I know it's tough to fathom since it's 12 degrees out right now, but remember how balmy it was last weekend? The rapidly melting snow banks coupled with the Marimekko event left me hungry for spring! If you're ever in a grouchy mood, just walk into Marimekko and your happy neurons will start firing; it's pure rainbow awesomeness. Don’t believe me? Check out the evidence below:

The spring/summer runway show was awesome thanks to my blogging friends and their adorable kids. Audrey showed how well Marimekko dresses go with leggings and flats. Her son Henry looked adorable in stripes + critters (and dragon face paint).

Casey shared that this was her first time in a dress since prom! She looked amazing and I love that she integrated her style with black sneakers. Her daughter Riley (with an awesome unicorn on her face...girl after my own heart) was simply adorable in Marimekko leggings, long sleeved tee, and tank dress.

Sharon looked awesomely elegant in this dot dress. Her son Bennett (he was such an adorable ham!) rocked the layers, with a striped collared shirt topped with a gorilla tee.

I love how chic and modern Sharon's geometric print is; she dressed this look up with peep toe pumps. Her daughter Sienna looked so cute in leggings, a tee, and my favorite of Marimekko's raincoats for kids. Also, Sienna's red glitter shoes were to die for!

Here's a shot of the moms, which I insisted on because usually we're busy taking pictures of our kids and aren't in the photos. These ladies make the internet such a good place!

Also, I love this photo with Audrey. Audrey is one of the first people I met after I started blogging; she's pure generosity and kindness. Her family is amazing and I often joke that I'm totally crashing their next family gathering.

Thank you Zac of Zac Wolf Photography for these amazing photos! And also, have you heard of The Danger Booth? Zac and Becca are the brains behind this operation and their booth set up at the event was the funnest. thing. ever. I want to hire them for all my parties! These photo booth shots are hilarious; the booth was touch screen so the kids were able to operate it themself and go nuts.

And finally, as someone who has an awful lot of black, white, and cream in her wardrobe (I tend to infuse color via accessories), wearing that insanely awesome Tasma dress was a fun way to step out of my comfort zone and wear the rainbow. Subsequently, I thought it would be fun to close by sharing a rainbow assortment of Marimekko offerings. So cute! And I love that their wares span clothing, accessories, household, and tech! (Names of items are underneath the image.)

Murina t-shirt | Converse Mustakottarainen | Media makeup bag | Sukellus bathing suit | Pitkähiha long sleeved t-shirt | Päärynä coffee cup | Kurjenpolvi pillow sham | Sääpäiväkirja plate | Ärrän raincoat | Hennika sham| Räsymatto apron | Telmiä pajamas | Kaivo phone case | Kaivo scarf

Image credits: product shots via Marimekko; all other photos courtesy of Zac Wolf Photography

We could all use some bright and cheerful in this dead of winter, so I'm thrilled to invite you to an event I'm hosting with Marimekko Cambridge on Saturday, February 22, 1-3pm at the 350 Huron Avenue store. You and your kids can check out the spring/summer 2014 collection, enjoy face painting, nosh on cupcakes, and mingle with other awesome families. Laurel and I just visited the store yesterday and it's like an instant dose of happy juice!

I'll be modeling Marimekko, and I'm thrilled that my blogging friends Audrey and her son Henry, Casey and her daughter Riley, Sharon and her daughter Sienna, and Sharon and her son Bennett have agreed to join in the strutting fun. I hope to see you there; I always love meeting the amazing folks in this community in real life!

