Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather! If you've got cranky, fighting kids storming your home, head into nature like we did this morning. Seriously, it's the perfect antidote! Meanwhile, if you're looking for some good reads/visuals, I've got a great roundup in this week's Hey Internet, Keep Being Awesome. Enjoy, and have a fantastic rest of the weekend!

- Props to Honey Maid for this amazing video response.

- NPH and Jason Segel are truly epic.

- Female bodies: a weighty issue.

- 25 stores and what they should actually be called.

- Every U.S. county’s favorite baseball team (according to Facebook).

- Daily routines of the world’s most famous people.

- 39 easy ways to create DIY art for your walls.

- Register to climb out of the darkness in June.

- Think you’re too old to be an entrepreneur? Think again.

- 46 reasons my 3-year-old might be freaking out.

- 19 top African artists collaborate for ONE.

- The United States of bros.

Image credit: DIY wall art via Pinterest

I'm a big fan of my red lipstick, but for everyday I need less high maintenance color. Enter Jordana's twist & shine moisturizing balm stains (which I discovered thanks to a conversation on Twitter). These balm stain sticks moisturize, add a good pop of color, and are retractable and paraben-free. They're also a mega bargain at ~$2.99 (compare to Clinique's $17 chubby stick). It takes me mere seconds to line my lips with MAC spice lip pencil then layer on my Honey Love or Cranberry Crush. Yay for easy routines!

For store locations, see here; I bought my balm stains at Walgreens and they were around $3.19 each.

Want more Friday Finds? Check out: LA Fresh eco-wipes, ridiculously awesome pants, parachute cord crafts, Where Is The Cake?, and Travelpro luggage

Image credits: Jordana Cosmetics (compilation image by Christine Koh

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Happy Friday everyone, what a beautiful week it has been! I'm not sure if it's the change of season, but I feel as if my creative brain is on overdrive right now. This morning I was plotting whether there was any way I could take a week away for brainstorming and building. Hmm. Anyway, that is not this coming week! If you're looking for something to do this weekend, enjoy this roundup:

1. Brain Building in Progress Week begins at Boston Children’s Museum. (Boston)

2. Craft Boston, featuring over 90 of Bostons best artisans. (Boston)

3. Imagine, discover, and explore a world that's too small to see during NanoDays. (Boston)

4. Ben Rudnick show to benefit Room to Grow. (Boston)

5. Turtle’s New Home puppet show. (Brookline)

6. Mary Poppins on the big screen. (Brookline)

7. An Easter eggstravaganza. (Hingham)

8. Family-friendly concert brings the orchestra to life. (Lexington)

9. New Philharmonia Orchestra presents Alice in Wonderland. (Newton)

10. Sheep shearing open house. (Princeton)

11. Celebrate sensational India. (Salem)

12. Turn part of an animal sanctuary into a Big Night scene. (Topsfield)

Image credit: Peabody Essex Museum

Have an event you'd like to submit for editorial consideration? Please e-mail the event description + URL to Christine at editor{@}bostonmamas.com. For guaranteed event exposure, place an advertisement.

A couple of days before I headed off to Disney with my mom and the girls, I had the delightful opportunity to host a spa party with the wonderful folks at Dr. Smith's. Sometimes I can't believe that my work involves awesome things like helping moms prioritize self-care! The gathering was so fantastic; I wanted to share a recap and also a fun giveaway for you all.

Dr. Smith's is a diaper rash ointment, though since Violet is potty trained and I'm all about repurposing, I recently started using Dr. Smith's for Vi's eczema, which has started cropping up again out of nowhere (ugh). Since this product is all about baby care, I thought it would be fun to arrange an event that was related but focused on mama care. Because man, when you are in the trenches of feeding and diapering all day, more than ever you need time when it's all about you! (I know you know this already.)

The gathering was simply delightful: stylish (hello, W Boston) yet chill, tasty (man, I love finger sandwiches and macarons), relaxing (hello, Bliss Spa manicures + hand/arm massages), and wonderfully social. It was a lovely group of moms (it's always so thrilling for me to meet members of this community in real life!), many with babies in tow. Amazingly, the babies took a cue from the surroundings and were adorable and chill the entire time. No joke. In a way I was kind of hoping one would freak out so I could swoop in with some snuggle power! Here are some highlight photos and you can see more here and here.

Dr. Smith's treated these mamas so well and they wanted to extend a gift to one of you awesome moms (let's keep the party going!). Up for the winning is a gift basket including $200 worth of educational toys, bilingual board books, a plush toy, baby care essentials, and Dr. Smith's product (see photo below). This giveaway is open to US entrants and you need to be a Boston Mamas newsletter subscriber by April 14. Good luck, and thanks again to Dr. Smith's for such a wonderful party!

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Note: the Boston Mamas newsletter drops 1-2 times per month and offers the best from this site (and elsewhere on the internet), as well as periodic exclusive goodies. Yay, for periodic exclusive goodies!

