Greetings Boutique Cafe Viewers! It’s been awhile since our last show, my apologies for taking a break from podcasting over the past few months due to illness in my pregnancy. Thankfully, in a moment of renewed strength today I found this video in our “Boutique Cafe Vault” from Fall Quilt Market last year. This unseen interview is with the amazing and lovely Anna Maria Horner! I truly hope you’ll enjoy it and leave comments for Anna Maria as well.

In our chat, we discuss her book “Seams to Me”, Good Folks fabric line, new patterns available, and her exciting pregnancy coinciding with a Little Folks fabric line as well. Since we taped this back in Fall last year, Anna Maria’s beautiful little son Roman indeed arrived and is beyond precious. Congratulations again Anna Maria! XO!

Now CLICK the Button to View our Interview! (you may also view our video on YouTube here)

Daria sits down with fabric designer (and her personal hero) Amy Butler at Houston Quilt Market. Amy shows off her new book “Little Stitches” available now, as well as fabulous apron and bag designs! **GIVEAWAYS: Boutique Cafe has teamed up with Amy to offer 3 amazing prize packs – you have to watch the interview to find out all the details on this sweet swag!! Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment for Amy in our shownotes, we’ll draw our three lucky winners from comments on Jan 26. 2009.

Thank you so much Amy for taking the time to visit with us once again! (we’re still giggling about the Pot Roast comment!)

** To VIEW our Video Interview – click the “watch the show” button” or subscribe to us in iTunes! Thanks everyone.

My favorite new book this holiday season is called “Bear Stays Up For Christmas” by Karma Wilson. This is the perfect story to cuddle up with and read with a lap full of children. Full of beautiful charming illustrations, rhyming story, and heartwarming acts of friendship.

“Bear’s friends are determined to keep Bear awake for Christmas! So they wake Bear up and have him help them find a Christmas tree, bake cakes, hang up stockings, and sing Christmas songs. Bear stays up — by discovering that giving is one of the best Christmas presents!”

I snagged my copy at our local Winners store for under $10 (I think it was closer to five bucks). If you see it, be sure to grab your family a copy too! The kids will love it. – Daria

Over time my interest in the celebrity lifestyle has seriously faded. Where I used to read gym copies of People and Us Weekly from cover to cover, I now find myself only glancing through an issue if it’s highlighting the best and worst beach bodies (sorry, it’s true). When I was sent a copy of Mother Nurture: Life Lessons from the Mothers of America’s Best and Brightest I wondered what I would find in its pages. Would it be Lindsay Lohan’s mom sharing her wisdom on parenting the inner child or Bruce Jenner’s advice on setting reasonable allowance limits for the Kardashian kids, say, $100 a week?

Thankfully, no. This book was a refreshing reprieve from not only People but also the plethora of parenting advice with which we are inundated on a daily basis. Written by fashion designer and entreprenur Stephanie Hirsch, the book started from a mother’s desire to raise her son to be “generous, family-oriented, loving, courageous, and professionally accomplished–maybe [even] turn out like Steven Spielberg.” After a conversation with Spielberg’s mom more interviews with mothers of “America’s best and brightest” soon followed.

I love many things about Mother Nurture, the first being that it offers common-sense advice from mothers who’ve helped raise successful children in a variety of fields, from sports and politics to music and business and everything in between. Though I recognized most of the names I found a few I hadn’t heard of but enjoyed reading nonetheless. Another great things about these “vignettes of maternal instinct at its best” is you can read them in bits and pieces. Each portrait is only a couple pages so you can read two or twenty depending on how long you can hide in the bathroom before the kids find you.

The best thing about Mother Nurture is how down to earth these mothers’ words of wisdom are; I might even be able to implement them in my own parenting “vignette.” I love Terri Augello’s advice to her daughter Alicia Keys: “It’s a fickle world out there. They could love you today. They can hate you tomorrow. So…make sure that you keep your family and friends close around you.” And Linda Armstrong Kelly’s dose of common sense for all moms: “If you shelter your children, you don’t really do them any favors.”