Happy Sunday everyone! It was a gorgeous morning for the 5-miler I ran in Cambridge (so fun to run the whole way with friends, btw!) and now I'm cozied up at home while Violet naps and Laurel is off at a playdate. If you're looking to catch up on some web reading, there was so much great content on the site last month. Enjoy this compilation of the best of January 2014:

At Home

- 30 things to do when school is cancelled

- 7 ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year with kids

Books & Entertainment

- Civil rights movement books for kids

- 14 awesome puzzles for babies, kids, and grownups

Critter Love

- For the love of penguins

- Groundhog Day trivia and celebration

Fashion

- The ridiculously awesome pants everyone keeps asking me about

Food & Fitness

- Meals made easy: warm winter salad

- Jeannie's apple crumble pie

- 16 sources of totally doable fitness and nutrition inspiration

Local

- A great spot for budding thespians

- Local Gems: Beacon Hill, Boston

- Local Gems: Medford

Personal/Professional

- Inspiration to help you be even more awesome in 2014

Hey Internet, Keep Being Awesome

- Volume 1

- Volume 2

Image credit: blood orange loaf cake via Pinterest

Pursuant to my last post, I'm thrilled to kick off my first Friday Find! So, you know how every now and then you buy a piece of clothing that prompts people to ask, Where did you get those?? That would be my J. Crew Factory skinny utility pants. I scored a pair of the tuscan olive on super sale and love them so much I went back for the vintage pewter. They're comfortable, flattering, have awesome style lines and edgy little zipper pockets, and go with everything. I wear them constantly. And people keep asking me about them.

Image credits: J. Crew Factory

Holidays (national or somewhat arbitrary) offer fun inspiration for projects and lessons for kids. Yesterday was Penguin Awareness Day (though I'm happy to celebrate penguins any day of the year!) and I wanted to take this opportunity to shine a light on this fine bird with project, book, and design inspiration. If you have other ideas to share, feel free to do so in the comments below!

1. Adopt a penguin of your very own. My friend Sharon tells me that she and her husband have received several informative and fun letters from their adopted penguin, and that the adopt-a-penguin experience has provided a great learning opportunity for her grandkids.

2. If you’re looking for an adorable penguin-inspired picture book, try Penguin and Pinecone (one of Violet’s favorites).

3. This worldwide campaign to knit sweaters for penguins is old. But OMG.

4. Pudge Penguin. Adorable name. Also, Violet’s favorite little buddy right now.

5. Penguin duct tape. Great for DIY belts and other crafts.

6. Kitchen project alert: olive penguins.

7. Footprint penguins make for a messy but cute keepsake project.

8. I love the bright cheerfulness of this penguin scarf.

9. Pick up your needles for this knitted penguin.

10. And Purl Bee penguins for those who sew.

11. Felt penguin finger puppets make for an easy project with kids.

12. Make your own penguin family.

13. Get out the crayons for this plethora of penguin coloring pages.

14. Penguin activities for preschool parents and teachers.

Image credits: All images attributed to linked sources above.

There are many things I love about Tea Collection -- the quality, the colorways, the details, the fact that most items are offered all the way from baby to size 12 -- and as a designer I especially appreciate their use of global inspiration. I recently had the opportunity to preview some pieces from the new Bali collection and they are just delightful. You can read more about the happy inspiration (how fun does that trip sound?); meanwhile, I wanted to share my favorite picks from the girls and boys collections. Also awesome? The kind folks at Tea Collection are offering a $100 gift certificate to one of you lovely readers! Read on to check out my picks and learn how to win!

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GIRLS

Tea Collection is replete with lovely dresses, but I especially adore the non-girly girl colors and patterns of the (1) Indonesian batik dress and (2) Adat batik dress; keep the chill away with the super soft (3) radiant rice leggings layered underneath. Or if your girl doesn't dig dresses, pair this gorgeous (4) Celuk embroidered top with one of Laurel and my favorite pieces from the Mexico collection: the (5) skinny French terry cargos. Finally, we're always dressing our girls in layers -- the soft and snuggly (6) kimono robe is a divine pick.

BOYS

These (1) French terry cargos (yes, the boy counterpart to the above) will serve as the perfect base for pretty much anything on top. My favorite tops include the: (2) monkey king tee, (3) Barong batik layered tee, and (4) <a href="http://www.teacollection.com/product/2S22019/boys-shirts-pelaga-camp-shirt.html#carnelian
" target="blank">Pelaga camp shirt. Add cozy layers with either the (5) Desa stripe hoodie or, if your boy doesn't like things pulled over the head, the (6) growling naga zip hoodie.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Trina!
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Aren't these clothes amazing? Now, on to the giveaway. The kind folks at Tea Collection are offering a $100 gift certificate to one of you lovely readers! Check out the rules below and enter to win!

