Tweet I will admit that I am not always in the know when it comes to actor’s names (especially newer ones) so I did not know Lily Collins, or so I thought. Upon resigning myself to just interviewing an actress from the movie Mirror Mirror, I found out that she acted in The Blind Side and then it clicked: I LOVED her role of the daughter of Sandra Bullock in the...

Tweet From time to time I come across products that need a shout-out. Whether they have been brought to my attention by a pitch I received or something that caught my eye, they each have worked in some way for me. These are the latest that I am trying, and loving. Barilla Piccolini Pasta I have one daughter who could eat mac ‘n cheese everyday (we love Annie’s...

Tweet It felt like Spring today. It really did! As much as I am struggling with a yucky ear infection it was good to see good weather today. Sure, we did not really have a winter in the true sense of the word but it was still chilly and, well, unpredictable. Today I could almost smell all the wonderful plans for sunny weather. The Fun Pass has discounts to theme parks,...

Tweet   While I was at The Toy Fair a few weeks ago (or was it a month? with my travel schedule it is hard to tell sometimes) I spied these pretty little dolls. What grabbed my attention was that they were bright and funky colored. Last week I was sent a few to take a look at and was impressed at how soft and snuggly they were, and yes they have been slept with...

Tweet I had already planned a trip earlier in the week to Napa, CA and 2 trips from Boston to CA in a week would be ridiculous right? Except how could I turn down a trip to Santa Monica for a screening of Mirror Mirror, meeting with Lily Collins (more on that in a separate post) and some spa treatments? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I was never a princessy girl...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED Congratulations Nancy, Stephanie, Leslie S, Diana G, McKim, Barbara, Michaela R, Caryn S, Serge B, Emma H, Heather P, Kathleen, Kimberley, Ferriz,  Liza, Sarah T, Betty, Pragmaticmom, Melissa, Erika I multitask to a T, which means when I am doing just one thing at a time I wonder what is missing. This is why I have been excited to partner with...

Tweet I have tried several diets and my biggest beef with most, even those that work, is that the focus remains on calories and not freshness. Even if something is 0 or 20 calories but looks like a freeze-dried, processed rice cake. I have been trying to go a bit more natural in the food we eat so have been reluctant to try regular diets. When I was asked if I wanted...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED!   Congratulations Desiree! If someone told me how expensive it was to have kids, I would have attributed most of the cost to be health costs etc but would never have imagined that clothing would cost an arm and a leg. Of course the fact that I have 2 adorable girls makes it even more difficult as clothing for girls are even more difficult to...

Tweet It is 5:30am and I should be sleeping, especially since we have been dealing with the a bug from hell in this home that captured my entire family with fevers. Mama is exhausted with whiny kids (more than usual when they are sick) when she herself feels sick but I needed to write this post. I should have written this post 3 years ago, and truthfully at times I did...

Tweet Not that I needed another reason to love my Starbucks, but come Spring and their huge bags of coffee grounds are a welcome sight for these winter weary eyes. It is said that these coffee grounds provide nutrients to your garden and I just love that they are free. What a wonderful way to recycle coffee grounds. My favorite part? Is the coffee smell in my garden.

Tweet One day I was asked if I was interested to attend a trip to Napa with the Wine Sisterhood. I thought it was a ridiculous question. Does anyone say no to such an invitation? I sure wouldn’t! There has been a lot of craziness in my calendar which has meant that I have been looking super carefully at opportunities to see whether they make sense. That also means...

Tweet     I have been a bit of a hypocrite until recently. I have been standing on my soap-box about breakfast being essential with my kids but have been always too much in a rush to actually sit down to eat it myself. I would not be able to focus if I knew any of my kids had not had the most important meal of the day:breakfast. Funnily enough I never gave...

Tweet The typical scene when I get back from a media trip or conference that greets me is happy, but disheveled, children. My house is just simply disheveled (can a house be happy? home maybe? I digress). The load of guilt that is placed on me, by myself, compels me to do as much as I can before the trip, as in to make up for it. Blogging trips are hard, in that they...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED! Congratulations Happi! Come on, ‘fess up, I know you have done some crazy stuff to get your kiddo to eat. Admittedly I do this less now as being a short order cook has severely exhausted (and annoyed me) so unless they are sick, it is “eat what is in front of you or starve” on the menu. Of course I have my share of weird things...

Tweet I am going to sidestep the whole political debacle about this movie (and if you don’t know about it, then count your blessings that you can watch it peacefully) but I will say that I disagree with all the objections. Never thought I would see the day where a movie focusing on taking care of the environment would be made to look anything but noble. Now that...

Tweet COntest closed! Congratulations Annie and Heather! The fact  that I am a die-hard fan of PBS makes me extra proud to share with you that I am a PBS Kids VIP – ambassador for 2012. Friday is the birthday of Dr. Seuss which has me giddy for ideas, but PBS has something special planned for that day too! We positively adore Cat in The Hat so I was excited to...

Tweet My wonderful friend Meghan surprised her just as amazing husband Adam with a Peanut Butter Cup cake. Yes, this lady is a fabulous baker too. Anyway she was kind enough to let me post her recipe here. I am eager to try out the recipe soon too but could not wait to share this with you guys. Thank you Meghan for allowing us to share it here. Peanut Butter Cup cake Peanut...

