Trend Watch

Think Pink

Some trends are good (think boomerang lunches at our kids' schools). Some trends are pure evil (think leggings on anyone older than six). My favourite type of trend is one that benefits the consumer and also benefits a good cause.

This is a great month for such trends. It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and marketers are pulling out all stops to not only tug at our proverbial heartstrings, but also open our wallets. The Pink Ribbon has become an international symbol of hope and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.

Certain manufacturers, organizations and corporations have joined in the fight to raise awareness and support on-going breast cancer research, by partnering with breast cancer organizations, and developing or marketing items that are specially designed to denote the color pink. Products vary from small appliances, kitchen gadgets, mugs, pins, caps and other various items.

From the sale of these items, a portion is donated to a breast cancer information and resource or research organization, or to a national or private cancer foundation. The main goal of the campaign is to continue the research with the hope of finding a cure for breast cancer.

My mother will buy almost anything with a pink ribbon on it. She's shopped for pink cashmere sweaters at Holt Renfew, bought my sisters and I matching Clinique Buttershine limited edition pink lipsticks and purchased t-shirts for herself.

One of my favourite pink ribbon items this season is Cashmere bathroom tissue's couture collection of gorgeous gowns designed by some of Canada's top designers and created out of toilet paper. This year's collection features Pink Cashmere, the first coloured toilet paper introduced in Canada in over a decade.

During the month of October, post a message about your favourite pink ribbon item, or e-mail me directly at jennifer.hicks@rogers.com to have me feature the product in a future column. Watch for more ways to make a cool purchase and help find a cure for cancer.

My Virtual Running Partner

When I got back into running just over a year ago and decided to tackle a 10k training program, I did it with a friend. Jen got injured before our big race, but we kept one another motivated during that clinic.

A few months later, my friend Heather convinced me to train for a half-marathon with her. Although Heather got a knee injury and couldn't compete in the May race, I know there's no way I would have made it through some of those longer winter runs without her.

This says a couple of things about me. First, I'm obviously very bad luck for my training partners. Second, I'm very weak-willed, and unlikely to maintain a regular running schedule all on my own.

A couple of months ago, a friend gave me a Nike+ SportBand and it has changed the way I run.

This amazing device lets me monitor my distance, pace, time and calories burned during my runs. With a sensor that I attach to my shoe and Nike+ SportBand on my wrist, I'm motivated to get out there and track my runs.

At the end of the run, I unplug the black part from the band and plug it into my computer, and it downloads all my data and keeps me honest. The Nike+ website is very cool if you like online motivation. There are all sorts of challenges you can join to push you out of the door and on August 31, I took part in a worldwide Nike+ only event. The sportband was a great way to gain entry to the event, and, at about $80, it's also got to be one of the least expensive speed and distance monitors on the market.

I miss the companionship and conversation of Jen and Heather on my longer runs, but at least I don't have to worry about my bad luck hurting my new running companion. It just needs to be recharged every once in a while!

For Ladies Who Lunch...

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about some new trends in lunch bags for the kids, but while researching I found a lot of bags more suited to moms.

If you need to pack a lunch, you might as well do it in something other than an old liquor store bag a plastic grocery bag . There are enough choices out there to let you look classier than that without breaking the budget.

This little gem from Canadian Tire will brighten up your day and keep your lunch hot or cold and at $8.99, you'll be able to pack it with caviar should you desire!

Not so long ago, my mom bought me my lunch bag, and it's discrete enough not to scream "brown bagger" while still being very functional. Buy the basic black for everyday, and the fun green for days that need brightening. Available at The Bay for $15.00.

If you're cross-border shopping, or shopping online for a way to tote your sandwich in style this fall, look at this trendy design from Target. I love the description of being able to bring your lunch in its own wetsuit, and with this stylish bag you won't have to go "diving" for your lunch.

So there are some lunch bag suggestions. Now does anyone have suggestions for me on what to put in my lunchbag?

Let's Do Lunch

You've got the back-to-school haircuts taken care of, the first day of school outfits are laid out, and now you've got a couple of days left to plan for the dreaded packed lunch.

Between nut allergies banning peanuts from schools, e-coli conerns having us think twice about the fruit we're eating, and listeriosis turning us all off of coldcuts, I can't help you with what goes into those lunch boxes, but let me give you some ideas for what to pack it in!

