Frosting is the perfect, sweet mix of butter, sugar, and milk. A white butter cream slopped in gobs on top of a deep chocolate cupcake is enough to send any toddler screaming with delight, and her mother too for that matter.

The process of creating frosting is pure fun.

On one particular day, my little one became the frosting.

She unwrapped the butter quarters, plopped them into the mixer, and watched as the wire whip cut and creamed the hard butter into yellow fluff. She helped measure the sugar?well, she poured it into a measuring cup and purposefully made it overflow onto the counter. He eyes increased in size as she stuck her finger deep in the middle.

?Yum.? Can I do that again, Mommy? She grinned.

?We need to make sure we have enough for the frosting,? I said.

?Oh, okay.? She momentarily understood. Though, the overflowing sugar part of the process was especially wonderful, the final product would be ecstasy?if she could wait that long.

The butter, sugar, dash of vanilla, and milk spun in a dizzy dance. She leaned over the mixer and reported several times, ?I think it?s done.?

Each time I checked, her level of anticipation increased; she leaned into the mixer more, her knees dug into the counter, and her feet tapped the stool.

At last, the creamy treat was ready.

?MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!? She was frenetic. Heaven was within her grasp?inside a shiny, aluminum bowl. ?Can I please lick the bowl??

?Of course!? While I spread the frosting on top of the warm cupcakes, she sat on the stool with the bowl between her legs. Frosting covered her hair, her cheeks, her shirt, both legs, and some became toenail polish.

She officially became my cupcake.

To save this event for posterity I created the Simply Chickie t-shirt design?I am the frosting.

She is the frosting on my life.

  Filed under: Chick-ism, Uncategorized by  Gwen  3 Comments »

Newport, RI (August 19, 2009) ? Simply Chickie (www.SimplyChickieClothing.com), a line of 100% organic baby clothes and accessories has received The Baby Planners? Picks? Seal of Approval – an accolade program designed to help expectant parents prepare for their baby’s arrival with an exclusive list of products and services chosen based on quality, reliability, value and style.?

?We are so excited in having earned The Baby Planners Seal of Approval,? said Gwen Gardner, CEO & Founder of Simply Chickie.? ?This award is a testament to the quality of our product line and reaffirms our commitment in offering organic baby selections!”

Free of dyes and using only certified cotton grown in fields that are free of pesticides, Simply Chickie?s line of products are made in the U.S. and feature whimsical designs created by the CEO and Founder, Gwendolyn Gardner – who strives to capture the wonder of childhood by printing whimsical sayings and graphics on clothing that do not contribute to the pollution of our environment.

The line includes onesies, t-shirts, and hats in some of the following designs and motifs:

• I Toot Toot?
• I Am The Frosting?
• May Contain Peanut?
• I?m Well Bred?
• Inside Me ??

The eco-friendly line is offered for both girls and boys, with sizes ranging from 3 months to 6T.? Retail prices range from $14 – $24.

About The Baby Planners?

The Baby Planners? Picks? / Seal of Approval Program is an exclusive list of products and services that The Baby Planners endorse based on quality, reliability, value and style!

The Baby Planners showcase hundreds of product picks on their frequent television appearances, magazine features and online. They highlight everything from the tried and true, to the fabulously new and unique on such shows as Rachael Ray, Access Hollywood, KTLA?s Morning Show, iVillage and most recently on DisneyFamily.com.? Some of their top picks are also featured in Pregnancy Magazine, The Cradle, Tibesti, The Bump, and the Hot Moms Club where they are featured columnists and experts.

For more information on The Baby Planners and the Seal of Approval Program, visit www.TheBabyPlanners.com.

About Simply Chickie

Simply Chickie Clothing is a line of 100% organic baby clothes and accessories made in the U.S., and free of dyes and pesticides.

?The line was founded by Gwen Gardner, whose creative background and living in Japan, served as inspiration for the company. Gardner comes from a long line of artists and writers and is in fact, a direct descendent of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter.

?Visit www.SimplyChickieClothing.com for more product information and selections.

  Filed under: Press Release by  admin  4 Comments »

Playdate for mom: shopping and socializing
By Ami Albernaz
Globe Correspondent / June 4, 2009?

As Gloucester native Ann Andrew recalls, it didn’t take much for her to dream up Mommies Who Shop, the series of suburban shopping events and “play dates” for mothers that she launched two years ago. A former director of merchandising at the now-defunct Sigrid Olsen who’d left her job in 2004 to become a stay-at-home mom, Andrew – creative, affable, and with a finely honed sense of fashion – tapped into two of her big loves, socializing and shopping.

“I think of it as an upscale girl nights out,” says Andrew, 40, the mother of three boys. “I wanted it to feel intimate, to be something that women could dress up and head out with their girlfriends to, and maybe go out to dinner afterward. It’s like a happy hour with shopping.”

