Read: GOOP

I just discovered Gwyneth Paltrow now has her own blog, GOOP (apparently based on a nickname of hers), and I actually think it's quite good. I wish I would have thought of the formatting--very nice and Zen. Yes, there are a ton of haters, (see article here at Eonline!) most notably criticizing her "Let them eat cake" attitude, but as a mother of two, it's nice to see someone else who has the time to workout and wear nice clothing to pick up her kids. It gives me a little inspiration. The blog has cute little categories of things to make, go, get, do, be and see. Loved her list of Los Angeles favorites under the "Go" category, although I do have to dispute the greatness of Katsu-Ya in Studio City for spicy tuna rice cakes....more on that later.

This week's newsletter in particular, is literally a big kick in the butt. Ms. Paltrow shares a mini-movie from the trainer she shares with Madonna, Tracy Anderson; it is a supplement to give her butt a boost, and the clip even features a handy little link so you can download it to your iPod. More about Tracy Anderson can be found at her website here.

GOOP

Urban Moms: Strollers in the City

Taking a quick break from our tour of LA here as I wanted to post a link to a great article from www.nymag.com where the author, Faye Penn, "test-drove" nine of the latest strollers on the streets of New York. Urban moms have to factor in quite a few obstacles that suburban moms do not face when buying a stroller, especially when dealing with public transportation. I had to laugh at the Cons listed for the Bugaboo Cameleon:

"Cons: Awkward moments on stairs. On bus ride, hit a passenger in the head with seat and had to ask another rider to fish MetroCard out of pocket. On subway, actually accepted an assist from a pregnant woman."

Photo: Michael Schmelling from www.nymag.com

Baby Gear: The BandaBib

Like most infants, my daughter was a drooler when she was teething; we went through five bibs a day, and even now, at the age of two, she'll drool when she's being very active or concentrating really hard on something (i.e., working on a puzzle). I was never a huge fan of how the terry cloth bibs looked around her neck, so when I saw Bazzlebaby's BandaBib in Target a few weeks ago, it definitely made me pause. It's a simple yet ingenious idea; a cotton bandana backed with thicker fabric in cute prints that closes with a snap button on the back. Definitely looks a lot cuter than the average bib, and it comes in assorted patterns for boys and girls. There's a great modeling picture at the Bazzlebaby site (which is still under construction) Bazzlebaby.com

Available at Target and Amazon.com

Photo: www.amazon.com

A Day on the Farm

I was a bit deficient in the common sense department last weekend; I realized this as I found myself holding my breath in a port-a-potty with my purse tightly looped around my neck and a mere few minutes later, standing in a wet and muddy raspberry field with mud all over my bare feet; all before 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Yes, this is what happens when a city girl decides to go to the farm a day after a torrential downpour wearing flip flops and after downing an iced latte right before a 30-minute drive to Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Washington.

After a rough start, I wasn't expecting much from the rest of my farm adventure, but I was proven wrong and wound up having a fantastic time. Remlinger Farms is a wonderful place to bring the family. After a short period of picking raspberries in the U-pick area, we ventured over to the Country Fair Family Park area which opens at 11 a.m. There are pony rides, train rides, flying pumpkin rides (mini version of the flying Dumbo ride at Disneyland), and a mini-Thunder Mountain like coal mine roller coaster, among other atractions. The crops vary throughout the year, but strawberries and raspberries are available for picking. My only advice would be to wear washable shoes (garden clogs would be good) and to bring some gloves and a small pail for your little one.

In short, while I was outside, I realized how much enjoyment the simpler things in life can bring. I even started wondering what it would be like to live out near a farm a la Anne of Green Gables (I could make raspberry cordial like Marilla Cuthbert!). Of course then I thought about how the house would have to have A/C and heating, gas, proper plumbing, etc. and then I quickly concluded that driving out a few times a year for the experience would be good enough for me.

Check www.remlingerfarms.com for schedules and hours

Chain Dining: The Cheesecake Factory

As any parent of a young child knows, restaurant choices are automatically narrowed down for parents based on how kid-friendly a place is. After two years of dining out with a small child, I have now culled from the chain-restaurant menus certain favorites so that as soon as we are seated and before drink orders are even taken, we are ready to order; this is all part of parental strategic dining in the event the child has a meltdown and a quick exit needs to be made. I've decided to share these here over time as part of the "Restaurants" section. Some of the choices are obvious, others may be a little surprising. Needless to say, these choices can be enjoyed sans child, probably even more so. Let's start with the Cheesecake Factory.

There is no kids' menu at the Cheesecake Factory, which works out just as well; due to the enormous portions doled out at this restaurant, there's no shortage of food when we share with our two-year old. They do bring a small plate with sliced bread and bananas for your child that our daughter always seems to enjoy.

