Containing Your Inner (or Outer) OCD

For those of you whom are clinically and/or self diagnosed, this is the store for you. The Container Store is a 'can't live without', 'how did I manage before this existed?' store. Aside from the fact that it is always a pleasant shopping experience and I rarely leave the store without something I don't need. This store is there to make my home and my life stay organized. 

Every room, every closet, drawer, shelf, cabinet and... piece of luggage is covered at this store. With the holiday season in full swing the Container Store has a wide range of stocking stuffers and small gifts for all of your family and friends needs. The luggage ID handle tags are pretty ingenious. The most popular luggage color is black and there is always the 'is that one mine?' question at baggage claim... let's just hope everyone does not get the same ID handle tag for the holidays! There is the gift wrap section that puts Hallmark to shame and a shipping supplies area that will help you get what you need to prepare the gift for mailing... (they should consider a post office kiosk!)

All of your travel needs are covered, your office, your kitchen, the laundry room, the dorm room... have you not been to this store? There is a website, so if this store has not yet reached your hometown... consider the ISH.

Get organized! 

www.containerstore.com

What's in the bag?

Move over tin foil, there is a new kitchen accessory in town! Behold the pizza storage bag! And why did no one think of this sooner? I mean really. We had the plastic, we had the copyrighted and the knock-off Zip-lock mechanics, we have the education in geometry... what was preventing the invention of this bag until now?

So here is how I found it and then I will tell you how to find it. Yesterday I was walking through Soho doing some research on a few different subjects in my personal and professional life. I was able to cross pollinate some store visits to satisfy multiple subjects (something I learned from my college advisor!). 

SIDE NOTE: If you do not have an Urban Outfitters within a 10 mile radius of you, then I truly apologize for the absence of joy that this store brings to almost everyone that I know. With that being said, sign up for their email distribution and be sure to visit the nearest location the next time you travel. I will be happy to help you find that location, should you need assistance. 

My preferred location, and the one that I have frequented and been apart of the many transformations since my early college years, is the Broadway and Houston location in NoHo. It is now 3 floors (use to only be 1) of romantic and cavernous merchandise. They have really expanded beyond the apparel and accessories realm. They are not afraid of offending anyone about anything and they are consistently trying to bring you back to your youth while keeping up with every uber hip trend. On the third 3rd floor, which is mostly about making your home look the way you dress... is where is found the pizza bags... tucked away in a corner. With no fault to the merchandising team for hiding this small wonder... this is a HUGE store and if you have ever been in it or in any UO, you know that they are chalk full of gadgets and gizmos a plenty (hello Little Mermaid!). With that being said, not everything can be front and center, highlighted and item of the day. BUT... these, these are something else in my book... or blog. At first I grab one pack. They were 6 for $6. The one to one ratio was not great, but come on... great idea. I could find a way to re-use there right? So I grabbed a pack for me, a pack or my mother-in-law (because I have seen that refrigerator all too many times full of leftover pizza) and a pack for my sister-in-laws new boyfriend... because he is going to need a gift under the tree from us and he is a dude... who has a roommate... so they have leftover pizza, right? 

So where else can you get them? I Googled these little wonders and it looks like people are selling them on eBay of course. But the company that is making them is Mama Fresco's Pizza Saver. They have a website that lists the many stores that they are selling them to, but here are a few that maybe in your area in case there is not an UO, let alone an UO that sells the pizza savers.

www.mamafrescos.com

or check your local Bed, Bath and Beyond, Gracious Home or Fortunoff.

Can you stocking stuffer for the college student? Single guy? Newly weds? Family? 

Pizza Pizza!

The Master of Tickets

I love a live concert. I think that I always will. Summers are for concerts! I began this past summer going to see Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd and began 2008 seeing the Spice Girls. Last week I took some friends to see the New Kids on the Block Reunion concert... jealously will get you nowhere! This Holiday season I am taking my husband to see The Dan Band and Matisyahu (The Dan Band is your favorite cover band performance, you just don't realize it... remember the wedding band in Old School?). In my opinion, a concert is a great date night, fun for a group of friends and has more to offer than going out to dinner/drinks. 

Where to begin? Ticketmaster.com of course! This website has made leaps and bounds improving their service for ticket purchases. I have no advanced purchase privileges, I am just the average ticket buyer. I am never disappointed. Ticketmaster.com has been available for quit sometime now and I have been a returning customer for many years. I can finally say that I am satisfied with process by which I can search for concerts, view the seating charts (with virtual views of your seats- so fun!) of the venues and purchase the tickets. The security codes are a little annoying, but what's one more step? I seem to be able to find exactly what I am looking for. Additionally, the choices for receiving your tickets have greatly improved. In fact, this may be the most improved option on Ticketmaster.com. You can print you tickets at home! The option to still have them mailed to you is available, but who does not want to save money on postage and timing (especially is you are purchasing at the last minute and have limited time!). The printing at home option is $2.00 I believe and the postage involves more than your average 42 cent stamp. 