Rules:

Hop on over to Tea Collection and leave a comment below, sharing one favorite item (or more if you like!) from their collection.

US entrants welcome to enter.

One comment per person (please do not leave comments from multiple e-mail addresses). Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be removed. Note that your e-mail address will not be published or shared! Leaving just your first name or first name + initial in the name field is perfectly fine.

Entry period closes at noon EST, Wednesday, February 22, 2012.

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*One lucky winner (selected using Random.org) will receive a $100 Tea gift certificate. The winner will be listed here, using first name only.

When Laurel was a baby, one of my rookie nursing mom mistakes was attending a wedding in a regular dress -- meaning, one with an inflexible neckline and a side zipper that basically made it impossible to nurse without undressing. So when I started looking for nursing-friendly dresses to wear to a couple of weddings this year, after being completely underwhelmed by the nursing cocktail dress market, I was thrilled to land on the perfect style -- a dress that looks fabulous, nursing or not.
Basically, the key to finding a non-nursing, nursing-friendly dress is a stretchy material with a crossover neckline that will open widely enough to nurse. And here is where Ralph Lauren became my best friend. In general, I love the simple elegance of Ralph Lauren's style, but after I started prowling department store websites, I noticed that he clearly gets the perfect combination that is stretchy jersey, a trim silhouette, and waistline shirring and has run with this concept in a variety of lengths, colors, and sometimes patterns.

I wanted something other than black so was thrilled to find these two Ralph Lauren dresses on separate occasions:

I wore the purple Elsie dress (left; $130 at Lord & Taylor) to a wedding in California. The dress has a flattering deep neckline that makes nursing very easy, and a fitted empire waist with flattering shirring. The color is fantastic; a nice change from the LBD. And I found the red Casimer dress (right; $134 at Lord & Taylor) a couple of weeks ago when I was prowling the new arrivals section and ordered it immediately to wear for my sister's wedding this past weekend. The dress is already sold out online but it would be worth checking local stores. Featuring the same shirring as the Elsie (though not empire style), this dress features a stand collar and also pretty shirring at the sleeves. The color is stunning!

These dresses are both gorgeous in color and flattering in fit; I really liked having long sleeves on both since I haven't exactly had a lot of time to tone my arms (short of hauling Violet), plus it's perfect for chillier temperatures. And though I'm thrilled that these dresses work for nursing (I nursed Violet at both wedding receptions -- once while wearing the purple and twice while wearing the red), I'm also glad that they'll carry through in my closet once I'm done nursing.

A couple of final comments: 1) I recommend wearing Spanx with these dresses, as they are clingy. 2) Keep your eyes peeled for sales and coupon codes if you are shopping department stores for these dresses (I recommend checking Macy's and other department stores -- they all seem to carry Ralph Lauren). Lord & Taylor sends a lot of coupons by e-mail and post and I did not pay full price for either of these items!

Just yesterday I suggested rotating your kids' wardrobes. Today, Jennifer offers inspiration to rotate yours as well:

If you're like me, you are just now swapping out the summer clothes for fall, and my fall stuff definitely needed a few fun updates. When Nordstrom Rack opened recently in Burlington (dangerously close to my 'hood; there also are locations in Danvers and Framingham), I was intrigued. I should say that prior to my recent trip, I had never been to a Nordstrom Rack and I rarely go to Nordstrom's or the mall, because I'm a frugal shopper and tend to camp out at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. I like to say it's because I am committed to supporting local businesses (their HQ is in Framingham) but it's also because they are just. simply. awesome. stores. I can maximize 10 minutes wedged between a meeting and school pick-up and come out with a great Calvin Klein dress for $49.
But back to Nordstrom's. Here's my take on it -- it's a broader selection of prices than I would normally go for. I just won't pay over $100 for jeans (I think I can trace this back to the 6th grade when my pre-puberty husky-ish physique would not support the holy grail of expensive denim, Jordache). But at Nordstrom Rack I quickly found some good racks of $50'ish and under jeans and cords, some super flirty fun tops for $30'ish, and a small but decent dress section. And some good workout wear too. The shoe department was oh so delectable. No super savings, but a great value for some seriously fabulous shoes.

