Physique 57 — the workout that actually works
I wish it wasn’t the case but I don’t like to work out. I loathe the gym. The few times I dabbled in Yoga and Pilates I would be all gung-ho for a few months only to eventually find myself watching the clock like a hawk the entire time (is it over now?….now? …what about now?….)
Last winter however, I started taking classes at Physique 57 and everything changed.
Physique 57 has a major cult following in New York. In a nutshell, it’s 57 minutes of upbeat music and fluid, muscle crunching movements that hone in on all the key areas. Based on the famous Lotte Berk method, P57 classes focus on core strength and flexibility and the classes are taught by adorable professional dancers who really motivate you to keep going even when your insides are screaming. What I love about it is that it is comprised of short routines – every five minutes or so you work on a different part of the body. And before you know it, the class is over — yay! (more…)
De-Clutter for a Cause!
Last year I did something really quite indulgent but worth every penny. I hired a “wardrobe consultant/stylist” to come in and help me de-clutter and organize my very messy and chaotic closet.
Her job: 1) toss what is heinous, dated and does not fit 2) make a list of what was missing and 3) not make fun of me for being a hoarder.
When she left, I kid you not, there was basically a lonely hanging t-shirt swinging in the breeze and I was sitting between two ginormous heaps of clothing to give away.
It was emotionally draining, sad and scary….but mostly FREEING!!! The clutter was gone!
It really did feel great — not just from an organizational standpoint but emotional one as well. Even better, I was able to donate all of my old work suits, never worn items, things with the tags still on to a girl’s garage sale in my neighborhood and raise money for charity. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Someone out there was going to be delighted that I parted ways with my light-wash boot cut jeans and boxy, unflattering sweaters. (more…)
Take our survey and receive 15% off at Little Baby Company!
For the past couple years we have told you all about our favorite products, we’ve told you about our children and all about our struggles (potty training) and joys (sibling bonds) of parenting, and we’ve shared our favorite recipes, art projects, and parenting tips… always with the hope that you enjoy hearing from us.
But… we’re wondering if you would like more recipes and fewer parenting tips. Or perhaps you love our product reviews but don’t care for the craft projects. Or maybe you would like to hear more about our cities and the places we recommend visiting?
The thing is, we really have no idea what it is you like about Babyccino. And we would really LOVE to know! So we’ve created a simple on-line reader’s survey in the hopes that you’ll tell us.
Please take a few minutes to answer just ten easy questions. Click here to start.
P.S. For a little added incentive, the very cool kid’s shop, Little Baby Company, is offering a 15% discount to everyone who partakes in our survey! (The promo code will be given upon completion of the survey.)
Go Home Gorgeous
Giving birth is exhausting, physically and emotionally, and once the baby is born the mother is typically not that free or in the mood to go to a spa. A new business in the Minneapolis area, which is expanding in other cities, has decided to bring the mountain to Mohammed!
Go Home Gorgeous will send a massage specialist to the hospital room to give the new mother the pampering she deserves. Apparently the massage therapists are also doulas so they’re quite trained in post-partum care. Their packages, not surprisingly, have proved to be excellent baby shower gifts.
A new business run by women to cater for women during an economic downturn — this is excellent news!
-Michela
Emergency contact
I recently commissioned a feature for Real Living magazine about “what to do in an emergency”. After the recent series of devastating bush fires and floods across the country, I was talking to my mum and we were saying that it’s hard to know what you should do first in an emergency. Hence, the feature. At about the same time I received this email from a woman in my mother’s group who is a nurse. I’m not sure if you have seen this information from anyone else, but it’s the only time I’ve seen it so I thought it was worth sharing…
-Natalie
Message from the Ambulance Service:
We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency) Campaign. (more…)
A sky-nanny? A dream!
This past weekend we flew to London to spend Easter with our old friends, and it was great. It’s always fun to be there, but never very much fun to travel! It’s only a 2-hour plane ride, but with air traffic and holiday travelers it always ends up being a long journey. My son is now a nearly pleasant travel companion — he plays with his toy cars, colours, reads books, etc. My 16-month-old daughter is more the problem, as she cannot stay still for longer than 3 minutes! I always try to avoid being one of those families that makes people wish they could buy a ticket on a child-free flight.
Did you know that Gulf Air offers a Sky Nanny service? The sky nannies help you deal with your children from the moment you check-in at the gate. They will arrange feeding times, not to overlap with yours, provide extra-snacks, age suitable entertainment and a few moments of babysitting when needed.
Now that would be something I might be willing to pay extra for…
-Michela
No tantrums here…
My experience with kiddie hair salons has always been the same: the place looks cool, my kids love it and sit still and happy in their seat, BUT they still manage to walk out with a less-than-stellar haircut. Too much glitz, not enough guts.
Thankfully, this is NOT the case at the new children’s hair salon, Tantrum, on the King’s Road, where I took my youngest son for his first real haircut last week. (I’ve been dreading the risk of cutting off his baby curls, so I was delaying the inevitable!)
