I’m not one to spend the time giving myself a crazy manicure à la Zooey Deschanel. I think they’re awesome—I just don’t have that kind of time on my hands. But I do like to try out the newest color trends. I’ve been scouring the web looking for the hottest nail color trends for spring. Here are my fav five:

Lime Green

L’Oreal Colour Riche Nail New Money, $5.99

Shiny Metallics

OPI The World Is Not Enough, $8

Lavender

Butter London Molly Coddled, $15

Aqua

Essie Go Overboard, $8

Milky White

NARS Versailles Champagne Gold, $19

When you’re a busy mom, every second counts. Here are some time-saving apps to help you shortcut your way through life.

RetailMeNot (Free)
My stepmom turned me on to this app over the holidays, and I am obsessed! When you’re out shopping, just type in the name of a store to find all of the coupon codes available. When you go to checkout, they just scan the barcode on your phone.  With 24 different categories, you can find coupons for nearly every major retailer.

Evernote (Free)
Evernote’s slogan is “Remember Everything,” which is fitting for this accessible repository for notes, articles, links, photos, whatever you want to keep track of. What I love about Evernote is that I have it on my iPhone, iPad, work laptop, and home computer, so no matter what device I’m on, if I come across something I want to remember or go back to later, I can easily save it. I also love the voice note feature, which lets you dictate a message to yourself and save it as a note. I use this all the time when I think of a great blog post idea while I’m on the go!

Mint.com (Free)
This app lets you view all of your accounts in one place—bank accounts, investments, credit cards, mortgage—to give you a bird’s eye view of your finances. It even tracks and categorizes your transactions so you can see how much you’re spending each month on groceries versus gas. The Mint.com app will also give you financial advice based on your accounts and your spending habits.

Wunderlist (Free)
The ultimate list app, Wunderlist keeps track of your to-do list, your grocery list, your packing list for your upcoming trip, pretty much anything. It syncs across all your devices, and it allows you to share your lists, which comes in really handy when your hubby offers to go to the grocery store for you.

Grocery IQ (Free)
If you’re looking for a dedicated grocery list app, look no further. Build your grocery list using text, voice, or barcode scan, and then organize your items by aisle to help you get in and get out as quickly as possible. You can even search for relevant coupons based on what’s on your list and share your list across multiple devices.

IFTTT (Free)
IFTTT stands for If This Then That. Okay, so this isn’t an app, strictly speaking, but it DOES help your apps work harder for you. With IFTTT, you can set up “recipes” to help you automate just about anything. Some of my favorite recipes: when I star a blog post in my Google Reader, it automatically creates a note in Evernote; I get a text message to let me know it’s going to rain; and anytime I change my Facebook profile picture, my Twitter picture automatically updates as well. Sure, these aren’t necessities, but they do save me a step or two.

RedLaser (Free)
Never waste time bargain hunting again! This app lets you scan an item and instantly see the best online and local prices. You can also find top deals and search for stores nearby. Best of all? You can scan all of your loyalty cards right into the app so you never have to worry about keeping track of them all.

Find My iPhone (Free)
Things will go missing when there are kids around. It’s almost a rule of physics. At least with this app, you won’t spend an hour trying to figure out where your two year old stashed your phone. You have to set up this app BEFORE you lose your phone, but it definitely comes in handy when you need it to spring into action.

How to Cook Everything ($4.99)
Mark Bittman’s bestselling cookbook, How to Cook Everything, is now an easy-to-use app! Search reference information and recipes, complete with shopping lists and built-in timers. You can also easily print out your recipes and shopping lists. I love that this app doesn’t require a network connection to work, so even when I have no signal at the grocery store, I can still pull it up.

Total Baby ($4.99)
I so wish I had had this app when I was nursing my daughter. It keeps track of which side you nurse from and when, as well as a gazillion other things that new moms need to keep straight. Log vaccines, track sleep patterns, time pumping sessions, you name it, this app does it all.

Do you have a go-to app to help keep your life organized or to save you time? Share it!

