Category — Gift-aholics

Valentine’s Day is just 1 week away, and my catalogue fetish has yielded a few fresh and fun ideas to proclaim your love:

je t’aime / j’adore Reversible Pillow

Exclusive to Ballard Designs, this limited edition pillow shares your deepest feelings with someone you love at only $49

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Homemade, chocolate, and red: all your Valentines Day favorites to make for your family from Williams-Sonoma. This set at $34.95 includes the whoopie pie pan and red velvet whoopie pie mix. Yum

Heart of Gold Paperweight

Having this daily reminder of your love will give someone special time to think of you everyday. From RSH Catalog at $15

Love and Kisses Etched Tumblers

Buy a pair, or a set of 4: proclaim your love with these fun glasses for wine or juice or anything else. Wine Enthusiast at $19.99-29.99

It ain’t easy being green – Kermit the Frog

Trying to be eco-conscience with an extra hot Starbucks chai latte in hand is not as easy as it sounds…Moi needs those cardboard cup sleeves to prevent hand burns.

Lucky Moi: eco-friendly and super-chic CoMo bff S gifted me this reusable knit cup sleeve.

Crafted in Missouri by Jolene of 3 MOMS Creative Outlet out of recycled wool sweater cuffs and buttons, the felted wool cup cuff can be carried in a purse or stored in your glove compartment for coffee on the go.

Eco-smart!

Moi tip: are you a crafty lady? I found a site that shows you how to make your own recycled wool cuff cup

Just spotted an ad in the NYTimes for this 8-strand freshwater pearl necklace from Ross-Simons: only $39.95! Honestly, this picture on the Ross-Simon website would never have interested Moi:

Clustered with eight twisty strands of 4-4.5 mm gleaming, white cultured freshwater pearls, it creates an amazingly flattering neckline – for a price that’s pretty amazing, too. Necklace is set with sterling silver hook clasp.: RS

But this ad in the NYTimes immediately caught Moi eye: for that price, a great necklace!

3 lengths available, also in brown cultured pearl. $3.95 shipping fee. Stock up: these are great for birthday, Christmas, graduation or any special occassion gift: perfect for your gift drawer. But hurry…several of the styles are already on back order!  www.ross-simons.com/THEBEST or 1.800.556.7376 offer code: THEBEST

I wasn’t always a pen-atic: I acquired my recent pen fetish from TBG. I think collecting pens is a very typical male obsession: as they climb the corporate ladder, whipping out important or unusual pens to sign the business document is a status symbol. TBG started his pen collection over 30 years ago, inspired by an antique crystal and wood inkwell and pen holder he inherited from his grandmother.  Over the years he’s acquired gorgeous, expensive and unusual pens (new, vintage and antique) and out of necessity, cases, stands and holders to display and store these pens.

Having a spouse with a pen obsession or other mantique passion is very desirable to antique, flea and vintage market lovers like Moi:

• he’s always willing to accompany me to a market or shop as he has his own interest to track down
• when I’m browsing alone I can keep an eye out for the perfect gift
• he totally gets why some things cost what they cost
• he understands that something “similar” won’t do: I can spend years tracking down the exact thing that I want

Over the years I’ve gifted TBG with pens, cases and other accessories to support his collection (and to prove that I was thinking about him while I’m off traveling on my own, such as the flower frog to hold pens on TBG’s desk).

It’s also lucky to have friends who are on similar hunts! I recently visited bff The Antiques Diva in Berlin, and of course we spent much of my visit exploring the antique markets of Berlin. I’d been to Berlin several times before with TBG, and was eager to revisit with a shopping list in mind. And one of the items on my list was a gift for TBG. Fortunately for me, the AD is married to The Wine Guy, and TWG is also an avid pen collector (who discovered several years ago he could research and buy antique and vintage pens on French ebay). So one of the first steps on my mission was to consult TWG for advise as to the perfect German pen to gift TBG.

TWG knew the exact pen to track down: a Pelikan pen, and to complete the gift, a Pelikan pen holder. Pelikan is a German brand, so the perfect souvenir gift. TWG also happens to be close friends with The Pelikan Pen Guy! He even could recommend which market was most likely to offer the pen, and gave Moi guidelines on style, price and condition.