I love having two sisters to share baby hand me downs with (I was fortunate to receive amazing hand me downs at my secondhand baby shower!), and as I've been collecting Vi's outgrown board books to pass along, I thought I'd share a roundup of 20 great board books for babies and toddlers in honor of Children's Book Day (today). These picks are perfect for gifting or expanding your own library!

1. Barnyard Dance

2. Bear About Town

3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do you See?

4. Boston 123

5. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

6. Doggies

7. Go Dog Go

8. The Going to Bed Book

9. Good Night, Gorilla

10. Good Night Moon

11. Guess How Much I love You

12. Harry the Dirty Dog

13. How Kind

14. The Hat

15. I Love You Through and Through

16. Little Blue Truck

17. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

18. Sheep in a Jeep

19. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

20. Who’s In the Forest?

Have other favorite board books to share? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!

Image credits: book jackets via Amazon

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As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been planning on announcing a new editorial series that puts your awesomeness in the spotlight. The new series is called Lessons Learned and in it, I want to feature your stories about lessons learned from everyday experiences, whether it’s something unexpected or challenging you have learned at work or home.

Check out submission details for the Lessons Learned series here. I'm so looking forward to reading your stories!

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I know I probably say this every month but I can't believe it's the end of the month. In fact, it's the end of the first quarter of the year, which seems even more major! Anyway, I'm doing a happy dance because taxes are done (thank you thank you thank, Jon) and spring weather is coming! Catch up on some seriously awesome back reading with this Best of March 2014 wrap:

At Home

- How to get kids to do chores

- 8 tips for unplugging your family

- Easy and awesome homemade granola

- How to attract butterfiles to your garden

Books

- Picture books with strong female lead characters

- 14 awesome craft/DIY books

Cool Finds

- La Fresh Eco-Beauty goodies

Life Lessons

- Lessons from my three-year-old

Travel (Around Town & Elsewhere)

- Local Gems: Back Bay, Boston

- Local Gems: Lexington

- Traveling with Kids: 12 ways to make your life easier at Disney

Hey Internet, Keep Being Awesome

- Volume 1

- Volume 2

- Volume 3

- Volume 4

Image credit: copycat peanut butter eggs via Pinterest

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! I was reminded of a couple of things: how important date night is (mega thanks to my sister Steph for babysitting and yay for Bistro 5!) and how good it is to gear up and get with the kids even when the weather is crappy. Meanwhile, if you're looking for something fun to do this week, enjoy this roundup via the Weekly Blueprint:

April 1 - 4: Celebrate nanoscale science and engineering at NanoDays. (Acton)

April 1: ASD-friendly afternoon at the museum with special guest. (Acton)

April 1: Tricks animals play. (Belmont)

April 1: Head outside for lunch today and hit up the first day of food trucks on the Green Way. (Boston)

April 2: Free admission to deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. (Lincoln)

April 2 + 3: Mom’s night out at The Best of the MOMologues. (Arlington)

April 3 - 6: Turtle’s New Home puppet show. (Brookline)

April 3: Help your budding scientist learn the right tools for the job. (Worcester)

April 4: Free admission to The Discovery Museums. (Acton)

April 4: Baa-baa baby lambs at Drumlin Farm. (Lincoln)

April 4 - 6: Craft Boston, featuring over 90 of Bostons best artisans. (Boston)

April 4: Enought of the chilly weather, it’s time for spring! (Cambridge)

April 4: Late night at the museum. (Easton)

Image credit: deCordova

Have an event you'd like to submit for editorial consideration? Please e-mail the event description + URL to Christine at editor{@}bostonmamas.com. For guaranteed event exposure, place an advertisement.

I really want someone to come clean my house for me. I don't want to pay $100 for it. This is what leads me down the Groupon road, over and over, except this is what happens every single time.

1) Get email from Groupon that includes some half-price home cleaning service.

2) Buy Groupon. Think giddily about clean house with no effort on my part. Print Groupon out and stroke it lovingly.

3) Schedule cleaning. Always at least three months out, because whatever. Put appointment on calendar.

4) Day of cleaning arrives. So excited. 

5) Time of cleaning service's arrival arrives. Peer out window hopefully.

6) Hours go by. No cleaning service. Call cleaning service. Email cleaning service.

7) Days go by. No call from cleaning service. No email from cleaning service.

8) Email Groupon and ask for refund.

Three times this has happened. THREE TIMES. The only thing that I can determine is that cleaning services do not think through what will happen if they suddenly get a whole bunch of new customers. I can't imagine just ignoring an assignment for my work without providing any explanation at all. I would not be upset if someone had called me a day ahead and asked to reschedule. But just to have nobody show up at all is beyond bizarre and irritating. 

One would think that I would stop eagerly buying the Groupons that turn into Groupon credits when once again a completely new and different cleaning service just fails to show.

I have to get this through my thick skull, so I am writing about it so I will have this post to look back on when once again I am tempted to think I can get someone to clean even part of my house for $40.

It ain't happening, is it? No, Rita, it is not. You have to clean your own house. The end.