Category: shopping

My New Diaper Bag

I have a bad habit of obsessing over purchases. And having E has only magnified this tendency because there’s so much baby gear out there to choose from nowadays. The first diaper bag I bought was a Skip Hop Dash. I liked it: it had tons of pockets and wasn’t frilly looking. But after 20 months of wear it finally gave out: the lining is thrashed and it’s stained and ratty-looking.

I took a look around online and ended up getting another Skip Hop bag, this time a Duo Deluxe bag. After a day of agonizing over patterns (cherry bloom or blue camo? Argh!!!) and pestering N for his opinion (“The camo pattern reminds me of G.I. Joes I had as a kid”) I ordered the camo. I liked the pattern and it certainly didn’t hurt that it was on sale for $42 (list price $54).
It came in the mail this week and so far I really like it. This deluxe version of the duo is larger than the previous version and it’s bigger than the Dash model I had before. It’s quite sizable and you can fit a ton of stuff in it. There are plenty of pockets for all the random things I carry around with me (sippy cup, E’s Epipen and allergy medicine, cell phone, diapers/wipes, a book, water bottle, wallet, etc…).

My only gripes with it are 1) the lining of the two zippered pockets is made out of the same thin synthetic material that wore out on my previous bag. I don’t want the lining to wear out before the rest of the bag again and so I’m leery of putting my clunky wallet and keys in those pockets, but there’s really no other convenient secure pockets for a wallet. It would have been worth it to upgrade that fabric. 2) There’s no key hook sewn into one of the pockets like there was in the Dash bag I had. I liked not having to dig for my keys.

But overall I like the bag quite a lot. And you can get it on Amazon with free shipping, which is how I like to roll.

Vintage Sparklies

I enjoy fashion and jewelry quite a bit but am still working on getting to a size where I would feel good about investing in some nice pieces. Right now most of my clothes come from Target or Costco and I mostly just try to make sure I don’t look too schlubby.

But maybe I should jazz things up with some fun costume jewelry. There’s an abundance of great affordable vintage pieces on etsy.

It Doesn’t Belong in a Rolodex!

Thanks to those who weighed in on the Great Business Card Debate of Aught-Nine. I still haven’t decided yet: I saw a few more options on Etsy and N’s cousin offered to use his mad design skillz to whip up something for me so we’ll see what happens.

Shopping for cards reminded me of this video N showed me a while ago. This guy is everything I hate about salesmen but he’s pretty entertaining.

(Hmm…it seems like the video is having some trouble. If you can’t get it to work, try this version. It’s worth it.)

Do you have a card?

I’m a total nerd when it comes to stationary. I love examining different types of paper and fonts. I remember being so excited when I was promoted at work to a position that required I have business cards even though they were very boring. My very own business card! Whoo hoo! I was living the high life.

But now I need some new cards that have my contact info on them to give to people at the office. And being self-employed, I can decide what my card looks like. I want something pretty but still professional looking. I took a look around Etsy and found some contenders.

I love the simplicity of this one. But is it too plain? Do you think it would look cheap?

This one’s gorgeous. But is it too whimsical for an office?

I would love a letterpress-printed card like this one but unfortunately I can’t justify the price since I only need a few cards.

So what do you think? Plain border or blue brocade?

My favorite places: The NPS Store

On Friday I was up by the airport and stopped by one of my favorite shops, the NPS store. They had a bunch of Le Creuset pots in stock and I snagged this braiser for a great price.

The NPS store is kind of hard to describe. It’s sort of like Goodwill in that you never know what they’re going to have and that it’s fairly dingy. But everything is theoretically new. They sell misdirected, unclaimed or damaged freight…so basically stuff that fell off the back of a truck. And apparently all sorts of stuff falls off of trucks.

The NPS store is actually made up of three different stores: the grocery store, the industrial store, and Market Square. We haven’t spent much time at the grocery store, but they seem to have a wide variety of items, including produce. The industrial store has aisles and aisles of indescribable machine parts and tools but we’ve also seen interesting things there like car bumpers, a fully-assembled sauna, kickboxing dummies, original oil paintings, and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream freezer.

We usually spend most of our time at the Market Square which sells kitchen items, jewelry, cds and dvds, clothes and shoes, toileties, fabric by the yard, etc… There’s also a separate room in the back full of “collectibles” including fine jewelry, wedding dresses, and original pieces of art.

When we get to the store N. usually makes a beeline for the cd section and picks it over. He’s found some rare releases for $2 or $3. I usually spend my time browsing the kitchen section. I have a couple of Le Creuset pots, all from the NPS store. I bought my big French oven there for 1/3 of the retail price. It was so cheap because the plastic handle on top was broken but then I called Le Creuset and they sent me a new handle for free so it worked out well.

It seems like the store is getting more popular. There don’t seem to have as many crazy sales as they used to, but the prices are still pretty good. I think it’s worth checking out if you’re up by the Salt Lake airport; it’s at 1600 South Empire Road. Let me know if you’re planning on going–E and I will meet you there!

Wood Toys

Well, it looks like I’m going to have to take another semester of woodworking in order to finish the jewelry boxes. Last night was the last class and I didn’t finish. (But more on that tomorrow.)

The next semester of woodworking won’t start until September but I’m already thinking of possible little projects I could make (and complete!) after I finish the jewelry boxes. I think it would be fun to make some small toys. I checked out Etsy to see what types of toys other people have made.

There were a ton of great wooden toys for sale. I think that any of these would make great shower or birthday gifts.

Method Daily Shower Cleaner

Like most people, I don’t like cleaning the shower. I hate scrubbing and chemical fumes often give me headaches. When we had our master bathroom shower repaired in December the acrylic marble guy tactfully suggested that keeping the shower cleaner would keep the caulk stay in better shape longer (the conversation was quite embarrassing) and he recommended using a daily shower spray.

So I mended my shower-neglecting ways and scrubbed the newly-repaired shower till it shone and then went out and bought some shower spray. I started out using Tilex Fresh Shower but it had some pretty strong fumes that would give me a bit of a headache.

So I switched to Method’s Daily Shower Cleaner and I really like it. I got it at Target for about $4 and also got a big refill jug of it for about the same price. It doesn’t have the harsh chemicals the Tilex does (especially important to me with E around) but it works just as well. I spray it on the shower everyday and it keeps it looking great. It’s been a few months and I have yet to see any mildew or soap scum but I don’t have to do any scrubbing.

I like to think the acrylic marble guy would be proud.

Fiberwig Mascara


As I’ve mentioned before, I was a bit of a tomboy growing up. I never really got into makeup as a teenager or while I was in college. Thinking back, I don’t think I’ve worn mascara more than 50 times in my entire life (and that’s including dance recitals when I was seven, high school plays, AND my wedding). With that said, I’m almost 30 and I’m starting to feel like maybe I should try at least a little to, you know, look nice.

I had heard good things about Fiberwig, a Japanese mascara, so I ordered it from Amazon around Christmas time. I really like it. I have very Korean eyelashes: stick-straight and short. But this mascara has little fibers in it that grab onto your lashes and extends them out. And it doesn’t flake off or smudge and give you raccoon eyes. It’s pretty pricey ($22) but if I’m going to go through the hassle of curling my lashes and putting on mascara then I want to at least use something that’s going to look good all day.

Does anyone else have a mascara they really like? I’d love to find a (cheaper) drugstore product that I like as well as Fiberwig.