Fashionista

i'm running my very first ever race next week. it's a 5k & i've been training for over 4 months now. my main goal is to just run the entire length of the course, not too worried about time. but i am nervous! i don't know what to expect. any useful advice out there?

has anybody used the new Garnier blow-out straightening system? supposedly it will keep your hair smooth for up to 7 days. i'm kind of interested in trying it but i don't want it to end up messing w/ my curls.

can someone tell me definitively, whether or not i need a car seat for my 1 year old in a taxi? we are traveling to chicago next week & plan on taking taxis all over town. oddly enough i can't seem to find the answer online.

i was looking into doing an at home keratin treatment (can't afford the salon ones!) and i was wondering if it will make my curly hair straight. i DO NOT want to straighten my hair, just make it shinier & stronger.

right now i have an inverted bob cut (short & stacked in back, longer in front). the pieces in front hit my chin. i'm getting antsy for a new style as i've had this for a while now. but b/c my hair is curly i feel like my choices are limited. any suggestions? pictures would be great. plus i also have a 7mo daughter so i really can't spend a lot of time styling my hair. the big plus to my cut now is that it's pretty "wash & wear".

my daughter is almost 6 months old. we've had great success swaddling her at night & she's a sleeping all-star. but the older she gets, the stronger she gets. she also wiggles a lot in her sleep so i'm obviously worried about swaddling her & her rolling over. does anybody have any suggestions about "weening" her off of the swaddle? we've only attempted a couple of times and she will fall asleep initially but wakes up after about an hour. then it's a lot of back & forth w/ the binkie, etc. and i usually cave and just swaddle her b/c we're all tired. thanks so much for your help!

we're flying w/ my 5mo daughter this week for the first time. any tips? we're flying thru the night, so we're anticipating she'll sleep thru the whole thing (she's a great nite time sleeper). anything i should know ahead of time? thanks!

what could be a good/cool placement for a portrait tattoo? i already have 4 tats and most are easily covered. i'd like to get a portrait of my late mother, i just am not sure where to put it! thanks :)

i'd like to switch my daughter from one brand of formula to another. how should i do this? i've also heard that all formula is basically the same. do i need to transition or can i just start up the new formula after i'm done w/ the old?

no matter what i try, bleach or no bleach, my whites end up dingy looking. it's driving me crazy! is there any trick or secret to keeping whites looking brighter longer?

i'm currently 29 weeks pregnant and work in retail. standing on my feet all day is starting to take it's toll. moms, how long did you work before your little one arrived? my due date is june 19th and i was hoping to work throught the end of may . . .

ooook, so i need help trying to figure out how to deal w/ this shower! i'm 4 months pregnant living on the west coast, but all my family and friends are back in the midwest. obviously my family wants to throw me a shower in the midwest, but we don't want to have to ship a million presents back home! ugh. how can we tackle this without being tacky? any suggestions? thank you!

i'm about 7 weeks pregnant and was planning on waiting until after the first trimester to tell them. any advice or suggestions?

ok, so i've taken 3 pregnancy test, 2 yesterday and one this morning, and all came out positive. Yeah! but my doctor won't be able to see me for another month. how accurate are the home tests? i just don't want to get my hopes up.

Does anyone have any fun and cute ways to let you parents and in-laws know you're pregnant?

i'm taking the red-eye flight from seattle to detroit. does anyone have any suggestions on how i can make this as comfortable as possible?

i have a light weight 100% rayon sweater. it says to dry clean only, but i feel like i could hand wash it in cold water. will this work or will it ruin the sweater?

i'm going to make crab cakes and will be buying fresh crab meat to use. is there a particular kind i should get? crab legs? what would be easiest? what part has the most meat? thanks!

i'm contemplating going vegetarian, or at the very least cutting out most meat from my diet. my question is, what are other high protein options? i should add that i'm not big on tofu. any good vegetarian cookbooks or websites you'd recommend? thanks!