In my opinion, the accessories section was just so-so...a bit too trendy for me, but the sunglasses "wall" was quite inviting. Rows and rows of sunglasses, and they even offer tips to help you find the right shape for your face. That's a step above and beyond the usual department store.

I found the checkout staff highly efficient and the layout was open and airy...easy to spot stuff across the whole store. I did spot a kid's section, but when I head to Nordstrom's, it's frankly all about me, so I don't have input on the kiddo side of the store!

Overall Nordstrom Rack will serve as a good compliment to my shopping circuit (this particular trip yielded me awesome wine-colored cords for $29). And FYI, if you're up in the Burlington area and have time, you could spend a solid day shopping if you count the Burlington Mall (I do dig Anthropologie and the Lands' End Canvas stuff at Sears -- think frugal J. Crew) and there's also nearby Wayside Commons (helloooo Ann Taylor Loft).

Happy shopping!

Editor's Note: You can also shop the Rack online. While prepping this post, I purchased this red dress (possibility for my sister's wedding in December) and I'm regretting that I didn't add the adorable crusher hat (pictured above) to my order.

Per my previous post, welcome to this new series, in which I'll share everything from events to bargain alerts to other ideas and tips that spring to mind as useful and/or fun for the week. After considerable mulling, I decided to call the series Weekly Blueprint, because I think the name conveys a creative presentation of ideas and plans that are, ultimately, posed for your consideration (vs. including the term "to do," which suggests that I think you must do whatever it is I'm suggesting!). Enjoy, and please do drop me a line if you have suggestions for a future Weekly Blueprint!
October 31: Figure out how to sneak extra layers under your kids' Halloween costumes (long underwear! leggings!). Also, buy candy or other Halloween favors if you have procrastinated as I have.

November 1: Call someone you love and wish them a Happy November. Snap a photo of your kid(s).

By November 1: If this weekend's weather didn't already inspire you to action: procure winter gear. I ordered Laurel's snow bib, jacket, and boots from Lands' End last week and called in to get a priced adjustment when everything went on sale a couple of days ago. They're currently running a 30-50% off outerwear sale. Sweet!

November 1-6: Spread the Halloween wealth. Send candy to the troops (we've done this the past couple of years) or head to Magic Beans for their candy buy back (bring 1 pound+ of candy in exchange for 20% off one toy that day only...I highly recommend the Perplexus if they have it in stock!).

By November 3: Pick up easily lost items (I ordered gloves and hats yesterday) from Old Navy. They are running a 30% off sale until November 3 for cardholders.

November 4-6: Yowza, Christmas is on the horizon. The Christmas Festival at the Seaport World Trade Center runs Friday to Sunday and admittedly, mostly I want to see the gingerbread house creations!

November 4-6: Pottery Barn fans will swoon: the PBTeen pop up store arrives at the Natick Mall on Friday. Head over between November 4-6 for giveaways, design exploration, games, and a photo station.

By November 6: Buy one of these killer raffle tickets. Two dollars (or some multiple thereof) will do good + enter you to win a tote valued at $350.

By November 6: Remember that we fall back an hour on Sunday. Oh, darkness.

At your leisure: Browse the Mayor's Holiday Special website for discounted theatre tickets. I'm a big fan of experience-based, usable gifts at the holidays.

At your leisure: Score some off-season deals for yourself. I got some amazing deals at Anthropologie's sale section this weekend; not great for Boston right now, but perfect for my trip to Palm Springs next week.

At your leisure: If you haven't already, it's time to rotate your fast-growing children's clothing. If you have excess, swap with friends, or donate items to local charities such as Room to Grow or Cradles to Crayons. And/or list boxes online with thredUP (and score used gems for your kid).

At your leisure: If you're planning on getting flu shots for your family, book them now. (This reminder comes courtesy of the mom who forgot to take Violet to her flu shot appointment last week.)

Image credit: Lands' End