fffabulous

fffabulous gift idea: restoration hardware luxury plush throw

I've said three years ago and I'll say it again: the Restoration Hardware Luxury Plush Throws are fffabulous--and stay impeccable even after a million washes, too. The plush fabric is soft, very light and keeps you so warm. Get a couple to snuggle on the sofa on a rainy day (!), and a dozen to give to your friends and family for Christmas. They'll love it. And these fffabulous plush throws are on sale for $29 only. Happy holidays!

it's breast cancer awareness month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we plan to feature cool products that benefit Breast Cancer Research throughout the month. With the days getting colder, we thought that featuring the Baby Jak "Softest Blanket Ever" was 'cool' since it's one of our fffavorite baby accessories and the perfect gift idea this holiday season.

Throughout the month of October, Baby Jak is offering 25% off all Think Pink and Pink Rose blankets when you enter coupon code pink at checkout, and they'll donate 15% of the proceeds to Breast Cancer Research. Can it get any better than that?

Pick your fffavorite blanket sizes from the snuggle blankets, classic baby blankets, nap and lap blankets, and throw blanket, and you're guaranteed to be warm this season or make someone very warm and happy!

10 things to consider when shopping for a fffabulous home

It's a buyer market! If you're on the look-out for a fffabulous home, what's better than to receive free advice from a professional? Here are a few tips from Michele, a realtor at Sereno Group Real Estate, on how to find a fffabulous home. Thanks Michele!

"Once you have decided you want to buy a home, and while viewing one house after the other, it is important to consider the following criteria so that you'll be happy about your choice and investment:

1. Consider your lifestyle now and in 5 years. For instance if you are planning on having children, perhaps you should skip "The Entertainer's Dream Home" perched on a cliff in favor of the spacious ranch in a neighborhood with great schools.
2. Make a list of must-haves, nice-to-have and deal breakers. They'll come handy when you hesitate between two houses.
3. Consider your lifestyle. If you don't have the time or inclination to work on your new home, or if you travel a lot, then perhaps a townhouse or condo would be your best option. Every home will need regular maintenance, but with a townhouse or condo, you will only be responsible for maintaining the inside of it.
4. While a staged home is great for giving decorating ideas, it can also hide some serious design flaws. Have your Realtor help you get a clear picture of the home.
5. Does the kitchen have the ability/space to have all the appliances you want? If your dream is to have a kitchen with a gas cooktop, make sure the kitchen can have a gas line run to it if it doesn't already.
6. Check the natural light in the home. Do you want the sun to come up in your bedroom or do you like to sleep in?
7. Go for a walk in the neighborhood one evening or on the weekend. If you plan on walking your dog every day, bring the dog too. You will get a real sense of the neighborhood on foot.
8. Get up extra early and drive to the home. Leave from the house at the time you would normally go to work. Check traffic flow and commute time. Note: this won't work in reverse in the evening because you won't be able to tell if there are any schools affecting traffic.
9. Always buy the best neighborhood you can afford if the house can meet your needs. See #2.
10. Always get and review the property inspections with your Realtor. He or she will help you determine the significance of what is on the reports and should be able to give you a rough idea of what it will cost to repair."

If this list made you want to learn more about how to find a fffabulous home, email Michele to attend her buyer's boot-camp. I am sure it's fffabulous!

hang in there!

I had been really good at organizing my closet last year, but not without the help of Ikea hangers, the PROPP clothes-hangers for my jackets and sweaters and the HEMLIS coat-hangers for my tees. But something was missing, and my friend Hil was spot on when she recommended me the Ultra Slim Pink Flocked Hangers she got at Bed Bath & Beyond. Besides the fact that the ultra slim shape of these hangers provides three times the amount of closet space, their velvety surface looks like they were made for camisoles and tops so they don't slip off. No more camis and tees falling off their hangers and laying at the bottom of the closet. Yay!

These skinny velvety hangers exist in pink (you know I love pink!), blue, and camel for $9.99 for a set of 10, or in camel for $39.99 for a set of 50.