Like purchasing anything on the ISH, be patient and read all of the fine print (if you want)... and see some live music! I have not purchased tickets to anything but concerts, but sporting events and broadway shows are also available.

There are other websites for ticket purchases that I am not as familiar with, but have heard mostly positive feedback about like StubHub.com and RazorGator.com. Give them all a try and let me know what you think!

I can't wait for Britney to make her come back!

If you build it, they WILL come...

We have only been living in Brooklyn for a little over a year now and with the state of the economic world right now... there still continues to be a steady flow of residential and commercial construction. This past summer Brooklyn welcomed its first IKEA. A mecca for affordable furniture and housewares. This location opened in August 4.2 miles from my apartment. I waited 2 months to be sure everyone had gotten their maiden voyage out of the way before I made mine. People waited in line for several days waiting for the grand opening in order to be awarded one of the 400 free couches that were being given away to celebrate the arrival of this marvelous store. Located in a quiet area called Red Hook, with lovely views of the Jersey waterfront... this IKEA location is mint. It is a delightful shopping experience. If you do not have a car... there is a ferry from lower Manhattan and there are shuttle buses from the subway stops in the Brooklyn area. I drove. Since most people do not have cars, parking at this location was a dream. I parked by the front door! Unheard of at any other IKEA location if you are not there before the doors open. Inside... clean, organized and typical of any other IKEA... except that it was a Friday afternoon and there was no one there. 

The marketplace is by far one of my favorite shopping parades. You either go at this alone or go with someone who enjoys it just as much or more than you do. I got lucky this time. My neighbor is also a fan and was equally excited and content to meander the paths of the marketplace with no time constraints and with no irritated husband along side. SIDE NOTE: This is no place for husbands/boyfriends/partners/etc.... ever. This should be a women's only place and there should just be plenty of strong help around for the lifting should it be needed for the heavy stuff. 

So, what did I get? I am always wishing I had a few house gifts around for when we are going to visit people and I don't want to show up with a bottle of wine or empty handed. For 99 cents I stocked up on some great printed cocktail napkins. These are always great to give anyone. People like pretty napkins and they use them. IKEA has really stepped up there baby and kids section. For $2.99 I got 2 sets of 10 finger puppets. (Yes, I still owe baby gifts!). They have great bibs, stuffed animals, cups/bowls/cutlery, toys, etc. Really great prices too. I was impressed and will be going back for there for the kids stuff. 

I am cooking my first Thanksgiving this year, so I needed some trivets: 3 pack of cork trivets for $2.99! The turkey fork was $14.00... that's fine considering it's out first turkey. I needed a reading lamp for my side of the bed... $12.00. Seat cushions for the chairs at our dining room table were $5.00 each.

A trip to IKEA should occur once every few months I think. If I go anymore than that I could see myself coming home with things that are really unnecessary. I find myself "loving" everything and having no idea what I would be using it for. Everything is very clever, but not always what I need. I found a lot that I did need and that I was looking for. I came home with very little that was useless... so once every few months, I will allow myself to journey over to 'Southern Brooklyn'... and sashay through the aisles of Swedish creativity. Additionally, in an effort to 'Go Green', IKEA no longer offers plastic bags to package up your purchases in at the register. You either load your stuff into the car as is or BYOB! Bring your own Bag! You can, of course, purchase their familiar blue bags for 59 cents at the register... just remember to bring with you the next time you come... BYOBB!

You have to find it!

From a very young age accessories have always been a passion of mine. It was no surprise to anyone in my family or to any of my friends when I took a job that focused on both men's and women's accessories. When my husband and I bought our first pug, Gus... he, of course, had to outfitted with the perfect puppy accessories. Below I have listed a few of my most favorite dog accessory websites, however there is one that I must highlight. All be it a luxury item... these dog leashes are the perfect dog accessory in my book. They are what every accessory should be: timeless, classic, chic and the best part... functional. Go ahead and Google FOUND MY ANIMAL Leashes. Let me explain the the accessory and then the cause. These leashes are custom-made ropes with brass hardware trim designed to hitch, hand carry or wear the leash like a belt and be hands free while you take the pup for a walk. The leash comes with adjustable brass loops to hitch the pups to a tree or a fence or your waist. We hitch our pups up to a tree in the park and have picnics with them. So fun! They come in 4 sizes... see the website for more info on that. So fashion and function only go so far for some people. The leashes are not cheap, so here is the 'do good' part. Buy one and you are helping raise public awareness of the urgent need for animal adoption. Proceeds go directly to the Louis Animal Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to helping animals find homes. FOUND MY ANIMAL Leashes are the 'IT' accessory for the pups! 