He got a great cut, and we both left happy… curls in tact! (more…)
Just awful
As I’m sure many of you know by now, Australia has just experienced its worst natural disaster after ravaging bush fires killed hundreds of people and destroyed many more homes. I received an email yesterday from a woman in my mother’s group who said that her brother had lost his home and all its contents, and she had rushed to the shops to buy supplies for his eight-day-old baby. That’s right. Eight days old! I can’t imagine what it must be like to cope with a disaster of that magnitude with a newborn.
Then on the news last night there was an image of a woman carrying a baby capsule. I’m not sure how old that baby was but it just cut me up that she was also in the midst of upheaval with such a young baby. This weekend I’m going to go through all the clothes that my eight-month-old baby has outgrown and donate them to the Red Cross. There are several ways people can help: (more…)
Mum and Babe
A while ago I wrote a blog post about one of my favourite streets here in Paris, rue Keller. Rue Keller has just gotten even better. It is worth visiting for this place alone — Mum and Babe, Paris’ first Hairdresser and Beauty Salon with creche.
A beautiful separate room with a professional child minder awaits your children while you get your hair cut or coloured, have a massage or a manicure. Lucie, the owner, realised the need for a parent-friendly pamper centre when her niece was born and she could not find a place for her sister-in-law to have a well deserved post-natal massage, with baby in tow. It has taken three long years for her to find the perfect location and the perfect staff and set-up. But finally her persistence has paid off and Mum and Babe opened at the beginning of January. The childcare is included in the price of the treatment for up to two children under the age of six. Mum and Babe are offering a 10% discount for the month of January so there is no excuse not to treat yourself! As I write the website is still under construction so here are the details: (more…)
Send a thought!
Do you have a friend who just found out she’s expecting? Wouldn’t it be cute to send her a little gift box to show her how excited you are for her? Or perhaps you have a friend (or many) who are sick with a flu bug, and you just want to tell them you’re thinking about them and hope they get well soon. Send-A-Thought makes it easy to, well, send your thoughts!
You can send chocolate medicine to your sick friend. Or expectancy tea to your expecting friend. Or you could even send a little ‘hot stuff’ package to your husband at work to tell him how hot you think he is! Fun! Just think of all the thoughts you can send…
Each thought comes wrapped in a gift box and includes your custom message hand-written on a little note card. In a world obsessed with e-mail and text messaging, I just love the idea of sending something fun and unexpected to your friend’s letterbox! (And I’m sure he or she will love it too…)
-Courtney
Sarah Gardan Photos
We have family literally all around the world from Italy to New Zealand. A lot of our relatives only rarely see our kids, so there is no better Christmas present for them than a nice photo…
We have previously sent out snap shots we had taken ourselves, but the photos were never quite right. When one of the kids looked great, the other had her eyes half closed. When we finally had a shot where both of them looked good, there was always something wrong with the background.
It is so hard to take good photos of kids, so this year we decided to bring in a professional. I was very skeptical as I’m still a bit traumatized by the professional photographer who used to come and photograph me at school when I was a kid…. it always looked so staged, not the mention it was so embarrassing to pose for the camera with my gap tooth grin, while the whole school was watching!
Sarah Gardan is an Australian who has settled in Paris with her husband and kids. I met her a couple of months ago when Esther, Michela and Courtney were in town and we needed someone to take photos of the four of us together. They turned out great, so I asked her to come along and take some shots of my two little ladies. (more…)
Return to Glory
Before I had kids, I used to keep my nails in pretty good shape with regular manicures and pedicures, and I was also pretty good at keeping up-to-date on my bikini waxing and hair appointments. This was, of course, not difficult given my flexible schedule. I didn’t mind sitting in a salon, having my nails done, reading the latest gossip magazine, etc. But after having kids things changed dramatically. There was no longer a flexible schedule or time to squeeze in such appointments, and sitting in a salon with your crying baby is certainly not enjoyable! (I remember, not long after my first baby was born, wondering if I was ever going to look well groomed again!)
Thankfully, this transition happens to the best of us mums. And thankfully one such London mum, who got tired of not being able to make her beauty appointments, decided to create a business that would bring beauty to the home. Her company, Return to Glory, offers almost every treatment you can imagine, all in the comfort of your own home (while the baby is napping, or out with a sitter, etc.)! (more…)
De Taart van m’n Tante
Yesterday I took my little family for a treat: we went to ‘De Taart van m’n Tante‘ (Cakes of my Aunt) for coffee and cake. ‘De Taart van m’n Tante’ is not just an ordinary tearoom with your everyday kind of cake — in fact, it might be the most kitschy tearoom of Amsterdam, with the most spectacular cakes!
The men behind ‘De Taart van m’n Tante’, Siemon and Noam, strive to make everybody (young and old, conservative and hip, Sikhs and nuns) at home in their cake parlour, and in my opinion they have succeeded. I especially love the grandma-style sofa and coffee-table in the back!
