Editor's note: For our last week at Style Lush, I've asked the writers to share both a favorite post by another writer, from over the last three years, and a favorite post of their own. You'll see these posts linked to at the top of their new post for the week. Enjoy a stroll down Lush memory lane! By Leah As a way of helping send this site out with a triumphant fanfare (even as I've wept myself into a puddle over the loss), I'm going to try to answer the question "What was your favorite Style Lush post ever?"... Continue reading

By Leah Partly because I spend all day at home, and partly because while I'm at home I watch a lot of Nate Berkus Show reruns, all I want to do anymore is cover every last centimeter of my home with stylish accessories, both inside and out. This week's obsession: weather vanes. I don't know what I love about them most: that there are so many (too many) options? that they're charmingly old-timey? that they're completely and utterly unnecessary? A few that have caught my eye: The copper sailboat is a favorite. Although this whaler ship is pretty magnificent. And... Continue reading

By Leah My New Year's manicure has seen better days. My New Year's manicure also feels about 100 watts too sparkly for everyday SAHMhood. I don't remember where I saw this (Pinterest?), but if you've ever had a bull of a time trying to remove glittery nail polish, and without scratching up your nails in the process (mine are extra wimpy), here's a quick trick to do the job. All you need is cotton balls, nail polish remover, and tinfoil. Cut five cotton balls in half to make a total of ten fingernail-sized pieces. Soak the cotton ball halves in... Continue reading

By Leah I've written before about my son's love affair with stickers, and since it's a healthy obsession, I'm happy to fuel the fire. Our new favorite--wait, I mean his! HIS new favorite sticker collections are from the Eyelike series, available at bookstores like Barnes and Noble or online at good old Amazon. Shoppers take note: These make perfect gifts for kids ages 3 to 103, and at around $7 per set, they're a great value. My mom bought my son the Halloween set ealier this year, and it was such a hit I gave him the Christmas set as... Continue reading

By Leah True to form, I'm finally ready to hop on a bandwagon a few years after the rest of the world. Hey, I may not be at the forefront of style, but at least this wait-and-see method ensures the trend has some longevity and I'm not wasting my money on something that will be passé in just a few weeks. So: silver mercury glass! I'm ready for you! It's a little shiny, a little shabby, and it fits into most decor styles. Here are some things I'm loving: Target small hurricane, $25 Pottery Barn set of three leaf-topped bottles,... Continue reading

by Leah Here's one to bookmark for January 1, or maybe earlier if you're taking part in this round of Biggest Blogging Loser and have been letting the holidays get the best of you for the past few weeks (ahem). What we have here is a pretty straightforward weight loss simulator, and there are probably hundreds of them out there, but this is the one I came across (I forget how), and I thought it was cool so I'm sharing it with you in case this sort of thing is your jam. You can input basic details (height, shape, bust)... Continue reading

by Leah My husband is a strict observer of the "No Christmas Decorations Until December 1" rule. It's too bad for him that he married me, then, since I'm equally devoted to the "Get Them Up While You Can Because Your Life Is Crazy" doctrine, which usually means taking advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend to deck the ever-loving crap out of our halls. This year the prospect of one special winter craft ("winter"! not necessarily "Christmas"!) may have softened his obstinance a little. Ladies, gentlemen, spouses of geeks, and moms of little boys in particular, I present to you... Continue reading

By Leah We just got back from Legoland and, always the intrepid Style Lush reporter, I'm here to share what I learned in case you or anyone you know is considering a trip there. (Note: This is all about Legoland in California; I can't speak to the one in Florida.) Here are my tips and impressions: Everyone we talked to--online friends, IRL friends, the pilot on the plane--told us that my son, at age almost-four, was the perfect age for Legoland. They were right. Younger kids are too short to ride all the rides and older kids might think a... Continue reading

By Leah 'Tis the season for thanks, thankfulness, and thank you cards. And soon it will be time for Christmas cards and gift tags and new calendars and finding great items for all those mothers-in-law/preschool teacher/boss-types who are impossible to shop for. This year I'm going to fly my hippy flag high and proud and pick up some things from Botanical Paperworks, who specialize in plantable paper goods of all kinds. Check it out: Plantable seed thank you cards. Plantable seed journal. Plantable seed calendar. (My favorite. Each page grows a different herb or vegetable. LOVE THIS.) Plantable seed postcards.... Continue reading

By Leah There are a lot of things I'd like to change about my house, but until I win the lottery and become the kind of person who can decide with authority, say, what color of exterior paint I can live with for the next handful of years, I'm keeping my goals modest. One of those goals is to buy a new rug for the t.v. room. Of all the rooms in our hundred-year-old Craftsman, our t.v. room is the most modern, what with its media equipment and streamlined Ikea furniture in basic black. The rug we've had in there... Continue reading

By Leah Listen, I know it's not even Halloween yet, so let's call this a seasonal decoration rather than a Christmas one. And since snow is still probably a way off for most of you (and another thirty years off for us here in San Francisco), let's also pretend that all good Style Lush writers and readers devise plans for our seasonal home decor months in advance instead of at the very last minute, if at all. It's just that I saw these snow globes in the current West Elm catalog and thought the owl and tree versions were so... Continue reading

By Leah If you've heard me talk about baby and kid gear before, you know I'm a lo-fi gal. I'd rather not spend my money on stuff I'm just going to get rid of in a few months when my child has outgrown it, and I especially don't want to buy more things I'll inevitably have to haul all over kingdom come. Now that I have two kids, I swear that between the car seat and the stroller base and the diaper bag and the baby wrap and the big kid's backpack and my purse, I'm more pack mule than... Continue reading