And in this economy, you may want to sign up for Bed Bad & Beyond Email and Direct Mail to receive their 20% off in store coupons on a regular basis. You will receive a ton of them, but just bring them all with you to the store and give the ones you won't use to your fellow shoppers. You'll make their day!

melanie's mexican rice recipe

As if we weren't spoiled already with Melanie's fffabulous recommendation of the Zojirushi Rice Cooker, here is Melanie's Mexican Rice recipe that she adapted from the The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman (that I plan to order too, eheh!):

Mexican Rice
Serves 4
Cycle: Quick Cook and/or Regular

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup long grain white rice
½ cup peeled and chopped fresh tomato
1 ¾ cups water
1 teaspoon chipotle (freshly ground or powder)
1 teaspoon jalapeno (freshly ground or powder)
½ teaspoon salt

1. Set the rice cooker for Quick Cook cycle. Place oil in bowl. When hot, add onion and garlic. Cook stirring a few times until softened, about 2 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring a few times, until it turns ever-so-slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato and sauté a bit longer. Add the water, chile and salt, stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle

2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle. This dish will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.

Who would have thought it'd be so easy? Not me! Let's all cook rice!

how did we cook rice before this machine?

The other day, one of my friends was wondering what to do for dinner, and my other friends mentioned that she swears by her rice cooker because it's easy and quick to cook just about anything. Well, it happens that Melanie, President of Melanie's Fine Foods, also swears by her rice cooker for the many recipes she develops with her fffabulous sauces. Melanie is indeed the creator of the award-winning Big Acres® Gourmet Sauces and Rubs and distributor of gourmet goodies for kitchen & grill. A "foodie" her whole life, Melanie has always been passionate about natural lifestyles and strives to help people make simple, gourmet meals any day of the week. Here is why she loves her rice cooker so much:

"The Zojirushi (pronounced "yo-zher-u-shi") NS-ZCC18 10-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer is the most fffabulous appliance. Now, understand that I'm normally opposed to kitchen appliances with only one function. This machine is THE exception to my own rule. This cooker steams rice cooks all kinds of dishes—macaroni and cheese, beans, pulled pork, rice pudding, oatmeal and more.

We purchased this rice cooker for our food manufacturing company. We wanted to offer steamed rice with our sauces to people who visited our booth at various shows. The benefit of using this machine is that we wash and measure the rice the night before, add the correct amount of water, set the timer to the desired "ready" time and voila! — yummy, moist, perfectly cooked rice is ready when the show opens the next morning! Imagine setting your rice before you leave in the morning for work and when you get home at 5pm, it's ready and waiting for you to serve to your family. But the timer isn't the only wonderful feature...this cooker offers the selection of the type of rice—white, sushi, regular, long, medium, brown, pudding and more, and adjusts its temperature and cook time to the type and amount of rice.

The process is so easy. Simply measure washed rice into the bowl, fill with water (the non-stick bowl is marked with lines for water), place the bowl in the cooker and turn it on. The Zojirushi also has a sense of humor; when the start button is pushed, the machine plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and another cute song is played when the rice is ready. And the keep warm feature keeps rice fresh and hot for hours. Our rice was moist and delicious after 8 hours. I do recommend that if you're holding rice for that long that you make more than you need as the rice on the bottom dries out just a little.

While I was skeptical at first, the Zojirushi Rice Cooker makes the most amazing rice, including Mexican Rice..."

Are you convinced already? That's all I needed to order my very own rice cooker. And stay tuned for Melanie's Mexican Rice recipe! Yay! Thanks Melanie.

are you ready to fly?

Spring is here and what's better to celebrate it than to do a bit of Spring cleaning? Most of us dread this word and anything related to decluttering. Well, I felt that way until I heard of FlyLady. I subscribed to her Yahoo! Group (and yes, it's free too!), and I started to learn what it'd take for me to get organized around the house and adopt daily routines. Now, the great thing about FlyLady is that it doesn't promise you miracles. You'll learn to take baby steps. In other words: NO, you don't have to turn your life upside down and change in one day, and YES, it's okay to take your time by establishing small routines first, by being consistent and—most importantly—by enjoying the process.

FlyLady has many lessons to teach us but my very favorite is the one on How to Declutter your home: set your timer to 1 hour (or 30, 15, or 10 minutes - it doesn't matter how long), and during that time, just clear a room's hotspot as fast as you can and do not pull out more stuff than you can put away in that length of time. This means just one drawer, one closet (or even one shelf in one closet), one magazine rack, or only dig under just the furniture in the zone. Not all of them at once! Try this process once and you will wonder how you possibly could have done it without FlyLady before. I have set my timer to 15 minutes many many times the first week I joined, and my home started to become what I always wanted it to be: spacious, organized and vibrant. It was so easy! So join FlyLady Yahoo! Group—and follow her on Twitter, too!—and you will be eternally thankful for it.