Tweet Whenever I write a post I am at my wit’s end whether to focus on pictures or the writing because as much as I love to concentrate on writing, I do believe a picture is worth a thousand words. So here is a short description from the museum site: Native Voices: New England Tribal Families January 28th – September 3, 2012 Don’t miss your chance to...

Tweet I am a flip flop girl. I don’t do formal pretty shoes well. I finally have a pair of clogs I heart, a pair of sneakers I could live in and a pair of boots that don’t kill me. Sandals are relegated to the flip flop kind. Not really fancy but I have toyed with the idea of having “fancier” flip-flops but inevitably they are flip flops people...

Tweet Felt a little guilty typing in that word “Winter” since I have not even donned any gloves so far even though I can almost spy Spring already. And feel free to ignore Phil and his predictions on Groundhog day, my gut feel is we are going to have a very mild winter. No regrets there as I am totally a summer girl but I feel bad for the folks in Seattle...

Tweet Happy Valentine’s Day! It is a day of love and we normally think of the day dedicated to your partner. When you have kids you end up thinking of making their Valentine’s Day special. If there was ever a chance you could forget then the gazillion cards (ok 42) cards that you need to make is a reminder that it is all about the kids. If you think I am...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED! Congratulations Laurie! Chocolate? Check! Card? Check! Flowers? Oops! Well don’t worry I have you covered. What you say “Am I too late?” Well not if you order now. You could wait to win (I will send over a code to order) or be safe and smart and order using the discount coupon. I don’t know a single person who does not feel...

Tweet So I was late for a pedicure, more on that whole saga later but I was eager to check out one of my favorite stores “Salt Water Works” and was sad to see it gone. I did find a few quaint stores and in one of them I stumbled on these there. How could I not get these being an avid blogger and tweeter?

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED! Congratulations Tina, Veronica,Vickie, Michelle,  and Pam While I think of my local CVS as my in-between “grab what I need” store and consider them my one stop medication store, admittedly I never think of them as a Valentine’s store. Which is kind of silly because I do recall in between filling a prescription the decor reminding...

Tweet When I was young, I used to chat with my mom that the guy I married had to be this, and this and that. My mom thought they were high demands and wished me luck finding the impossible. I disagreed. I felt that I was a pretty awesome catch myself and any guy who would be with me had better be that awesome too. My logic was clear, if I can be those things to him,...

Tweet On a family jaunt to DC – to speak at the Blogalicious conference we made our regular rest stop at IKEA. If you see me tweet or chat with me on Facebook you would know that I love all things IKEA. Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my lovely find: the IKEA Family card. There are several reasons I love it, except for the fact that it is free and obtained...

Tweet © 2010 GNDHDDTW © 2012 GNDHDDTW You know already how much I love watching movies with my family, which reminds me I have some discount tickets I better use before they expire,  but there are some movies we wait more anxiously than others.  The Secret World of Arriety comes from the same people who brought you amazing movies like Ponyo and Spirited Away. I was...

Tweet You know the story, at least you should. It is one of my most beloved tales from all the Disney characters. In fact my daughter spent a long time obsessed with Belle and I was ok with it considering Belle is probably one of the smartest and sassiest of the princesses. Plus I drew so many lessons from there for my kids: like not judging someone on their looks, reading,...

Tweet I was at a friend’s place a few months ago when I saw her walking around with a tinted film. On asking her what that was, she said it was for privacy for her laptop. I was still wrapping my head around it and could not grasp what she meant by privacy. I had done my thesis in college on software security so all I could think of when someone say’s privacy...

Tweet You would think this would be no big deal, except the crying bit would be a big deal for anyone, except we had none of that. Waoh, I guess I am jumping the gun and rambling here, so let me back up a bit. When we knew we were having a girl, all I could think of was dressing her (yeah generations of brainwashing with dolls in advertising kinda does that to a girl)...

Tweet You know me, I don’t do contests so there must be a darn good reason to be excited about sharing with you about something new, a contest by a bank. A bank. Before you go “oh, come on Mommy Niri, who gets excited about a bank?” on me, let me tell you about ableBanking. In an age where I feel pretty blase about the banks in this economy it would...

Tweet As if the fact that they are pricey and have a short life (as in the kid outgrows them, not that they wear out) were reasons enough to hate snow-boots, have you tried getting those things on your kids’ feet. Of course I personally wish my kid could get them on herself but the boots are normally so cumbersome and awkward to put on, it is a big pain to get...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED! I still remember being pregnant while I was an engineer and though there were few people I could share my excitement and fears with (engineering is just not rife with moms or even women for that matter) I delved into the online world. I ate up progress charts of what was going on inside me and could visualize the changes happening even if I could...

Tweet CONTEST CLOSED! Congratulations Rachel! Universal Pictures have given us some amazing movies so I await with much anticipation the upcoming movie Big Miracle launching February 13th 2012. They have partnered with the Huffington Post to bring to you an amazing contest. Normally you know I don’t blog about contests outside of MommyNiri.com but this was really...

Tweet We were returning from a friend’s place and as you would have it a kiddo needed to use the bathroom, yeah life is never dull with kids, so we decided to stop by a mall. While there I realized I had some coupons expiring so I decided to use them to get some new clothes for the girls. I was also looking to get something snazzy especially for my 4 year old who...