Are you ready for the breastfeeding baby doll?

You may have heard about this doll by now... so much controversy has been swirling around the Breast Milk Baby already... the breastfeeding doll whose suckling sounds are prompted by sensors sewn into a halter top that little girls wear.

Well now... it's 50% off... down from $89 to $44.50 just in time for the holiday season.

I first heard about it back in March when we here at Action News ran this story. And when the toy hit store shelves here in the U.S... the outcry was immediate. "I just want the kids to be kids," Bill O'Reilly said on his Fox News show when he learned of the Breast Milk Baby. "And this kind of stuff. We don't need this."

But in this Huffington Post article, Dennis Lewis, the U.S. representative for Berjuan Toys, the family-owned, 40-year-old doll maker in Spain says, "We've had a lot of support from lots of breastfeeding organizations, lots of mothers, lots of educators," and he can't understand why it's been so difficult to get the dolls onto mainstream shelves more than a year after introducing the line in this country.   As a mother of a little girl, I'm honestly not sure what to think. On one hand, I embraced breastfeeding with both of my children, and advocate it to any new mom who will listen. So a doll like this would encourage girls to grow up thinking breastfeeding is normal and natural. But I also feel like breastfeeding is an adult function of our bodies, and don't necessarily think it's age-appropriate for young girls to be imitating that behavior. Sure we think it's cute when our daughters "cook" in their play kitchens and "vaccuum" their rooms... and even "bottle-,feed" their babies... but for some reason, there's something a little disturbing about my 6-year-old "nursing" her doll.  

This reminds me of my daughter Sydney. One day, not too long after my son was born, I came home from work to find Sydney sticking out her chest and proclaiming she was, "Just like mommy!" My 3-year-old had inserted teacups into her shirt and called them "nipples" so she could feed her babies. I wanted to laugh, but she was so proud of herself. Obviously she had seen me breastfeeding her little brother, and like many little girls, wanted to imitate her mommy. Little did I know there was a doll that did just that. She's since outgrown the baby doll phase, but I'm still pondering... would any of you buy this doll for your daughter?

Election Day Freebies

Voting is a right and a privilege... and if you do vote today... you can have your cake and eat it too!

One of my favorite Fresno cupcake places Frosted Cakery just posted in a Facebook update: show your "I Voted" sticker to receive a FREE I Voted Mini Cupcake from Frosted Cakery! They'll be open until 8, when polls close. For those absentee voters, including myself, who didn't get a sticker, the owner says: "if you have a stub or anything that shows you voted we will accept it!"

Apparently several other companies want to provide incentive for Americans to exercise their civic duty as well. Boston Market, Blockbuster, and Starbucks are all giving out freebies on this Election Day. For details, you can go to the Election Day Freebies website. Happy Voting!!!

My Trader Joe's Obession

So I know I'm late to the party, but I'm starting to understand shoppers' fanaticism over Trader Joe's products. There's one down the street from my house but I rarely went. Aside from their hummus and "Two Buck Chuck" wine, I figured I wasn't missing much. I didn't know how wrong I was

But then I tried their Belgian Waffles. And I saw the light. I've never had a lighter, crispier, more delicious store-bought waffle. $1.99 gets you a box of four. 50 cents for a piece of breakfast heaven. The only other place that comes close is a local breakfast joint I frequent here in Fresno, and only if I specifically ask them to make it extra crispy.

So now I'm that person, who fills up her cart with four boxes at a time. I've even resorted to stalking the store when they're out. It was a miserable waffle-less month for me. So my kids were forced to eat Eggos... which forced me to find another delicious breakfast options from... Trader Joe's, of course: Frozen Chocolate Croissants! Huffington Post family blogger Julie Tilsner even blogged about these puppies. Her experience pretty much sums up mine.

WOW.  Possibly the flakiest, tastiest, butteriest, chocolatiest croissant I've ever had. So flaky, you'll be wearing it all over your clothes after breakfast. As the box suggests, there's some forethought involved. You need to put them on a baking sheet the night before to let them rise, then stick them in the oven for 20 minutes the next day. While getting the kids ready, the house fills with THAT smell... you'll swear you've been transported to a little cafe in Paris. They have 18 grams of fat  IN EACH CROISSANT---but who cares when you're nibbling on such a delicious morsel?

