My old home town Helsinki is the World Design Capital of 2012, and I am so excited that I am able to cover the events and happenings in the city this year. I had in hopes to visit Helsinki at least once during 2012, but now with our move to Sweden, I know I will be visiting Helsinki all the time!

Café Kauko

Here is one of the first quirky cool things that popped in Helsinki for the WDC 2012: Café Kauko. Café Kauko is a popup café that moves from one place to another during 2012 (currently at the shopping center Forum in the central Helsinki). The coffee shop is sleek with modern furniture, the walls are white, so are the furniture. But the entire purpose of this café isn’t to show case well designed furniture for a coffee shop – quite the opposite. The purpose of Kauko is to showcase WHY good design is important.

“Kauko” is a Finnish nickname for kaukosäädin, the remote control, and yes – the entire café is remote controllable. Anyone can virtually visit Kauko online and see live video from the coffee shop and remote control the furniture, music and lighting. You can make the chairs or the tables to go up and down, dim the lights or add some music. Unfortunately for those in the US the time difference makes it a bit difficult to play with real life situations. Kauko closes already at 7:30PM Finnish time, which is only 12:30PM EST.

Kauko truly demonstrates the importance of great everyday design for its visitors – it’s not comfortable to even sit down to have a cup of espresso when the table is way too low or way too high – or having a conversation with your friend is impossible when the music is too loud or when it’s too dark to even see her.

Kauko shows that the significance of design is often noticed only when it is lacking.

H&M DAVID BECKHAM Bodywear Collection

I can’t resist sharing these photos of the H&M DAVID BECKHAM Bodywear collection. Because I know you will want to see the pictures of the latest underwear for men, right?

H&M is also giving me one reason to consider watching Super Bowl. H&M will debut a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl to launch the new DAVID BECKHAM Bodywear collection. The commercial, what they call “stimulating”, pops the Super Bowl advertising cherry for both H&M and David Beckham.

The H&M and David Beckham alliance is just starting off with the Super Bowl ad, and the first collection is a nine-piece Bodywear collection, debuting on February 2, 2012 in 1,800 H&M stores worldwide. We can expect more from this partnership in the future.

The price point for the collection: briefs & boxers & tees $12.95-$14.95, long-sleeved henleys $29.95.

H&M David Beckham Super Bowl Ad

H&M’s advertisements are all produced in-house at the H&M headquarters in Sweden in cooperation with independent creative professionals, including the Super Bowl ad.

Mark this down: The David Beckham Bodywear commercial will have a prime position in the 2nd quarter of the game and if you are into Super Bowl advertising, I think you might want to see it. Meanwhile, more pictures from the collection.

More latest H&M news:
H&M Spring 2012 Trends: Bold Colors & Vintage Flair
H&M Home Collection for Spring 2012: Bold Colors
H&M Home Collection Spring 2012: White Rustic

We are in the risk of losing internet as we know it due possible government censorship. Read what this is about, why you should care, how you can take action and what this means to our economy.

What are SOPA and PIPA?

Members of Congress are trying to stop piracy and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it.

The Protect IP Act (S. 968) is the Senate companion bill to the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). If these bills pass, they could open the door to widespread government regulated censorship online. While these laws are to protect large entertainment companies from piracy and to stop piracy online, they put in risk everything we all do online and open a possibility for government to censor what we do online.

READ MORE.

How this reflects on you?

Sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google and several other sites relaying their existence in the freedom of sharing information will be affected. If the law passes, entire websites can be taken down if they publish copyrighted content or if they LINK to copyrighted content. Yes, one link and the entire website could be gone. All of the above mentioned websites would be censored within seconds.

While it may sound like the biggest problem for you would be that your personal use of internet would completely change, it would have additional impacts as well. So many American small businesses rely on internet as it is and the free information distribution, that it would tremendously impact on American small businesses and the entire American economy. Many only web-based companies would simply just die, but that’s not all of it. Think of how many small local businesses who have nothing to do with internet rely on internet search to even be found? (Think how much easier your life is without phone book and with internet search). Think what it will do for our economy when so many small businesses will go down?

