Here is the second instalment of my 2009 Christmas List. This list focuses of presents for men.

TopGear Great Adventures Collection

It seams that TopGear is everywhere this Christmas, every bookshop I go into is bursting with DVDs and Books from the hugely popular TV show. The live show is also back in New Zealand in February 2010. Any of the DVDs and books are sure to bring a smile to the face of most men but the ultimate TopGear gift would have to be the The Great Adventures Collection - Limited Edition (4 Disc Helmet) DVD set.

Price: around $120

Available: everywhere but try www.mightyape.co.nz

BBQ Branding Iron

For the man who loves his BBQ and likes to have all the latest accessories this could be a winner. You insert the letters to make what ever message you want, heat it up and hey presto, branded steaks! How cool is that?

Price: $34.95

Available: www.iwantthat.co.nz

Whites Aviation Classic New Zealand Aerial Photography

At last, a coffee table book you can buy for a man that you actually won’t mind having on the coffee table. This magnificent book contains a selection of more than 200 images of New Zealand from the air. Taken from the White’s Aviation collection at the Alexander Turnbull Library, these images of towns, cities, landforms and events were taken from the 1930s to the 1970s, and show a landscape still familiar in some cases and changed beyond recognition in others.

Price: RRP $60

Sport Kite

Kites can be a lot of fun and lets face it, there is no shortage of wind to fly them in. Most people have only ever had a cheap toy kite to fly. Why not take the next step and get a good quality sport kite for not a whole lot more. The Quick Step has a span of 1.3 metres and can fly in winds from 6 to 38 kph.

Price: from $50      Available: www.kites.co.nz

Home Electronic Safe

A safe is not something you think of to buy for yourself which is why they make great gifts. Just make sure you can hand deliver it as they are just a bit to heavy to post.

Price: $69.20 from Bunnings

Battery Jump Pack

Not something you use everyday but when you do need one, boy are they useful. Great for starting the car, the boat or even the ride on lawn mower. It also has a cigarette lighter socket so you can power your tyre pump or other 12volt devices.

Available from Repco or Supercheap Auto

More FM Winery Tour

Event tickets can be a great gift idea for the really hard to buy for. The year’s MORE FM Winery Tour sees it visit 16 venues for 18 shows in February and March 2010, adding shows in Whangarei, Palmerston North and Taupo regions for its fourth season.

Price: from $70    Available:  www.ticketdirect.co.nz

   In the last minute rush to Christmas if you are still hunting for that Wow gift,  check this site out.  It’s called Montgomery Road and has some great products for some of those hard to buy for people, or if you are just simply looking to upstage everyone else with fantastic pressies at Christmas.

Montgomery Road searches the globe for high quality electronic equipment and retails them for very competitive prices.

One of their products is the Nu Dolphin swimmer MP3 player, yes you did read that correctly, an MP3 player you can swim with.  Now that is cool.  It’s 100% waterproof and is designed especially for swimming, using in the spa and other water sports.  Doing those lengths in the pool  just got a whole pile more interesting.

Another great gift idea is the Ez’ech Music Showcase, which is a waterproof iPod speaker case.  Just pop your iPod into the Showcase and boggie your day away.   The Showcase is waterproof to depth of 1 metre or up to 30 minutes, it floats in water and doesn’t corrode or rust.  It has a clear, shatter-proof body, bumper guards and a big sound.  I can just see myself parked up on my lounger, with a good book and listening to my sounds on my Ez’ech Music Showcase.  Bring on the holidays.

So go and check this site out, I love the products they sell and you might just find that special gift you were looking for.

Available at:www.montgomeryroad.com                  Price:depends on which product

My Christmas List for 2008 is here. I hope that there is something amongst the list that is a great idea for someone special. It could be inspirational or just simply I want one of those for me so I will put it on my list for Santa.  Happy Shopping.

Cuddle Buddy for children is a must have, it’s become the ‘I can’t go to bed without it’ thing for the girls.  It is great for in the car travelling, on a plane and also to cuddles up to at night.  It is also used for injury rehabilitation, but really it’s just an all round great gift.

Available:www.cuddlebuddies.co.nz                                         Price:$30.00

This site has the biggest range and at good price. You may also find them at a stall in your local mall in the build up to Christmas.

Indoor/Outdoor Beanbag I just love this as a gift, I bought them for family a couple of years ago and they are fun.  The best part about them is their versatility in being able to use them inside and out.  They also have this year a new take on it as in the Kids Bean Chair.

Available: Ezibuy                                                                   Price:$59.95 Style 8QZ 32551 for the big one and $39.95 for the Kids one Style 8QZ 40053

Gingerbread House Kit this is a great way to keep the kids amused in the holidays and encourages their creativity while building it.