I may have been late to the whole Emi Jay craze, but I am now officially a fan! When I bought some of these hair ties for my sister for Christmas, I picked up a pack for myself as well. I am so happy I did!

Before I discovered these hair ties, if I wore my hair up, I would have to keep it up all day because it would get the dreaded kink. I absolutely LOVE that I can wear my fine hair in a ponytail for an hour or all day and it still doesn’t have a dent!

Right now, I am loving the new color and ombre packs for spring. At $10.99 for a pack of five, they’re not the cheapest hair ties in the world, but they’re worth it!

Sorbet 5-Pack

Pink Ombre 5-Pack

Seabreeze 5-Pack

Green Ombre 5-Pack

Admittedly, I’m not that into Valentine’s Day, but I do like a good excuse to step out of my role as mom for a night and put both feet firmly in the role of wife. Yes, I know yoga pants are ridiculously comfortable and practical. I am wearing them right now. But they don’t exactly make me feel sexy. This Valentine’s Day, I don’t want to feel like mom, with snot crusted on the shoulder of my shirt and jelly on my pants in the perfect shape of a little hand. I want to look hot, and more importantly, I want to feel like I look hot.

An amazing dress doesn’t have to be skin tight or cut down to there. It just needs to make you feel good; make you hold your shoulders back and stand up a little straighter; make you feel confident. Here are five dresses that will do just that. While you’re at it, pick up a fun little surprise to go underneath!

Bandana Dress, $24.80 from Forever 21

BB Dakota, $99.99

Prabal Gurung for Target, $39.99

Diane von Furstenberg, $135

The Candy Apple, $150 by Stop Staring Clothing

Last year’s Pantone Color of the Year, Tangerine Tango, was everywhere. Pants, tops, throw pillows, vases, shoes, art, rugs, you name it. So I’m predicting that the 2013 Color of the Year, Emerald Green, will be spring’s color du jour. Emerald green already splashed the runways at the spring 2013 fashion shows for Zac Posen, Lela Rose, Vera Wang, and more, so it’s only a matter of time before it starts popping up everywhere. Here are 12 ways you can rock a little or a lot of this year’s “it” color.

No.1    Banana Republic Sloan Pencil Skirt $79.50
No.2    Essie Nail Polish in Pretty Edgy $8
No.3    Green Bubble Necklace from Etsy Shop Himediy $14.99
No.4    Modcloth Emily and Fin Green Dress $79.99
No.5    Banana Republic Ashley Bow Flat $98
No.6    Old Navy green skinny jeans $19.97
No.7    Gap Striped Moto Jacket $79.95
No.8    The Cambridge Satchel Company Large Classic Satchel $178.00
No.9    Anthropologie Charleston Henley Peasant Blouse $68
No.10  Gap Colorblock Stripe T $24.95
No.11  MAC Eye Kohl in Minted $15
No.12  Gap Floral Scarf $29.95

Happy 2013! It’s a new year, which means I’ll be making collard greens tonight, lamenting tomorrow’s return to work, and setting my annual resolutions.

Most New Year’s resolutions don’t survive to see Valentine’s Day, and at least one of those every year is mine. Yet here I am, thinking about what improvements I want to make for 2013. I can’t help it, I am a sucker for the optimism and hope that makes us all want to be better this year than we were last year.

My resolutions are usually along the lines of everyone else’s: lose weight, do a better job balancing work and family, lighten up, etc., etc. Vague and, therefore, unrealistic. So this year, I’m taking a different approach. I thrive on lists (just ask my coworkers, my notebook is NUTS), so instead of lofty unspecific resolutions, I’ve decided to make a 2013 to-do list.

