Recently a few of our friends have announced they are expecting, and it got me thinking about baby shower gifts. Instead of the usual onesie or bottle, I think it’d be neat to receive books to fill the future child’s library. I’m sure everyone has different books they cherish from their childhood that would make for great gifts. Here are a few of my favorite early childhood books that I memorized and looked through over and over.

I’ll admit it; I’m a sucker for cheesy dance sequences. The choreographed prom dance in She’s All That? Love it. Jennifer Garner doing the Thriller dance in 13 Going on 30? Amazing. Center Stage, Stomp the Yard, Strictly Ballroom? Can’t get enough. This video made me pretty happy. It’s a compilation of dance sequences from various movies set to the theme from Footloose. Can you name them all?

With the purchase of a record player, I now had to find a storage solution for the records. I searched online for a few days, trying to find the right compromise between form and function. Because I wanted to keep the records close to the player in the living room, I thought a furniture-style option would be best. My first choice would have been the IKEA Expedit Bookcase, but it doesn’t come in a two-cubby option. I finally settled on Galvanized Storage Cubes from the Container Store.

The cubes connect together to make various storage combinations and can be fitted with shelves, doors, and castors. I picked up two cubes and two perforated steel doors. Thankfully, they are on sale right now for the annual shelving sale event. Putting the cubes together was actually pretty painful. The pieces are difficult to fit together and have sharp edges. The doors were by far the most annoying and require a decent amount of strength and dexterity. Now that they’re put together, though, I think it was a good choice. The records fit in there perfectly, although I may add some tension rods for some extra support. I also added two of the cube connectors to the top so I could easily display the record in use.

I regularly lurk Betsey Johnson’s website in hopes that I will soon have an occasion and the money to purchase one of her dresses. I bought a basic black dress from her store for my college graduation and I still love it. It’s perfect for casual or dressy events and it’s super comfortable. I don’t dress up often, as I prefer jeans and t-shirts, but I do occasionally like to get dolled up. These two new dresses caught my eye and I can only imagine how much fun I could have wearing them.

Evening Organza Pleated Dress - $450
Evening Summer Valentine Dress - $398