Appetizers:
Fire-roasted Artichokes
Simply roasted artichokes served with two dips; a vinaigrette and aoli. I usually fill up on this quickly so I usually just add a small side salad to accompany this and that would be my meal. Wet towels are brought to clean up the messy fingers. Pseudo-healthy.

Avocado Eggrolls (shown)
An all-time favorite. Sundried tomatoes and avocados in a crispy wrapper with an even more delicious sweet dipping sauce. Definitely not so healthy, but very very good.

Firecracker Salmon Rolls
Slightly more refined in its preparation than the Avocado Eggrolls, the wrapper is a lot thinner and crisper, and it's served with a side of red cabbage doused with an Asian dressing of some kind. A little bit lighter fare than the Avocado Eggrolls, but delicious.

Entrees:
Chicken Madeira (shown)
An all-around favorite at the Factory and is usually served with mashed potatoes, although you can request a substitute; I usually pick broccoli to assuage the guilt.

Miso-glazed Salmon
Served on a bed of white rice with a few obligatory snow peas scattered about, the salmon is very tender and tasty.

Portobello Mushroom Burger
I am not a vegetarian, but a friend of mine introduced me to this incredibly tasty "burger" a few years back. Essentially, picture a burger but with a large portobello mushroom sandwiched between the buns; the aioli used on the burger really sweetens the deal.

As for dessert, well, we usually are so stuffed that we pass, but if it's a special occassion, the Vanilla Bean cheesecake is an all-time favorite.

Stationery Style: Iomoi.com

I’ve had a paper fixation since I was a child. I’m not just talking pretty paper, I’m talking any paper. I collected the labels and wrappers from cans and soaps as a 3-year old and carefully toted my prized collection in what would become another object of fixation as an adult: an old handbag my mom had passed down to me. As I grew older, I discovered the joys of Sanrio, which I’m not embarrassed to say, still captivates me today. However, I’ve also come to enjoy the art of finer stationery, but was quite surprised at how much a small batch of personalized stationery can cost at Smythson, Mrs. John L. Strong, or even Crane. So I had a small batch made up through William Arthur using letterpress and even then, that small batch cost as much as an Hermes scarf. It’s too bad I didn’t come across the Iomoi.com website sooner. The site customizes stationery, calling cards (great for play dates), address labels, and even lovely little paperweights. The designs are absolutely charming, taking cues from such popular designs as Goyard’s stripes or Tory Burch’s emblem, but also making available other adorable, yet more traditional motifs such as flowers, monograms, and my personal favorite, a woman toting a Birkin.

www.iomoi.com

Photos: www.iomoi.com

NY Mag: "The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids"

As the parent of a toddler, I find myself jumping up and down at the slightest response to any command I give or clapping like a buffoon when she does something correctly. I am on the encouragement bandwagon and focused on not making my child feel unworthy, especially having grown up in a conservative and stereotypical Asian environment where praise regarding one's intelligence wasn't exactly part of the daily conversation.

Then I read this eye-opening article by Po Bronson on nymag.com-How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise; I had heard something similar in the past, but the basic point was so well-articulated here that it really stuck with me and is worth including here for parents to read. In short, how you phrase your praise may affect your child's estimation of their own abilities.

His concluding quote really hit it home for me:
"Offering praise has become a sort of panacea for the anxieties of modern parenting. Out of our children’s lives from breakfast to dinner, we turn it up a notch when we get home. In those few hours together, we want them to hear the things we can’t say during the day—We are in your corner, we are here for you, we believe in you.

In a similar way, we put our children in high-pressure environments, seeking out the best schools we can find, then we use the constant praise to soften the intensity of those environments. We expect so much of them, but we hide our expectations behind constant glowing praise. The duplicity became glaring to me."

You learn something new everyday.

An Emergency Purchase: the Olympus WS-300M Digital Voice Recorder

From the time my daughter was born I had always talked about recording her voice and saving it for posterity. Somewhere in storage is a tape of me as a 3-year old getting confused between “Flushing” and “French Fry” when being asked where I lived, and my parents love hearing that over and over again. My daughter is now two, and I haven’t taped a thing. And then today, the bomb dropped. I handed her a sippy cup for her water; this one had a bunch of Sesame Street characters on it, including her favorite, Mo-Mo, but today, when she saw the cup, she actually called him “EL-mo” instead of just “Mo-Mo.” I was stunned. And then it dawned on me, she was growing up, and baby talk was slowly making its way out, and I hadn't captured a moment of it.

When she first started talking, I had loved how she abbreviated words—as if she couldn’t be bothered to say the whole thing so she’d just say the last half of the word. Zebra was “bra” and Elmo was “Mo-Mo.” But no longer, now it’s just “zebra” and “Elmo,” and for some reason, I was really sad. On the positive side, I immediately ran to my laptop to Google “digital voice recorder for Macs” and quickly got to Amazon where I found the Olympus WS-300M had gotten good reviews and easily synced with the Mac so I could just convert the files into MP3s and burn them onto disc to torment her with them at a later date. You can even get a small microphone to go with it.