Available:Living & Giving

Price:$39.95  or you can choose one at Ezibuy which are $29.95  Style 8QZ 40164

Australian House and Garden Magazine Subscription as this is probably the best Home magazine on the market - you can’t go wrong with this as a gift subscription for Christmas.

Available: www.magshop.co.au                                                                         Price:$59.95 (Australian)      12 month subscription(12 issues)

Save $23.45 (Aus) + shipping which will be calculated at time of purchase

www.magshop.co.nz is a great place to buy magazines subscriptions, their titles include Next Magazine which you can save 35%, Boat which you can save 35% and many more.

There is just about every title you can think of here and when stuck for a gift, this is the gift that keeps on giving.

Available: www.magshop.co.nz

Kikki.K is one of my most favourite stores, it really appeals to me every time I make that desperate attempt to be more organised.  The products are just lovely, fantastic for helping to organise your life.   My all time best buy here would be the Family Calendar which helps us busy people to keep everyone on track with where they are supposed to be.  Anything from here is a great Xmas gift.

Available: Kikki.K stores   www.kikki-k.com.au  (they deliver worldwide) or their shops are all over Australia, in Newmarket and at Queensgate, Lower Hutt.

Mecca is another of one of my Favourite spots to shop at, located in Kirkcaldie and Stains in Wellington.  The staff there are just lovely and you wont walk away empty handed as there is 30 exclusive brands to choose a gift from.  Everything  they stock is lovely and would be a “wow, that’s a cool gift” for that someone special.

Available: Kirkcaldie and Stains

O’s Big Book of Happiness - it’s doom and gloom everywhere at the moment, so why not fly in the face of that and say no, I am going to be inspired and not depressed about my life.  O’s Big Book of Happiness is put together from the O magazine and interviews she has done with famous people.  Love her or hate her, you can’t deny there is something inspiring that makes us all want to live a great life.

The Best of the O Magazine, Wisdom, Wit, Interviews, and Inspiration

Available:  Bookstores                                           Price:$52.95

The Big Game Company has a range of games and leisure equipment. The giant size versions of games such as snakes and ladders, chess and pick up sticks are especially cool.

Available: www.thebiggamecompany.co.nz              Prices from $49.95 up

Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote Control is a great way to simplify your TV life. Now you can have one remote control that controls all your Audio Visual gear including SKY decoders. The big plus with the Logitech Harmony is how easy it is to set it up. You install software on your computer and plug the remote into the USB port. The computer software allows you to configure all the functions just as you want them. It is far easier than using complex combinations of buttons on the remote for programming.

Available: Dick Smith Electronics                            Price: $99.00

Seedling New Zealand is a niche market producer providing high quality, experience driven products for young people. They have a huge range of neatly packaged quality gifts for children. In a world of mass produced toys that either fail to hold the child’s interest for long or break as soon as they get them out of the packet. The Seedling gift sets provide good old-fashioned experiences for children with products such as: Homemade Paper Greeting Card Kit, Become a Sushi Shefu (Chef),  Multi Medium Collage Set, Outdoor Explorer kit, The Worm Farm Kit and many more.

Available: throughout New Zealand or www.seedling.co.nz   Price: Varies

Remote Control Drinks Cooler is an ingenious battery operated ice bucket that is capable of moving up to twelve bottles of beer. The RC Drinks Cooler features four sure-grip wheels exclusively intended to speed up the delivery of cold drinks to thirsty barbeque goers.  This is a really cool site with lots of other great ideas, so check it out.

Available: www.iwantthat.co.nz                        Price: $189.95

When you have to buy for a person who has everything a great idea is to buy them an experience. The Waiheke Wine Festival is held each year at Waitangi weekend and combines great wine and good music to form the perfect day out. Buying tickets for a specific event is better than an experience vouchers because they are more likely to be used as the date has been set.

Available: www.ticketek.co.nz                         Price: $65.00 Adult, under 13 Free

For those that are serious about the Weather, this is the ultimate Weather Station. It has a wireless connection between the outdoor measurement device and the touch screen display inside. Plug it in to the USB port on your computer to download the data so you can display graphs over time of rain fall, wind speed, temperature etc.  Its not cheap but it is packed with features.

Available: www.ferrit.co.nz               Price: $449.00

  TopGear is an incredibly popular TV programme worldwide. It appeals to a very wide audience, whether they are car nuts or not. In our household it is a must see on Sunday nights.

You can imagine the excitement when we found out that Jeremy Clarkson and the boys are coming to New Zealand in February 2009. They will be recording a show at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland in front of a live audience. I was given the mission to make sure we get tickets. It would be an absolute disaster to miss out.

