Etsy – I know we’ve all heard of Etsy and I’m sure be now, we’ve all purchased something or another from Etsy. In my case I’ve purchased rice packs, cat toys, and bath products. For the past couple of days, I’ve been drawn to handmade stamps, logos, and some giclee wall hangings and notecards. You better believe I’ll be sending my friends to Etsy for birthdays ideas next month.

Norton Simon Museum – I’ve driven past this museum in Pasadena for 8 or so years now. It took an “assignment” of an artist date to get me to finally visit. Wow, I had NO idea! They have a collection of over 100 Degas – statues, pastels, oils, etc. They also have a lovely collection of Henry Moore statues. My favorite part of the museum…that you can right up close to the art. More details (and photos) to come in a post about my artist date.

HauteLook* – Recently, I’ve been inundated with invitations to online sample sales. For the most part, I never really paid them all that much attention. Until HauteLook that is. I’ve purchase make up, pet toys, and Rume (my favorite) bags. All at a great discount. I’ve also been eying quite a few purses and some gorgeous jewelry, but I’ve been reining myself in.

Brizzly – I spend quite a bit of time online and being active in various social networking avenues (it’s what I teach, afterall). Out of the various Twitter applications out there, my favorite desktop (non-phone) app by far is Brizzly. They’ve got a great interface. Since they run IN the browser, they’re not a system hog. But my favorite tool by far…they open up the links, photos and videos so you can actually see where that shortened link goes. Love that.

Vermont Brownie Company – I saw these guys on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown and was intrigued by the Dark Chocolate Chevre. I love all things goat cheese, so I was totally wanting to give it a try. I have to admit, I’m not a cream cheese brownie fan and I feared that this chevre twist would taste similar. Not at all. It was good…all good. The Espresso Dulce de Leche was also very tasty. Come on their brownies, you can’t go wrong with any of the flavors.

* disclosure: this is an affiliate link and I can earn $10 for anyone that joins and makes a purchase.