Then there's their $3.99 tub of Fat Free Frozen Vanilla Greek Yogurt. My family lives off of smoothies for our morning serving of fruit... a scoop of this in the blender adds the creaminess without the fat. Plus we're getting some of that protein that greek yogurt is praised for.

My obsession isn't limited to just their breakfast options. It's just that with two school-aged kids and two working parents, I'm always on the lookout for fast and tasty morning shortcuts. But Trader Joe's fans are well aware of their other cult favorites like their seasonal offerings... including pumpkin flavored everything... from pumpkin pancake mix to pumpkin butter.

But as a Korean American... I'm also always on the lookout for Korean food shortcuts. I swear someone at Trader Joe's has got to be a brother from another mother. Not only do that have edamame, bulgogi and kimchi fried rice but they've also got wasabi flavored seaweed! I lived off of roasted seaweed snacks in college. A 99 cent pack plus some sticky rice = a meal for a poor student sick of ramen. And now one of my favorite Korean snacks comes with a kick of wasabi. I'm smitten.

Anyhow, for those of you reading this who are already TJ shoppers, none of this is news to you. So thanks for indulging all my newfound wonder. You're all just nodding your heads knowingly... because you've all gone through this falling in love stage. I'd love to hear about your favorites you can't live without. I'll see you in the aisles, reusable bags in hand.  

The Tooth Fairy is in a Giving Mood

Remember when the "tooth fairy" gave a quarter for a lost tooth? Well, that's not even 1/4 of what a tooth these days is worth!

A new servey by credit card company Visa found the “tooth fairy” gave $3 per tooth on average to children this year, up 15 percent from last year. At this rate, my daughter's little mouth will earn her $60! WOW! And that's on the low end. I talked to a couple girlfriends, who give $5 per tooth.

"How do you know how much to give?" I asked them. Well, here's a fun little app where you can calculate what the tooth fairy should give, based on the parents' age, education, income, etc.

Do you have any fun stories or traditions when it comes to the tooth fairy? My oldest isn't quite six years old, so she still has yet to go through this rite of passage. But I want to prepared and properly funded LOL.

Cooking on Empty

As the consumer reporter for my station, I have a subscription to Consumer Reports Shopsmart magazine. In it, are great tips on being a savvy, frugal shopper. But a recent article in the Sept 2012 issue about turning the last bits of food in jars, bottles and bags into delicious dishes caught my eye.

I think it's because we've all been there, trying to scrape as much peanut butter as possible from the sides of an empty jar before getting frustrated and throwing it away.

Here are some great ideas:

-Microwave the sticky stuff. For example, nuke the almost-empty jar of peanut butter for a few seconds to soften it, then add soy sauce, giner, garlic, vegetable oil, then shake it up to make an Asian marinade or salad dressing. Same goes for honey.

-Recycle olive and pickle juice: the brine can be substituted for the vinegar in a vinaigrette. Or slice pickles and add to the juice and let it sit for a few hours to make your own pickles.

-Ketchup, mayor or mustard: add a splash of cider vinegar and shake up the bottle then mix with barbecue sauce for a marinade.

-Wine: mix with a little olive oil to braise veggies or sprinkle on fish

-Crumbs: pretzel and chip slivers can make a great breading for chicken or fish. Cookie crumbs make good piecrusts.

-Stale bread: Make croutons or bread pudding. 

One step forward or two steps back?

(Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images)

Marissa Mayer was just named Yahoo's new CEO. The working woman in me says, "YAY! A female in a high-profile, powerful position is a great role model for us." Then I learned in an article today, she's 7 months pregnant. And again I say, "YAY! A high-profile, powerful woman balancing work AND family is even better!"

The article goes on to say Mayer's pregnancy was not an issue to the company's board:
"Yahoo's decision reflects a change in a business environment once inhospitable to mothers and women expecting children."

"Imagine that," I thought, "Mayer is shaking things up inside Silicon Valley's boys club." TechCrunch says Mayer may be "the first ever pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 tech company" and calls the announcement "trailblazing."

