LilSugar

Get Set For School With Our Back-to-School “Wee”drobe Essentials

babysugar — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:00:13 PDT

Ready, set, shop! The back-to-school season is well under way and both parents and tots are shopping til they drop! Before heading out to the mall, don't miss our picks for the hottest backpacks, shoes, coats, hats, and lunch bags the lil ones will be sporting this year!

Have you heard that we're giving away back-to-school wardrobes? It's true! We're kicking off the season with a $500 gift card for a Tea Collection! Check out all of the details here!

The Best Lunch Bags For Back to School

babysugar — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:00:00 PDT

Bye-bye brown bags! Reusable lunch sacks are better for the environment and keep midday meals intact and cool. From bags that have space for mama to leave her tot a note to bento-inspired options, we've rounded up some of the best lunch totes on the market.

Girls: 1. So Young Mother Pink Giraffe ($30), 2. Four Peas Fair Lunch Bag ($18), 3. Built Gourmet Getaway Lunch Tote ($23), 4. Go Green Bento Lunch Box System ($30), 5. SugarBooger Vintage Alphabet Lunch Sack ($15).

Boys: 1. Doodlebugz Crayola Chalkboard Lunch Tote ($24), 2. Dabba Walla British Invasion Union Jack - Kids Lunch Bag ($30), 3. Em Tanner Designs Insulted SuperBoy Lunch Tote ($34), 4. Fleurville Lunch Pak ($32), 5. Safari Explorers Lunch Box ($14).

Trend Alert: Celebrity-Crafted Food Carryalls

YumSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:00:00 PDT

These days, virtually every celebrity - from Lauren Conrad to Jessica Simpson - has his or her own womenswear, footwear, accessory, and fragrance line. But celebrity lunchbags and farmers market totebags? Lately we've seen the celebrity, fashion, and food worlds collide, with all sorts of celebrity-designed carryalls for everything from our groceries to our lunch.

PartySugar and I might have been on to something when we said that we prefer to carry our farmers market goodies in style. It seems others were thinking the exact same thing. First, Whole Foods announced Sheryl Crow would be custom-designing its latest green grocery bag. Then celebrity chef Mario Batali jumped on the design bandwagon, randomly unveiling his own line of sleek lunch bags. The latest? A collaboration between Jennie Garth and the Sierra Club.

While I'm a bigger fan of some of the designs than others, if this trend encourages shoppers to be more eco-friendly - wasting less resources on plastic and paper grocery bags and lunch bags - then it's for the better. What do you think of the trend? Would you buy Sheryl's, Mario's, or Jennie's bags?

Source, Source, Source, and Source

A Few of Lil's Favorite Things: September

LilSugar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Send your kids back to school with a hardy lunch in hand. While your children may be focused on hitting the books, there's no time like the present to make sure they are mindful of the world around them. Help them choose an Eco-friendly lunch box or lunch sack to tote and store their mid-day meal. These reusable options are economical as you won't have to invest in any brown paper bags and environmentally conscious since they make for limited debris. Don't forget to tell your tots to toss their leftovers in the compost bin.

4 Savvy Things to Do This Weekend

Emily Co — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

We usually come up with plenty of fun, social activities for you to do over the weekend, but let's get savvy and down to business this weekend. It may feel like a chore to complete these tasks, but you'll feel so much better after you're done with them!

Do Your Taxes: Crank that music up and get to it! If you've been procrastinating on filing your tax returns, pull up your sleeves and tackle them this weekend. It's better to do them on the weekends when you're relaxed rather than a workday when you're all weary from working the 9 to 5. Set aside Sunday night to do them, and you'll thank me for it!.
Organize Your Receipts: Dump all the receipts out from your bag, wallet, and pocket, and put them in a designated box or folder. You can also test out Shoeboxed, which is a free online service that can automatically track and organize your online and offline purchases. All you need to do is snap pictures of receipts on your cell and email them to Shoebox or mail in paper receipts to the company, and they will organize the information for you.
Plan Your Work Lunches: If you're resolving to bring your lunch to work every day, you need to craft your meal plan on the weekend so you won't be rummaging around your fridge for scraps during the early mornings.
De-clutter Your Home: Spend the weekend de-cluttering your home and getting rid of the excess things that you don't need. First figure out what areas you need to tackle and take a look at a list of my suggestions.

4 Ways to Prep a Healthy Dinner Quickly

Leta Shy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:10:51 PST

Just one bad decision - like quieting your rumbling stomach with greasy takeout - can undo a day of healthy eating. If you've been sabotaging your diet because of unhealthy dinner decisions, use these tips to cook a healthy meal without sacrificing time.

