lobotoME - a new line of products to keep you sane

NOTE: At 11am PST today, I'm having my wisdom teeth out (boo, hiss), so if I don't respond to comments, etc., please forgive me! Until I'm back on my feet, please enjoy this tidbit:

I feel like I've found a treasure! lobotoME is an online company specializes in simple ways to keep yourself sane including calendars and notepads, including themed pads for meal planning, packing for vacation, workout tracking, and more. They only have a few products right now, but their line is expanding and has recently become available at mass retailers like The Container Store. BONUS: The products are printed on 100% recycled paper with soy inks! The notepads are currently $10 each, and if you spend $20 or more, you'll get free shipping!

Cool Office Picks to Get You Through Monday

Monday morning. Ick.

Are you Superbowl-ed out? Ate all the guacamole (oh wait, that was me)? One too many Long Island Iced Touchdown Teas? I understand, and to top it all off, it's Monday! Blah. To get your workweek off to a good start, please consider adding the following items to your desk, whether it be in a corporate high-rise or in your home study.

Useless Folders by Knock Knock, $9 for 6

Made by Knock Knock, one of my favorite paper companies for tongue-in-cheek products.

Working Girl's Survival Kit, $43

Includes Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Dental Floss, Mints, Pain Reliever, Emery Board, Clear Nail Polish, Nail Polish Remover, Nail Clipper, Hand Lotion, Facial Tissues, Deodorant, Tampons, Adhesive Bandages, Folding Hair Brush, Interior Mirror, Lint Remover, Mending Kit, Shoe Shine Wipes, Stain Remover, Static Guard®, and Lip Balm.

Day at the Beach Desk Display, $10

When you discover that that 4pm meeting with the consultants has not been moved to Maui, escape to your own oasis with your very own ounce of sand.

PepperPot Mouse Pads, $6.95/each

Imagining one of these on my desk just makes me want to work (not really, but it would look cool)!

Snail Tape Dispenser, $20

Yes, an overpriced tape dispenser, but a very cool overpriced tape dispenser!

The Bean's Pick: Uncommon Goods

This pick is one of my favorite online stores (and I also love their catalogs that come in the mail). Meet Uncommon Goods, an online store based out of Brooklyn dedicated to bringing you "creatively designed, high-quality merchandise at affordable prices." Visit their website and you'll find everything from home decor to baby onesies to garden gnomes. Browse through their items and you'll see their focus on offering a number of "green" products, many made via fair trade practices (they sell a number of repurposed products such as photo frames made out of old magazines, vases made of old windshields, and clocks made out of vintage camera bodies). Their website features a review system where buyers can rate products for quality, price, value, etc. Perhaps my favorite thing about Uncommon Goods is their Better to Give program, where customers gain the opportunity to contribute a portion of their purchase to a non-profit organization. Not bad! Some of our favorite items:

Lumen Oil Lamp Shadow Projectors $48; candle refills, set of 2 for $5
The #1 item I am craving from Uncommon Goods right now! Invented by artist Adam Frank, this modern little oil lamp casts an enchanting shadow from a tiny, stainless steel tree. As the flame flickers, the shadow of the tree moves like a light breeze is rustling its branches. A unique twist on a normal candle. Comes with two containers of odorless, clean-burning liquid wax that last 17 hours each. Available in five styles (from left to right): Cedar, Nest, Magnolia, Pine, and Bloom. Made in Brooklyn.

Gnomes-be-Gones with Gnome $125
How can you not love this? Your average, everyday garden gnome being carried away by two creepy, metallic critters with sharp teeth and no tongues. Excellent!







Bingo Clock $35
Made with reclaimed vintage bingo cards from a church in Pennsyvalnia. Very cool!

Recycled Multi-Color Wood Frame $48
A picture frame made from recycled wood from old boats, houses, schools and buildings in Thailand.




If you don't see anything that piques your interest here, I recommend you still check them out. They basically carry all sorts of cool things you never knew you needed!