But then I read on to see that Mayer plans on working through her maternity leave and returning to the office a few short weeks of having her son. UGH. No. How is this progress? As any new mother knows, maternity is an essential time to bond with your baby, enjoy your baby, and figure out how to be a mother. Things like breastfeeding, sleep training, and diaper changing don't always come naturally to us, as some might believe. So to cut this time short, is to short-change herself and her baby. Yet she obviously feels enormous pressure to hit the ground running and prove to her new bosses that indeed, as they stated, pregnancy isn't a factor. But it is! It changes everything. And we working moms need someone to publicly acknowledge that. Not treat it is a side diversion, a mere bump in the road.

Which brings me to Annie-Marie Slaughter's piece in The Atlantic: "Why Women Can't Have it All." In it she writes:
"It’s time to stop fooling ourselves, says a woman who left a position of power: the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed. "

I'm none of the above. It's a devastating realization LOL. But in all seriousness, as I get older, I am realizing there is no such thing as having it all. In my 20's I looked up to careerwomen like myself who seemed to have achieved a perfect work-life balance. But now that I'm in their shoes, I know that we are always making sacrifices. A year into my promotion, I relish a more high-profile position and normal 9 to 5 schedule. But during the week my kids are being raised by everyone else but me. The guilt is constant. I used to look at SAHMs and think, that's definitely not for me. But now I eye them wistfully, wishing I could be the one accompanying my daughter to field trips and teaching my son how to count to 100.

I wish Marissa Mayer the best of luck, and I want to see her succeed in her new role. I want her to have it all. But I want her to succeed as a mother too. She may not be self-employed, but she's probably superhuman and above all, rich... so she already has an edge over me.

An all-in-one Miracle Cream? Sign me up!

Apparently I am not privy to my overseas sisters' beauty secrets. I just heard about "BB (blemish balm) Creams" which have long been "the secret of Korean actresses." Hmph! I KNEW they weren't born with that flawless porcelain skin!

Obviously I was intrigued by the idea of its "multi-tasking" all-in-one properties — moisturizer, primer, foundation, and sunblock all in one? If I can get that in a $30 bottle, I'm thinking about all the money I can save. No wonder the cream became a hit in Asia, especially in South Korea, where BB creams make up 13% of the cosmetics market. Most of these Asian versions aren't available in the U.S., but Missha BB Cream (a Korean Brand) is apparently great and they sell it online.

The American market is catching on. The Western formulas are a bit different from the brands that are popular in Korea — which tend to be a bit more opaque, with cooler undertones for that matte porcelain look. In the States, we like glowing-with-health skin, so our BB creams are more sheer, designed to give the complexion a radiant finish. They’re somewhere between tinted moisturizer and medium-coverage foundation.

I have yet to try any (I did just place an order for the Missha, as I am Asian), so I searched around for reviews of different products for your reading pleasure, if you're thinking of giving BB creams a try.

These reviews are from imabeautygeek.com

Boscia BB Cream ($46, Sephora): This one looks to titanium dioxide for SPF rather than chemical sunscreens, and contains skincare ingredients to moisturize, condition and protect skin against free radicals. It’s quite sheer, but just a tad too dark for me. Yes, at first I applied a bit too generously — a wee pea-size amount is about right. But it’s still too dark. Apparently another shade is in the works, but it’ll be a while before it comes out.


Marcelle BB Cream ($22.95, drugstores): This one does not have SPF. The company says their customer doesn’t put UV protection at the top of their ingredient list for foundation, so Marcelle skipped the sunscreen components so they could get the cream into stores quickly. But they’re definitely working on an SPF version with chemical sunscreens. That aside, the texture is creamy and easy to blend — probably something to do with all dimethicone in the formula, which also contains hyaluronic acid, glycerin, aloe and chamomile. This BB cream comes in two shades, Light to Medium (perfect for me) and Medium to Dark. As well, although sheer, it has decent coverage that evens out my skin without looking like makeup. (I put it on over a moisturizer with SPF.) I don’t buy the skin-improvement claims these things make — I look to my skincare regimen for that. But this Marcelle BB cream, with a bit of concealer where necessary and blot powder on top, helps my skin look and feel pretty good all day.