ACT NOW

Voice your concern and act now.

What you can do:
Contact you local senator via phone (link where you can find the correct person and phone number) and tell you want her/him to vote against it.
Email your local representative and ask them to vote NO.

More importantly, take time to get educated about this issue, because this has an impact on you – and even a bigger impact on how your children’s future will look like.

Zappos.com Hacked but Credit Card Numbers Were Not

Everyone’s favorite online shoe store Zappos.com was hacked this weekend. The hackers got into information of around 24 million customer records, but Zappos informs that any credit card information was not breached.

The hacking exposed one or more of the following: customer’s name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of credit card number (the standard information you find on receipts), and/or the cryptographically scrambled password (but not your actual password).

Got questions? Don’t call – email Zappos

The Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh put the entire company on high alert and to help customers to change their passwords and answer questions via email. Zappos is famous for their top notch customer service phone reps, but Zappos closed down their phone customer service anticipating so many calls that the company couldn’t handle and so they can focus on answering all of the emails more promptly.

I received the first email from Zappos today, and I also clicked on their specifically assigned link where to change the password, and got a reset email within a few minutes, and was able to reset my password. Zappos reset everyone’s passwords automatically, so even if you haven’t done this today, or won’t have time to do it immediately, your old password can not be used anymore. I highly recommend you resetting the password though.

You can shop with confidence at Zappos, they offer the safe shoping guarantee against credit card frauds, but I’m sure this will have an impact on the company’s bottom line.

Change your Password

Zappos.com also wants to remind that they will never ask you for personal or account information in an e-mail and they are asking you to exercise caution if you receive any emails or phone calls that ask for personal information or direct you to a web site where you are asked to provide personal information.

If you had ever shopped at Zappos.com you most likely had a Zappos account, please create a new password by visiting Zappos.com and clicking on the “Create a New Password” link in the upper right corner of the web site and follow the instructions.

Most popular blog posts of 2011

What did Skimbaco Lifestyle readers enjoy reading in 2011? Here is a short overview of some of the most read posts of 2011.

MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE POSTS

Is my husband cheating on me? I read the signs to find out! It’s a thought-provoking post and many didn’t understand that I actually never thought my husband was cheating on me. I hope it makes you think that you too can find many answers from within.

Inspirational quote from Steve Jobs: Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life We lost a great innovator this year, and his inspiration keeps guiding us.

Inspirational quote: Integrity is… This integrity post also really hit home for many of you and it is another popular one.

Blogging as a Lifestyle Choice This post also made many think blogging differently – and hopefully your own life, even if you don’t blog. We often feel we have to do like others do, well, we don’t.

MOST POPULAR FASHION POSTS

Missoni for Target – See the Clothing & Accessories Photos This was the second most read post of the year! Did you buy anything from the collection..?

DIY “Home Couture” Halloween Spider Witch Costume I am thankful that so many liked the Halloween costume we did together with my tween, and a careful question – would you like more posts like this..? I am crafty, I just don’t show that part of me here often.

How to Save 70% on Coach Factory Sale I hope I was able to help many of you to save money on your Coach accessories!

Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony Collection at KOHL’S I have to say, the Marc Anthony collection is awesome, and no wonder this was one of the top googled posts.

Girls’ Night In Outfit Ideas We did a cool Twitter party for Redbook magazine with the Girls’ Night In theme and this post was one of your favorites and me too – I love the outfit ideas!

MOST POPULAR PERSONAL POSTS

I quit my job and am starting something new The year before I felt I wasn’t living life to the fullest and started the year by quitting my job & going back to truly living Skimbaco lifestyle. I did start new things… but mainly I focused on finding happiness and balance. And I did.

The phone call you never expect to receive This post is about how I found out we are moving to Sweden. We made the decision in a matter of minutes and were ready to go. Because that’s how we live life to the fullest.