We are all doing our best to raise America’s best and brightest, so why not get some help from those who have some experience doing so. Mother Nurture: Life Lessons from the Mothers of America’s Best and Brightest does a fabulous job uplifting, encouraging and inspiring, something even non-celeb moms need. –Emily

* Giveaway!! HarperCollins is giving away one copy of Mother Nurture! Please leave a comment telling us your favorite parenting words of wisdom and include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: July 31, 2008 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

I jumped at the chance to review Writing Motherhood on Boutique Cafe’s Daily Dish for two reasons: one, I am a mother, and two, I love to write. Both mothering and writing are still a work in progress so I was anxious to read what insights, advice, tools, and guidance Writing Motherhood had to offer me. It had all that to offer with an added kick in the pants to start writing again (not easy to do when a recent manuscript has already been rejected numerous times).

I have not made my way through the entire book, and I’ve learned it’s not the type to be read cover to cover in one sitting. The book is a tool and a guide to help intertwine writing and mothering, teaching readers like me that inspiration can come from the everyday. I usually have a bit of a harder time reading non-fiction books but the author Lisa Garrigues’ wit and writing style (no surprise) had me from page one. Here are a couple passages I’ve starred in my copy so far:
Garrigues’ take on the students (a.k.a. moms) from her first writing class:

My first Writing Mothers arrived feeling physically exhausted and emotionally spent–in some cases ‘brain-dead,’ their imagination and creativity anesthetized by the rigors and routines of daily life. (Sound familiar?)

Her thoughts on taking the first step:

Carl Jung would call it synchronicity. A priest might call it fate; a romantic, serendipity; a skeptic, luck. However you choose to explain this phenomenon, know that one step always leads to athe next. This is how mountains are scaled, deserts are crossed, and whole journeys are made. (Feeling inspired?)

Garrigues, a writer and a mother, takes what seems like an overwhelming task at times and turns it into a welcome journey. An excerpt from WritingMotherhood.com put it perfectly:

Whether you are a new mother or a grandmother, someone who has long aspired to write or someone who has never written before, in Writing Motherhood Lisa Garrigues will show you how to use writing as both a tool for recording your life and a path to understanding your experiences. In just fifteen minutes a day, your Mother’s Notebook will be a keepsake, and your daily writing will keep you sane.

Are you ready to recapture the sanity you thought was lost long ago? Me too. Take a minute to read a little more about the book and Lisa Garrigues. I guarantee it won’t be long before you’re standing in Barnes & Noble picking out the perfect Mother’s Notebook. I’m planning to go tomorrow. –Emily

** Giveaway!!! Simon & Schuster is giving away 10 copies of Writing Motherhood! Please leave a comment with a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winners from the comments and contact them via email. Deadline: July 25, 2008 (midnight). The winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Congratulations to all ten winners of the Writing Motherhood giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

I’m always on the lookout for a great picture book or two to freshen up our current collection, and if you’re on the hunt as well you’ll be excited about today’s review! Blooming-Babies.com, a boutique for “moms and kids of all ages” brings you the First Picture Book series from Usborne Books.

First Picture Books, recommended for ages nine months and up, is a collection of award-winning picture books featuring everything from numbers and letters to fairytales and trucks. But these aren’t your typical, often cartoonish, children’s books. Usborne First Picture Books are larger than your average picture book and filled with wonderful eye-catching and colorful illustrations. We received First Picture Fairytales and First Picture Trucks, and let me tell you, I knew the trucks book by heart after just a couple days. My son had me reading it before every nap and every night. Fortunately I enjoyed the real-life type illustrations as much as he did!