TWG’s Pelikan Pen shopping guidelines included:

• pen should be manufactured around 1950′s
• buy from a pen specialist, not just a stall with pens
• a fountain pen is interesting but roller more practical
• spend time writing with the pen to be sure the ink flows smoothly, the pen feels good in the hand
• preferably the classic cigar-shaped pen
• spend no more than 50€
• look for the Pelikan display case: again not more than 50€
• accompanying filled ink jar and nibs would be interesting (if I went for the fountain pen)
• try the flea market Straße des 17. Juni
  

So with our Pelikan pen mission clearly outlined (plus a shopping strategy of our own) the Antiques Diva and I headed toward Straße des 17. Juni.

What do you think of our find? TBG loves it!

I love finding something special when I’m not even looking. Whether it’s for Moi or a gift, the surprise find brings extra pleasure.

Last week I visited the recently completed Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach, Florida. We’ve been watching the construction for several years, and reading the signage each time we passed by, and TBG and I were excited to walk in and finally have a chance to investigate. First stop: the shops.

etc. café & gifts is filled with magazines and sundries, gourmet foods and candies (indulged in 2 boxes of Fran’s Smoked Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels), palm leaf shaped serving trays and glitzy utensils, logo-ed sweat shirts, sparkled Christmas ornaments, and lots of fun beach accessories, toys and souvenirs. But tucked in the corner of a shelf I spotted a small plexiglass display housing 10 slim, gold pens with beaded tops.

So different than anything else in the shop, I quickly got the scoop:

A warehouse in Maine burned down and someone had salvaged a box of early 20th century glass beads and semi-precious stones. Someone else (no one seemed to know who made the pens, I’d love to share their name with you) had fashioned these little antique treasures into one-of-a-kind pens. And 10 of these pens styled with antique beads found their way to the newly opened Seagate Hotel and Spa.

And now, for only $20, a slim gold pen with a blue and gold beaded fob is tucked inside my bag, ready to dazzle as I autograph my credit card receipts.

Moi tip: if you’re staying in the charming seaside village of Delray Beach I’m loving the Seagate to stay a few days, enjoy the spa, lunch at the Atlantic Grille, or just browse the shops.

The outdoor art and craft festival season has arrived to South Florida.   Moi has attended several times for the fabulous artisans… and the sunshine and warm weather   Along with all the New Yorkers and Canadians who flock to SoFlo for the winter, fabulous artisans and crafters arrive to share their sculpture, paintings, photography, ceramics, jewelry, clothing and more. And always, great food booths available! And when you tire of shopping, the beach is always just footsteps away.

Mark your calendars:

Boca Raton Fine Art Show

• January 2 and 3, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am-5pm
• Royal Palm Place, 302 S Federal Highway, Boca Raton

22nd Annual Las Olas Art Fair Part I

• January 2 and 3, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am-5pm
• 600 East Las Olas Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale

23rd Annual Boca Fest:

• January 9 and 10, Saturday and Sunday
• 10am – 5pm
• free admission
• The Shops of Boca Center, 5250 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton

21st Annual Downtown Delray Festival of the Arts

• January 16 and 17, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am – 5pm
• Atlantic Avenue, Downtown Delray Beach

CityPlace Art Festival in West Palm Beach

• January 23-24, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am-5pm
• CityPlace, South Rosemary Avenue,  West Palm Beach

Boca Raton  24th Annual Juried Art Festival

• February 6 and 7, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• Mizner Park: 327 West Plaza Real, Boca Raton

13th Annual Downtown Delray Beach Craft Festival

• February 27 and 28, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am-5pm
• 4th Avenue & Atlantic Ave, Downtown Delray Beach

22nd Annual Las Olas Art Fair Part II

• March 6 and 7, Saturday and Sunday
• free admission
• 10am-5pm
• 600 East Las Olas Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale

14th Annual Lauderdale by the Sea Craft Festival

• March 13 and 14, Saturday and Sunday
• 10am – 5pm
• free admission
• A1A & Commercial Blvd. in Lauderdale by the Sea

Mirror purchased at Delray show

Moi tip: for more  listings of art shows in South Florida visit Art Festival

I’m a browser. I love to shop, but I don’t necessarily want to buy. I’m not always looking for a great deal, the find or anything else. Sometimes I’m just looking.