Double the amount: Week already looking full? Make extra servings the next time you cook so you can have healthy leftovers for the rest of the week. If you're worried about overeating, separate the leftovers into single-serving containers.

Prep your veggies: Spend time at the beginning of the week washing, cleaning, and cutting veggies, so you always have salad ingredients or something to snack on. Having veggies cut will also encourage you to use them more in your cooking since you know you have them at the ready.

Keep unhealthy food out of the kitchen: When I'm hungry, I reach for the first snack I can find, which usually isn't nutritious and often comes in a bag. If you're the same, stocking the fridge with healthy snacks can help, but not if you're tempted by all the junk food in your pantry. Keep unhealthy foods out of the house or divide your snacks into smaller portions to avoid ravenously going through an entire bag of chips before you even make dinner.

Eat a balanced lunch and snack: A lunch full of fiber and protein from fresh veggies, fruits, and lean meats will keep you full throughout the afternoon much more than a carb bomb or a too-restrictive meal. Following lunch with a healthy snack can lessen the temptation to order takeout once you get home since you'll be feeling full and satisfied. Check out our healthy snack ideas to get started.

9 Fashionable Lunch Bags to Bring to Work

Emily Co — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:05:38 PST

Bringing lunch to work is a great way to save money. Not only will your wallet thank you for it, but your body will as well. Making your own lunch is the best way to stay fit because you're controlling what's going into your food. Make packing your lunch a fun event by packaging it in a cute lunch bag. Check out these cute options:

From left to right:

Floral Organic Cloth Lunch Tote ($30)
Mcclain Pink Freezable Lunch Bag ($15)
Raindrop Getaway Lunch Tote ($20)
Fluf Lunch Bag ($19)
Ore Blissful Blue Good Lunch Bag ($16)
Brown Koko Lunch Bag ($14)
Holy Cow Lunch Bag ($24)
Rebel Green Free Bird-Bad Habits Lunch Bag ($25)
Pink Checkered Women's Lunch Box ($26)

In Season: Collard Greens

Camilla Salem — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:39:45 PST

Leafy greens are all the rage these days. Sure, they're chock-full of nutrients and vitamins, but they're also delicious. Collard greens are no exception. The mildly smoky flavor in the this Southern vegetable staple is great for cooking. Collard greens come from the same species as cabbage and broccoli, but like kale, this vegetable doesn't form a head. The leaves are dark blue-green and smooth, and they're a great source of vitamin C and fiber.

Collard greens are a very important part of Southern cuisine, often prepared with smoked ham hock. Since the leaves resemble folded money, traditionally, they are enjoyed with black-eyed peas for good fortune on New Year's Day. But the South isn't the only place that appreciates this cruciferous vegetable. Portuguese cuisine makes great use of collard greens. Popular soup Caldo verde, meaning "green broth" in Portuguese, employs collard greens as a base. In addition, the juice of pressed leaves is thought to alleviate several maladies, including bronchitis!

For more ways to eat up your collard greens, keep reading.

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Eating

Jenny Sugar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:44:03 PST

Between meetings, appointments, work deadlines, errands, family obligations, and trips to the gym, our lives can be so busy that we fill our bellies with the quickest, easiest bites we can get our hands on. Whether your goal is to drop unwanted pounds or eat healthier, it's in your best interest to pause before you take your first bite and ask yourself these four important questions.

Am I hungry? Seems like a silly question, because you're eating, so you must be hungry, right? Many times we reach for food out of boredom, convenience (the bag of chips was open), depression (chocolate to drown your breakup sorrows), happiness (to celebrate a promotion), or desire (who could pass up the amazing brownies your co-worker brought in?). But if we recently ate, then we're not even hungry. Make sure you're due for a snack or meal before sitting down to eat one.

Is this food filling holes in my diet? We eat to live and that means the food we gobble down should offer our bodies the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function properly. Aside from being healthy, our daily diet should also be balanced. If you ate a high-protein breakfast of eggs and Greek yogurt topped with nuts, then for a morning snack, you probably want to eat something that offers your body something besides protein, such as fiber, potassium, or vitamin A. Think of each snack and meal as a piece of your daily diet puzzle; an opportunity to take in what your body is lacking.

Keep reading to find out the other two questions you should ask yourself before eating.

7 Tips to Wake Up Fast and Other Savvy Hits of the Week!

Emily Co — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:15:05 PST

Wakey, wakey! Seven tips to wake up and get out of bed fast
Inexpensive Winter dates that won't break the bank
A miniguide to office lunch etiquette
Twelve items to make a long flight bearable
Really awesome work-from-home jobs
Things you do to save that actually end up costing you more
A super simple but effective way to save: the $5 savings jar
Nine fashionable lunch bags to bring to work
How to avoid awkwardness when the bill arrives