My Top 10 Household Gadgets

These are the things that make my life easier...

1. Shark Vac then Steam Mop

In my opinion there is nothing better for vacuuming and cleaning hardwood or hard flooring. I even use it to vacuum my rugs!

2. Bissell SpotBot

This makes clean up of accidental spills so easy.

3. Nespresso Coffee Maker

These range in price from $149 to $799 and make one cup of coffee at a time. My husband loves really strong coffee, I love medium drip, Nespresso may have saved our marriage!

4. Kitchen Aid Mixer

I like the professional series because it has a hand crank bowl lift. It fits easily on the counter and never needs to be moved. Besides being a thing of beauty it whips up meringue unbelievably fast.

5. LG Front Load Steam Washing Machine and Dryer

I have these at both of my houses. The set at the lake house are newer and a little more up to date in that the dryer also has a steam function. I have never used it! But ... the steam option on the washing machine ... I use this all the time. A lot of clothing that used to be sent to the dry cleaners is now cleaned by me using my LG machine.

6. Vitamix Professional Blender

We love to make smoothies, soups, sauces and frozen drinks in this amazing blender.

7. iPad

My husband and children all had laptops. Since we also have imac desk tops at each house then I really couldn't justify getting a laptop for myself. However as soon as the ipad came out I knew I had to have one! I LOVE it, I can use it for 90% of my computing needs and I love reading books on it.

8. iPhone 4s

I bought the iphone when it first came out and until now had never updated to a newer version. My husband got one and I admit to falling in love with siri and knew I had to have one too. I ended up buying one for my 14 year old daughter at the same time. My son is only 11 and I promised that he too could get an iphone once he is in high school which he is very excited about.

He has an LG Octane which is a very nice phone and he is very happy with it. Last week at a school event a 9 year old girl holding an iPhone 4s came up to him and asked him why he had "that piece of ****". And that my dears is exactly why I don't believe in buying him an iPhone! Just because you have the means please do not spoil you children. My children have a very nice lifestyle but they are appreciative of what we give them. My son still loves his phone and I appreciate that he has manners :-)

9. Sony Alarm Clock

This does everything except make your coffee in the morning!

10. Kindle Fire

This is what we gave our children for Christmas. There was no need to buy them iPads since they both have Apple laptops but I really wanted to get them electronic readers. I ordered these the day they came out, and they love them so much. Kindles are wonderful but this version is so much more...

Hope you see something on this list that you like. Trust me each one of these gadgets makes me happy every time I use them and I have not always been a girl who enjoys cleaning her hardwood floors!

A little bit of sparkle!

As the holiday season is approaching fast here are some ideas for party outfits...

I love this sequin top from INC, I shall be wearing it to a jazz concert in New Orleans next week.

We're spending Christmas in Florida this year and this is the dress I want my daughter to wear. Its from Lilly Pulitzer.

This is such an elegant dress from my favorite brand St John, and its on sale!

Now is the time to shop for your holiday outfits, if you wait much longer all of the cute stuff will be gone!

Spanish Long Boots

Catherine Middleton looks so amazing in this photo that I decided to track down her fantastic boots so that I could get a pair for myself.

They are Spanish Long Boots and can be purchased here

I think I like the brown suede pair best.

Wicked

Have you seen Wicked yet?

We saw it in New York on Saturday and LOVED it!

Click here if you are interested in the tour information, and if it is coming to a city near you then do try and go, it is AMAZING!

Missoni at Target

I love the featured designer events at Target, and Missoni was one of the best to date.

I was blown away at how fast the merchandise sold out at our store, I was there mid-morning and it looked like that about half of the clothing had already been sold. I went back in the evening with my daughter and by that time just about everything was gone!

Luckily I was able to buy a sweater dress/coat ensemble that I am thrilled with. The dress is a little short, but will look amazing with black opaque tights and boots.

I hope you had better luck, and maybe they'll do another run considering how most items sold out the first day.

New York

I don't think any of us will ever forget the events of 9/11.

I am leaving for New York this afternoon with my daughter and some friends. We are going to have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy New York to the fullest.

We will never forget what happened but refuse to live our lives in terror.

That being said, I'm sure I will cry on Sunday.

Back to School Ideas for Teenagers

It is time to think about the children going back to school.

I can hardly believe that the summer is over! I hope you had a wonderful time with your children, and here are are few ideas for back to school shopping.

BOYS

My son has been in school uniform up until now, and still has a pretty strict dress code, but we were able to find some things to allow his personality to show.

I found this jacket at JCrew, I especially love it because it has a little Union Jack ;-)

We found the perfect book bag at Urban Outfitters, he selected a green messenger bag similar to this one

GIRLS

My daughter loves these bags from Lilly Pulitzer, most of the girls at her school have Vera Bradley bags, so its an easy way for her to be a little different.

For clothes we hit Zara, Urban Outfitters and JCrew and she was able to add several new things to her closet.

No luck finding her a new jacket yet, but it will be a while before she'll need it, its still in the 90's here.