If you look long enough, you eventually find things.

Antique shows, garage sales, swap meets, vide-greniers, flea markets, brocantes, tag sales. Call them what you will, but they’re basically old stuff for sale. Price negotiable.  Caveat emptor: buyer be ware.

In my thousands of browsing expeditions, I’ve seen hundreds of small, glass half-circles with lots of little holes on top: flower frogs. Priced anywhere from $3-50, clear to pale pink to blues and greens and blacks. Even swirly multi-colored frogs. Tennis to soft ball sizes.

For years and years I passed them by, then one time in Paris at a weekend street brocante, the brocanteur displayed his glass frog next to his cash box, with several pens and pencils poking out of the holes, like little flowers.

Voilà: a gift was born [Read more →]

Even though anything’s possible (for a $$$ price) Christmas Eve is too late to start your catalogue shopping for Christmas. If you’re housebound with a broken leg, stuck in a blizzard in Paris, or simply forgot to look at your calendar and are willing to throw money at the problem, many of the catalogue sites listed in 60 Gifts in 60 Days can ship your gift to arrive Christmas Day with a big fat bow, and they’ll never be the wiser.

But if you just need to pick up a few more gifts, and like Moi, will do anything to avoid the dreaded mall and crowded department stores filled with last minute-shoppers,

Moi has a few tips that will tell them you’ve been shopping for weeks:

• visit your neighborhood liquor store. Moi is a fan of Veuve Clicqout, and loves their gift sets, but I have a few other fave spirit houses
  • Landy Cognac XO :  I’ve been friends with Alexandre Gabriel, CEO and owner of Cognac Ferrand, for years and am always thrilled to introduce this oak barrel aged cognac. His premium label, Cognac Pierre Ferrand, is a bit pricier, and will guarantee someone a very Merry Christmas
  • Citadelle Gin, also produced in France by Gabriel, is described by Luxist as “one of the best”, and sure to please the connoiseur
  • liquor-filled chocolates. I know these have a bad rap, but I don’t know why! When we lived in Denmark we became tremendous fans of the local brand, Anthon Berg, and I promise you: these are the best! In fact, Anthon Berg has the distinction of being “Purveyors to the Queen.” Surely someone on your list deserves this treat…but hide it from the Little Bits!
• Stop buy Walgreens, CVS, 7-11, or any of the neighborhood drug or convenience stores and pick up a deck of gift cards. Yes, you waited until the last minute, but prove you put some thought into these gift cards:
  • to an iTunes card attach a pair of glitzy crystal studded earphones for the way-cool teen on your list
  • make a smart pairing: gift an AMC movie theatre card with a Starbucks card, and you’ve given your babysitter a nite out
  • give your handy brother-in-law a  Home Depot gift card and tie it to a hammer
  • print out the NYTimes best-seller list and wrap it around a Borders card for the book lover
• go to your local florist or gourmet grocery store and have the florist put together an extravagant bouquet
• if you’re truly desperate you can try a trick my son used one year, and buy a fistful of lottery tickets, and promise NOT to lay claim to any winners

Hope some of these ideas get you out of the mess you got yourself in! Next year, plan ahead: start your gift drawer now!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night

Back in the day the biggest book purchasing question was whether to buy the hardback, or wait for the paperback to come out months later. (Library readers are another post: and YES, I have 3 library cards: one for NYC, one for Chicago, and one for SoFlo).

Now the stakes have been raised: should you buy an e-reader, and if so, which e-reader. I have long been a fan of e-books: I installed eReader on my Palm Pilot years ago, so reading in this format has long been convenient and practical for me. Volumes have been written comparing the Kindle to the Sony Reader to the Barnes & Noble Nook. And no question: reading an e-book is not the same  romantic, magical experience as picking up a much loved, much read favorite novel and reading it again for the 10th time.