That said, this week is dedicated to the home sweet home, so stay tuned for the many fffabulous tips to come.

fffabulous sale: restoration hardware towels

I always love popping into a Restoration Hardware store to check out their newest stuff (this is actually how I found the perfect Christmas gift last winter, and it was a big hit!). I love their bathroom décor: it is super cute, well equipped with all sort of fancy mirrors, containers, candles, etc., and very well color coordinated with their bath linen collections. I bought the Ultimate Turkish Towels in red a couple of years ago and I still love them so much to this day! And I was happy to hear from my friend Natala that there is a 20% sale on these towels through August 3rd. "Here are some notes on why I love the Restoration Hardware Ultimate Turkish Towels:

• Plushness: these towels are truly plush and luxurious feeling. They are thick and you feel warm when wrapped up in them -- but they aren't so heavy that you feel like if the towel isn't fully tucked it will fall off.
• Wear over time: I have been impressed with how they last -- they dry quickly (so they don't smell damp or moldy) and the color hasn't faded on my towels year after year of use.
• Color selection: I really appreciate that they have committed to a standardized color palette -- that they maintain year after year. It allows me to buy more towels in sky every year during the annual sale.

From a price comparison, I think when on sale, these towels are a deal. High quality towels can be spendy, but these are approachably priced with that 20% discount at $40 for a bath sheet. Those bath sheets are just awesome too."

more magic with purell wipes

Okay, I make fun of Ms. Eileen for being so hygiene-sensitive, but she definitely has a point. We touch things all the time, and I personally don't want to carry germs around. Who does? I'm not a big fan of the hand sanitizer gel (it makes me feel like I'm spreading the germs around more so than killing them), and just prefer washing my hands as often as I can. But what does one do when there is no water and soap to be found? Ms. Eileen has the answer to this question (but of course!), and I sure will order a box of these wipes as soon as I have posted this blurb. Thanks Eileen!

"Another product that I just cannot live without is Purell Instant Hand Sanitizing Wipes. I love this product! One packette is small enough to just leave in your pocket – all day! Perfect for on-the-go sanitizing or emergency lunch meetings when you have no time to wash your hands. They are available in 5x7inch and 8x6inch but the 8x6inch wipes are really my all time favorite. I actually prefer this over the gel just because it's easier to carry plus you can also use it to wipe around you when you're at a restaurant or in an airplane. Of course frequent hand washing with soap is really the best I suppose but this product really provides an extra level of peace-of-mind and convenience! Stay clean!"

lysol 'magic' wipes

It wouldn't be spring cleaning week without a few spring cleaning 'accessories'. My colleague Eileen is totally obsessed with hygiene, to the point that it is even eelarious (yes, that's my French way of pronouning 'hilarious'.) Ms. Eileen was kind enough to recommend her very best friend, the Lysol Disinfecting Wipes with Micro-lock fibers Citrus Scent. I am sure she'll convince you that these wipes should also become your best friend:

"I'm sure you all have read horror stories about the amount of germs and bacteria that’s found in the most unlikely places. According to a University of Arizona study, scientists found that phone receivers had 25,000 bacteria per square inch, desktops had 21,000 bacteria per square inch, while toilet seats had only 49 bacteria per square inch.

Yeeew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Granted the study was partially funded by a company that makes disinfecting wipes, they nonetheless, found that if you used anti-bacterial wipes, you can drop the bacteria count as much as 99.9%!!! I personally use Lysol Disinfecting Wipes with Micro-lock fibers Citrus Scent daily on my desk and phone at work. The Micro-lock fibers make the wipes very strong and stay strong even on a variety of hard surfaces – cubical surfaces can be really rough!  And the citrus scent is not so harsh – obviously in a cubed environment, you have to be very sensitive with scents. Plus it also cleans!!! My cube mates have learned to love this product as well and now wipe down their desks weekly...er, ok...maybe monthly...ok ok...maybe when I nag them about it."

a fffabulous file box

I have been good at keeping my wardrobe clutter-free lately since my clothes are worth it (gotta take care of those expensive tees and jeans, right?), but I am a total disaster when it comes to keeping my paperwork, invoices, etc. in order. Documents and magazines pile up on top of my coffee table or next to my bed until I pretty much decide to get rid of them altogether or shove t hem all into one of my kitchen drawers. After reading Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, I decided that it was time to get a filing cabinet and start being disciplined about becoming more organized. I went to Crate & Barrel the other day and got this beautiful File Box with Hinged Lid in chocolate brown faux leather. I probably could have gotten a cheaper storage system at any other department store, but I needed to treat myself with something classy yet practical to motivate me. I am now diligent at filling it up with invoices and receipts right when I get them, I throw away unnecessary papers from the mail as soon as they land on my desk, and I even have a special folder for magazine articles and fffabulous products I want to buy.