MOST POPULAR RANDOM POSTS

Angry Birds Headquarters in Finland It was a rare opportunity to meet the inventor of Angry Birds game, and no wonder you wanted to read all about it!

Why are O.B. tampons sorry? I rarely write about marketing here, even though it is one of my passions.. but this post I made it personal and sort of funny. And you liked it..? Numbers don’t lie, this is one of the most read posts of the year.

Finnish Education Is the best and American Sucks? Not so fast I felt brave and voiced my opinion about education system and many of you liked the frank way I approached it. I loved writing this post – do you want to hear more what I really think..? I have opinions, often I’m just afraid to voice them all.

2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class – Luxury SUV for Living Life to the Fullest I liked the Mercedes too, but you really liked it, and this was the most popular what I could call “a product review” post, which I rarely even write. Would you like to hear my opinion of cars or other products more often?

MOST POPULAR GUEST WRITER/CONTRIBUTING WRITER POSTS

7 Keys To Happiness Because it’s an awesome post, and who wouldn’t want to be happier? (Read it)
How to Dress Up a white Hanes tee Every wardrobe must have: a white Hanes tee – because you can dress it up in so many ways!
25 Bloggers Share their Best Girlfriend Tips I wrote this together with 25 of my girlfriends, and I loved it too!!!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE?

I would love to hear what has been your favorite post to read so far, and what kind of posts you enjoy reading.
And please subscribe to my blog via email so you can get it easily delivered to your inbox. And you know, you subscribing would just make me so happy.

Tomorrow, December 22nd is the official first day of winter, and while I love winter, I’m kicking off winter with a reminder of the flu season. It’s difficult to live life to the fullest when you are sick, so take some preventative measures and prevent yourself and your kids from getting sick this flu season. The flu season has been slow so far this year – so the worst is most likely ahead us.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) flu seasons can not fully be predicted. Flu epidemics happen every year, but the timing, severity, and length of the epidemic depends on many factors, including what influenza viruses are spreading and whether they match the viruses in the vaccine. The timing of flu is very unpredictable and can vary from season to season. Flu activity most commonly peaks in the U.S. in January or February.

Most Common Questions about Cold & Flu Answered

Here are some of the most common questions about flu and cold answered by Dr. Sezelle Gereau Haddon MD from Continuum Center for Health and Healing, and I hope you will have cold and flu free winter season!

How do viruses typically enter the body? Is there a way to prevent it?
Viruses enter the body through the nose, or mouth. A daily nasal wash can be useful to prevent development of these illnesses, or actually used for treatment once they develop.

Do hand sanitizers work?
Hand sanitizers are wonderful ways to keep from spreading and contracting viral illnesses, and can be used to prevent getting sick, particularly with those in close quarters, but they should not be used to replace hand washing.

When do cold symptoms typically occur for kids and adults? Is there a difference between the two groups?
Cold symptoms usually occur within 2 or 3 days after you came in contact with the virus, although it could take up to a week. You are contagious for this same period of time. There is no difference between kids and adults.

Is there a reason why women are more likely to catch a cold than men?
Women, especially those 20 to 30 years old, have more colds than men, possibly because of their closer contact with children. Many things cause you to be more prone to upper respiratory illness, including stress, fatigue and allergies. Being female in and of itself does not predispose you to it.

What are some of the best ways to fight off a cold before it gets to you?
Many things can be done to prevent full development of cold symptoms, but have to be instituted early on. These include rest, stress reduction, increased fluid intake and certain supplements. We are not sure why all of them work, but they support normal function of the immune system in various ways.

Against the common belief, vitamin C doesn’t seem to be the answer when it comes to dodging colds. What does work?
An article this summer by the Cochrane collaboration supports the use of Zinc for both prevention and early treatment of symptoms of the common cold. A similar report by the Cochrane database on Vitamin C did not support its use in either treatment or prevention of the common cold.