An e-reader is not for you if

• you tend to drop your books in the bathtub, and microwave them dry. Yes, Jeff Bezos gave an interview explaining that he wraps his Kindle in a ziplock to read in the bathtub; that’s a visual I can do without. Personally, I’ve never dropped mine in water.
• you want to share your books with 52 of your BFFs. Our Queen Mum received the Kindle last year for Christmas, and she promptly returned it: she likes to share all her books. (FYI: we got her a snow-blower instead.)
• you read mainly gossip and sports and fashion and lifestyle magazines (at least not yet: the industry hopes to get more magazines in e-format soon)
• you constantly lose your books in cabs, hotel rooms or at the beach. These babies are expensive to replace!

But if you’re thinking about it and need that final push to purchase an e-reader, read on!

Moi is an avid reader since childhood, and was an early adopter: I got the Kindle last year for Christmas. In fact, I purchased one for my daughter, and a 2nd for me, wrapped both, and gave mine to TBG to present to me Christmas morning. I’d had it in my gift drawer for nearly 2 months, I barely held out until Christmas day. And as I jetted down to SoFlo after Christmas I was happily reading  James Patterson and having the USAToday wired to me every morning.

Contrary to some in the publishing industry’s initial fears, my reading has actually increased because I don’t have to go to a bookstore to get the latest. I read about it in the NYTimes Book Section or the USAToday Books or Oprah’s Book Club or O Mag Book Reading Room, and moments later its in my Kindle and now, easily accessible through my beloved Kindle iPhone app (OK, sometimes the book is in my Kindle Wish List, but not for long, I’m an avid book buyer.) And I still go to bookstores frequently: I’m addicted to both Borders and Barnes & Noble: I firmly believe in giving books as gifts, as many of my nieces and nephews know 1st hand; I love coffee table books and cookbooks, which are not the targets of the e-book market (at least not yet!) and I just like bookstores: they make Moi happy!

Note: the Kindle for iPhone or iTouch app is free! You still have to buy the books from Amazon, but you do not need to purchase the Kindle. I find it very easy and convenient to read on my iPhone, and I have both the Kindle and BN iPhone apps, and will download the Kindle app for Blackberrys to TBG’s Blackberry when it finally becomes available. Not everyone likes reading on such a small screen, but I can easily adjust the font size, and its very convenient to be able to read when I’m on the bus, the subway, in line at Starbucks, waiting for a movie to begin, or wherever I find myself with a few moments to spare. And I can add books I’ve purchased to TBG’s phone: book sharing! [Read more →]

I’m making a list, and checking it twice: just for you! (Hint: read all the way to the bottom or you’ll miss the bonus gift!)

So, you’ve been ignoring Moi Catalogue Countdown to Christmas: 60 Gifts in 60 Days? Did you think that shopping list was going to shop itself? Not to worry, Moi is on it! Last week I made the rounds of all my personal shopping secret sites in NYC (with BFFs The Antiques Diva, CoMo S and Tampa T in tow to verify Moi selections), and double-checked to make sure what’s available to you on-line. Next I personally scoured the catalogues that stacked up on Moi coffee table while I was on my secret search mission. Finally, I’ve worn-out my manicure scanning all the websites, blogs, tweets and newsletters that pop-up on my laptop or iPhone  to make sure you don’t miss a great gift idea this holiday season (Moi needed alot of Starbucks chai lattes: tall, skim, extra water, extra hot; to sustain her!).

So with only 12 shopping days left until the big gift exchange, keep checking back to Moi Catalogue Countdown: Moi updates it daily, and why should both of us work so hard!

And as a special gift just for you, here’s a bonus gift idea:

Moi et Co visited the MoMA on Monday (OK, we didn’t go to the MoMA, we went to the MoMA Gift Store across the street, but même chose!) and we all fell in love with these cute little martini / shot glasses! Yup, they’re both: just flip the martini glass over and it becomes a shot glass. Perfect for all your Girls Nights In!

Happy Hour Glasses   $20 for set of 2.  These hand-blown glasses are so chic she’ll want several sets. You can even serve nuts or olives in them! How chic is that?

I’m Shopping Now! (Hint: Moi didn’t buy any of these for herself: anyone listening?)