Some of the best-known shopping events for women are aimed primarily at the young and single. Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out parties and StyleFixx events, often held in Boston’s South End, gather local vendors and national labels, selling everything from Spanx to handbags to hair products in one traveling bazaar. Mommies Who Shop nights aren’t much different – except they’re held in the suburbs and most of the vendors sell hip goods for kids. Also available: a little grown-up time.

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My relationship theory goes like this?the distance a couple sits apart from each other in public has everything to do with how much they are ?together.?

If they are in the first phase?the lust phase, they use no less than four touch points:

–the shoulders,
–the hands,
–the hips.

Their feet are definitely kissing.

Don?t bother saying excuse me. Neither love bird will hear you.

Two touch points, the shoulders and the knees, mean they have entered the love phase.?They don?t know what?s happening or where they are going, but they enjoy every minute of their bliss.

?Both will acknowledge your presence, and they will smile simultaneously. Whatever conversation you choose to have with both or just one (good luck), optimism will rain down on you. You will believe that anything is possible?even the odd notion that toothpaste can be stuffed back into the tube.

?When a couple enters the comfort stage, they may not touch at all.?In fact, one may be talking to the bartender while the other one discusses politics with a stranger. Their eyes reveal though; there is a deep knowing.

You can have an in depth conversation with one of the members of the duo and come away enlightened?especially after the sharing of a good Tuscan wine. You will even know the best castle to visit while visiting Austria.

Questions have been answered by this couple. Eyelids blink slowly.?They?ve come upon a secret.

A ?together? feeling?a ?together? secret?no more performances are necessary.

  Filed under: Stuff that floats through this chick?s mind. by  Gwen  No Comments »

So much can be told from a guy?s shoes. They are what he stands in and stands for. Sneakers mean a guy is too casual, and that he works so much that he never contemplates the thought of going out on the town. He thinks he will meet his dream girl in the supermarket over the frozen food section or while picking up a pizza. A bar and the frozen food section are one and the same?it?s where one goes to pick up stuff at night.
Now, shoes that are too black and too shiny, means he?s narcissistic.
But, a nice pair of slightly worn leather kicks means that he loves slowly and completely. He?ll make coffee in the morning.

So, listening to Chris Mann?s ?New York Time? this week, I was whisked away to thoughts of my man (with the nice pair of slightly worn leather kicks)?and a poem I wrote a while back?about a fictitious perfect man whom I could meet at a bar?say here in Newport. It went something like this:

Him
A man enters the bar tonight.
Not the kind that can ever be tamed,
Just one to watch from a distance,
With eyes so deep.

He has a slight sway in his hips,
Strength in his steps,
And hardness in his curves.

I like to see him lean against the wall
In front of me.

He?s like red wine,
Tart and sweet at the same time.

He stands and stares with a security of a thousand oceans behind him?
With each breath in and out?
Sending his wave in my direction.

It crashes into my chest.
An incoming tide,
Leaving a touch so fleeting,
Yet so permanent,
The kind I won?t forget tomorrow,
Or the next tomorrow.

I can feel now,
And the air feels so soft tonight.

I wrote him down, and he appeared?about three years after I wrote that poem?but still?fiction became non-fiction. Let it be said?writing creates reality.

  Filed under: Stuff that floats through this chick?s mind. by  Gwen  No Comments »

Lipstick?Lovely, Lara, Charmed, Cherise, Hydrangea, and #133! Lipsticks are friends. They have personalities, and I connect with them in certain moods?they are with me?I glean comfort and confidence from them.

Lovely is my ?Go-to? lipstick in a gun-metal shiny Smashbox case?an everyday color of rose that never lets me down?good for business meetings, tutoring students, and writing blogs.

Lara?is for hanging with my girlfriends?it?s purple with sparkle.

Now, Charmed comes in a matte airline black box type case?a dark rose?an exclamation point color! It?s worn when I need to do battle on my T-Mobile bill, get an oil change, or when I want to order the Venti Mocha Latte from Starbucks! I want to leave a serious mark on that cup!

The petite sweet Cerise in the small silver ribbed case is a barely-there pink for library trips with my daughter, and when I need to ask my man to fix the faucet in the bathroom.

Hydrangea is concave now?a bright pink used for serious wine class tasting nights?did I mention it?s hollow!

My Plum is for parties and going out; it?s worn down ?just peeking above the silver rim. Hummm, what have I been doing lately?

Then, there?s my #133. It has a little dust on it. The color is a pure candy apple red?I need to wear a mini-skirt with fishnet stockings and black patent leather boots with this number. It?s a New York City lipstick. Come to think of it?I?m going to the City next week. I?ll have to wipe the dust off and tuck it in my bag!

What are you wearing today?

  Filed under: Stuff that floats through this chick?s mind. by  Gwen  1 Comment »