A friend of mine just sent me this great article about the world's best playgrounds, by David Israel.  Man oh Man!  Kids nowadays have it good!  I remember my neighborhood playground when I was growing up and it was pretty much chain swings with cracked rubber seats, a metal slide that was either ice-cold or scorching-hot, and a really beat up old merry go round.  Oh yeah, and the metal frog or alligator on a big rusty spring.  Okay, so perhaps you had something a little better, but probably not to the level of these playgrounds!

The good news, for me and all the little kids in my life, is that I can proudly say that one of the ten best playgrounds on the list is less than a half hour drive away!  Clemyjontri Park in McLean, Virginia is #3 on the list.

Looking at the other parks on the best playgrounds list, I have to say they are pretty cool!  There's a huge park in Japan comprised of tires, and a park in Sweden with playground furniture and equipment made of humongous fruit!  In Germany, there's a playground only for adults!  The furniture and equipment are geared for seniors, to get them outdoors and active - no kids allowed!  In San Francisco, theres an elaborate playground on a rooftop!  There's an ice-skating rink, bowling center, and giant open spaces for free play and a 103 year old hand-carved carousel.

So I'm thinking all of these playgrounds are so unique and kids and adults must go ape over them.  But you must know what every single one of them is missing right?  Yup, bean bag chairs!  Think about it, what's safer and more scrumptious than a bunch of bean bag chairs, say, at the bottom of a big slide or underneath those crazy monkey bars that I always panic over when little kids precariously zoom across hand-over-hand, so many feet above the ground!  We've all seen our kids using bean bags as landing pads, dare I say that they leap from the top of the stairs into them.  So, same idea here.  Or bean bag furniture inside the playhouses.  Bean bags would definitely go over well with kids with disabilities too, giving them soft seating instead of hard traditional benches.

I have to go see these playgrounds...and maybe I'll tote along my own bean bag!  No joke, I'm going to do that and I bet you I'll have a big hit on my hands!  I'll take some pics too so you can all be inspired.  Look for my followup post this week!

In the meantime, check out the article, there's great pictures and more playgrounds to marvel at.  It's a quick read, and so cool.  Thanks David!  www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/34277

Yours Truly, Jade

Satuday was a gorgeous sunny, 75 degree, perfect Autumn day, complete with an awesome meeting with Project Runway Season 4's winner Christian Siriano.  The youngest winner to-date, Christian was born in November 1985 (he's not yet 24!) and studied ballet as a child.  This led to his interest in costume design, and thankfully for the future of the design world, to becoming a fashion designer.  If you watched him in season 4, you were probably like me and couldn't get enough.  He was tart and hilarous and as he likes to say "sassy!", and above all...let's say it together now...FIERCE!  Remember when Victoria Beckham gushed over his final collection at New York's fashion week?

To promote his new shoe and handbag line at Payless stores, and his new book "Fierce Style - How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self", Christian answered questions and did a mini runway show where he re-styled 4 lucky audience members at Montgomery Mall in Maryland.  I was there with IPhone video taping in one hand, and camera in the other (not to mention my fashion-loving 5-year-old in tow).  I asked him if I could give his assistent something for him, he was so gracious and so NOT diva-ish and said "sure, or you can just give it to me!' with a coy smile.  I love him!  So UNlike many celebs I've come across in the past. So I gave him a gift card for any of my bean bag chairs, and he slipped it into his back pocket - I hope he doesn't forget and put it in the wash!  Shoot! I should have asked him to show me his squid and octopus tattoos on his right arm.

Videos of Christian answering questions and his mini runway show (keep in mind it's from a phone and not a real video camera, but at least you can see how cute he is):

Delicious bites of Christian's thoughts on fashion and design:
-He was wearing a "cheap but fashionable" Topshop Men's shirt and a womens' blazer from Intermix NYC - "Don't judge me cuz I'm little!"  Jeans from Cheap Monday and sneakers from his new shoe line. "No Gucci today."
-His favorite designers include Mark Jacob, Michael Kors, and Alexander Mcqueen.
-He's so over the 'no white after Labor Day' rule.
-He loves animal prints "You can never go wrong with animal prints, but it can be dangerous, don't go out and buy a leopard faux fur giant parka, accessorize with shoes or bags. It's graphic and an interesting texture, do it in a new way".
-Leggings..oh goodness...he sort of gets when they're ok to wear...not a fan apparently
-Stay-at-home Moms can stay chic by emulating iconic celebrities, get inspired by people in the media because it's easy.  His Mom does this.
-To get inspired, he doesn't look at other designer's clothes, he looks at movement, styling, and shape.
-Heidi Klum is so real, not sassy.  After the show, he went to her house to find Heidi on the porch with flip flops and no makeup.  "I will tell you though, on set, she's a diva.  She deserves it.  Her set wardrobe is huge"
-"Tim Gunn's so cuddly.  He's a little sassy!" The way Tim is on the show is the way he is every single day. Always in a tie, always pinned up.  He writes his emails exactly how he talks.
-Michael Kors looks orange on the show because of the set's lighting - he's not over-tanned!
-The best wardrobe staple is accessories: statement shoes and statement bags.  Dresses are easy because you don't have to worry about lots of different pieces in your outfit.
-Purple is his new color for the moment.

My favorite Chrisitian-isms caught on camera:

Sitting with Style                               The Head Throwback        Sassy and Tart!

So what's Christian up to lately?  Besides his Payless shoe and handbag collection ($30 price level), Christian is also creating a makeup line for Victoria's Secret, a new fashion mobile phone for LG - the "Lotus", has clothing in Saks Fifth Avenue, and designed a collection for Puma.  He also appeared as himself in "Ugly Betty" and was even in an R&B music video (Estelle, "No Subsitute Love").  He has shown 4 collections at NYC's Fashion Week.

Sporting His New Shoe Line

I agree with Tim Gunn that Christian Siriano is potentially "the next Marc Jacobs...the next great American designer."  I only hope he takes me up on my offer to design the fiercest, sassiest bean bag chair ever!

Yours truly, Jade

When you picture a bean bag chair, is your first thought cuddling? ...mixed with shooting people in multiplayer computer games? That mix was extremely popular at September's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), where it's hard to find any news report that doesn't mention the plethora of bean bag chairs made available.

PAX is described as a "weekend-long gaming festival in the Seattle, WA area, complete with beanbag chairs, videogames and beanbag chairs." Yes, the bean bags are so important that they list them twice. IGN.com, the ultimate gaming and entertainment resource featuring award winning coverage of video games, reports "Whether it was getting to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 six months before release or just cuddle up next to a new friend on a beanbag, it seemed every PAX-goer I encountered was tasting a little gamer heaven for the weekend."

In their wrap-up of the wildly popular event, IGN's Levi Buchanan and Ryan Geddes offers an in depth recap of their "thoughts on the magic, mayhem and musk of the Penny Arcade Expo. With the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo now behind us, it's time to grab a beanbag chair, sit back, and reflect on the weekend that was. Tens of thousands of people descended on downtown Seattle, WA, for the show, and the world's largest videogame publishers were out in force, too.  Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Valve, Blizzard, 2K, THQ and many more crowded onto the display floor of the Washington State Convention Center to show off their upcoming games".  Read more at http://games.ign.com/articles/102/1021902p1.html. 

For all of you serious, hardcore gamers out there (or those curious to see what in the world happens at these crazy conferences), mark your calenders and get geared up for PAX East 2010 in Boston, MA March 26-28, 2010!  Check Paxsite.com for more information.

Until next time, Sandy

Bean Bag Chairs for Kids - ColorSplash

There's a brand new super-cool bean bag chair at AHH! Products!  It's called  "ColorSplash" -  an exclusive Waverly screenprint that's crazy colorful, fun, and retro-inspired!   This ColorSplash bean bag chair has bright, exciting colors like hot pink, lime, purple, aqua, and sunny yellow.  The printed design looks like intermingling blobs of color, splashed all over the bean bag chair.  So much movement! Perfect to brighten up a kid's bedroom, or playroom.  Seriously, check it out and see why it's so awesome!  Girls of all ages will go wild!

Yours truly, Jade