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream SPF 35 ($50, Sephora now) also delivers a semi-sheer finish in a creamy texture. It comes in four shades, Fair, Light, Medium and Dark. The Medium shade is best for me, but it was sold out so I tried Light — and was surprised. The formula is just sheer enough that it worked. But I still needed a teensy dab of concealer for shadows, and definitely over stupid hormonal blemishes.


My go-to since I got a sample to try is Estée Lauder Daywear BB Multi-Perfecting Beauty Benefit Cream SPF 35 ($45, department stores, February 2012), which comes in two shades. I like the finish so much better than when I use just concealer and blot powder on my oily skin; tinted moisturizer never really did it for me either. Now firmly part of my routine, the Light matches my skin, the creamy texture blends easily and blurs imperfections, and the finish lasts for hours. I add concealer under my eyes, around the base of my nose and over damnstupidhormonal blemishes, and top with a barely-there layer of MAC Blot Powder in Medium/Dark.


If you want super-sheer and a warm-glow boost, try Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream SPF 15 ($19.99, drugstores, February 2012). Very much like tinted moisturizer, comes in two golden-tone shades, Light/Medium and Medium/Dark. You’ll need concealer to boost coverage over dark circles and any redness around the base of the nose.


These reviews are from http://www.refinery29.com/

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream ($37, Macys): Clinique imported its wildly popular BB cream to the U.S., adding two new shades to the lineup, all featuring a host of skin-healthy ingredients. It wears more like a really fantastic moisturizer than a heavy foundation.

"I honestly haven’t used tinted moisturizer since high school, so this was basically a first for me. Back then, I was a regular fake-baker, so I could wear just tinted moisturizer on my face and nothing else (oh, to be young!). Nowadays, I don’t wear much face makeup — I just brush on some mineral powder.

I was definitely skeptical of using the cream at first because it’s much heavier than what I’m used to wearing, and I was worried about distributing it evenly. I ended up mixing it with my oil-free moisturizer, and it went on super-easy. I was pleasantly surprised by how it felt on – I don’t think I could wear it every day, but it made me feel much less “flawed,” if you will. The tint helped cover everything better (especially my giant pores – thanks Mom), and I probably could have gotten away with wearing just the BB cream combined with my moisturizer, and nothing else."


Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm SPF 45 PA+++ ($39, Sephora): One of the original balms to launch in the U.S., this prestige cream is already a hit in Asia and has been spotted gracing the faces of models backstage at Fashion Week. It has a slightly thicker, more balm-like consistency than the other creams we tried, but has tons of moisture and skin-healthy ingredients packed into its formula.

"Usually I wear Yes To Carrots moisturizer every day… and that's it. I'm a no-makeup kind of girl (with the obvious exception of bright lipstick) and I've never used a tinted moisturizer before. My skin is really dry, so I was skeptical that this would give me the hydration I needed, and doubly skeptical after seeing how dark the product when I first opened it. However, my fears of coming into the office looking like an Oompa Loompa were totally unfounded. The product went on very smoothly and needed very little blending — it seemed to absorb instantly.
As for the tint, it didn't look like I had anything on at all, which was perfect for me because I love my pale skin and was irrationally afraid that the cream would make me look too tan. I did notice that it evened out my skin tone and reduced redness in my cheeks, while still keeping my overall complexion just the way I like it. But, the biggest and best change I noticed was that my skin felt velvety soft all throughout the day, and it felt more hydrated than it has ever been before."

Result: "Honestly, there is nothing I disliked about this cream and, although I'm a bit attached to my Yes To moisturizer for being a natural product, I will definitely continue to use Dr. Jart+ regularly because of how it corrected my complexion and hydrated my skin like nothing else has, all without making me feel covered up. In fact, the first thing I did when I came into the office was tell our beauty editor that she'd have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands if she wanted it back. Suffice it to say, I liked this product so much I am willing to go super-cheesy and say this PA+++ gets an A+++ in my book."