jodi kendall

Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Light 2 Review

2012-05-26T13:05:00Z

Traveling with a little one requires a lot more baggage (and prep time!) than I realized before I became a parent. I have friends who have groaned about the heaviness/bulkiness of their travel cribs, and so when I heard about Baby Bjorn's lightweight travel crib, I couldn't wait to test it out. We brought it with us on our first getaway with Townes – to North Fork, Long Island – and here's how it went...

My Week in Five Sentences

2012-05-25T14:04:35Z

We watched fleet week's parade of ships sail down the Hudson...

Peg Perego Pliko Four Review

2012-05-24T21:22:00Z

The Pliko Four is a redesign of one of Peg Perego's most popular stroller models. A few things were addressed in this update – there's an improved suspension system making it 30% easier to push than the former version, it got a new bumper bar, and was revamped with a four-wheel (versus eight-wheel) design. So what'd I think when we took this stroller – marketed to "families on-the-go" – to the streets of New York City and beyond?

Favorite (Under-the-Radar!) Picture Books

2012-05-23T10:22:58Z

I bet most parents have a copy of Goodnight Moon, Olivia, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on the bookshelf. But there's so many wonderful picture books out there that just don't get as much attention.

I began my children's book collection about ten years ago, it magnified when I joined SCBWI, and now that I'm a mother, it's full-blown out of control. But I love picture books! Who cares that we have no shelf space! We started a routine of reading to Townes a few books a day when he's calm and alert. He coos and gu's along and stares at the pages and just takes it all in. Such a special, intimate bonding time for us, and I hope he grows to love reading as much as we do.

Here are just a few of my current, under-the-radar picture book favorites......

Recent Writing: Animals of the Americas

2012-05-22T22:32:01Z

I'm always excited when an animal writing project comes my way. Some of my recent writing work has gone live on the Untamed Americas website. I had a (very) minimal role on this site, but I'm so impressed with how it all turned out! There's so much to look at and play with. Click on the image above to link over and learn all sorts of fun facts about the wildlife that call the Americas home.

Untamed Americas

A Two-Night Miniseries Event

on the National Geographic Channel

SUN JUNE 10 & MON JUNE 11
9PM et/pt

Tempaper Transformation

2012-05-22T19:16:50Z

As renters, we don't have the luxury of making significant alternations to our living space. But I love wallpapered accent walls. So I was thrilled to learn about Tempaper Designs from one of the co-founders, Jennifer, and her husband (remember when we saw Warhorse with them at Lincoln Center?).

Soon after that night, we purchased this style and applied it to the wall behind our bed in our last apartment. Sort of a make-shift headboard. We recently moved into a new apartment, and I wanted to mix things up a bit in our living room. We aren't interior decorators, but if you'd like to see, I'll share with you the Tempaper design we picked out, how it was applied, and before and after pictures...

Cool Contemporary Furniture

2012-05-21T16:15:30Z

Yesterday I attended the International Contemporary Furniture Fair as a press guest of Stokke. The annual event is going on now through Tuesday, so if you're in the NYC area, I hope you swing by the Javits Center. The show is huge! There's so much to look at, from industrial light fixtures to paper honeycomb wall structures to odd-looking chairs. I had a lot of fun walking around and live-tweeting my favorite finds....