Hopefully it’ll be easy to use, and in between now and the time that it arrives, my daughter will still be saying “Mama” instead of “Mommy.”

Photo: Amazon.com

Tory Burch's Amy Pump: An Elevated Reva

While I adore my 4" Louboutins, I lack Sarah Jessica Parker's remarkable ability of running in them. Everytime I see her run in Manolos or sky-high platforms in old SATC episodes, I'm in awe. I can barely handle the coordination involved in merely standing in 4" heels; throw in the fact that most days will require running after or holding a 30-pound plus toddler, and it just ain't gonna happen. That's when stylish flats such as my favorite and the ever-popular and constantly sold out Tory Burch Revas (first photo) come into play. The flats named after the designer's mother are perfect for running around with/after a toddler and add a bit of pizazz to whatever you're wearing. But what about those days when you just want something in between the classic ballerina flat and the sexy four-inchers? That would be the Reva re-incarnated as Tory Burch's Amy pump; essentially, the Reva with a two-inch stacked heel gilded with gold trim. As Goldilocks would say, "This one is just right!" Well, almost, if only they would come with silver hardware and in colors other than black and brown...but for now, I'm managing a fast-paced walk in them just fine.

Available at www.toryburch.com

It's About Time: The Bugaboo Cup Holder

As if I needed another accessory cost for my money pit of a stroller (albeit, I love my Bugaboo Chameleon) Bugaboo has finally decided to come out with their own cup holder, one that doesn't require any screws--it just snaps onto the frame. Finally! My local Babystyle has sold out of them so I'm patiently waiting for a new shipment to come in. Now if only they would come out with a snack tray...

Christian Louboutin: Not Just For Boosting Your Height

Fresh off the UPS truck from Christian Louboutin’s store on Madison and in my closet are a pair of black calfskin Louboutin platform pumps with a stacked 3.5 inch wooden heel. Take note, these are shorter than the popular Bruges oft-spotted on the startlet du jour, and different from this Spring’s version, the Super 868, which has a pointier toe and a sky-high heel. In short, this is the perfect shoe.

My current shoe? $10 flipflops from Nordstrom Rack. What did I wear outside the house today in the torrential rain? That would be my Asics Kayanos to the gym. When would I wear this perfect shoe then? Good question. Pre-pregnancy and marriage, I would tell you that I would wear these with the pantsuits I used to wear to work to attend team and client meetings with CFOs and attorneys.

The ugly truth is that post-pregnancy I couldn’t bear to look at a heel, not helped by the fact that my foot size went up by a ½ size; the best I could do were clogs to those post-partum doctor visits. And even then, those were a stretch. Ever try to carry a 9 pound newborn inside a hefty infant carrier post-C section?

It took me about a year before I could even remotely think about myself again. Post-partum depression, shedding some of the baby weight, dealing with the stress of a very steep learning curve of being a first-time parent away from family who could help, were things that I found very overwhelming. Style got put on the backburner, and keeping my head above water became paramount.

When my daughter turned one, I also reached a mini-milestone; I became re-interested in looking somewhat presentable when going out. Invigorating my wardrobe was a head-to-toe process, so that’s when I got my first pair of Louboutin shoes; a pair of leopard-print wingtip slingback wedges I found on sale at Bergdorfs on-line. Wearing those shoes made me feel taller—both literally and figuratively. The leopard-print made me feel cool & stylish. In short, those were the shoes in which Mama got her groove back.

So when will I wear the perfect shoe? The answer: whenever Mama needs a little boost. ☺

www.christianlouboutin.fr

HBO's Classical Baby: Music, Art, and Dance

As the rookie mother of a two-year old, I've seen a lot of children's DVDs and can practically recite from memory what animal will appear next on Baby Einstein's Baby Noah DVD. By far, the most well-done series I have seen is HBO's Classical Baby series. The series is comprised of three DVDs that originally aired on HBO; there is the Music show, Dance show, and the Art show (or "Ah-t" show as my daughter likes to say). The last is my absolute favorite as it bring to life well-known works of art and pairs them with familiar classical pieces. Watching Chagall's 1915 painting, "Birthday" come to life or two mischievous bees contributing to the creation of one of Pollock's canvases are just some of the ways this wonderful series proves to be entertaining and educational for both children and parents. For a classical music buff, it was also a pleasant surprise to see in the credits that the selections used were taken from wonderful recordings. i.e., the Music show's "Busy Caterpillar" segment is set to cellist Yo-Yo Ma's recording of "Prelude from Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major." The Music and Art show segments are soothing enough that we have incorporated it as part of the nightly bedtime ritual.

Don't despair if your child doesn't take to it right away....it is inevitable that they will fall madly in love with it--just as my fickle little toddler did.

Photo: HBO
Available at www.amazon.com