Favorite Things

2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser - We got it September 4, 2007 and it is the most fun I've had with an automobile in a long time. Ours is the 4wd six speed model, which is absolutely necessary for our neck of the woods, and is Titanium in color. The FJ is one tough cookie, I call it my little tank. It handles great under off road conditions, and looks good doing it. It's compact exterior size makes is very maneuverable on our narrow mountain road, and the interior is much roomier than you'd expect looking at it from the outside. The interior has no carpet, which is great for where we live, and I think the dash has a very futuristic look to it. The FJ is able to tow 5,000 lbs., which allows us to haul water with it. It's designed to be very customizeable, and I've already got a fairly long list of accessories that I would love to have for it!

Acme Shopping Bags - Plastic bags are really bad for lots of reasons that you can learn about on this page at ReusableBags.com. In my opinion one of the worst things about plastic bags is how they wind up littering the landscape, caught in trees and shrubs, and the harm they do to wildlife. My best friend Jessica bought me a pair of Acme Shopping Bags and an Acme Workhorse Style bag for Christmas in 2007 and they rock! The Workhorse bag is so cool (it's the Transformer of shopping bags!) and it attracts lots of attention whenever I unfold it from it's tiny pouch in a store. Both of these bags are really heavy duty and can carry a whole lot more weight than a plastic or paper bag, so there are less bags which saves time loading and unloading your purchases. The large Acme Shopping Bags are so great because they stand up by themselves for easy bagging, they can be put in the washing machine when they get dirty, and they don't smell funny like many of the reusable bags on the market. They also have a handy outside pocket for magazines or other similar items that you don't want in with the groceries. In addition to saving the planet and some of your irreplaceable time, these babies will in many cases save you money as well. Most grocery stores now reward customers who bring their own bags, to the tune of .05 per bag. So each time I go to the store I save .15, and with an average of 3 trips a week that adds up to over $23 a year! I also have a couple of string bags that Jessica gave to me after they sent her the wrong color. I use these bags mostly for produce (great for farmer's market trips!) and for toting items on weekend outings. They look small but they hold an amazing amount of stuff!

Breville BKC600XL Single Serve Coffee Maker - This is the best coffee maker I've ever had! At first I was not sure about the whole "single serve" coffee concept, then as my honey and I got into different morning schedules and beverage preferences the idea became more and more interesting. This is not just a good looking machine, it's also very practical for our household. Everyone can have their perfect cup of coffee (or other hot beverage) whenever they want, without having to ask "do you want coffee?" so we don't make too much or not enough. The other thing I love about it is how fast it is. If the machine is heated up and ready to go, which is easily handled using the programmable on/off timer, you will have a freshly brewed hot beverage in about 30 seconds (depending on the brew size you selected). Another nice feature is that the water temperature is adjustable up to 192 degrees, which makes for a nice steamy cup. Using the included My K-Cup accessory you can use your own freshly ground coffee, and the machine will provide instant hot water for a cup of old fashioned tea-bag tea. Bye-bye pot of boiling water! Click here to read singleservecoffee.com's review of the Breville BKC600XL. There are lots of K-Cup coffees on the market, and we've been keeping track of all the ones we've tried. Click here for the pdf document of our K-Cup experiences, last updated May 18, 2008.

Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub 500 - Usually with a hard surface floor you have to vacuum or sweep before mopping, which always left me too worn out to actually get to the mopping. Thanks to the FloorMate I can get the job done way faster, all with one tool! The FloorMate vacuums, washes, and dries hard surface floors and I have to say it does all of those things very well. The first thing I noticed after using it the first time was how much cleaner the floor was than when I used a mop and bucket. The FloorMate vacuums up debris just as effectively as a standard vacuum, then the SpinScrub washing action cleans every last speck of dirt without scratching the finish, and then the wet pickup vacuum action dries the floor. If you have hard surface floors, you need a FloorMate. This is absolutely the best hard surface floor cleaner ever!