Would you recommend Zinc for kids? If so, how would a kid take it? How much should kids take? Also, how does zinc help the cold and flu? Does it decrease the duration or symptoms?
Zicam should not be used in the nose, as it causes a loss of sense of smell. Dosages as published by the Mayo Clinic are: “For the common cold, the following doses of zinc have been taken by mouth: 10 milligrams of zinc lozenges 5-6 times daily, based on age; one-half of a zinc lozenge (23 milligrams) (Truett Laboratories, TX), for children under 27 kilograms, every two hours, not to exceed six daily; and zinc gluconate glycine lozenges (Cold-EEZE®) four times daily for the duration of the cold”

There is an old wives’ tale that says to feed a fever and starve a cold but research has shown that’s probably not true. Instead, what can parents do to help their kids feel better when they have the cold or flu? Studies show that chicken soup helps. Why? How much rest and fluids do children need and why do these things seem to help?
Chicken soup has both anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects. Fluids prevent dehydration, so help one feel better. Saline sprays are helpful with moving nasal secretions and with facilitating breathing. Products with Elderberry and Astragalus are made in formulations for children, and can be soothing and help the immune system as well. Rest helps the body recharge, and lessening stress can be beneficial for the innate immune system.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Holiday Party season is cheerfully on and I sure hope I don’t have to remind you not to drink and drive, which of course you would never ever do, right? Since that is hopefully so imprinted in your mind, let’s discuss some other tips how to NOT make big mistakes during this Holiday Party Season.

Warning: Holiday Parties Can Result in Major Mistakes

Holiday Parties, especially the office kinds, or even the ones who innocently start as “girls night out” after work with a few friends, can turn into disasters that nothing during the first 11 months of this year can even compare to. Holiday Parties have the dark side of contributing to horrible things in life, like major loss or major embarrassment, and in today’s social media age things easily get even worse, and you have to pay even more attention to the risks of attending Holiday Parties.

Examples of losses you may experience after messing up in a Holiday Party (aka “drinking too much”"):
- Losing your dignity and respect. (I hope you are old enough that you have already lost your virginity long time ago).
- Losing your money/wallet/phone/other item.
- Losing your job.
- Losing your boyfriend/husband/family.
- Losing your friend(s).

I consulted with some of my favorite bloggers to compile this list. Thanks for helping with tips Rajean, Emily, Ginger, Andrea, and Tuulevi.

10 ways to Prevent Making Major Mistakes During Holiday Party Season

1. Don’t go to any Holiday parties and stay home watching your co-workers broadcast the party via Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. If you are lucky, you will see how messed up everyone is before they start doing risk management and removing items posted online.
Prepare: Your night home won’t be complete without Häagen-Daz limited edition peppermint bark ice cream, and if you want to feel like being part of the action, have a co-worker to text you pictures and updates.

2. Be the designated driver and don’t drink anything in the Holiday party. There is always that pregnant mid-level manager who will appreciate not being the only one who is not drinking, even though you run into risk of pretty much everyone else thinking you are too uptight to loosen up.
Prepare: Buy a new BMW, Mercedes-Benz or better yet, a Porsche. Even all of the party animals understand that you’d rather be driving your new luxury car than drinking. Then remember to leave early to prevent nobody throwing up on your new leather seats. The budget option: borrow someones beat up mini-van and cover the backseats with blankets and be cool with driving everyone around, and be prepared for that young inexperienced secretary throwing up on the backseat.

3. Don’t dress too sexy. A few drinks and you forget your dress was a tad too short or that your bra straps will show under your dress if you take your cardigan off.
Prepare: Wear pants and high heels. Heels will make you feel sexy and dressed up, but pants will remind you to.. keep your pants on the entire night. In the extreme situations where you are sexually attracted to a co-worker or business associate, wear your granny panties or nasty old panties that you wouldn’t want be caught dead with, especially in the front of the guy you admire secretly.

4. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your mother, your boss, your spouse or your kids to see. (Or your future boss, future spouse, future kids.) Because most likely someone will document the exact moment you are dancing as a backup dancer for someone singing karaoke version of Baby Got Back, and it will most likely live on YouTube forever.
Prepare: Add a picture of your mother/kid/hubby/kid as your phone screensaver and every time you look at the picture remind yourself that person will be able to see you tonight.

5. Create a social media free zone. It’s OK you want to loosen up and have a few drinks and dance on the tables and NOT have the entire world to see it afterwards. But remember that you are only eliminating part of the problem. You might prevent your entire social circle of finding out, but the people attending will still witness your bad behavior.
Prepare: If you are hosting the party, suggest locking up everyone’s phones, or host the party in a remote location with no cellphone coverage.

6. Take the social media sobriety test before broadcasting from Holiday Parties. Make a real commitment NOT to make the Small Screw Up at the party become a Major Screw Up by telling about it to everyone via social media sites like Facebook.
Prepare: Download the Webroot social media sobriety test app, it is a browser plug-in that helps prevent “under-the-influence” posting on sites including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Tumblr, blogs and web-based email accounts such as Gmail or Hotmail. Users can customize which sites they wish to block and at which hours. Recommend this to all of your friends and co-workers as well.

7. Don’t show off your party skillz. You know, the karaoke singing, the hip hop dancing, the tequila shot drinking, all the party skills you think you mastered in college; they don’t belong in your adult life, and especially not in your office parties.
Prepare: Wear shoes that barely are comfortable for walking and stop at drink number one. Even if you are competitive at the office, don’t show how you are winning in the drinking games. Because it won’t be “winning”, it’ll be Charlie Sheen-winning.

8. Don’t try to solve a problem or confront anyone at the party. Don’t think of the party as a place where you can finally ask for the raise, or talk about a problem at work or impress your boss. Your party skills will not get you a raise, and your boss wants to relax in the party too, and you will only make things worse for you with a bad timing of trying to talk about a work-related issue in a party. I was once offered a job in a party in Las Vegas, and well, that’s the quality of the job it also was.
Prepare: Make an appointment with your boss to discuss about the issue before the party so you are not tempted to mess up and do it in the party.

9. Don’t flirt with your boss & don’t let him flirt with you. Especially don’t flirt with your boss in the front of his wife; she is married to a powerful man, and probably knows many power players herself. Women will never forget the women who try to hit on their husbands, and she might be in a position to give it back to you one day (think of her as ER nurse, or home loan officer). Don’t let you boss flirt with you because you will never gain his real respect at work if you let him play with you off work.
Prepare: Even if you are attracted to him or his power, think of your married boss more like a father figure, mentor, brother or even a priest. Even if he is single, make sure you are attracted to him for the right reasons, and not because he has the power to help you in your career. Sleeping your way to your position or career will never work in the long run.

10. Fake the drinking. If you don’t drink, you will look like a party pooper, but if you drink too much, you run into making a mistake you’ll regret. Fake drink!
Prepare: Make your first and only drink gin tonic, and ask the bartender to add tonic water in the same glass. This is the same trick flight stewardesses use on board when they are trying to keep the drunk passenger happy but not serve alcoholic drinks anymore. Gin has a very strong scent and even if you have a splash of it in your glass, it will smell like an alcoholic drink.

Your gifts are wrapped and the cookies are baked but is your wardrobe ready for the holiday season? No worries, there are budget-friendly options to look fabulous, and with the styles Sears has – nobody will ever guess where you got the clothes!

Join us on Twitter Monday night, December 12th, from 7pm- 8:30pm CT for a Holiday Fashion edition of #SearsChat and a chance to win Sears gift cards.

Follow the Holiday Style chat and these Twitter accounts: @Sears, @SearsStyle and co-hosts @StacieInAtlanta, @Crissy, @JollyMom and @MommyInsider and me @katjapresnal, we will be talking everything holiday fashion.

