Nov18

Macy’s Presents Celebrity Stylist Dean Banowetz

Posted at 1:45 PM • View Comments

Hey New Yorkers! Going to a glam holiday party this year?

Celebrity stylist Dean Banowetz will be at Macy’s Herald Square tomorrow to show you the best hairstyles for all of your holiday gatherings – from chic ponytails to tousled romantic waves — and how to recreate them at home with the InStyler®, the amazing rotating iron that straightens or curls and adds volume and shine.

See Dean demo the new Topstyler® by InStyler, the amazing new curling tool.

And with any $99.99 purchase of the Instyler or TopStyler tomorrow you will receive a free InStyler tote bag.*

Known for his red carpet looks, Dean Banowetz caters to an A-list clientele, and has been featured on top-rated television shows including Oprah, Tyra, Soap Talk, Fox News, Dateline, EXTRA, Access Hollywood and most recently, Shear Genius.

What: In-store celebrity stylist demo showing how to get perfect holiday hair.

Where: Macy’s Herald Square 6th Floor, Home Store New York City, NY

When: Saturday, November 19 at 1pm

All events subject to change or cancellation.

* While supplies last. Limited to the first 200 purchasers of the InStyler or TopStyler, on the day of the event.

Oct21

Shopping at Cookie’s Kids

Posted at 1:21 PM • View Comments

Whether you have one child or four like I do, I can guarantee you started clothes shopping for yourself less frequently once you became a mother. It’s the truth. I shop for clothing for my children probably nine times out of ten.

For the most part, I shop for them online. It was easy to shop at 2AM for the kids when they were all an exact size fit. But recently two of my children have started to vary in size by brand so I sometimes shop in store for them… either buying and returning for a different size or if I have the time using the dressing room to ensure the clothing is the right size.

I don’t have a problem shopping in store with all of my children. Thankfully they always behave while I shop and as long as I don’t mind one of them talking my ear off, I end up purchasing everything I had in mind.

I was given the opportunity to shop at Cookies Kids today. While I have seen ads on the city bus for the store, I have never shopped at one. The nearest location to my apartment in Manhattan is 50 minutes away by train in Brooklyn.

I decided to not take the baby with me on that trek. So with my three other children in school, I headed to Brooklyn to shop at Cookies Kids by myself and my littlest one spent part of the morning taste testing green beans with his dad.

Check out my slideshow of my shopping trip to Cookies Kids in Brooklyn.

Before leaving for Cookies Kids, I did a quick inventory of things I’d consider picking up for my children – underwear, socks, undershirts – in case I saw the brands I usually buy. Socks always seem to go missing and well, there is no reason for the kidlets to not have plenty of underwear and undershirts.

I already have winter coats for my children and enough pajamas from our favorite brand but the store definitely had a wide selection of them.

Since my third grade daughter’s school wardrobe consists of dresses, jeans, leggings and skirts, I decided to look around to see what I could add to her fall and winter clothes.

None of my children wear uniforms at school but if they did, just like the Cookies Kids bus ad suggests, this store is definitely a school uniform headquarters.

My four year old and six year old sons live in jeans, shirts and sweaters. Shopping for them is never hard. One dresses preppy and the other has a bit of a rocker edge.

But my plan was to only keep my eye out for a cute hat for the baby since both of his grandmothers; his dad and myself are always shopping for him.

Cookies Kids offers a lot of deeply discounted clothing. The prices are very affordable. I don’t live close by so its a good thing their website has free shipping in case I want to purchase anything for the kids!

Living Social will have a Cookies Kids deal on Monday, October 24 only in the Louisville, KY area. It will be a promotion for purchasing $40 worth of clothing for $20. If it gets a good response, they are considering deals in cities across the country.

For more information about Cookies Kids, go to the Cookie’s Kids Facebook page

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias #luvcookies All opinions are my own.

Oct19

The California Wine Club Review

Posted at 8:31 PM • View Comments

Sean and I live near two wine shops that are always promoting upcoming wine tastings but we never have the time to go to one.

So when we dine out, I tend to order wines I’m already familiar with and stay clear of types I haven’t enjoyed in the past.

For the next three months California Wine Club will be sending me two bottles of limited production wines from California’s best artisan wineries. It’s part of their Premier Club membership.

The first shipment recently arrived at my door. I loved getting having wine delivered because I didn’t have to worry about stopping to pick up a bottle or two of wine on the way home.

I previously spoke with Jon Boring (Director of Social Media and son of The California Wine Club founders Bruce and Pam Boring) about not having much love for Chardonnay or Zinfandel but he suggested I try them. And so a Chardonnay and a Zinfandel from Perry Creek Winery arrived in this first shipment.

The two wines from Perry Creek Winery were a 2008 Zinman Zinfandel and a 2009 El Dorado Chardonnay. The Perry Creek Zinman was rated among the top 15 best-value Zinfandels by Wine Spectator in 2010.

I am still not a fan of red Zinfandel but I did think the Chardonnay had a light, crisp taste that went well with the Mexican food I made that night.

I look forward to seeing which wines are included in next month’s shipment from The California Wine Club.

TRY IT

If you are interested in trying the Premier Club, you can use promo code veepveep they’ll take 10% OFF your order.

WIN IT

Here’s a chance to win a one-month subscription to The California Wine Club:

All you have to do is:

1. Follow @cawineclub and @veepveep and send this tweet:

Hey @VeepVeep that @cawineclub membership is mine! http://tinyurl.com/699hw7v

2. Comment on this post with the type of wine you enjoy.

Winners must be 21 years old and live in the U.S. (except for Utah) I’ll choose a winner randomly this Sunday at Noon.

Oct19