Lulu and Latte’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2014

Mother’s day.

Every Mother’s Day we do the same thing. Drive into the city, grab brunch at Barney Greengrass or Sable’s and have a picnic in Central Park. Simple, easy and chill. We do Mother’s day with my mother-in-law the day before and since my mother’s birthday is May 5th, I normally celebrate her birthday and mother’s day the weekend before. We all get a day and there is no fussing about why I can’t just spend the day with the kids and be done.  It wasn’t always like that but after a million stressed years, I found this was what worked best. Phew!

I have such a hard time buying gifts on Mother’s day. It is always a crap shoot. But if you know me by now, I like to think outside the box. I had a little bit of a tough time this year because, truthfully, I wasn’t loving everything but here are some goodies….

If you asked me if I could have a gift card to any place this year it would be to Carbon 38. This website is the MECCA of workout gear. They have every single line you could imagine PLUS one item is better than the next. I am OBSESSED! Like yesterday I found out C&C came out with a workout line AND it is amaze…How cute is this?

If you haven’t been to carbon38 go on now! You may end up spending 30 minutes but it is the best online workout gear around, promise!

After buying some incredible workout gear, you may love this GORGEOUS Alexander Wang Yoga Mat. TO DIE FOR!  Croc embossed rubber yoga mat with leather strap. ($150)

Yoga mat: 100% TPE

Strap: 100% Lambskin

Your momma love chocolate? Well not only does Maggie Louise Confections have the most delicious chocolate, they have the most beautiful!! Have you heard of Chocolate Charms? Just look at these!! Too pretty to eat, right?

Maggie Louise Confections, a brand new collection of beautifully designed artisan chocolates handmade in Austin, Texas, has created chocolate charm boxes for Mother’s Day. Maggie took inspiration from timeless charm necklaces and created collections of finely detailed baubles in themes of Glow, Chic, Wish and Dear.

Each set retails for $45 and includes 16 El Rey chocolates in dark, white and milk chocolate with cream and caramel fillings. Chocolates are all available on www.maggielouiseconfections.com.

From the beginning, your Mom was always there to keep you healthy and safe….now it is your turn to help keep her safe too. This Mother’s Day, what better gift than the gift of safety. Beautiful products, made safe for long-term health. My Mom’s favorite is the Rosemary and Citrus Lustro Body Oil, pure heaven. www.amyselling.beautycounter.com

I hate schlepping a bag when I go out at night. I literally need 3 things, my iPhone, my license and my dinero. I found this case from Henri Bendel that is perfect. It comes in a multitude of colors but the blue is my favorite for spring.  I love that my phone fits in it! $58

My pick for beach bag of the summer which I have not yet ordered is this amazing crocheted beach bag from Everything But Water!! $104. I would LOVE to receive this as a gift (hint, hint GS)

Funny thing, neither my mother or my mother-in-law play mahjongg but I DO! I love it! The mahjongg sets that our grandmother’s played with many moons ago have gotten way cooler. So for the mother’s and mother-in-laws who play , I included an awesome site that you can personalize the set.  They make such a special gift. Friends of mine bought this for me a while ago and I love it!! They come in lots of different varieties (rainbow as shown below, glitter, gingham, etc). You can also personalize all the Jokers with your  name, initials and a design! There are a ton of designs! Where the Wind Blows sells all the sets! All the fun sets are $54.

I love anything personalized! This pen holder is a much prettier spot than the junk drawer for all her ballpoints and felt tips. Add personalization at no extra charge. $64

I always think these make such a nice gift. Everybody should have a diffuser in the bathroom!! They smell beautiful and it is one of those things you do not feel like buying but would love to receive! Antica Farmacista makes my favorite! $66. They are also available at Bergdorf’s and Nordstrom.

Books always make such a nice gift. I do not own this one but it is on my list of coffee table books to own:

Photographed by Reed Krakoff, Women in Art: Figures of Influence features intimate black-and-white portraits of leading women in the contemporary art community. From Valentina Castellani, Almine Rech, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn to Dominique Levy, Marianne Boesky, and Lucy Chadwick, each woman possesses undeniable talent, creativity, and intelligence—making them prominent figureheads of renowned galleries, museums, and institutions across the globe. Complementing each image is an art questionnaire personally completed by each woman along with selected works of art. A true objet d’art, Women in Art: Figures of Influence offers a unique window into the feminine side of the art world.

My favorite gift this year by far was my Vitamix  . I use it EVERY SINGLE DAY! LOVE IT!!!

Amazon Prime is running a great deal on the Vitamix 5200s (the one I own)!!!

Of course there is Wine of the Month Club, Book of the Month Club, and now there is organic snack of the month club!!! Once I saw they delivered Somersaults in one of their packages, I had to include them in the gift guide. This one is called Love With Food. 

• Snacks are either organic or all-natural, GMO-free, gluten-free or free of artificial junk
• depending on the box you choose (tasting or deluxe) each box donates 1 or 2  meals to hungry children in America

Lastly, this is not a gift to give but a gift I am giving all of you momma’s!!! I found this FREE app that I LOVE LOVE LOVE! It is called Recifoto.

This free new app is like Instagram for recipes. You snap photos of physical recipes, then upload them to an eternally scrolling feed.

From your iPhone, take a picture of the recipe you want to save, or load it from your device’s album. You can make it Private, so that only you have access to it, or share it with other Recifoto users by making it Public. The only information you have to enter is the recipe’s name. There is no tedious entry of ingredients or instructions. To make your recipe searchable by category, add a # and category to the title (ex. #dessert).

To share a recipe, just tap on it, hit the share button and e-mail it, Tweet it, send it to Facebook or other social media, or save it to your device’s album. Recifoto features a Search function to search recipe by name. You can also Like and Comment on recipes.

Brilliant!! Love this because I have friends email me recipes all the time and I constantly have to scroll back and look for them! Now I can screenshot and upload to Recifoto.

Lastly, to all my Manhattan, San Francisco, Seattle and DC friends, do I have a Mother’s Day present for you?!?! O M G!

There is a new high-end delivery (you may have heard of it) called Caviar. It is a new food delivery and catering service bringing NYC’s best eateries and top restaurants to homes and offices around the city (also in San Fran, Seattle and DC)

Some  restaurants include, Baohaus, Mission Cantina, Momofuku, Cafe Habana, Katz’s Deli and more! Don’t feel like cooking but want a really great meal. Call Caviar and have them deliver to you! All the restaurants are curated from the perspective of the food enthusiast. Compared to ordering through rival services, whose bewildering restaurant lists can stretch into the hundreds, ordering food through Caviar is a comparatively straightforward and uncluttered experience. The relative sparseness of Caviar’s offerings has the paradoxical effect of making you feel as if you actually have more choice because you aren’t looking at 24 places all selling pizza. In general, Caviar selects only one vendor for each type of cuisine. They already work with a lot of Corporate customers to cater meetings and group lunches.  And they have built a lot of features to make group ordering easy, plus the ability to track your food in real-time with GPS.

Enjoy!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you amazing mother’s out there! Between the carpooling, grocery shopping, laundry, career, and being a wife it is a miracle we get through the day. To all the single momma’s out there, extra props to you!! I hope everyone gets a little peace and quiet even if it’s in the bathroom!!

xx