The hottest trend in lunch boxes this year is reduce and reuse. At my sons' school, kids are asked to bring a litter-free lunch. Other schools are instituting "boomerang lunches", where anything not consumed goes back home. This means that the eco-friendly lunchbox is everywhere.

There's no need to beak the bank, but if you're interested in the Rolls-Royce of lunch boxes this season, take a look at the Laptop Lunch Kit.

It's functional, reusable and fun, and this lunch kit lets you pack a homemade, low-waste meals for your kids using a very cool setup that includes a thermal, zippered bag, a large snap-shut tray, five microwave safe food containers and a sport bottle. The whole kit and kaboodle runs just under $40 (including a recipe book with great school lunch ideas) and can be ordered online at Indigo.

LLBean's lunch box is a steal coming in under $15.

I love this one because of the great selection of fun colours and designs to choose from; your kid can personalize his or her look. The lunch box is sturdy enough to protect your fruit from bruising and cookies from crumbling. To keep everything cool, there's an internal mesh pocked sized to hold a cold pack (not included). It's large enough to accommodate even your hungry tween's lunch, but small enough to squeeze into a messenger bag.

The Lunch & Go Series by Aladdin is right in the middle price-wise.

It's about $20 and has a sleek and futuristic look. Following the eco-friendly trend, it is reusable. This one does come with its own removable icepack, snaptight latches which make it leak-resistant, and a crushproof design. This product made by Aladdin is available at hardware stores, Walmart and Kmart across the country.

Whichever lunch box you choose, be sure to label it well and wash it often. Bon appetit!

On the Radio

It all started simply enough...in early May my husband brought home a new family car. Bill works for Volkswagen, and we're a VW family. My last three cars have all been Passat wagons, and while I LOVE them, one has pretty much been a replica of the other. This latest was a little different. There are always fun bells and whistles with a new car, but this one came with something to which I took an immediate shine...satellite radio and a three-month free trial subscription.

Satellite radio's not something I'd ever looked into, or even considered. It seemed like it would be one more unnecessary expense every month. However, once it was there in my car, I wondered quickly how I ever lived without it. Driving downtown became much more enjoyable when I could listen to new singers and songwriters on the Coffee House (channel 30), or relive my youth with some Classic Alternative on channel 22. There are even channels devoted just to kids. Whatever my mood, I could find a station that catered to me at that moment. The bonus? No dj chatter and no commercials.

Our first road trip with satellite radio was a treat. Hours and hours in the car, and the boys couldn't get enough of the sports talk on ESPN Radio, while I enjoyed listening to an entire Springsteen concert from 1985...the summer I discovered him myself! I wondered why Bill was offering to run errands on weekends, until I got into my car after one of those errands, and found my satellite radio tuned to Howard Stern.

This summer we've brought satellite radio into our home, with the SIRIUS Stiletto 2. It combines satellite radio with an MP3 player in a portable unit. This little baby lets me store all sorts of content in a number of ways. My favourite is when I hear a song I "LOVE", I can hit a single button to store it, and listen to it later (again and again). I can also set up scheduled recordings to capture up to 100 hours of favourite SIRIUS shows or programs. Since SIRIUS is the official satellite radio partner of the CFL, NFL, NASCAR and NBA, chances are there's some live sporting event to listen to at any given time!

Cruising around cottage country last weekend (ever try to get radio reception driving through the precambrian shield??) I was feeling smug as I enjoyed my music...until it stopped. Turns out my three-month trial subscription had ended very abruptly. Now that I'm hooked on SIRIUS, that $14.99 a month seems like such a bargain!

Skirting the Issue

There's a revolution going on in the running world and it's about who wears the pants...or rather who doesn't. I first noticed it at the start line of my first 10K race last fall...women running in skirts. I looked at those first skirt-clad runners with disdain. As a newbie suffering from a little insecurity, I felt they couldn't be serious runners if they were more concerned with fashion than athleticism.

Boy, was I wrong. Skirts first came onto the sporting scene in early 2005, when pro triathlete Nicole DeBoom launched SkirtSports. "Skirts are an attitude and emotional trend," says DeBoom. Not to mention big business...SkirtSports sales were $1.4 million last year. All the big athletic apparel companies now have running skirts in their line. New Balance's topselling women's "bottom" is a skirt (above any of their shorts capris and pants).