Well, I have found out how to get advance tickets. Tickets go on sale to the general public on November 17th  but I’ve found a way to get tickets on November 11th. Its actually quite simple. The New Zealand TopGear magazine has a special offer to subscribers to their e-newsletter. You simply sign up for free to their e-newsletter and on November 11th you’ll get an ultra-special email with instructions letting you know how to get tickets before anyone else.

Visit the TopGearNZ website to sign up and we will see you at the show.

  Are Ferraris faster than Lamborghinis?

Which dead celebrity earns the most money?

Who is the most searched for woman on the Internet? 

Men are obsessed with what’s the biggest, the fastest, the smallest…..  So this book will keep them fascinated for days and provide the answers to every question you never wanted to ask.

While I was hunting for Fathers Day presents, I stumbled across Top 10 For Men which has over 250 lists that matter.  Well to men anyway, but to be honest I have found it fascinating and been seen to pick it up time and time again.  To be fair it was destined to be a Fathers Day present but for some funny reason never quite made it there, it’s far too interesting.

This book has over 250 lists covering the most important subjects like cars, most popular playboy names, who has the biggest boat, most expensive items of rock memorabilia sold at auction and many more.  I could go on and on. 

A great gift for any man and is one to remember as a stocking filler at Christmas time or as a birthday gift.

Available:  All leading bookstores

Price:$25.99

  We know they don’t ask for directions and pretend to know exactly where they are going.  It can be hours before they admit to having no clue to where they are and half the time they find it purely by accident.  Going somewhere with a man can be really frustrating.

So what would you say if I told you I can take all the guesswork out of trying to find somewhere new, or somewhere you have been before but maybe get there faster.  How about you have an unplanned detour and aren’t sure where it will have you end up.

Well if all this sounds too good to be true, I am happy to say it’s as good as it says it is.  I am talking about Satellite Navigation and the Garmin Nuvi 310 to be exact.  I bought this for my husband as he travels regularly and often has to attend meetings in other cities and I bought this one especially for it’s size, small.  He can carry it round in his laptop bag.

Like most electronic gadgets these days it has heaps of features you will probably never use like bluetooth hands free for your phone, MP3 player and Audio Book. The hands free is pretty hopeless and who needs another MP3 player or an Audio Book. The main thing is that it does its core job, navigation, very well.

One thing people don’t often think about when they purchase a Sat Nav is that the data (maps and points of interest) held in the device when they buy it, will get out of date. The manufactures usually offer some sort of update service where you can get updates to load on your Sat Nav. Some offer them for free but others ask you to pay for them. But few do them more often than once a year. The best thing about purchasing a Garmin device is that Garmin are one of the only manufacturers who have third party mapping tools available. This has allowed a group of smart kiwis to create “The New Zealand Open GPS Maps Project” which provides free Map and Points of Interest (POI) updates for Garmin Mapping GPSs (Sat Nav). The project is based around a forum where users report issues or bugs and regional mappers pick up the reports and make changes to the source maps. Usually within 24 - 48 hours a revised version of the map is available for download.

You can find the “The New Zealand Open GPS Maps Project” at http://www.gwprojects.org/gps

Rating: 3.5 (used with The New Zealand Open GPS Maps Project data, 4.5)

Price: $472.17 from www.ferrit.co.nz

  It’s such a small price to pay for a different perspective on life.   I picked up a book a while ago when I was in Whitcoulls, it’s called ‘Change the World for fifteen bucks’.  It was one of those impulse purchases and was stacked up at the front counter for all those people who have no self control, or who just need to buy one more thing.  Me, so I bought it and took it back to my desk which is where it sat for months before I actually found the time to look at it.  You can tell I really needed it, can’t you.

But all my impulse purchasing aside, it has turned out to be a great find and I really like it.  It is filled with inspiring ideas on how to live a great life, how to give back and simply how to be better at everything we do.  Just the smallest of things we do in our everyday can make a difference.

We Are What We Do creates a new way to inspire people and to help them to feel a part of something bigger than themselves.  To make us aware that simple shift in attitudes and day-to-day behaviour can make a difference.  For example, what about learning CPR, or reading a story with your child, how about fitting at least one energy saving light bulb, or it may be as simple as giving someone a smile.  See these really are simple everyday things we don’t think about that can make a difference.

There is a list of related websites and organisations you can visit at the back of the book, titled Learn More Do More, you can also email them at changetheworld@wearewhatwedo.org.nz or go to their website www.wearewhatwedo.org.nz.

Think about this “Be the change you want to see in the world”

Be one of those who sets a good example, in other words We Are What We Do.

Change the World for Fifteen Bucks, 50 actions to change the world and make you feel great.

Available at: Whitcoulls                                         Price:$15.00

                           

   Unbelievable, woke up yesterday morning and felt like I had been hit by a bus.  Not another cold, winter is definitely here and I feel like rubbish.

