Wordless Wednesday: Late Summer Beach Days...

The best beach days in San Diego always come late summer/early fall. With Jason's knee recovery, our beach fun has sorely lacked this summer. Last Sunday was a picture perfect day, so we grabbed the kids and my little waterproof Cybershot and hit the sand...

I love the water pics this little camera takes. Being able to be in the sand and the water with the kids while getting some amazing pictures makes this camera perfect for those long, hot days living the So. Cal dream.

Loving My: StyleMint Tops

A few years ago I had this great idea...what if there was something like a "t-shirt of the month club" that sent you a really cool, well cut, well made t-shirt monthly? I talked to a few people about it, everyone thought it could fly... then I don't know, kids, work, blogging, life got in the way and my little idea got pushed to the side. And then Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson apparently ran with it with one of their many ventures, StyleMint. 

Okay, so that's not true. Apparently BeachMint founders Josh Berman and Diego Berdakin are the dream thieves here!

Regardless, when I first saw this I cried a little. Then I ignored it. Then somehow I got an email with some tank top on it that I HAD. To. Have. And? It was a StyleMint top. I wavered for a few days, not wanting to give money to the people that took my idea (*disclaimer: they didn't really, I just tell myself that to make myself feel better for not running with my fab idea) but then a 30% promo code broke me down and I went for it. 

And, while it PAINS me to admit this - I'm now in LOVE with StyleMint. 

So how does it work?

From the StyleMint website:

It's FREE to look! Get a FREE StyleProfile. Never an obligation to buy!

Start your membership with your first purchase!

All styles start at $29.99 each!

You only receive what you order. We'll email you at the beginning of every month with your Showroom based on your StyleProfile.

Choose to buy or skip a month in the first 5 days at
no charge!

Shipping is always FREE!

Returns are EASY!

So a lot of FREE and EASYs may lead you run away. But basically it's this, it's $30 a month for one credit. If you don't want to buy a credit that month, you need to go online by the 5th of the month and hit "skip this month" if not, your card gets charged $30. Most shirts are 1 credit. 

When you first sign up they ask you a bunch of questions and then based on your answers your monthly "collections" are created. And while not all the shirts are a perfect match - it really only takes one a month, right? I joined about 4 months ago, and since then have purchased something 3 out of those 4 months. This month I even got a free t-shirt email offer to use when I spent my credit. All said, I now have 4 StyleMint t-shirts hanging in my closet and I can say with total affirmation that the shirts are nicely made, cute and fit very well. 

Shirts from StyleMint by hipmamab featuring scoop neck tops

My one complaint about the whole experience is that the models that they use on the website are ridiculous. They are all 6 ft tall, 90 lbs with not a boob in sight. Great for runway or couture fashion spreads, but not great for an online-only retailer trying to sell clothes to real women. And last time I checked, quite a few real women have boobs. 

That said, this past month I took a chance on a plaid, button-down shirt. Now, button-downs I try on never really fit me right across the bust line, so I'm not sure what even possessed me to purchase this one. But I did, and I LOVE IT. It fits perfectly and it's a very light, thin cotton - perfect for Fall in Southern California. 

What can I say? Sometimes it's the things you want to hate that you end up loving most. 

Happy Shopping!

HipMamaB Local: Back to School... back to ROUTINES and The Dailey Method

While I love the non-hectic mornings and care-free "what do you want to do" days of summer, with both kids in school now 5 days a week I'm SO THRILLED to be able to get back into a routine and have time for me. My first order of business is getting back to The Dailey Method in Carlsbad at least 3 times a week. Between kids, work, visitors, travelling and blogging, my workouts took a back burner this summer and I'm thrilled to already be back on track. 

For all the locals in the same boat as me, my girls over TDM Carlsbad are offering a week of incentives to get our bootys back in action.

Looks like I'm going to be a whole new woman by next Friday!

First class is free at TDM Carlsbad - who wants to join me next week? 

Check out why I have a cult-like obsession with The Dailey Method here. 

Monsterolgy and Animal Planet Wildlands Games Now Available! Yay!

