Today, Jennifer shares some indie gems in Concord :

“Between this season’s mountain of catalogs filling my mailbox, the incessant ads for Black Friday door-buster deals (2 am, really?), and the stream of online price-slashing deals, I have found myself craving a good old-fashioned stroll-down-Main-Street-non-mall-shopping experience. So last week a girlfriend and I perused the independent shops in Concord Center and it was...AWESOME. I'm a huge fan of the convenience of big retailers and online shopping, but you've just gotta love the independent businesses that are passionate about what they have to offer. And it feels great to support them.
We loved Thoreauly Antiques (25 Walden Street, 978-371-0100, no website), a "fun and affordable antique shop" with beautiful collectibles, jewelry, prints, and unique decor items. Steps away we poked around in The Toy Shop of Concord and found some great stocking stuffers for the kids. I'm particularly fond of their fully-stocked arts and crafts and doll sections. Around the corner is The Dotted I with lovely note cards, stationery, and invites (I picked up a great hostess gift there). And my favorite, favorite book shop just down the block is The Concord Bookshop. This independent bookstore (open since 1940) is so inviting and is obviously run by major book lovers. It showcases local writers and has a great kids reading area in the back.

And finally, you can't leave Concord Center without a stop in The Concord Cheese Shop. This gourmet wine and cheese shop is a little slice of food heaven. In fact, it was so crowded with shoppers our visit there was short. That's always a good sign.

Also, if you're an antique fan, there's an upcoming event that's a perfect excuse to head to Concord for holiday shopping -- the Antiques & Vintage Holiday Gift Show -- December 12-13 at the Concord Armory.”

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Image credit: The Concord Bookshop

The scene: Chicago, 1997, my friend's apartment

The reason I was baking: I'm not positive, but I think I offered to bring dessert to a dinner party.

Unfortunate baking selection: Baked Alaska

I have a tendency to want to make something unusual if I'm going to actually bake. Something eye-catching. Something risky. I have a fantasy that people will say, "My goodness! That Rita, she has an angel's touch in the kitchen!" And I like food with unusual names.

I'd never made meringue before. I called my aunt back home to ask her how to properly whip the eggs, as I assumed she would know. I balanced the phone against my shoulder as I held the hand mixer, attempting to bring it way up and down the way I'd seen on TV.

I may have splattered a bit of egg around my friend's rather pristine kitchen.

Now, I believe you're supposed to bake the white cake, then put the ice cream on TOP of the white cake, put the merengue on top of all that, freeze the whole thing for like two hours, then bake it for ten minutes.

I envisioned the ice cream INSIDE the cake. In a sweet, little bed, all protected from that nasty oven. So I cut the cake apart and tried to put the ice cream inside.

Then I forgot to freeze it again.

I put this whole concoction in the oven, waiting for my perfect meringue to brown. The entire thing collapsed in. I put it in the freezer anyway.

I believe in the end it was referred to as "Baked Connecticut," because it was a million miles away from Baked Alaska.

I met Amie Adams of Mamma Loves… at the Brand About Town inaugural advisory board retreat in October, during which time I was struck not only by Amie's warmth, humor, and smarts, but by her photography skills. You could almost see the wheels turning when something would attract her eye and she’d pause briefly, capture the perfect image, then resume conversation. It seemed natural and effortless; clearly a part of her creative flow. So I’m thrilled that today, for the tenth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Amie shares easy and fabulous tips for capturing gorgeous photos this holiday season.

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From Amie:

I received a call from a friend recently. She was a little frantic, what with juggling four kids and their homework and family coming in town over the weekend for their annual hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. We were scheduled for a photo shoot of all of the cousins and she wanted to settle on the details.

“We’re having a major discussion over what the kids should wear” she said. What they should wear? “Do your kids always dress alike?” I asked, knowing her house is as crazy as mine and that like me, she’s lucky if her kids choose clothing that is appropriate for the weather.

“Let’s capture them as they are,” I suggested. “Let’s tell the story of who they are right now.”

Does that take the stress off of your holiday photos a little? I hope so.