P.S. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

ScentChips - an alternative to candles

Like most ladies, I’m a candle freak. Sheer gasps of delight escape from me when I round the corner at a mall to find a store like Yankee Candle, Illuminations, White Barn Candle Company, or even Hallmark (as they tend to carry lots of fun, smaller brands). Mr. Bean audibly groans when I enter a candle booth at the local arts festival because he knows that A) I will be there for days and B) I will spend lots of money on what he calls “stinky wax.”

There is, however, a downside to this obsession: our cat, Bungee, who is attracted to bright, shiny, wavering objects such as candle flames. What is the first thing Bungee will do when I bring home a new treasure in the form of a candle and light it? Run up and smell it! I’m talking singed whiskers smell throughout our apartment for the rest of the day!

To solve this problem, I’m always on the lookout for new tarts to use in my flameless burner. Many of the top companies sell tart versions of their scents, but I have recently stumbled across a fairly new candle company that sells their own interpretation of flameless candles in customizable blends. Meet ScentChips, a San Antonio company that has been hand pouring its cute scented wax leaves and button sized flowers for 30 years.

The cool thing about ScentChips is that they can be burned in a simmering pot (much like traditional wax tarts), but they’re also strongly scented enough to be used as potpourri. I ordered a box of them and am using it as potpourri here in my office at work, and it scents the entire room with no need to plug in a tart warmer!

ScentChips come in a variety of single fragrances, including fruits, florals, spices, and more. Online you can buy a single scent or one of their pre-created blends, which typically consist of 3 single scents. I purchased their Holiday Happiness blend, which includes Bayberry, Cinnamon, and Vanilla and smells wonderful! If you visit a ScentChips store in person, you can combine the single scents to make your own custom blend at no extra charge (see Store Locator to find one near you)!

You can buy a 6 ounce box of ScentChips at their website for $9.75 (NOTE: they have a variety of coupons and specials if you sign up for their e-newsletter, so don’t let the price deter you from trying them out). 6 ounces may not sound like a lot, but ScentChips claims that it will scent 3,000 square feet when used in a tart warmer, or will scent a small room in potpourri format for 5 years. Wow! Check ScentChips out and you'll see why I'm (ever so slightly) obsessed! NEWSFLASH: To celebrate their 30th anniversary, everything on ScentChips' site is 30% off!

Ecosphere (a safe alternative to being known as The Plant Killer)

I am not much of a green thumb. In fact, one might describe me as the serial killer of plants. Allow me to describe the recent death toll:

A) Late October 2008, Trader Joe's

Me: Oh look, their basil plants are on sale! Let's get one.

Mr. Bean: Sweetie, we don't really own plants. You kill them.

Me: This one will be different!

The basil plant was pronounced DOA in late December.

B) I've always found bonsai trees to be so peaceful. The idea that it takes 7 years to grow many of them to be a foot tall amazes me - what patience! I think they're truly beautiful and so does my cat. Or so did my cat...when he chewed off all the branches of my bonsai, swallowed them, and later regurgitated them all over my bed. Not good.

C) I have killed not 1 but 2 (TWO!) orchids within the last 9 months. The first was a gift from Mr. Bean in May as a consolation prize for him having to be gone to work over the summer (and a "thanks for tolerating my hell-like law school semester" treat, too). That one was dead within 3 weeks! The second one had served as a centerpiece for a banquet at my office, and they gave them to the staff. It lasted nearly 6 weeks, which is probably for me worth a lifetime achievement award of some sort.

D) Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree! How about Oh Dead Mini Christmas Tree? That's what the 9" pre-decorated minitree that I bought from Home Depot was BY THE TIME I GOT HOME FROM THE STORE! I was living in Dallas at the time and it was about 25 degrees and raining, which is uncommon in that area. My work shoes were soaked through, so of course I had the heat on full blast in the floorboard area...where the tree was. Poor pre-decorated minitree. By the time I got home and set you on the counter, you looked like a survival from the California wildfires times 2. Even the little fake ornaments were singed. RIP, you crispy-critter branched tree.

E) Okay, so I know a goldfish really doesn't count as a plant, but I have killed enough of them to where I believe they should make the list of my carnage. Some of them lived long enough for me to name, many did not.