Come share your fashion tips and get ready to look your best at each holiday party this season.

Sears be giving away the following featured prizes:
Grand prize: $125 gift card
Three $25 gift cards

To Enter for a Chance to Win:
Have an active Twitter account.
Follow the official @Sears and @SearsStyleTwitter accounts.
Tweet “Join me @Sears & @SearsStyle for #SearsChat – Mon 12/12 from 7-8:30pm CT talking about Holiday Style | Details/Prizes: http://bit.ly/tQgwiQ”
Post the link to your tweet in the comments at the Sears blog, where you can also find the official rules.
During the Twitter Party, send a Tweet (containing only appropriate, family-friendly content as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion) that includes the #SearsChat hashtag.

Disclosure: This post and my participation to the Twitter chat are sponsored by Sears.

Here is some weekend reading for you! Some of my favorite links from this week, enjoy.

How do you live your life? First row or third row? at Hip as I Wanna Be is a great reminder to live life to the fullest.

Give The Heart of Haiti This Season at Fashionably Organized shares my love to Heart of Haiti collection at Macy’s and hosts a giveaway for an Angel candle holder from the collection.

Why am I invisible – Response at Resourceful Mommy is Amy’s helping hand for the lonely googler who found her blog asking why she is invisible to her husband.

How to add blig using Swarovski crystals by Charmed Valerie is great tutorial if you want to add some sparkle to your life, or iPhone.

Workplace Wednesday: winter whites by Jennifer Margolin – Jennifer shows you how to sparkle with white color this winter and dress to impress.

Holiday Health – Top 5 Ways to Stay Motivated During the Holidays at Type-A Parent is full of easy doable tips written by Leah Segedie of Mamavation.

Rant of the week: 4 types of girls that make me glad I’m gay by the straight spoken Gary at the Luxury Spot. Don’t read if you are too sensitive, read if you want to laugh.

O.b. tampons are sorry and launched a pretty cool campaign asking for forgiveness and are even giving you a coupon for free tampons.

First when the “o.b. tampons are sorry” came to my attention, I didn’t understand why they were sorry. Not like this mighty little product had done anything wrong, quite the contrary. It always enters our lives when we most need it and in the darkest hours of our month.

If anyone here has to say I’m sorry, it’s me. O.b., I’m sorry that you only know me when I am in my abso-frigging-lutely worst.

The o.b. tampons announcement is:

In case you questioned it, we’re really, really, really sorry that you were not able to find our products earlier this year. You’ve also shown us how much you love o.b.® Ultra and we’re sorry we discontinued it – we stand corrected! We’re working hard to bring o.b.® Ultra back to store shelves by the second half of 2012 and we’ll keep you updated on our progress. In the meantime, we’d like to apologize with this video message and extend a special coupon offer. Again, we’re really, really, really sorry!

Oh yes, once I read the text – I got it. Yes, I had noticed that it has been difficult to find you in the stores. The past week I even had to go to another store just to find you and even muttered to myself “it’s about the time to move out of the country alright ’cause can’t even find my favorite tampons from the stores anymore”.

But alas, o.b. has been having some issues, and not just my local stores. I forgive you o.b. but only because it’s not that time of the month for me, and you have been there for me for years. And if I will take this printed coupon to my Hannaford the next month and they don’t have o.b. on the shelves, no, I will not blame you because you said you’re sorry and created me a special song with a cute guy and every cliché you could think of.

No, I will just yell at my husband and the store manager at Hannaford, but o.b., I’ll always be your fan girl.

O.b., I’ll always be your fan girl, because you know that what women really want.
And no, I don’t mean the rose petals, my name across the sky, a song written for me, a cute guy singing my praises in a tree, nor the double rainbow. Not even the hand written note nor a beach walk.
But you know that what women really want is someone to always be there for us on the worst days of the month, and every now and then saying triple I’m sorry and that they are super wrong and we are right.

Go and get your o.b. tampon bliss and get your own special song written for you here.