Neil Armstrong was one of those luminaries I didn’t think about every day–he didn’t trend on twitter, didn’t have a reality show or make the Yahoo homepage until the other day (pathetic that this is the barometer, but that’s another post). But when I heard of his passing I, like many others, was very sad. Here’s one possible reason why (I think): one of his most notable achievements debunked an impossible dream. Entire generations had grown up believing that a lunar landing, let alone a walk was a pipe dream, a fantasy, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t anymore. Anything was possible, even walking on the moon. Now, of course it wasn’t “all of a sudden.” There was hard work and training and time that went into the Moon Landing, but what that event represented and what that taught us all was that you (we/me) can do anything.
Continue reading
Tag: Amazon
Summer’s Top Rated Toys Ages 0-13: August 2012
As promised, here are more top toy picks culled from Amazon. This time I selected five gems in each age group based on customer ratings (my sorting was 4+ stars–many with 5–and most had to have at least 100 reviews). I also tried make sure not to duplicate any products featured back in July–but feel free to check out that post again here. I’ve also included some personal gifts i gave to my own kids this month that did not make the top five list, but did make my family very happy. Enjoy!
Giving Back: Operation Backpack
I’m very lucky. I try to count my blessings often and every once in a while I am reminded of just how blessed my life truly is. For example, back to school shopping means accompanying my children and their 2-3 page lists of teacher-mandated items to Staples and Target, filling their carts and getting ready for the year ahead. This activity fills them with anticipation, excitement, probably some anxiety… and they get to exercise some control over the future (yes I want that pencil box, no not that book bag) and that’s cathartic in some way, I’m sure (ok, maybe it just is for me). It’s easy to take these things for granted: that I have the ability to provide for them, that they are happy, pretty well-adjusted kids living a safe, relatively normal life and that this is time we get to spend together.
It’s not like that for everyone.
Summer’s Hottest Toys by Age (0-13)
Every month, I’ll recap the hottest toys for kids ages 0-13 based on Amazon popularity and, of course, will throw in personal choice picks culled from my own gifting that month. So whether you’re looking for a birthday gift, new sibling gift, graduation present, tooth fairy surprise or just want to make someone’s day special, here’s what’s cool right now for itty-bitty newborns to the toddler set, for preschoolers to grade schoolers, all the way up to tweens and (*gasp*) early teens. Then toys are not cool. Try these other guides on skulls and spikes instead.
NOTE: Prices listed are the manufacturer list price, and do not necessarily reflect the current purchase price on Amazon (read: AMZ is possibly cheaper–and always changing–so don’t let sticker shock stop you…check it out and see).
Gifts for Golfers
Golf runs in my family. Perhaps you have a strain of that DNA too? My grandfather, uncle, cousins…not me but my kids are taking lessons this summer. If you know and love anyone who plays golf, and not just plays but LOVES golf you know this is a sport meant to be taken very seriously. As one golfer I know has told me many times: “go to the driving range, that’s where amateurs belong.” ‘Nuf said. These are gifts to buy your golfer that are “safe” when you don’t know WTF you are doing.
Gifts for Theater Geeks
I have been a theater lover for as long as I can remember. I had posters of Bernadette Peters, Terrance Mann and Patti LuPone in my room along with The Bangles, River Phoenix, Ricky Schroeder (before he was Rick), Rick Springfield and Toni Basil.
I grew up in the heart of New York City so for birthdays, I could ask for tickets to Broadway shows– Les Miserables (with aforementioned Terrance Mann), CATS (with Betty Buckley), Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holiday), The Tap Dance Kid (with Alfonso Riberio) and Into The Woods (with Peters and Joanna Gleason)–we’re talking early / mid 1980’s and my parents were theater lovers too so they were happy to oblige. I also saw my share of productions that were probably too “adult” for a child–La Cage Aux Folles with George Hearn in 1983, which would have made me eight–but when I heard him sing “I Am What I Am,” and I could listen to it again and again and my eyes would well up every single time, I just knew that…well…there was something a bit different about me. I was a theater geek.
Below are gifts that I can say, with some authority, are great options for the Broadway Baby in your life (cue Bernadette Peters’ version now…).
The Gifting Whisperer 