HP Laptops - There are two of them in our household now and we love them! The HP laptops are powerful enough for my honey and his visual effects endeavors, and they come in several different sizes that fit any application. Mine is a couple of years old now, a Pavilion dv4000, but it is still the best laptop I've ever had - and I've had six or seven of them now. I've lost track. Pete got a new dv9000 last year and, aside from some issues with Windows Vista, he has been very happy with the laptop itself.

KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer - This is a wonderful, multi-use appliance for any cook's kitchen. My honey bought this for me when we moved to the country, I guess he figured I'd have lots of time to make things for him! You can mix up a double batch of cookie dough in minutes, make super smooth mashed potatoes, and making bread dough is effortless with the powerful stand mixer. With all of the attachments that are available you can make home made pasta, ice cream, and so much more. There are lots of cookbooks that will help you get started with the mixer, a good one to get started with is the KitchenAid Great Baking and More book. All of the KitchenAid mixers are available in lots of colors to match any decor, mine happens to be Empire Red.

Samsung L830 8.1 megapixel digital camera - My honey bought this for me for Christmas '07. Our previous digital camera was 2 megapixels and had served us well for many years (about five or six I think). It was however time for an upgrade and I am very happy with the camera he picked out for me. It is super small, much smaller than the previous camera, even with four times the pixel value. It is amazing how stuff keeps getting smaller, I love that! The Samsung digital camera has a great lens, nice zoom technology, and a very large image screen. The pictures are great, colors are very true, and I like how the buttons are set up on it. The zoom uses a toggle that is conveniently placed in comparison to our previous digital camera. Oh, and did I mention it comes in colors? Mine is red.

Sansa Clip MP3 player - I love technology that comes in small packages! This little cutie was a gift from my mom for my birthday in '07. It holds 2 gigs of music, about 12 hours of your favorite commercial free music. It also comes in colors, mine is red-hot red, and is very affordable at about $60. The FJ came with an audio accessory jack so all I have to do is plug in the Clip to listen to my personal jukebox in the Cruiser. Very cool!

Shark Cordless 15.6V Hand Vacuum - With 7 cats around the house things can get a little hairy. Thanks to my Shark hand vac daily messes are easy to handle. The two reasons I bought this model were the powerful 15.6V motor and the motorized detachable brush attachment. The motorized brush attachment is great for picking up pet hair, and the strong suction makes short work of any job. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts me about three days before needing to be recharged, and that's using the vacuum every morning for about 6 - 10 minutes. It's important to completely drain the battery before recharging, just leave it on until it dies before plugging it in. Charge time is about 20 hours, which is fine for me because it's always ready by the next morning when I need it again. I dump the dust cup and clean off the permanent filter when the vac is recharging, that way I remember to do it and the vac always has maximum suction. The Shark was the most expensive of the hand vacs available where I got mine, but it has performed very well and I'm glad I spent the extra money on it.

Skullcandy headphones - My honey bought these for me for my birthday in '07, just after I'd gotten the MP3 player. Regardless of what some reviews say, I think they sound really good for their size and I have not had a problem with how they fit on my head. Plus they're super cute - in red with skulls on them!

Sleep Number Bed - We bought our California king sized Sleep Number bed model 7000 in November of 2006 after visiting a Sleep Number bed store. Yes, it costs more money up front than a regular mattress does but it is worth every penny. Over your lifetime you will probably save money, since the Sleep Number bed will not have to be replaced every 5 or so years like a regular mattress. The adjustable firmness is what sold us. My honey is a foot taller than me and about twice my weight, so it was impossible for us to agree on a regular mattress. The Sleep Number bed has resolved all of our sleeping issues, and we both sleep great every single night. My Sleep Number is 25 - 30, and Pete's is 65 - 90. This is the best mattress ever!

Verizon Wireless - We have been with Verizon for over four years now and they are the best cellular service provider that I have ever used. Their customer service is very good; they have always been nice and done whatever they could to resolve any problem we have had. The most important part is that they have the best network coverage. Our phones even work at our house!

More to come as I have time...