Hipster Bingo

Back in my day (said in the cranky old man voice), we played "Keener Bingo" during class. The cards had the names of all the people who routinely tried to impress the professor with their comments/questions. But I'm beyond that now....

Now there's Hipster Bingo. I think I'm getting older, because nothing in this Bingo (from the Catbird seat) applies to me and I do think it's funny. I find it's even easier to play now that the university students are all back in town ;)



Found via Oh My That's Awesome!

Expanding shoes = Longer product life

We found Inchworm shoes recently via surfing Gizmodo.
These kids' shoes expand one full size (in half-size increments) thereby increasing the amount of time that your kid can actually wear them since for such wee little feet chances are, the shoes won't get worn out, but rather grown out.

There's quite the range of styles for both little girls and boys. It's nice to know that 5% of the sales goes towards Juvenile Diabetes Research.
The Prowler ($19.95)


Cute! These slip-on Primers ($19.95)


From a product design point of view, I'd love to get my hands on a pair to see just how the sizing mechanism works.

(They even address this a bit in their FAQ:
Why hasn't this been done before?
Because as simple as it is to operate the shoe - this was not easy to accomplish!)

Fellow indie designer: Plueys

I originally heard of Plueys through the Switchboards (a great forum for creative women in business -- lots of other indies, naturally). Plueys makes a fine selection of products all geared towards rainy days -- impressive products for a small business.

My favourite 'puddle stompers' are the Go Fish! boots ($55 US):


View the full selection of boots here. They've also got some cute little kid boots too for $21.


So if it's raining today in your neck of the woods, maybe something colourful will make it less grey?

Lego lovin' for grown-ups

Back in my day (note that this should be said with a cranky old man voice), Lego was a simple toy. I remember the joy that could be found in dumping out the WHOLE bag of lego on the floor and building whatever out of it. We had no fancy pieces. Just plain bricks. Maybe a 'window' piece if you were so lucky.

As grown-ups though, you can still love Lego with some cool stuff from the "Exclusives and Accessories" area of their online store.

Like this Vikings chess set ($69.99):


A stormtrooper Lego dude key chain ($5.99) -- good for the geek-in-multiple-ways that you know!


I'm pretty tempted by the Lego ice cube tray ($9.99):



But then, you might as well make it a theme, and get the bottle opener and corkscrew as well ($19.99):


The Lego online store has lots more stuff that would satisfy any sort of Lego lovin' you feel like fulfilling.

Fellow Indie Designer: Happy Owl Glass

Waay back when, the first barter we did with another indie designer was with Tracy Bull of Happy Owl Glass. I jumped at the chance of a trade since I've loved Tracy's work since the very first time I'd ever seen it.

I have a couple of lovely pendants from her Badge Menagerie collection. The badges retail for $7US each, or you can have them as a pendant for $25.




Aside from the signature badges, I also love the owl nightlight ($35):


and the recently added Happy Owl t-shirts ($20). So cute!

Beautiful minds: A voyage into the brain

This is a video excerpt (runs about 5 minutes) from the documentary "Beautiful Minds: A voyage into the Brain" featuring Stephen Wiltshire, aka the 'Living Camera'. Stephen is autistic and has the remarkable ability to be able to retain visual details -- in this case, details from an aerial view of Rome -- and put them on paper. (You can buy prints and originals of his work on his website).

Truly amazing.

Blossom 2006

If you're a woman and you'll be in Ottawa for Sunday, October 15th, make sure to check out Blossom, a 'Lifestyle event for women' at the Brookstreet Hotel (in Kanata). A portion of the proceeds of the event will go to Rethink Breast Cancer, a charity that focuses on education, research and support programs -- timely, since this month is breast cancer awareness month. The event costs $25 at the door or $20 if you register online. You'll get a catered event, a chance at door prizes and a girly gift bag :). More details here.

A whole bunch of women-owned business that I know personally and/or have frequented will be either exhibiting or sponsoring the event, including:


Dinners Ready Personal Chef Service - run by my good friend Julie Broczkowski. She has kept Eric and me quite well-fed the past few weeks!



Loot by Stina B - Christina makes bags, t-shirts and accessories, and runs Workshop Boutique. (I mentioned her previously in this post).



Wine on Sundays - Bridget is the other half of the team that owns Workshop Boutique, and Wine on Sundays is her eclectic jewelry line.



Exuberance - Jodi Fedor's line of skincare products. I met Jodi at Cherry Pie - another women's networking event here in Ottawa.


The Girl with the Most Cake - Linda makes the most. amazing. cakes. ever. She's a true artist (when I say artist I mean that literally since Linda's got a Bachelor of Fine Arts and just happens to make cake her medium of choice). She actually made our wedding cake when Eric and I got married:


So based on these businesses alone, I'd say the trek out to Kanata on the 15th should be worth it. (And heck, it's for a good cause!)

Mmm... sushi

One of the (many) things I missed being able to eat while pregnant was sushi -- I mean real sushi with the raw fish and not the placate-the-craving-with-the-cooked-stuff kind that I was able to eat. Though, I do have to say that the Dynamic Rolls and some of the other special Maki at Sushi Time on Queen St. in Toronto are really freakin' good.

But I digress. This post is supposed to be about some cool sushi-inspired pillows. My brother and sister-in-law recently purchased these pillows and apparently they're just as cool in person.

The pillows are made by Cindy Tomm and Mel Maghuyop and sold on their site. These original sushi pillows make a good I-heart-sushi gift :), especially when they've got a fall sale going on.

My favourite is the Ebi Nigiri, for the shape of the shrimp ($35 US). (Yes, I realize this is a 'cooked' sushi -- the eating and the pillow-thing are different).


The rolls are pretty cool too.
Like this 'Flat California Roll' ($36):

You can see the full catalog here, and then go out for sushi.