Our 10-month-old is finally old enough to look at books at more than just teething toys and I can’t wait to share First Picture Fairytales with her. It includes eight favorite fairy tales filled with engaging illustrations and its board book construction means even if she needs to teethe the board book will survive. Looking at the other books in the collection I’m finding it hard to decide which book to buy next, First Picture Action Rhymes or First Picture Nature. –Emily

* Promotion! Blooming-Babies.com is offering Daily Dish readers 10% off their order! Simply enter code “DailyDish10″ at checkout. Offer expires August 10, 2008.

I once bought a wonderful Thai food cookbook hoping to make yummy Thai dishes for my husband but as soon as I learned all the work and preparation that went into creating an authentic Thai dish, I closed the book (and have yet to make a single recipe). Tonight that all changed when I tested one of CurrySimple’s line of gourmet, restaurant-quality Thai sauces.

CurrySimple’s sauces have received rave reviews from a variety of customers and publications alike, and that’s probably because they’re actually prepared in Thailand from scratch using fresh, natural ingredients. The company’s products are so authentic, so yummy they sell to restaurants, caterers and private chefs and package their sauces in smaller sizes so people like me can cook gourmet Thai food at home. And that’s just what I did tonight!

Using CurrySimple’s Yellow Curry Sauce and their Yellow Chicken Curry recipe I created a dish that got its own rave reviews here at home. The recipe was super easy to follow and preparation was a minimum–just some slicing and dicing, sauteing and simmering and about 15 minutes later dinner was ready. I served that yellow chicken curry over brown rice (another favorite) and my husband was in Thai heaven!

Don’t be turned off by CurrySimple’s basic-looking packaging; it is probably the most advanced packaging in your pantry (this stuff is even space-shuttle ready!). Unopened, CurrySimple sauces need no refrigeration or preservatives and have a 1-year shelf life. This is a great lesson in how you definitely can’t judge a Thai sauce by its cover! CurrySimple’s product line includes curry sauces (red, green, yellow and masaman, Thai tea concentrate, Pad Thai sauce, Thai stir fry sauce and Coconut Soup (Tom Kha). I have a few more CurrySimple sauces to “review” and my husband’s mouth is watering in anticipation of more yummy Thai recipes! –Emily

* Promotion! CurrySimple is offering Daily Dish readers $10 off their best-seller, The Best Coconut Curry Combo. Use coupon code “boutique” at checkout. Offer expires July 31, 2008.

How many of you fondly remember Harold and the Purple Crayon or can recite Chicka Chicka Boom Boom from memory? And who hasn’t read Goodnight Gorilla more times than she can count? Well now those favorite books can be your child’s favorite–and educational–DVDs.

In March Scholastic unveiled six storybook classics on DVD: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…and More Fun with Letters and Numbers; Chrysanthemum…and More Mouse Mayhem; Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type…and More Amusing Animal Tales; Curious George Rides a Bike…and More Monkeying Around; Good Night Gorilla…and More Great Sleepytime Stories; Harold and the Purple Crayon…and More Stories to Spark the Imagination. These storybook classics have been completely refreshed, re-authored and repackaged with new, thematic story collections and celebrity narrators. Yes, celebrity narrators!

The kids and I have enjoyed watching our Chrysanthemum and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom DVDs. They sure beat a few other DVDs we have (not naming any names) and I love that I can watch these without falling asleep! Each of the new DVDs offers at least an hour of stories, an enhanced read-long function allowing children to follow the narrator as the story is read, and a new kid-friendly navigation (mom friendly too).

Scholastic Storybook Treasures collection has won numerous awards including Parents’ Choice, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Video, American Library Association Notable Video selections, NAPPA Gold Awards, and Parenting Magazine’s Best DVD of the Year making it the #1 award-winning line in the children’s video marketplace. All the more reason to enter our giveaway for your own collection of priceless stories (on DVD) from Scholastic Storybook Treasures! –Emily

* Giveaway! Scholastic is giving away five two-packs from the selection of DVDs mentioned above! Please leave a comment with a valid email address telling us your favorite storybook classic for our drawing. We’ll draw the winners from the comments and contact them via email. Deadline: May 20, 2008 (midnight). The winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen.

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