But fear not! I have found the perfect solution that the folks at GreenFeet guarantee that even a plant and pet idiot (yes, that would be me) cannot kill: the Ecosphere.

Ecospheres are a totally enclosed ecosystem – completely self contained and self-sustaining miniature world. Inside each Ecosphere are active microorganisms, bright red shrimp and algae, that sustain each other in filtered seawater. Because the unit is a self-containing ecosystem, you never have to feed the life within. The Ecosphere is easy to care for too. Simply provide your sphere with a source of indirect natural (or artificial) light and enjoy this aesthetic blend of art and science, beauty and balance. Because the life within the Ecosphere utilize their resources without overpopulating or contaminating their environment, the Ecosphere requires no cleaning and only minimal care.

Note the three phrases that I underlined! So animals and plant life in one setting that apparently is indestructible. This is perfect for me!

4 lunch totes to keep your diet on track (New Year's Resolution I: eat out less)

I am at work eating my lunch. As in I actually had the foresight to make something at home and bring it to work. This is harder than it sounds as I probably have a medically sound condition called Fastfoodadia or some such illness when I crave fast food, be it Taco Bell, Subway, or the like. As a New Year's resolution, I vowed to eat out less, especially when it would be when I was alone and couldn't turn the meal into a social occasion.

So while sitting here eating my grilled chicken salad (I ACTUALLY cooked this..in a pan..on the stove!) and 100 calorie Twinkie, I thought, "what better time to blog about interesting meal totes? I've been dragging along the same pink Igloo lunch bag for years - could it be the reason I hate bringing my lunch? Let's step things up a bit and go on the hunt for a new lunch sack (paper free, of course!). Here are 4 picks:

#1: Chinese Take-Out Lunch Box

#2: Built NY Gourmet Getaway Tote

#3: Bento Box

#4: Neiman Marcus Lunch Tote

So if I get one of these pretties, do you think it'll inspire me to bring a Lean Cuisine to work? I'm not sold, but it might help spur me on.

4 calendars from Etsy you'll want on your desk (and a intro to my paper obsession)

I am a paper fiend. Take me to the mall and yes, I'll browse through a few clothing stores to drool over this season's peacoats and whine for a new pair of boots. But the store that you'll really have to drag me out of will be Papyrus, Hallmark, or any other store that carries a variety of notecards, invitations, gift wrap, and stationery. I actually get excited about going to pick out a card for Mother's Day, and you should see me in the fall when, in our family alone, there are 7 birthdays! Let's not mention how positively giddy I become when it comes time to select a new yearly planner each December (that's about when things become a little too unhealthy, I think).

Combine my love for paper products with Etsy, and it's a match made in heaven. I first stumbled upon this place a couple of years ago, and my life hasn't been the same since! As the website suggests, it's an "online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade." THIS INCLUDES PAPER PRODUCTS, which is one of my favorite Etsy pursuits. In honor of it being only a few days into the New Year, I am pleased to share a few of my favorite 2009 calendars available on Etsy - click on the picture to get a larger version, then visit the seller's shop link (please note that the link will not take you directly to the seller's store instead of the item as I do not want the link to be broken if the item sells).

Image below from Things Are Better with a Parrot (I bought this calendar last night and can't wait for it to arrive!):

Image below from Sure as Blue (I bought my desk calendar from them last year and loved it!):

Image below from Valentina Design:

Image below from Susannah Tucker Photography:

Image below from paperWERXings:

Clever eraser from Paper Source

As a writer (of grant proposals, many of which are not being funded in today's economy), I am a perfectionist, which often leads to the premature wear of the erasers on my pencils, which then tempts me into shouting expletives quite loudly while in the presence of coworkers. Relief for both issues has been found at last in the "shit" eraser.

Found at the Paper Source store (which is worth a blog in itself), this clever eraser is shaped like a smooth stone and fits in the palm of your hand, which makes it readily available when an inevitable f*ckup occurs. This product features one of my favorite curse words on one side and is easily turned over when the boss stops by for a more svelte, covert appearance. $4 at Paper Source. Also available in milder versions, including holy crap and oops.