Running skirts now have events of their own, including the Skirt Chaser 5K at cities across the United States (though I haven't seen one north of the border yet).

When considering whether to jump on this trend, be clear that while running skirts are definitely cool, their cousin the skort (a loose pair of shorts with a panel of fabric over the front) is the much less cool fashion relative and should be left to the six-year old set.

With a few more races under my belt, I felt more confident and decided to try a running skirt on for size. I've bought two now and absolutely love them. Running skirts offer the best of both worlds; comfortable short shorts underneath for easy movement (and the elimination of much crotch bunching-up) and the modesty afforded by the skirt. Speaking of modesty, that's not me on the right, but an example of what's under some skirts.

I sincerely feel that a woman is more powerful when she feels pretty, whether at home, in the office or on the trails. I'm not ready to throw out all my tried and true running shorts and capris, but I do find myself reaching for my running skirt more and more.

Talk to the Palm

We're just days away from the launch of the iPhone in Canada, and the media buzz may have you thinking that it's the only smartphone in town. However, I've spent the last couple of weeks playing with the Palm Centro, which launched to much less fanfare last month in Canada, and I'm willing to say you'd get more bang for your buck with this baby.

The Centro is Palm’s smallest and lightest smartphone and has sold more than one million units worldwide. It will fit into the smallest clutch, but has a complete (and useable!) keyboard.

I have used a Palm PDA in the past, and always appreciated how it kept my life organized with contacts, calendar and to-do lists all together. The Centro does all this, hot syncs to my home computer, but also allows me voice, email, text and web capabilities.

Picture me...sitting in my hairdresser's chair, checking e-mails, drafting a list of things to pack for our long weekend road trip, and playing solitaire. Talk about multitasking!!

Said road trip was much more enjoyable with the Centro. The built-in camera (1.3 megapixels with 2x digital zoom) gave my three-year old daughter something to do while her brothers played on their Nintendo DS. The photo on the left shows her view of the roadtrip.Then she found the stylus and the photo below shows her creativity on a photo of her brother...

I've used the Palm Centro to send a grocery list to my husband by e-mail, to record the name and artist of a song I heard on the radio, to search for the closest Starbucks while driving through Quebec, and to get play-by-play instant messaging from my sister on history's longest Wimbledon final (while enduring history's longest drive home). Every day that I've used my Palm Centro, I've come up with another idea of how it can help me. They don't call it a smartphone for nothing!

The cobalt blue Palm Centro smartphone is available now for $199.99 with any three-year voice and data plan renewal with minimum $45 monthly service fee for existing Rogers Wireless customers. New customers can purchase the Palm Centro for $299.99 with any three-year voice and data plan activation.

The Finish Line

I recently finished my first half marathon. Those are words I never expected to be able to write. What surprises me most about the sentence is that I included the word "first", thereby indicating that there will be a second, third and fourth race in my lifetime.

I shared my training with a friend and fellow urbanmom, and since the run I've had many friends ask about my race, and comment about their upcoming marathon, 10K race, triathlon, etc. Running is not a new trend, but training for (what I consider significant) races seems to be gaining in popularity among the mothers I've been talking to, and I think I've figured out the appeal.

For weeks after the completion of my race I was on what I first attributed to "a runner's high". I had such a sense of achievement and strength that I felt I could take on the world. Reflection has made me realize that this "high" is not a result of the completion of 21 kilometers of running, but the fact that six months ago I set a goal for myself and on May 11 I met that goal.

As wives, mothers, employees, and women we face challenges every day, and most often each evening we're left feeling that we did the best we could in spite of circumstances beyond our control.

I think as I struggle with a toddler who is ambivalent about toilet training, bang my head against the wall while I coerce my nine-year son to do his homework, and try to work with the deadbeats on my various committees at work; it's a huge sense of relief to know there's a goal out there over which I am ultimately omnipotent..

That's why I'll aim for another finish line this Fall, and I think that's the appeal of these races to the women I know.

What's in Your Bottle?