When you’re capturing this holiday season for posterity, think about the story you want to tell. What are the details that make your celebration memorable? Each family has its own traditions. What are yours? What is special about this year? Your children will never be this age again.

Pick up your camera and try to shoot those details that will make you smile when you see them again in February or July. Get up close. Not every shot needs to contain a smiling face.

I promise you’ll like those photos better than the one of all of the kids lined up in front of the tree—unless listening to your kids whine and complain and fighting with them to smile at the same time is a big tradition in your house.

Now how do you capture those details in a pleasing way? You have more power in your point and shoot then you ever imagined. And if you own a DSLR and you’ve never switched out of auto mode, we have to talk.

1. Whether you own a point and shoot or a DSLR, there is a portrait setting on your camera. It usually looks like a person’s head. Switch over to the portrait setting for those close up shots. You’ll notice that you’ll get shots that leave your subject in focus and the background a bit blurrier. Pros refer to that as depth of focus. The rest of us just call it awesome.

2. Take your subjects outside to capture the action if it isn’t too cold. Morning and late afternoon light is the best for avoiding harsh shadows.

3. Need to stay inside? That’s okay. Move to the closest window. Have your subject stand near the window and stand to their side to capture the light falling on their face.

4. Work off a few of those extra holiday calories by moving around a bit. Take your shots from different angles. If you’re shooting kids, get down to their eye level. If you want to get closer to your subject, move your feet, not your zoom button. Crawl under the tree and see what kind of shot you get shooting up into the branches. Changing your position can result in more interesting photos.

<img alt="amie-adams-5.jpg" src="http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/2381826/19415521/images/2009_12/amie-adams-5.jpg" width="350" height="235"

5. Changing the position of your subject in your viewfinder will definitely result in more interesting photos. Don’t center your subjects. Photographers think about photos in thirds—whether horizontally or vertically. Place your subject off-center. If your subject is landscape, don’t center the horizon line.

Have fun with your camera this holiday season. Try these tricks and shoot away. The greatest part about digital is that mistakes don’t cost you a thing.

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When Amie Adams isn’t getting ready for the holidays, chasing her three boys, running off to work, or practicing her photography, she’s sharing embarrassing stories or ranting and raving on her blog Mamma Loves… You can follow Amie on Twitter at @mammaloves.

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Image 1 credited to FreeDigitalPhotos.net. All remaining images credited to Amie Adams.

Today, parent educator Hetti Wohlgemuth of Alphabet Soup 4 Parents shares tips for bringing back your holiday mojo:

“Many of us have a love/hate relationship with the holidays. For example, I love spending time with my family, playing board games and cards fireside, finding a special gift for each of my girls, attending Christmas Eve services, winter walks, and more. Then there’s the stuff I hate: the excess, the stress, and sometimes my memories of Christmases past. Here are some classic holiday related struggles and how to cope with them.
Identify friction and look for an alternate solution. Although my husband and I are Jewish, Bob grew up celebrating Christmas and I was amenable to continuing that tradition. But as our daughters grew, the tree got bigger (not Bob's plan) and the presents got more plentiful (probably my fault, I do like to shop) and I felt more and more alienated from the whole concept until Christmas just felt very wrong to me. To cope, I decided that while the family decorated the tree, I needed my own activity that worked for me. So, I baked cookies: for my family and for gifts. Christmas has since evolved to be less about gifts and more about hanging out together. We focus on what special food our Christmas morning breakfast might include (monkey bread this year) and what movie we should see on the day (last year it was Slumdog Millionaire). Identifying friction and finding an alternate solution has made the season cheery once again.

Focus on the real meaning of the season. We need to focus more on the simplicity and real meaning of the season -- offering warmth and kindnesses -- and keep material gifts to a minimum. Admittedly, that's hard for me: I love to shop. I love the malls and the town centers and I love finding the perfect present for that special person. I used to buy in excess; not wasteful or daffy gifts, but still too many. We have since scaled back and now that our girls are older, each of us buys or makes each other one gift, and Bob and I also get some small stocking stuffers for our daughters. And all through the season, we keep in mind giving the good way: saying something nice to someone or spending quality and fun time with friends and/or family. It feels healthier now.

