tabitha with the instructions that she should have fun with them and show all that she can do.

You might wonder why I didn’t give specifics on what shapes I would like, sizes I would prefer, and baubles to add, but after looking at the Re:Collected Etsy shop, I knew it wasn’t necessary. There wasn’t a pendant or design I wouldn’t love to wear in the collection, and I trusted that Tabitha would make me something awesome.

And, I was blown away by what she sent back. Just look at how amazing these pendants look.

Whole Foods has Valentine’s Day covered

Like always, Valentine's Day has snuck up on me and here it is just a few days away. But, this year, I'm not worried at all because I've got Whole Foods to help me get everything in one quick and easy trip. With everything from fresh flowers and gourmet chocolate to aisles and aisles of gourmet foods begging to be cooked up for a special Valentine, Whole Foods really does have you covered.

Girl of The Year 2014 Isabelle arrives at the Seattle American Girl store

Like a small child counting down the days until Christmas, we were counting down the days until January 1st. Not because we’re huge into New Years’ celebrations, but because American Girl announced their Girl of the Year {GOTY}.

We look for any reason to party around here, especially when the party is for a doll as elegant as this one:

Meet Isabelle, the Girl of the Year for 2014. Isabelle Palmer loves ballet and everything fashion. Her story involves a new school, struggling to stand out in the shadow of her older sister, and figuring out how she can use her unique talents to shine. Since my daughter would like nothing more than to be a dancer, Isabelle's story really struck her and she's now smitten with this beautiful GOTY doll.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

You may have noticed we haven't been around here as much these past few days as we took some time off to enjoy the holiday season with our little ones. This is my absolute favorite time of the year and I was happy to be able to spend some time with our family and friends near and far.

Wireless sound with TRACKS AIR headphones from SOL REPUBLIC

By Tyler, editor and reviewer

Who doesn’t like a good, quality surround sound that makes music and movies come alive? Someone whose movie room shares a wall with a baby’s room, that’s who.

This is the problem with our entertainment room, designed for movies and thumping sound, but that just so happens to be located right next to our son’s bedroom. These days, the only thing playing at Rave Central theater is children’s movie matinees in between nap and bedtime. It’s a sad fate for a room with such promise.

So, what’s a movie loving guy like myself to do? Make a plan to revive our indie movie house with the arrival of these new TRACKS AIR headphones from SOL REPUBLIC.

Educational and fun toys from Museum Tour

Toys these days are just so cool. Sure, you can still find cheap, plastic junk at just about every big toy store, but there are also a handful of companies still making classic toys and gifts that will delight for decades. The problem is finding those companies is a full time job. Thank goodness I can turn to Museum Tour to find those companies without having to search high and low.

The Museum Tour catalog and website were created by a former museum director and educator in order to help take learning beyond the museum and science center walls. With items chosen to help parents teach their children essential life skills at home, the Museum Tour collection of products includes many previously hard-to-find items and learning toys.

Museum Tour believes that children will want to learn if presented with toys that have been created with both education and fun in mind so they have packed the pages of their catalog with the best of the best in terms of high quality learning toys.

I don’t know about you, but I get overwhelmed when shopping for kids toys, wondering what’s just going to collect dust in the bottom of a toy bin. When I found Museum Tour, it was as if I had curated the catalog myself and I was in heaven with page after page of the good stuff. It’s got the classic, the unique, and the toys that really wow.

Galt Toys offers educational and developmental toys and gifts for kids of all ages

I’m guessing most of you out there are very familiar with Galt Toys, even if you wouldn’t recognize the name. With a history spanning over 175 years and with toys for ages 0-12, Galt Toys has been celebrating the importance of childhood play in Europe and is now moving into North America just in time for the holidays.

From their iconic Ambi Toys collection that I remember vividly from my own childhood to the Galt learning books that are used in schools and homes alike, Galt Toys have been a staple in many homes for generations. Do these look familiar to you?

The VHS to DVD Converter from Hammacher Schlemmer

I’m all about keeping it old school, and I have a huge collection of film cameras to prove it. But, some things are better left in the past, a good example of which is VHS tapes. I had forgotten how much I despised VHS until I was “gifted” our collection of VHS tapes that our family used for recording TV and home movies throughout the 80s and most of the 90s.

But, let me tell you, VHS is awful. The quality of the tape degrades as it ages, it’s a pain to fast forward and rewind, doesn’t have menus to help you navigate, and back in the day it wasn’t easy to edit down into the good stuff. This means I was “gifted” with hundreds of hours of pure awfulness and about 30 minutes of perfection {which more than made up for the awfulness I was subjected to while going through the old tapes}.

However {and this is a big however}, each of those moments of perfection were spread out over 30+ tapes and took up a huge space in our office where no one could ever enjoy them. The solution? The VHS to DVD Converter from Hammacher Schlemmer that allows you to take all those precious home movies on VHS into custom DVDs that can be easily played, edited, and enjoyed.

In addition to easily transferring VHS recordings to DVDs, this little console does double duty as it’s also a video player for those who have a library of both DVD and VHS home videos. For DVDs it has 1080p upscaling through an HDMI output, but it also has a front DV input that allows you to connect a camcorder directly to the device to transfer content directly to a DVD {includes a coaxial input as well as component and composite inputs}.