1. Be able to run 5K without stopping (pathetic, I know, but I am a HORRIBLE runner)
2. Launch a new blog design (Mom Machine is getting a face lift!)
3. Take a long weekend trip with my husband, just the two of us
4. Keep up with Pilates at least once a week, in class or alone doesn’t matter, as long as I do it
5. Spend an entire day saying “yes” to Olivia—cookies for dinner, four books for bedtime, an extra slide or six at the playground, whatever she wants
6. Take a day off to go on a day date with my husband while Olivia is at daycare
7. Pluck up the nerve to go make friends with my mommy neighbors (who knew it would be so hard to make friends in your 30s?!)
8. Go an entire week without losing my cool and snapping at someone. . .or at least give it the old college try, ha!
9. Create a Will (waaaaaay overdue considering we have a little person depending on us)
10. When Olivia asks me to play with her, do it—doesn’t have to be every single time, but at least twice a week

Are you setting any New Year’s resolutions or creating your own to-do list this year? Share your resolutions if you’re up for it!

This post is from the archives but still very relevant. Last year was our first year tipping our daycare providers, and we wanted to be sure we got it right. After all, these people take care of the most important thing in the world to us (and by now, they are like family). Hope this helps other new parents who are asking the same question we did- what’s an appropriate child care tip?

As this is my first Christmas with a child in day care, I’ve been thinking about what’s appropriate in terms of a holiday tip or bonus. I’ve done some research online and found that suggestions range from a handmade gift from the child to two weeks’ pay, quite the chasm.  Shockingly, some holiday tipping guides leave out childcare providers altogether, which just baffles my mind. Let me get this straight—I should tip the person who cuts my hair but NOT the person to whom I entrust the most precious thing in my life on a daily basis? Riiiight.

I found several helpful guides online, including:

CNBC’s Holiday Tipping Guide: 2011

Emily Post’s Holiday Tipping is Really Holiday Thanking

Kiplinger’s Holiday Tipping Tip Sheet

Real Simple’s Holiday Tipping Checklist

After some thought, we settled on one week’s pay for our day care provider, half a week’s pay for her assistant and a small gift from our daughter for each of them.

But I’m curious, what’s the norm? Especially in metro areas like Washington, D.C., where do others fall on the tipping spectrum?

A hostess gift is a great way to thank someone for inviting you into their home. It doesn’t have to be big or crazy expensive; this is one of those times where it truly is the thought that counts. The traditional bottle of wine is never a bad idea (is wine really ever a bad idea?!), but these great hostess gifts will put you at the top of everyone’s guest list this holiday season!

1. Give the gift of a happier morning after! As the one time recipient of such a gift, I can tell you your host will thank you. This adorable basket from Everyday Occasions includes banana bread, coffee, and honey butter, but you could include any combination of your favorite breakfast treats.

Breakfast basket from Everyday Occasions

2. A rosemary tree is both festive and practical—it’s the gift that keeps on giving!

Rosemary Tree from Lowes, $12.98

3. This colorful salt crock will quickly become your host’s favorite kitchen accessory. Its design ensures that the salt stays accessible while cooking but protected from drips and splashes. Plus, it’s super cute!

Salt Crock from Le Creuset, $30

4. Infused with spices like Indian curry, Hungarian paprika, and ginger, these truffles are a uniquely decadent treat. You can also pick up a few of their delicious chocolate bars while you’re at it (the Dark Chocolate Bacon Bar is AMAZING!).

Exotic Truffle Collection from Vosges, $10.50

5. This painted spoon rest is so pretty, who wouldn’t want it sitting in their kitchen? It’s just so happy!

Amaryllis Spoon Rest from Anthropologie, $10

6. Grab some Weck jars and some rosemary sprigs, and you can make your own infused sea salt.

Rosemary Sea Salt from Martha Stewart

I always find it interesting to peek behind the curtain at how other moms manage their busy schedules to see what tips and tricks I can pick up to help me improve my balancing act.  So I figured I would pay it forward and share my day with you. I don’t pretend that my life is half as exciting as Gwyneth Paltrow’s. . . just a normal working mom here, trying to get from day to day. If you’re interested in sharing a day in your life, shoot me an e-mail!

5:30 a.m.    Alarm goes off. . . immediately hit snooze (at least three times). Finally roll out of bed cursing the fact that I stayed up too late the night before (again).

6:45 a.m.    Showered, dressed, and ready to go, I hear Olivia yelling “Mommy!” at the top of her lungs and drop kicking her toys out of her crib. When I go into her room, she announces that she has pretty pigtails, which are really two gigantic knots on either side of her head. Great.