So while I was at the supermarket I found Vicks First Defence, they say it fights the cold virus before it takes hold.  First Defence is a nasal spray that targets the nasal cavity where the cold virus takes hold and multiplies.  Given how I was feeling, I thought it was worth a try. 

Flippin heck is all I can say, boy did I live to regret that decision.  The pain was unbelievable and apparently I have a high pain threshold.  So if it hurt me like that, look out is all I can say.

I love the statement they make on the packaging ‘it is normal to experience temporary stinging…….. and it will not last long.’  Temporary stinging,  seriously it reeaaallly hurt and I mean hurt.  I felt this immense pain went up my nose and into my sinuses, which then it carried on into my head.   It took days before I really felt that I couldn’t feel it anymore.

Maybe I was by this stage to far down the line with my cold for this to be effective but nevertheless nothing should hurt like this.

If you’re not bothered by someone shoving a cattle prodder up your nose then by all means give it a go.  But if the thought of that is a slight concern to you, then I wouldn’t recommend it.  Mine is going in the bin and thank goodness I tried it, before I used it on the girls.

Available at:Supermarkets and Pharmacies                                   Price:$16.99

This drives me absolutely nuts. What is it with these TV3 executives who spend all that money on buying the rights to broadcast the V8 Supercar’s from Australia, only to manage to screw it up?

Did you know that motorsport is the most watched sport in the world? TV3 has paid more money for the rights to broadcast the Australian V8’s  for the next five years than has been paid for the rights to any sport in NZ other than rugby.  If you have never been able to bring yourself to watch it, you really are missing out on a fantastic experience. It is hard not to admire the skill and energy that goes into driving and running a Supercar team.  Not to mention the fact that there are 5 kiwi’s driving, four kiwi owned teams and the many thousands of kiwis who trek across to the Tasman to watch the racing every year.  There is a huge audience here.

Notwithstanding the fact that motorsport has, in this country, and continues to, produce world class athletes we can all be proud of.

All that aside, the coverage in New Zealand has been great up until this year when TV3 took over. They have put together a panel of hosts consisting of two radio announcers (who incidentally know nothing about motorsport) and Aaron Slight who, to be honest, is the only one worth listening too.  Then we cross over to their resident bimbo at the track for silly interview question time, which frankly makes TV3 look like a bunch of hillbillys from across the ditch.  Oh and did I mention we lose a substantial amount of racing due to the long ad breaks. They don’t show adverts during the rugby, they wait until half time.

Come on TV3, is this really as good as it gets?

Surely someone has told them how this works.  Surely they haven’t spent all that money and not consulted someone who knows what we want to see.   Their audience are intelligent, passionate and most definitely informed fans, they don’t like to be treated like idiots, like we are being with this coverage.   We certainly don’t want a couple of guys like Simon Doull telling us what he thinks, because we know he doesn’t know much about motor racing and then there is the other guy who said right up front "I know nothing about all this".  Great, in that case go back to radio.

Send Aaron to interview the drivers, at least he can ask intelligent questions that will make for better viewing, get a panel who knows something about motorsport and for goodness sake get rid of the female interviewer, she’s just plain annoying.

Sort it out TV3, it’s not that hard to get this right.

  Well I hope you have all had a Merry Christmas, mine has been very busy and not nearly enough time spent blogging lately.  So I aim to lift my game and dedicate more time to more posts, more often, so check in regularly for all on what’s new and cool for 2008.

So what were my big finds in the build-up for Christmas, what did I give away as presents and what are my must haves for summer.  Stay tuned and all will be revealed.

I am currently reviewing a huge range of products, the latest book, a new wrinkle cream, new kids toys, a PSP, a Zune only to name a few and will blog these as soon as the reviews are finished. 

The first one out of the starting blocks is Richard Hammond’s new book ON THE EDGE: MY STORY, which I have just finished reading and it’s the account of his life before and after the high speed crash which nearly killed him.  Being married to a motor sport nut and who’s favourite program is Top Gear and it’s mine as well, it was of course a must have for Christmas.   He tells the story of his life as an adrenalin junkie, his role as one of the Top gear presenters and his wife Mindy tells the story of his recovery.

I had very high hopes before starting and I was particularly interested in the part which Mindy told and this turned out to be the best bit of the whole book from my perspective.  I did find it was padded out and was boring in some parts, there was too much fluff on what he was thinking as he was recovering.  Mindy’s account is easier to read and much more interesting.

His account of the accident was good and my husband enjoyed that part as he is more interested in the racing side, of the book.  The earlier years were interesting but overall it’s a pretty average read.  The most I got out of the book was how hard it is to recover from a brain injury and that it changes you forever, which is very hard on all those around you. 

In my husbands words "It’s an interesting story but a bit fluffy".

Avaliable at:  all leading book stores

Price:$39.99