The cakes are yummy (my daughter was very happy to find out that they serve a super sweet strawberry cake entirely covered in pink marzipan – exactly to her taste!) and the owners really easygoing. They didn’t seam to mind at all that my little boy was screaming for cookies – in fact, they just gave him a plate full of them!
If you want to order a cool cake for a birthday, baptism or Bar Mitzvah, they will happily custom design any sort of cake (I mean ANY sort). But make sure you order well in advance! (Cakes from their regular assortment can be ordered 24 hours beforehand).
xxx Esther
Baby Gift Service
I hope your experience is different from mine, but I have the impression that corporate baby gifts (i.e. those gifts coming from your company or your husband’s company) are often disappointing in spite of the reasonable amount of money spent on them. One possible explanation is that they are chosen by men or by P.A.s way too young to know what the hip mum would need or like.
That is why the web address of BabyBox London is something you should keep in mind if you are a gift picker for your company, or something you should casually drop in a conversation with your boss’ secretary if you are pregnant or planning to have children soon.
It’s a gift service with a good selection of stylish high quality gifts for the new baby and the mother. You can choose some of the ready-made “Express” boxes or pick items for the “Bespoke” service. Gifts include cute rattles, lambswool blankets, organic onesies, scented candles and skincare products.
They ship internationally although the fee becomes substantial for everywhere outside the UK.
Oh I so wish my husband’s secretary knew about this service!
-Michela
Bag portraits
On my next trip to Paris I will definitely pay a visit to Miss Natalie Lecroc, in Rue Saint Denis in the 2nd arrondissment. She is an artist, a graduate of the Ecoles des Beaux Arts, who has begun an ambitious project: to paint 1001 bag portraits. She started with her own, then she did celebrity bags and then many others belonging to very normal people, like you and me, who think their bags deserve to be portrayed.
For 150 euros, Miss Lecroc will paint your bag and its contents with black ink and watercolour on a 15×21cm rigid paper. She believes that emptying one’s bag is a bit like baring one’s soul and she is very fond of the special connection that is established with each bag owner. The only rule of the game is that you should really bring to her your everyday bag, with all your stuff inside. No big clear-outs before your appointment!
It usually takes her 2 1/2 hours to do a painting, and once she is finished she scans and photocopies the original that leaves her studio with the bag owner. Once she reaches 1001 paintings she will publish a book, do and exhibition and throw a big party!
Since having a baby, Natalie spends quite some time in her country-house away from Paris, so she now has decided to paint bags just by looking at the pictures sent by the owner. It is good news if you do not plan to visit Paris in the near future and would still love a bag portrait (service available only to people not living in France).
You can send her an email or phone her on
Now, how can you pick just ONE bag?
-Michela
Agence Ludique
Organizing a kid’s birthday party is always a logistical nightmare in Paris. How do you fit all of these little people who take up so much space into a flat!? Lets face it, I love to throw a party, but not enough to have my flat turned into a bomb site.
This is where the Agence Ludique comes in. A little house hidden down a shady courtyard in the Marais district hosts birthday parties and ateliers for kids.
My friends, Rebecca (of the Chic Shopping Paris fame) and Heather cleverly outsourced their kids’ birthday party to the Agence Ludique and it was a huge success. The girls got to make magic wands and play at being fairies. In our house this is still the most talked about event of the year.
Birthday parties can even be hosted in English and Spanish. They also offer workshops on weekends and Wednesdays from the age of 3 onwards. The workshops vary from fun activities like dancing lessons to having a professional cocktail waitress teach kids how to make fruit cocktails, depending on the day.
I almost wish I was a 3-year-old myself so I could go…
- Emilie
Kinesis Pilates Studio
Until recently I had never been inside a Pilates studio, I certainly didn’t know the difference between Pilates and Gyrotonics, and I would never have thought (even after my mom’s raves) that I would like it!
But au contraire! With three lessons under my belt, consider me the newest Pilates fanatic. I have soreness in muscles I didn’t even know existed, and I’m loving it. I feel totally energized.
Pilates is especially great for mums and mums-to-be, as it is proven to strengthen your core (including pelvic floor muscles), increase flexibility, relieve back pain, improve your posture, and tone your body. What more could you ask for? It’s also an enjoyable work-out.
Kinesis is a Pilates and Gyrotonic studio located in Notting Hill. The studio is fitted out with the best of all the Pilates and Gyrotonic equipment, and is light and bright and aesthetically soothing. The very lovely owner and teacher, Melissa, is one of the most refreshing people I’ve ever met, and you feel that vibe the minute you enter. (more…)
Vanessa Berberian
We have never gotten professional photos taken of our boys. What with the hundreds of photos we take each week, we’ve probably never had the need for professional ones. The problem, however, is that there are no (zero, zilch, nill) photos of me with both my boys!
So, what I decided to do this year for Father’s Day, after several requests from my own father, is to get a photographer out to take photos of the boys and me.
I can assure you that getting both my boys to behave and smile at the same time was no easy task. Thankfully, I was in the hands of the ever patient and talented, Vanessa Berberian! (more…)