6:50 a.m.    Spend at least 5 minutes arguing with a 2-year-old about why she does, in fact, have to wear pants to daycare because, among other things, it’s 40° outside. I switch gears and tackle the knots, thinking this will distract her from the pants issue. Wrong. So wrong. She might win the award for the earliest tantrum of the day.

7:35 a.m.   Olivia decides pants are acceptable and we’re out the door, but only after pulling out every winter hat before we found one that wasn’t itchy, too small, or “scary.” I realize halfway to daycare that, while I made sure to grab all of Olivia’s stuff, I walked out of the house with no coffee, no breakfast, and no lunch. Awesome. Guess it’s a McDonald’s morning, because our Starbucks doesn’t have a drive thru and I have no patience left to get out of the car.

8:40 a.m.    Make it to work and jump right in. I don’t have a single meeting all day, which is a minor miracle. I may actually get some stuff crossed off my list today, woo hoo! Blah blah blah work. For lunch, I run down to the cafe to get a Reuben and scarf it down at my desk while editing some copy. Blah blah more work.

5:05 p.m.    I’m out! Have to stop at the dry cleaners on the way home to pick up our clothes, which puts me a bit behind.

6:15 p.m.    Walk in the door and immediately get tackled by a blur of pink and pigtails. I throw my stuff down, kiss my hellos, then it’s time to throw dinner together. Luckily, my husband is awesome and he’s already started prepping. I write out the menu for the week every Sunday on a chalkboard in our kitchen so there’s never a question as to what is for dinner- this also helps me shop smart and only buy what I need. Tonight it’s pork tacos – YUM! We’re able to sit down to eat at 6:45 p.m., just 15 minutes behind our normal schedule. I’m so thankful tonight isn’t my Pilates class, so I get a few minutes to play with Olivia, color, and snuggle instead of rushing out the door.

7:30 p.m.    Bedtime for bonzo! We troop upstairs to brush teeth, take vitamins, and wrestle our little fish into a clean diaper and jammies. If possible, my husband and I always tag team bedtime to make it go faster. We do bath time every other night to help Olivia’s eczema, so we get lucky tonight (no bath!). Time for a quick bedtime story. Thank you, Sandra Boynton, for your super short books, but you will have to explain to me why the animals take a bath, put on pajamas. . . and then go work out. Makes no sense.

8:50 p.m.    Dishes are done, lunches are packed, laundry is in. Ahhhhhhh . . . I get to sit down! With wine!! I spend the next hour and a half checking e-mail, catching up on Facebook/Twitter, doing blog research, writing, watching the last episode of New Girl, etc.

10:30 p.m.  I climb into bed fully intending to be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

11:25 p.m.    Damn you Daily Show. Better turn off the TV so I have half a prayer of getting up on time tomorrow.

I never have time to go get or give myself a manicure. So it wasn’t surprising that I cringed when I looked down at my hands while on our way to a wedding a couple of weeks ago. I knew I wouldn’t have time to do anything about my nails once we got to the hotel, so my only chance was to try and give myself a mani in the car. . . while going 75 mph down the interstate. Now before you freak out, no, I wasn’t the one driving. But still, I have a hard enough time painting my nails sitting on a completely stationary couch, let alone while hitting a pothole every few minutes.

We stopped at a Walgreens so I could pick up some polish, and I decided to give the Sally Hansen Color Quick Pen a shot. I had seen them before and was pretty skeptical about how well it would actually work. But I figured I would be far less likely to get polish all over the car if it was contained in a spill-proof tube instead of an open bottle. Much to my surprise, it worked really well!

All you have to do to get started is shake the pen and click the top a few times to get the polish going and then start painting.

Overall, I felt like I had more control over the brush, which is saying something considering I was in a moving car. Plus, the polish dried super fast. I don’t think I will use these pens all the time simply because the color selection is a little safe and limited, but if you need to polish in a pinch (or on the go), they are fabulous!