I've been going on about Nukotoys and their amazing apps for over a year now. And now, I'm thrilled to tell you, the NUKO™ cards are finally available at Apple Stores, Target, Walmart, and Toy ‘R Us and the apps are available (for FREE) in the iTunes App Store. 

I'm so excited for Nukotoys. I've never met a group that I have wanted to see succeed more than the amazing people behind this company. I'm in awe at how far the company has come in a year and I love that I was able to even play a small roll in it. As you may know, I was in NYC with them a few weeks ago helping them spread the word to bloggers about the games and every single person I spoke was amazed by what they are doing. The only "complaint" I heard was bloggers going home and their kids NOT being able to purchase more cards immediately. Well, now they are available to the world. And I couldn't be more excited about seeing them at my local Apple store the other day. 

When I first posted about the games last year, the technology behind how the physical cards worked with the apps wasn't being disclosed. While Co-CEO Rodger Raderman still likes to refer to the technology simply as "magic," it's really a special ink in the card that conducts a charge when it comes in contact with the iPad’s touchscreen. Each “Nuko” (what they call the actual individual cards) has an invisible code printed using this ink. When pressed on the touchscreen of your iOS device (iPad or iPod touch), it reads the code and then activates the creatures on the card inside the game. Crazy cool, huh?

If you haven't had the chance to see the games in action yet, check out this video clip that tells you a little more about the games and why they are so, freaking, cool.

So look for the Monsterology and Animal Planet Wildlands cards the next time you are out shopping!

*Disclosure: I have done paid work for Nukotoys in the past year. But this post was written not out of any obligation, but just because I'm really excited for them.

Back to School...

And just like that, summer is over. 

Today the kids went back to school. Emotions were running deep this morning. Excitement, nerves and even a few tears... and I'm sure the kids felt the same way too. 

I deal with anxious times by throwing myself into a project, and this year it was all about capturing and creatively displaying these "first day" moments. Using no less than four different apps, I came home from my two drop-offs (Zoe's in an afternoon 1/2 day program) and cropped, colored and collaged away the emotions that come with the milestones of your children's growth.

First Lucas:

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: Phoster

My big kid. He loves clothes and accessories and picked out his own BtS outfit this year from Tillys. His back-pack was courtesy of the Land's End Back to School event I went to while in New York. I will admit that I was worried it wasn't going to be cool enough for my very style opinionated 8 year old, but he loved it. And it's a nice, solid backpack that looks like it can take a 3rd grade beating.

This was also the first year of the "Stop it Mom, you're embarassing me!" phase... but I still made him hold my hand as we walked down the hill. 

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: TurboCollage and LabelBox

Lucas is wearing the Lands' End Kids' School Rules Classmate Backpack in Medium. It was a gift to me for attending the New York event, and it's currently on sale for $27!

Zoe:

My little pickle who is growing up too quickly.

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: PhosterThis 2-year kindergarten thing will get confusing when it comes to pictures, but I'm SO happy she is in this program. Entering kindergarten isn't something you think of when you first have a late-fall baby, but wow, the decision of to hold-back or put in can drive a parent nuts. 

Zoe is my little fashionista in the making. She chose this dress and the slouchy ankle boots to go with it. She wanted to wear lip gloss, but I wouldn't let her. YES. I wrote that my 4.5 year old wanted to wear lip gloss to her first day of kindergarten. 

Zoe was excited and nervous. She told me she had butterflies in her belly, but she couldn't wait to meet new friends and play with them on "her new playground." Her teacher seems amazing. She created the curriculum for this transitional K program and is excited to be able to give the kids a proper, solid foundation. Zoe got a little clingy when it was time to line up, but then she marched right in with a smile on her face. 

I managed to hold it together while standing outside the class, waving good-bye. But as I was walking back to my car a mom behind me said "Great, now I'm going to go back to work and sob at my desk" ... and that's when I lost it.

My baby; Growing up too fast. 

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: TurboCollage and Labelbox

So home I came. The first Monday afternoon I've had to myself in what? 8 years?

After pulling myself together, I downloaded pictures and created collages. Putting my mind to work and trying not to think about how fast my kids are growing while simultaneously trying to make sure that I never forget the special moments of these precious years.

Picture taken with Olympus PEN E-PL3 / App used: Phoster