Don't I deserve the clutter-free queen title already?

hang on to fffabulous stuff

The other day, I decided to clean up my wardrobe. I bought a lot of clothes recently (which is obviously fffabulous.com's fault!), and my closet couldn't handle the extra fat anymore. So I thoroughly went through my wardrobe and tried on every piece of clothing I hadn't worn in ages (click here for practical tips on how to declutter your wardrobe). It took some courage to get rid of some items, but seriously, with all the cute stuff coming out every single month, why worry? I kept the clothes that I wear often and brought the rest to my local charity. I felt so good! Yet, something was still missing: my lovely clothes didn't behave well around my old wire hangers, so I decided to go on a trip to Ikea to get nice hangers that would keep the shape of my beloved sweaters, expensive tees, and stunning dresses. And I didn't regret that trip because I got to shop shop shop without spending too much money.

I got the PROPP clothes-hangers to hang all my sweaters, dress shirts, and dresses, which --of course-- they all look fffabulous on. And for $2.99 per pack of 8 hangers, it is worth stocking up on these. I also got the absolutely fffantastic HEMLIS coat-hangers to hang all my tees. Not only are they perfect when I air dry my tees, they also stack well when empty. Genius! I think I got close to 60 of them, but for their price ($0.49 for 5 – yes, that's not even 10 cents per hanger), I didn't have to think twice. And I got the BUMERANG skirt hangers to hang all my pants and skirts.

Overall, I feel like I have a totally new wardrobe, and it takes no time in the morning to select what I'm going to wear that day. fffabulous!

no country for old stuff

Okay, although it feels like summer, it's technically still springtime. And spring rhymes with spring cleaning (yes, that was easy!). And if you're like me, you may need a bit of encouragement to proceed with this task. If so, I may just have the best trick to get you started. Lucky you!

I discovered Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston a couple of years ago, and it is one of those books I just keep reading over and over again. Although the title mentions Feng Shui as a method to reorganize your living space, this book touches only very briefly on making your home more Feng Shui compliant (but it's still a great book to learn about the basics of Feng Shui). Karen explains that the more order you create into your life--through getting rid of all that crap you've been accumulating over the years, the better your life will become, and the more energy you'll have. This book also helps you become more detached from material things, starting with those things you don't use anymore, and how ridding yourself of them will only create space for brand new and more vibrant things in your life. A couple of months ago, I followed Karen's advice and donated three sweatpants I hadn't worn in two years. It took me a while to get myself to do this because they carried memories I didn't want to let go of, but as soon as I did, I came across these sexy sweatpants, and I had to get them. Okay, so I spent a little money in the process, but now I enjoy wearing my new sweatpants every single weekend, and I feel even more fffabulous in them than I did in my old pairs. As difficult as it can be to get rid of old stuff, I say 'go for it!', and you'll experience some 'joie de vivre' you've never experienced before. Yay!

So are you ready for some serious Spring Cleaning to make place for the new? (And by 'new', it could mean a sexy new pair of shoes or a brand new purse.)

happy new year!

Today is the day to stay warm and cozy, and chill out in front of TV... But to do things the right way, you need to be under this Restoration Hardware luxurious plush throw. It is the softest blanket I have ever seen in my entire life (no kidding), and it is super warm too. You'll love it, your honey will love it, and your kids will love it too. Plus, it doesn't hurt renewing the sofa throw now and then, right?

And it is also the perfect gift idea, trust me on that one. My popularity ranking went through the roof over the holidays thanks to this perfect present.

stay cozy

I am totally amazed by the softness of Baby Jak blankets -and yes, you'll have to feel the 2 textures (they are reversible too!) to understand what I mean.

Baby Jak offers adult size blankets that are cozy and warm for the coming winter nights. I love it that they offer the Softest Blanket Ever in leopard print with ivory plush (that matches your manolos, just in case you love your shoes so much you don't want to take them off, ah ah!) and in pony print with ivory plush. We can finally express our wild side!

And of course, Baby Jak blankets are perfect for the little ones. The snuggle baby blankets and the baby blankets are great gifts for a baby shower. I've just ordered one for my baby cousin.