By Leah Attention, mothers of infants and other small humans! The just-for-babies nail clippers you have are (probably) not cutting it. (Har.) Here's what you need: This is a pair of fine-tip cuticle scissors, and they get the job done quickly and easily and with no casualties. My mom says this is what the pediatric nurses use on their patients, so you might say they're Expert Approved. And for what it's worth, they're also Me Approved. Three-plus years, two kids, no blood, no tears, no sweat. Pictured above is a set from Body Toolz ($11.35) because I wanted you to... Continue reading

By Leah Do you know Gyo Fujikawa? She wrote and illustrated more than fifty books for children between 1963 and 1990, and although I'm not sure she qualifies as classic in the Generally Accepted Canon of Kid Lit, she's way up there on my personal list. I had one of her books (Come Follow Me) when I was little, and I loved it so much--treasured it, actually--that while I was working at a bookstore in college I snatched up every one of her books that came through our bargain section (because that's what I could afford as a poor college... Continue reading

By Leah I'm on the path to losing my baby weight, and it's about as fun as it sounds. Eating less, moving more, yadda yadda. Dieting while breastfeeding is haaaaard (consume all the things!), so my major plan of attack is to burn extra calories and build some muscle and mom-of-two-boys endurance by exercising. But oh. I am not a fan. Aside from the muscle fatigue and burning lungs and, ahem, leakage (solidarity fistbump to all the moms out there), my two biggest complaints about exercising are (a) it's boring and (b) the time spent gearing up for and gearing... Continue reading

By Leah Last week I pulled out the bin of old baby toys in anticipation of my second son (who turns six weeks old today!) soon needing something a little more stimulating than me saying "ah-goo" in his face two hundred times an hour. Now, we're not the biggest fans of toys with on/off switches--and not for any holier-than-thou hippy reasons about the Purity of Play or anything like that but simply because toys with sound are usually annoying as all get-out--but as it happens, one of our family's favorite toys is the Mozart Magic Cube, the whole point of... Continue reading

By Leah Olympics schmolympics, I was a hero in my own home the day I brought forth from my bulging Target shopping bag a single Chox stick. This is a cheapo version of the temporary hair coloring chalk all the younguns are crazy about, and if you give it to any kid in your life, your coolness factor will increase by at least 10 points, guaranteed. What I loved most about these is that the color comes out completely and nearly effortlessly...especially if you, uh, don't follow the directions. (Apparently you're supposed to wet this stuff before applying, but we... Continue reading

Editor's note: Leah received a Petite Lemon growth chart independently of Style Lush and we're excited for her write-up! Other than the free product, Leah (nor Style Lush) was compensated in any way for this post. *** by Leah Since we brought him home from the hospital, we’ve been keeping track of our son’s length/height on the jamb of the front door, since that’s where the previous owner’s son (Arlo!) was keeping track of his own growth. For strict recordkeeping purposes alone, this method works just fine and dandy, but it isn’t very attractive and it isn’t much of a... Continue reading

by Leah My organizing philosophy as of late has been "put it in a bin and call it good enough." This goes for clothes, toys, craft stuff, makeup and accessories, important paperwork, everything. Although my belongings aren't exactly organized in these bins, they're at least contained thematically, and, like I said, that's good enough for me to call it "good enough." This is better than good enough, though, and is a major improvement over having all my bracelets and necklaces tossed together in a jumble in a sad plastic bin that I keep under the bathroom sink and then never... Continue reading

by Leah We own approximately one frillion blankets (the result of having a baby plus a Mormon family that quilts for every life milestone), and it's taken me years to finally see a storage solution that doesn't make me feel bad. (Shoving a lovingly handmade gift into a closet or storage bin has never been ideal from an emotional standpoint, and from a more practical angle, I never use the blankets I can't see.) I saw this somewhere (Pinterest?) and, hello, awesome. Bonus that a ladder of blankets doubles as filler for awkward wall space. And that I can hide... Continue reading

by Leah When it comes to Hallmark holidays, we're more of a handmade card + special activity family than a buy-a-gift one. For Father's Day this year, my baby daddy's getting a spinning photo card, courtesy of Martha Stewart. Instructions are here. (Dear Martha: It's not really a three-step process if Step 1 has seven parts.) Two things to add: 1. The directions are kind of confusing, so I recommend making a dummy version out of scrap paper first, so you can figure out what you're doing before you add the fancy paper and photos into the mix. 2. If... Continue reading

by Leah I love killing two birds with one stone when one bird is a shoe-storage problem and the other bird is the giant expanse of wall across from our bed that has been sad and empty and awkward for five years. Die, birds, die! We bought two of these at Ikea, and they're my new favorite thing: They're really shallow cabinets (only about a foot deep) with drawers that hinge out for shoe storage (or toy storage or book storage or baby clothes storage or craft supplies storage--whatever you need to hide away). Here's another configuration, which shows what... Continue reading

by Leah I love these wooden placemats from Crate and Barrel (the ones made of circles of wood on the far right). What I don't love is that they're $14 each and I use placemats approximately 1.3 times per year and would instead like to get a big old stack of them and hang them on a wall as art. Can I make my own? (Meaning: Can I make my husband make these for me?) If we cut some wooden dowels to the same thickness and then stuck them together with wood glue, would that even work? Or is this... Continue reading