Find traditions that everyone can look forward to. Over the years, we've identified some great traditions. For example, Bob is a nervous shopper; he has no clue what I want and even if he did, he's sure I wouldn't like it. So every year, we go out for a nice dinner a few weeks before Christmas, then window shop. I’ll point to something I like and he goes back and buys it the next day. Sometimes we enjoy dinner so much that we barely get to the shopping, which doesn’t matter a bit. It’s the simple ritual that’s fun. We also go to a Christmas Eve church service with friends who have children the same ages as our girls and then we eat a festive family dinner together. Christmas day, the four of us choose a movie and eat Chinese food (this is considered a Jewish Christmas). We're not reinventing the holiday wheel but we’re enjoying treading on it.

Mourn Christmases past. I am a huge fan of confronting one's past. I'm also a huge believer that much of holiday misery stems from bad memories. We think we're weak if we dwell on the past. And we believe that harkening back will make us more miserable. Not so. Facing the un-decorated, unadorned past frees us. As Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish say in How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, "Not until the bad feelings come out, can the good feelings come in."

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Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The weather finally turned cold last week in Kansas City. (Cold in Kansas City not being what cold in Iowa is.) It made me crave cooking smells.

Beloved usually does most of the cooking in our house. My cooking is best if you are drunk.

This week while at the grocery store I spied a package of apple crisp mix. (Did you think this was going to be from scratch? Are you KIDDING ME?)

The box said I needed 6-8 cooking apples and some butter. I spent maybe a full two minutes trying to decide what a cooking apple is. I went with Granny Smith.

Then I went to the butter aisle and spent maybe two more minutes trying to decide if low-fat or low-salt butter would taste worse than regular butter. I gambled on the low-salt.

(Note: See this guesswork? This is how most of my recipes go off the rails.)

I brought all the stuff home and started peeling the apples. Of course, I started peeling them vertically instead of horizontally. Just as I figured out how really stupid that is, Beloved noticed what I was doing. I could see his face straining not to make a suggestion, because I always bite his head off when he makes a suggestion.

Beloved: "Can I make a suggestion?"

But at that moment, I figured it out and turned the apple sideways. When it came to coring, though, I just handed the apples to him. I didn't need to lose a thumb to prove a point. He is way better with knives than I am.

I put the apples in a round bowl. They towered over the top. Clearly too tall. I knew there would be a suggestion. We went to a 9 x 13 rectangular glass pan.

When the apples were all in, I mixed the butter with the apple crisp mix and sprinkled it over the top. It ended up needing to cook about fifteen minutes longer than the box said because of all those apples. Mounds of apples. Probably too damn many apples.

But it smelled really good. If they're not snowed in, Ma, Pa and Blondie are coming down on Friday to watch the little angel in The Nutcracker. And I want there to be apple crisp.

Just don't ask me about the time I tried to make Baked Alaska for a party.

Jon and I are all about everyday teaching moments with Laurel, apparently even when it comes to assembling a FLOR rug. We recently installed Modern Mix Tan in our sitting nook -- I adore how the Modern Mix collection offers pattern through tonal variations while remaining neutral enough to go with anything else -- and the process quickly evolved into a game for Laurel. The set comes with a 6 x 5 matrix recommending tile color placement for the 4 tile shades (we simply followed a 3 x 4 section of the matrix for our 5’ x 7’ rug), and the tan variations had the yummy names bran, honey wheat, sourdough, and rye. Laurel found this hilarious and immediately set to task sorting the tiles by grain name then arranging the tiles based on the matrix (an impromptu game of memory to remember which grain went with which matrix number...). You just can’t beat unexpectedly family friendly home improvement projects that yield a cozy and warm space for more fun and games.

Now, want to win a 5’ x 7’ FLOR rug? Here’s how:

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Alisa!
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Rules:

Visit the FLOR new arrivals page, then leave a comment below about a new arrivals rug you’d love to have in your home.

Be sure to include your name and email in the appropriate fields so we can contact you if you win (including just first name or first name + last initial is OK).

One comment permitted per person; US & Canada entrants welcome.

Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded. Also, generic comments such as "please enter me in this contest" may be posted below but will not be entered into the draw; you must comment on the new arrivals collection to enter to win.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Sunday, December 13, 2009.

*One lucky winner (drawn using Random.org) will receive a 5' x 7' FLOR new arrivals rug (subject to stock availability; approximate $250 value depending on rug style).

The little angel has decided she wants a Barbie pool for Christmas. She hasn't asked for anything in particular up until recently, saying she just wants everything. Then -- out of nowhere -- Barbie pool.

Actually, I think it was "I want a dream house with a pool." And I said, "Dude! Me, too!" Then she showed me this:

 

This pool is $80?

I kept looking.

Hmm. $75.

Finally I figured it out: All the good pools are vintage, and there aren't many around in good condition. A HA.

So I'm sitting here, waiting out my bid on Ebay on a good-condition, used Barbie pool. Modern-day Barbie apparently only has hot tubs.

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Check out my review of SnapGifts gift cards at Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews!

So the little angel's five-year photos are only eight months late.

 
My new favorite photo.

Our good friend Randy Braley took the photos. He's gotten himself into the lifestyle photo gig, and I plug him only because he is my friend and he does good work. We paid him for his work. I have even forgiven him for my triple chins he has posted on his site.

(I kid. But I got you to look, didn't I?)

 
  Nice work, eh?

One of the great things about BlogHer Boston was that it gave me the opportunity to emerge out of my blogging cave and meet fabulous local bloggers in real life. And one of those bloggers was Roxanna of Miguelina. Roxanna is a lovely person; smart, kind, and funny, and mysteriously, she always manages to look perfectly assembled despite tweets that might otherwise suggest she’s unraveling (to her credit, she’s allowed some unraveling…she just delivered her third son in October). Perhaps that’s why she’s so adept at blogging beauty. I’m thrilled that today, for the ninth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Roxanna shares a wicked easy makeup routine so you can spend less time fussing in the bathroom and more time enjoying time with family and friends.

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From Roxanna:

Everyone is busy around the holidays and there is very little time to worry about something as frivolous as beauty -- except that everywhere you turn there's someone with a camera ready to save the way you look (post-holiday stress and with very little sleep) for posterity.

They do this out of love, of course.

The best way to look your best in pictures is to get plenty of rest, drink water, and eat healthy. But when you're talking about the period between Halloween and New Year's that's the exact opposite of what you're doing (if you're doing it right!).

I'm here to help. Here is a very simple makeup routine that will see you through the holidays and beyond. Because life is too short to hide from the camera.

1. Eyes

A little concealer will go a long way to making you look more polished and rested. Don't listen to the old advice and buy a concealer that's too light for your skin tone -- it'll only turn your dark circles gray. Concealer should be a shade lighter than your foundation at most. My favorite concealer is by Bobbi Brown (their site has a shopping guide to help you choose your shade).

After applying concealer, swipe some light eyeshadow over your lids and add some black mascara for a simple eye, or line your top lid as close to your lash line as possible for more polished results.

2. Cheeks

Apply blush to the parts of your face that would be more sun kissed in the summer. How do you find that? Smile. Highlight what stands out. Don't suck in your cheeks to "sculpt" your face, unless you want to look like one of the girls in that Robert Palmer video.

3. Lips

Since your eyes will be very simple, this is where you can have fun! I know everyone loves gloss these days, but if you're truly pressed for time lipstick is a better bet. Gloss needs to be reapplied over and over, so if you want to look polished in candid pictures and videos, go for an old-school tube of lipstick. Wear a darker color than you normally would -- maybe even red! -- to add a little excitement, but don't wear something that will make you self-conscious. Real Beauty offers an excellent roundup on how universally flattering red, brown, and deep berry lipstick can be.

That's it! Now get out of that bathroom and enjoy the holidays!

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Roxanna lives in the Boston area and blogs at Miguelina and Everyday Treats. She's currently a contributing editor for BlogHer, writing about lipstick and bubble bath at BeautyHacks. You can follow Roxanna on Twitter at @Miguelina.

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Image credit: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit