I am often asked ‘what are your favourite  things?’ and believe it or not,  I do have a list.  They are the things that I can’t live without, my ‘I spy the best buy’ things, or in some cases the most useful thing I’ve found.

So I am going to share some of these over the next few months.  I am always trying out new products and services,  which is probably why I have been dubbed the Shopping Queen.  But over the years I definitely found some favourites and this is one that has made it onto my list.

So this is number one of my most favourite things.  It’s so great that I have it shipped out from the States every year because I just can’t be without it and it’s my WhoMi.

What is a WhoMi you ask, well it’s my diary, my everyday organiser which I just can’t be without.  Now for those of you that use an electronic daily organiser you may say, Andrea try stepping into the new millennium.    But I am a mum and I have to run and track the schedules of 3 others in my household,  as well as myself.     Whilst some of you don’t have the need to do all that, I do and it’s made so much easier by my WhoMi.

Why?  Well a Whomi is a colour-coded calendar to help woman manage their busy schedules.   WhoMi was invented by two mums who felt they needed something that could enable them in one glance,  to see business appointments, personal appointments and their childrens’ whereabouts.  Very handy for us busy Mums who often have to make decisions on the run and this gives me a small feeling of control that I know what everyone in the family is up to.

I order online from the States and it arrives here in under 10 days, which I think is very efficient.  This is my third year of ordering one off their website and I have had no problems at all.  So go to www.whomi.com or just click on the link here.

I just love my Whomi and can’t do without it, it really does make my life easier and every year I go and look at all the new diaries which come into store but nothing measures up to the Whomi.

Now it comes in two sizes and I have tried both.  I first bought the original but have now changed to the compact.  The compact fits easily into my handbag and isn’t heavy or bulky.  The original is quite a bit larger and I did find it harder to lug around.  There are various different covers you can buy for them so have a good look on the website before you buy.

"The calendar that lets mothers view their crazy schedules along side their crazy kids schedules."

Avaliable:  www.whomi.com                        Price:$25.00 US  (this price is dependant  on exchange rates when you convert to NZ dollars)

  Don’t think I have laughed out loud as much as I did when I heard the new MAMMA MIA cd which has been released along side the movie.  I guess I should have thought about it, really, shouldn’t I!  Really, I am just asking to be called stupid when I buy a cd with Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep singing ABBA in the hope that it will be good.  I don’t think good even gets there, but funny it certainly is.

He was James Bond and he was really good at that, no, actually great, he was one of my favourite James Bonds.   But him singing, no, he really shouldn’t.  To make matters worse I thought, because of the movie, I could cope with Meryl and the cast singing ABBA but the truth of the matter is I can’t.  When you are away from seeing them on the big screen and listening to them in the morning in the car, you really just have to laugh because they don’t even come close to measuring up to the real thing.

Even my husband laughed the other day and he doesn’t usually comment much on the music we listen too.  I think the words he used were "this was a big waste of money, wasn’t it. This is rubbish".

There are, to be fair, some better songs sung by other cast members, which don’t make you want to stick your fingers in your ears and go "la la la".  But Pierce really has ruined SOS for me and so has Meryl with Mamma Mia.

ABBA is an icon and should remain that way.   I grew up with them being a part of my childhood and I can still recite most of the lyrics to their popular songs.  So don’t mess with my memories, I want them to stay that way, good memories.

I guess its like watching Donny Osmond return to the spotlight, and him doing a heavy metal number.  It just isn’t right, don’t change our history, it’s part of who we are.

So save your pennies. Go see the movie by all means but when it comes to the music, go and buy the real thing and you then won’t be disappointed.

Avalaible at:all major CD stores                       Price:$29.95

It is with great sadness that I visited Wade House today for what will be one of the last times, as most of you will know we were all  informed last weekend on www.stuff.co.nz that Wade House is now in receivership.  For us Wellingtonians we really aren’t spoilt for choice when it comes to furniture and accessories for your home, so this is a big blow for us in Wellington.

Wade House closing down not only comes as a big shock to us all, it’s also mixed with sadness that one of our great stores will no longer be there. 

Wade House is located along Thorndon Quay and really is in the heart of all the furniture retailers for Wellington, interestingly enough it is now the second store to not survive in that location.

All this aside,  they now have a SALE on which is worth visiting for one last time.

There is 20-30% off everything in the store, there are some great accessories worth checking out and also 40% off all linen.  All furniture has between 20-30% off and 50% off Christmas decorations.

So go check it out, you might get lucky and pick up a couple of bargains. 

Farewell Wade House and I wish the owners some rest and all the best for their next adventure in life.

Only 27 days to go.

Well the countdown is now on. When you can say the days in numbers not weeks you know it’s close. My Christmas list is out this week and hopefully has some useful ideas on gifts for some of those who you have to buy for!

I’ve scoured the shops, gone over my past great pressies to bring you a list that will help you at this mad time of year.

I have put them into sections to make it easier when you are searching for that someone special.

I will also keep posting more items over the next few weeks with any other great finds.

Women

Paula Ryan Toilet and Cosmetic Bags

Just a great basic for any women. Lovely gift to give a friend.

Available: Farmers Stores, Kirks, Smith and Caughey, Ballentynes Christchurch and Selected Pharmacies

Price: There is now a huge range to choose from depending on style and size.

Sparkles by Louise Bagshawe and Glamour by Louise Bagshawe

If you are looking for an easy summer read then don’t look past Louise Bagshawe, she wrote Sparkles in 2006 and was quickly followed by Glamour in 2007. Sparkles is by far my favorite but both are great gifts and a good idea for the holidays.

Available: All leading bookstores

Price:$ (Paperback Edition)

Deluxe Chocolate Fountain

The perfect gadget has finally arrived - its delicious, exotic and totally extravagant! Dipping morsels in a fountain of free flowing chocolate lets you indulge your chocolate senses beyond your wildest dreams!

Price: $89.95

Available: www.iwanthat.co.nz

Men

V8 Kiwis- New Zealanders Making it Big in Touring Cars

This came out in 2006 but is still one of my husbands favorite books. If any men you are buying for are captivated by the smell of petrol or the thundering noise and excitement of the V8 Supercar championship, then this is a great book for them.

Available: All leading bookstores

Price: $49.95

Garmin Nuvi GPS

I was very popular with this gift for my husbands birthday this year. The Garmin Nuvi GPS is small and easy to transport, has a touch screen and is extremely easy to use. He just puts it in his laptop bag when he is driving out of town. There are now new updated models available that you can choose from but they are slightly more expensive. We love this one and it’s really useful.

Available: Dick Smith Electronics

Price: $559.00

Top Gear - Anthems CD

This has been quoted as the best ever CD for Driving and it does appear that it is very good. The first of the two CD’s has the likes of Queen, Meat Loaf, Motorhead, Deep Purple just to name a few. The second CD is clearly catering for the slightly more hip and groovy market with Coldplay, Oasis, Blur and many more. A great stocking filler.

Available: The Warehouse and all major CD stores

Price: $22.95 The Warehouse, $29.95 CD Stores

Remote Control Golf Infred-a-Ball

Golf - a good walk ruined, unless of course you have a remote-controlled golf ball, and then it’s hilarious.

Price: $49.95

Available: www.iwantthat.co.nz

Ipod Touch

I have wanted one of these since the first day I saw them. I have two male friends who own them and think they are fantastic. At only .8cm thin they were voted Tone Magazine’s Gold Award, you wont disappoint with this as a gift.

Available: All major stores which sell Ipod’s

Price: 8GB $479, 16GB $649

Life on the Edge by Richard Hammond

Anyone who has ever watched Top Gear will know who Richard Hammond is, and his latest book could be his best yet, with a very honest portrayal of his life as a petrol head. He also recounts his high speed accident which nearly killed him last year. Great summer read.

Available: All leading book sellers

Price: $39.99 (Paperplus have a special $29.95)

Boxer Shorts

Another very reasonable stocking filler are these boxer shorts I found at the Warehouse, and yes these really are a bargain, at only $7.90. They are your standard satin boxer shorts available in a huge colour range and the reason why I like them, other than the price, is what’s written on them. You can definitely have a bit of fun with these, the pair I bought had on them ‘I’M LIKE A SUPER HERO EXCEPT WITHOUT THE SUPER POWERS’. I have a friend who is just perfect for these and some of the others had me laughing so hard that the man standing by came over to see what I was laughing at! Some of the other messages are I HAVE ISSUES and IN CASE OF EMERGENCY PULL DOWN. Very funny.

Available: The Warehouse

Price: $7.90

Lightning Revenge Reaction Game

This is the ultimate in our range of reaction games.
Be the first to press the trigger switch when the light goes from red to green, if you’re the slowest person to react you’ll receive a shock.

Price: $47.90 from JayCar Electronics

A similar device is also available from The Warehouse $34.95

General

Bon Jovi Lost Highway Tour

The long wait is over - Bon Jovi is coming to New Zealand! One of the most successful, multi-award winning rock acts formed in the 80’s and still touring today, will play at Christchurch’s AMI Stadium on Sunday, January 27 to what will be a sold out audience.

Price: $125 to $265

Available: www.ticketek.co.nz

Flight Experience

Fly a 737. So realistic, airline pilots use it for practice. A great experience for anyone with even a remote interest in flying. Also great for the private pilot who wants to experience flying a Passenger Jet.

Price: Packages from $125

Available: www.flightexperience.co.nz

Bernzomatic Area Heater - Stainless Steel

The latest thing in Patio Heaters. These have much more style than the traditional ones and are more efficient. All this style and efficiency does come at a price though.

Price: $1,099.99

Available: BBQ Factory

Gourmet Meats to Your Door

A great alternative to the usual Christmas Hampers. Great selection big range of prices.

www.gourmetdirect.com

Children

Kidz Cam

Digital Camera.

Fantastic idea for all junior photographers.

Available: Toy World

Price: $49.95

High School Musical Sing It for Playstation 2

Become The Star!

Take to the stage and become a High School Musical karaoke superstar!

All the songs from both movies!

Price: $59.99

Buzz Junior Monster Rumble for Playstation 2

Following on from the hugely fun Buzz Junior Jungle Party this game is fun for all ages. My 6 year old daughter and 66 year old mother both love it.

Price: $54.99

Available: any stores stocking Play Stations

Grab-It

Make the kids work for their sweets. Use the controls to move the claw and try to capture a sweet. Irritatingly difficult.

A great gift when you are buying one present for a family.

Price: $39.95

Available: The Warehouse

  She’s considered to be the best in the business. Make-up artist to the stars and the one to go to for all you ever wanted to know regarding make-up. Bobbi Brown for more than twenty five years has been the leading authority on women’s make-up and beauty. She is particularly passionate about wanting us all to look and feel prettier, more confident about who we are, whilst playing to our strengths.

Now for her fiftieth birthday she has written a book that she says redefines beauty for women in their forties, fifties and beyond. This book has useful tips, showing how skincare, make-up, nutrition, fitness and style can solve many of the issues we face today. But if you are expecting to look like Elle McPherson in two weeks you maybe a little disappointed.

Bobbi shows you how a make-up facelift works and has tested the newest beauty treatments available on the market. What makes this book particularly useful are the before and after shots and how this completely changes how you look.

This is a great book to keep on your shelves to refer back to, I am already looking into some of the treatments she has used. Her books are always a little on the pricey side but well worth it and great for someone who falls into the age bracket the book is targeted at. Just remember to make sure they fall into the age bracket or what would be a thoughtful gift might turn out to be a not so great pressie!

I have two of her other books which are great to read, well presented and I often refer back to them for inspiration. So try to think of them as investment books rather than a one off read.

Product: Bobbi Brown Living Beauty

Price:$

Available: Borders, Whitcoulls and all Bobbi Brown make-up counters

Have I told you that I love Christmas because I really do, it is my most favorite time of the year, I love everything about it,  The Christmas present buying, decorating the tree, the shops full with wonderful things and not to mention my yearly get together at my home in December for my friends.  

No I’m not trying to scare you,  but believe it or not it’s only 8 weeks to Christmas and once again it has come around really quickly.  I know that some of you haven’t even thought about Christmas and the very idea of having to sort out your present list is just too much, let alone what to buy. 

So that’s where I come in.  I’m here to make your life during this time a whole lot easier, to give you some help on where to go to buy those special people in your life a really great gift.   I will tell you what’s hot, where to get, I can provide personal shopping advice when needed or just some general helpful tips for the silly seasons shopping.

Just in case some of you men were wondering if  buying your wife a cellulite massaging mit is a good idea, the answer to that would be a big NO.  Unless your planning on having an quiet Christmas, then I’d give it a miss.  So check in on the 15th November for Andrea’s Christmas List to help you with your Christmas shopping.   If you also have any difficult people to buy for and nothing on the list seems to suit,  just email me and I will get back to you with some other ideas.  At Andrea Stewart no one is to hard to buy for, it’s what I call a challenge. 

One early tip if you want really lovely wrapping paper without spending a fortune,  go to www.paperpak.co.nz.  I bought a big roll of white paper a few years ago and have been wraping all my presents with it, which is a huge saving.  I have just had this year’s order of paper and ribbon delivered to home today ready for me to start my wrapping.  So anyone can call and just use your credit card to save yourself a whole pile of time and money.

So subscribe to my RSS feed, or simply keep checking back for my helpful tips on how to get through the silly season with the least amount of stress and remember the 15th November for Andrea’s Christmas List.

Have I told you that I love Christmas because I really do, it is my most favorite time of the year, I love everything about it,  The Christmas present buying, decorating the tree, the shops full with wonderful things and not to mention my yearly get together at my home in December for my friends.  

No I’m not trying to scare you,  but believe it or not it’s only 8 weeks to Christmas and once again it has come around really quickly.  I know that some of you haven’t even thought about Christmas and the very idea of having to sort out your present list is just too much, let alone what to buy. 

So that’s where I come in.  I’m here to make your life during this time a whole lot easier, to give you some help on where to go to buy those special people in your life a really great gift.   I will tell you what’s hot, where to get, I can provide personal shopping advice when needed or just some general helpful tips for the silly seasons shopping.

Just in case some of you men were wondering if  buying your wife a cellulite massaging mit is a good idea, the answer to that would be a big NO.  Unless your planning on having an quiet Christmas, then I’d give it a miss.  So check in on the 15th November for Andrea’s Christmas List to help you with your Christmas shopping.   If you also have any difficult people to buy for and nothing on the list seems to suit,  just email me and I will get back to you with some other ideas.  At Andrea Stewart no one is to hard to buy for, it’s what I call a challenge. 

One early tip if you want really lovely wrapping paper without spending a fortune,  go to www.paperpak.co.nz.  I bought a big roll of white paper a few years ago and have been wraping all my presents with it, which is a huge saving.  I have just had this year’s order of paper and ribbon delivered to home today ready for me to start my wrapping.  So anyone can call and just use your credit card to save yourself a whole pile of time and money.

So subscribe to my RSS feed, or simply keep checking back for my helpful tips on how to get through the silly season with the least amount of stress and remember the 15th November for Andrea’s Christmas List.

  Now that we know better, we can do better. Protection is now the name of the game. So what am I talking about - sunscreen. It’s so often over looked but has now become one of the most important things we should do as part of our everyday life.

I am one of the generation who use to lie out in the sun and bake myself. I was renowned for my ability to get a tan in just two days at the start of summer. That was before we knew how bad the sun was and how much we would pay later on in life for that fabulous tan. Lets face it brown skin always looks so much better than white. Oh, if only we knew back then what we know now!

They all make such big promises and so often just don’t deliver. The sunscreen we took to Fiji is no exception. Sun Sense Sport Milk SPF 30+ with a 4 hour water resistance and UVA & UVB protection. It is absolutely useless, it didn’t work at all and we all actually got burnt while using it. I was so disappointed when I realised at the end of the day that both of my daughters were sunburned, even after following the instructions very carefully. I had bought the Sport Milk especially because I knew the girls were going to be in the pool all day. We applied the sunscreen at about 8.30am in the morning. We then reapplied just before the 4 hours was up in the middle of the day. At the end of the day after all that effort they where quite sun burnt. Yes it was non greasy as they claim and yes was suitable for children but did it protect them? Well that would be a big NO.

So I definitely wouldn’t waste your money on this sunscreen this summer. They claim they are innovators in sunscreen technology, maybe they need to go back to the drawing board with this one.

We reverted to an old favorite and had no problems for the rest of the holiday. Stay tuned for the review of that in the future.

Rating: 0

Product: Sun Sense Sport Milk

Shopping should be fun. It should be an enjoyable experience.

I love that saying, ‘let your fingers do the walking’, so do some research before you leave the house. If you have some idea of what you want before you leave, it saves time and money.

Buy what you can afford.

When shopping with someone else, make sure it is someone who’s opinion you trust.

Investment dressing is for the exclusive few. You can successfully dress well on a budget, if you choose carefully.

If it doesn’t fit, don’t get it. Chances are it never will.

Beware of the pushy and gushy sales people. I have left stores before thinking, “why was it I bought that? It’s not really me.”

When shopping for clothes, keep what you are wearing to a minimum and easy to get in and out of. If it requires too much effort you will give up.

Don’t be afraid to put your name down on mailing lists. Being notified of upcoming sales can save you money.

Don’t forget to stop and have a coffee break. Not being on top of your game can also result in bad buying decisions. Carry a bottle of water with you as well. It’s amazing how much energy you expend shopping.

And remember, you have worked hard for your money, choose wisely.
If in doubt, leave it out.

Well here I am. After months of talking about it, months of writing, I’ve finally done it.  I’m live.

So what is this all about, why am I here. Well I want to simplify life. Make it easier for you to make better choices about what to buy, where to go to get a good deal, what I have found works, what doesn’t.

Lets face it life just keeps getting busier. We work longer, play harder and spend more.

We are more, everything. Not to mention the fact that we are bombarded with so much to choose from, it’s no wonder we can feel overwhelmed. So that’s where I come in, helping you to make all those buying decisions that much easier. I can tell you where to go to get a great gift for that someone special, what works, what doesn’t and what the next big thing will be.

For years I’ve shared my knowledge with my family and friends, on all the great things I find.  What are good ideas and now I want to share them with you.

You can subscribe to my monthly newsletter,  this makes it easier for you to keep up with the with what are the highlights of the month and to see what’s new.  Each day there will be new posts and something intersting to read about. 

I am always testing new products, making it easier for you to make better choices.  Look out for my Top Ten lists, in the coming months.  My Top Ten is where you will find my Top Ten favourites, like top Ten gifts for her, Top Ten gits for him, Top Ten gifts for kids etc  

You can also contact me for advice in the contact me section at the top of the page.  Also I am keen to hear from you on what you think is great and of course not so great, so keep in touch.  You can repond through the comments sections on each article as well.

So buckle yourself in becasue this is going to be a fun ride and I will look forward to making your life easier when choosing  products, gifts and anything I find that might be of use.