fffabulous

what a fffabulous year!

fffabulous.com is celebrating it's one year anniversary of blogging about fashion, beauty, or other fffun stuff today, and, man, it's been such an amazing year! Or should I say it's been fffabulous?

First and foremost, I enjoyed shopping at romi boutique and BellaRosa boutique—just to name a few—to find the coolest and sexiest clothes and shoes around. It's been fun to tell you all about my fffashionista endeavors! I also want thank all of you for all your great comments (each and everyone one of them made my day and kept me going), as well as all of my friends who inspired me to try new things, such as fffabulous guy week (thanks Ivan!), fffabulous baby week (thanks Gauri and baby Arianna!), the fffaqs (thanks Bterkup and Hil!), and the ffface-a-ffface interviews (thanks Melanie!).

And I want to thank all of the fffabulous guestbloggers for sharing their very fffavorites: Miss Erica for her sense of humor and for being so passionate about anything Louis—Thanks lady! Masami for always finding the perfect product that wows us all; Yvette for sharing her perfect sense of style; Fern for sharing her love for purses (I am not the only one, yay!); Tara for showing us that mums are so cool; Kate for finally investing in designer jeans, and maternity ones too!; Tina and Vicky for trusting my fashion sense and spending the big bucks on fffabulous shoes; Jaime for kicking off fffabulous baby week in style; Luciana for posting the sweetest comments ever; Heidi, Lisa, Danielle, Diana and Kim for their fffabulous fashion sense and fashion tips; Dee for being such an inspiration and for designing the most fffabulous logo EVER (pictured here); my sis for checking fffabulous.com every other month (!) and telling me how cool it is (she doesn't care much about fashion so this means a lot!); Kent for always be on the look-out for the perfect jacket. I am also thankful for Alex and Vicky for getting me started on this fffabulous journey; and Will, Geysa, Mike, Jim, Jeff, Francois and Helen for inspiring me to follow my dreams. And last but not least, for my grandma, Jacqueline, for always complimenting me on my fashion sense. She passed away one month before fffabulous.com launched, and I know she's been by my side all along.

All in all, I am so thankful for all that has happened so far, and I am super excited for the next year ahead! I surely anticipate it to be filled with tons more of ffffabulous clothes and shoes, many more guestbloggers, etc. And stay tuned for fffabulous gift ideas for the holiday season and another fffabulous guy week (thanks Brett for suggesting this fffabulous teaser!)

ffface-a-ffface with melanie notkin of savvyauntie.com

fffabulous baby week wouldn't be fffabulous baby week without a word about this fffabulous site called savvyauntie.com. savvyauntie.com launched in beta back in July 2008 and is meant for all of you ladies who are totally mad for your nieces or nephews and friends' kids, and who want a place online where you can talk about them (and yes totally show them off!) and feel safe to ask questions about kids, their health, nutrition, and even what they're into these days. What a fffabulous idea! Melanie Notkin, savvyauntie.com founder and a PANK herself (as in Professional Aunt No Kids), was generous enough to spend some time with us to discuss what savvyauntie.com is all about, and I so love what she has to say. Thanks Melanie!

Oh, and this blog post is our first ffface-a-ffface post, the first of a series of fffun interviews with entrepreneurs (or should I say auntrepreneurs?), fashion designers, etc. Yay!

What should a savvyauntie check out first?

savvyauntie.com consists of four different sections: the expertise section, the activities section, the gift ideas section and the community section. All sections are great (of course!) but I'd recommend that aunties check out the community section first to get a sense of what other savvy aunties talk about on our message boards: they discuss what they often do for and with their nephews and nieces, e.g. what perfect gifts they do get them or what they consider a special day with the kids are, etc. The community can also help an auntie with information about health and nutrition, special needs, coaching, as well as law and finance, such as how to become a legal guardian, etc.

What's the perfect gift a savvyauntie should get for her niece or nephew?

There is no perfect gift. Every child is different and, at the end of the day, it shall be about what the child wants. In fact, it is not even about the dollar amount you put in the gift, or the number of bells and whistles on the toy you choose; it is about listening to what the child wants, about the gift that fits his personality. But you need to keep in mind that a child may tell you what he or she wants at this very moment, but a month from now, 5 new other things might pop up.

What I like about gift giving is that a real bond can be created that way, as well as an opportunity for mentorship. A savvyauntie can be into green stuff, and influence the kid to appreciate sustainable goods, or a professor and give the child a development tool; there is really no right answer, and it is for you to decide what is right for the child and what you can bring him or her based on your passion, skills, etc.

What is your idea of the perfect baby shower gift?

If you focus on the child, focus on something that the mother is not likely to buy for her baby. I like giving a cashmere sweater, or a cashmere blanket; because even a baby deserves a dose of luxury, and an auntie can provide that! (miss fffabulous here: I totally agree with Melanie! Love the cashmere sweater/blanket idea!)

What is your idea of the perfect activity to do with kids?

Fall is coming and apple picking is my favorite activity by far at this time of the year because it always turns into a day full of fun and diverse activities. You start with a trip in the car, pick the apples together, and then go home to bake that special apple pie or that sweet apple sauce. How great is that? And throughout the day, you take a lot of pictures and end up creating a scrapbook that captures all those fun moments spent together. This very simple activity ends up creating experiences and fond memories for the child to remember for many many years.

Anything else?

I will never emphasize enough the power of our community. We created auntiepedia for all aunties to reveal the savvy aunties they already are; for them to create and share their own content, skills and knowledge. We know that every auntie is *very* good at something, and we want aunties to share their savoir-faire on auntiepedia for the benefit of other equally knowledgeable aunties. We also have a very successful forum where aunties can ask questions about issues they haven't found on auntiepedia.

Any final words of wisdom to share with our fffabulous readers?

What I hope is that each and every single auntie will find answers to her questions at every stage of her life and for every special needs that she has, so that a savvy auntie can hopefully cope with anything that comes her way when interacting with her nephews and nieces. We teach savvyaunties how to complement the parents, in a way that is beneficial to the kids; by providing safety guidelines when hanging out with the kids and by providing tools, so that a child feels loved and happy around them at all times.