www.foundmyanimal.com

Other great dog accessory websites:

www.wagwear.com

(we have the boys sweaters, vests, dogs beds and yes... the tent from this place!)

www.trixieandpeanut.com

(this place is trouble if you are a sucker for useless dog stuff... but cute!)

www.puppia.com

(the harnesses are a NYC dog fan favorite)

www.petedge.com

(this pet supply place has everything that we need for a fraction of the price you pay at the PetCo and PetSmart)

I'm not going to be the area

This chain of stores is a gold mine. Area Kids, Area Mom & Baby and Area Play are a Brooklyn based store and playground group that is raking it in... at least from my perspective. I was first introduced to Area Kids when my best friend had her twins almost 2 years ago in Park Slope. Yesterday I was in search of a birthday gift for my husbands 8 year old god daughter. Without going after the exact location, the shopping experience was a 6 at best... on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best. I was with my sister-in-law, who is a pretty experienced shopper and consumer herself. The sales girl was a friendly women with great potential upon our entrance into the shop... from there, all down hill. I was looking for girls size 6X in anything and she told me they carried that size but did not set me in the direction to find anything. My sister-in-law and I fished through the shelves and found 1 t-shirt for $36. Fine, not great. Then we found a charm bracelet section. Perfect. I asked how much the charm bracelets were... she told me $10. Then I asked how much the charms were... she told me $5. We spent about 10 minutes picking out charms. I am now paying for the t-shirt, the bracelet and the charms only to find out that the charms we chose do not fit on the bracelet that we chose. She was out of the bracelet. Now, we are the only customers in the 10x10 foot store, so anything that we say, you can hear... perfectly! If you notice that we are asking about the bracelets and the charms... it might seem as if we are pretty interested in buying these items. Chime in! Be a seller! Make a sale! Tell me you are out of the bracelet and guide me into another item or help me get the item from one of your other stores. Customer service people! We bought the t-shirt and she called another location in the area for us to pick up a bracelet for the charms. So she was nice and she found us a bracelet beyond that... there is not much else to say.

In today's economy I would be working a bit harder to make and close any sale. Always kill them with kindness. I recently had my bag stolen while out celebrating a friends birthday... in a bar of course. Clearly the person who took the bag did not want what was in it, but wanted the bag... my first Gucci... very sad. Anyhow, my personal Blackberry perished in the theft. I spent some quality time on the phone with AT&T in the days following the bag snatching episode. The customer service was really thorough at AT&T. I can't say enough about them. They were extremely accommodating and helpful in aspects of replacing my Blackberry, shipping confirmation, setup details, etc. I am thrilled with my decision to have switched from Sprint to Cingular the now AT&T. All be it almost 2 years ago, it has paid off to get out of the Spring contract. Customer service goes a long way. I can not stress that enough... ever.

Happy Little Trees!

Thank you Bob Ross, RIP. So if everyone is jumping on the 'Go Green' bandwagon, I am going to do my part to support the cause. Again, think ISH (information super highway)... with family and friends giving birth and the passing of some amazing people in my life, I have finally found the perfect contribution to the environment combined with celebrating or commemorating those in my life. Consider Trees Instead, Inc. In a word, Delightful. There are different purchase options Trees Instead offers, but my first purchase for $20, was one tree for a memorial. One tree to be planted in your choice of  1. a forest of my choice or 2. a forest that needs it the most. This purchase supplies the recipient with a certificate of the contribution from you with a small note that you can script on-line, as well as a 'tree #' so that you can follow the growth of the tree as well as stay informed about the forest where the tree is planted. I really love this gesture. I had the certificate sent to me first so that I could inspect the presentation before it was handed over to my friend for whom I bought the tree for in memory of her mother. It was really something to feel good about. Additionally, you can purchase a whole forest, one or more acres and you can purchase individual trees as wedding favors.

Growing up, my mother was a big tree giver. She purchased them from the local Hadassah (the local women's Zionist organization) whenever there was a birth or a death. These trees were purchased for roughly about $12 and these trees were planted in Israel. This was popular tradition. It still is and will continue to be. I always loved the idea and am happy to be able to find a ' go green', environmentally supported US version of this tradition. Make Bob Ross proud!

www.treesinstead.com