I'm not quite sure how I could write about trends these days without mentioning Bisphenol A...it's all over the news and everyone's talking about it. Is it really a health risk? Any tips for living a BPA-free life?

First, some background. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a central component in polycarbonate plastics that has been used for ages in the linings of canned products, in plastic water and baby bottles and in other plastic products. Now scientific experts have warned that unsafe levels of BPA, leaching into our canned foods and bottled drinks, pose a significant health hazard.

The problem arises in that BPA is a class of chemicals known as endocrine-disruptors, which mimic estrogen. These chemicals can duplicate, block or exaggerate hormonal responses that control development of the brain, the reproductive system and other functions.  Recently, experts have come out to say that BPA may alter genes and turn them on and off at  inappropriate times. 

I started to take notice when I began to hear on the news and read in the papers that BPA may be linked to the contemporary increases in breast cancer, prostate cancer, Type 2 diabetes, early onset of puberty in girls, obesity, and neuro-behavioural problems such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. Scary enough for you?

The Canadian government has recently weighed in, and our country is the first in the world to complete a risk assessment of BPA in consultation with industry and other stakeholders, and to initiate a 60 day public comment period on whether to ban the importation, sale and advertising of polycarbonate baby bottles which contain BPA.

All well and good, but in the meantime, what can you do to lessen your family's exposure to BPA? Here are a few tips to get you started...

Use a metal or glass water bottle

I recently purchased SIGG water bottles for my two-year old daughter and I, to replace the plastic water bottles we were both sipping from all day long.  SIGG's a Swiss company that has been making aluminum bottles for a hundred years. They started with a simple hiker's bottle, and today you can buy all sorts of great products . I love mine because I know it's a safer alternative and my daughter loves hers because it's bright and has Dora dancing around on it.

Find out where to buy SIGG products near you at www.northern-spirit.ca.

Tweeze and Thank You

Have you ever come across something so amazingly, mind-blowingly awesome that you want to tell everyone about it? Have you dished with the woman who gives you a manicure about the fantastic fat-free cookies you've just found? Have you told all the moms in the schoolyard about the new cleaning product that's saving you precious minutes every morning?

This column's all about the tips and trends that we as urban moms share over coffee, when out for drinks, waiting in the pediatrician's office or while we're stretching in our yoga classes.

I'll write about the hottest new consumer products I can find, and offer advice on whether this new trend is something you can't live without...or something you can leave on the shelf. I'll also write about societal fads or crazes I've observed and how they may impact our daily lives.

First off, a little glimpse into my week. My days are a little nutty as I work full-time outside my home and have three young children. I am very fortunate to have supportive family and friends, and great childcare and schools, so most of my days run fairly smoothly. Every now and then, the smallest thing can crop out from out of nowhere and life's not so smooth anymore. Sometimes it's the smallest thing in the form of a splinter.

I got a call on Monday around lunchtime (I was in a store change room trying on a suit for a work function that I needed to attend the following evening...I do love a shopping challenge!). My six year-old son was sitting in the principal's office with a very large splinter in his right thumb. The poor school secretary was very sympathetic; she thought she could get it out, but School Board policy deemed the removal of splinters an "invasive procedure" that could not be carried out without parental presence (as an aside, let me just say that the School Board's definition of invasive procedures and my own differ spectacularly).

You might think I'd be upset by this turn of events, but in fact I was quite excited to try out one of my latest acquisitions, my Tweezerman point tweezers. I've been a fan of Tweezerman slant tweezers for a while...you can't beat a product that offers not only a lifetime guarantee, but also free sharpening for life! A friend had given me a pair of the point tweezers a couple of months ago, but I hadn't had an occasion to use them yet.

Very carefully, I pulled them out of their protective cap (these babies are sharp!) and went to work. Before my son could finish his sentence (which, incidentally was, "Mommy, it's going to hurt...can't we wait until tomorrow?") the splinter was out. 

Sometimes all it takes is the right tool to make you feel like Supermom! It doesn't hurt when said tool comes in fun fashion colours and patterns. I've got my eye on the limited edition Swarovski crystal decorated tweezers that Tweezerman's just come out with, but in the meantime, I feel very well-prepared for any brow or splinter emergency!

Buy your own Tweezerman products at most department and drugstores or online at www.tweezerman.com.