I’m feeling a bit beat up from the stress at work right now, especially with less than 7 days to go before I leave for the long vacation. It’s almost too dreadful to even think about taking time off from the chaos at this point. This is also the first time my health is being affected. Usually I sleep off most things that bother me. This time around, I’m grinding my teeth in anger while I sleep so much that my dentist wants me to get night guards to prevent fractures. I wish I could just lay flat on my tummy like little malu here (pictured). She looks like she’s feeling pretty good after a long tiring day.

Brighten your day with these uber hip baby bags. They come in 3 flavors - Prince, Princess, and Bebe. The princess one looks a bit weird, but these 2 are cute, especially bebe. Available at 2Modern for $95 a pop.

I first discovered these adorable little slug-shaped lamps at a tiny home store call Karik’ter in SoHo. If you ever swing by Prince street, be sure to check it out. That year I wrote to Santa (aka the mr.) that all I wanted for Christmas was a slug lamp. Luckily Santa was able to afford it ($47 per pair). The little slug shaped light is rechargable on the base and can be carried around cordless easily. They come in 4 colors, sold by the pair. Get them at Design Public.

What do you give a chocolate lover who has it all? More chocolate, of course. Richart Chocolates double as taste buds delight as they are delicate eye candy. Originated in the 1920s from the hills of Lyon, France, these little pretty squares are among the most exquisite chocolate coming out of France. Damage? $72 for the Noel Ballotin pictured here. At such a steep price, it is a gift worthy of true chocolate lovers only.

Don’t want to shell the dough? Opt for Hershey’s Smores Maker instead. At half the price you certainly won’t get all that fine exquisite taste of French chocolatier, but you certainly will have a bit more fun along the way.

Fantastic gift for that little princess __ (fill in name of your 8-12 year old whoever here) __. These are obviously not the Nikon or Canon quality, but at $58 a pop you wont shed tears when they accidentally drop it the next day. It’ll get their creative juices running and hey, they might learn a thing or two about the joy of photography. Choose between Deery Lou and Hello Kitty at Urban Outfitters.

I will be away most of December this year so instead of creating a giant gift guide, it’s probably best to take the approach of gift-guiding! Afterall, every design blog will probably have a gift guide to drool for. Every online shops from ma-n-pa to global deep-pocket chains will too. Browse through a small handpicked collection of gift guides here and enjoy!

Blogs:
* Design*Sponge
* Modish
* Uncrate
* Outblush

Glossies:
* TONY
* Maxim Gear

Stores:
* DWR
* Unica Home
* Mod Living
* 2Modern
* Wrapable
* Viva Terra
* Greener Grass fave!
* Crate&Barrel
* Small Things - lovely little jewelry shop
* Lekker Home
* Relish
* Design Public

I’ll be updating this list as I find more.

Fantastic eye candy on paper at Potionbrand. Do your christmas card shopping early and be rewarded with freebie holiday gift tags. More info here. (Thanks for the email Melissa!)

When I was a child I had a fairly vivid memory of my mother’s “fine china” collection. They were so exquisit that we simply weren’t allowed to touch them at all. Most of the time they were double wrapped neatly and tucked away in this special cabinet. Only when we have an important enough guest that I’d see these sparklies in action. The whole time I thought to myself — what a royally stupid thing to have around the house. What exactly is the purpose of having nice things and not use them daily?

Well, I’ve sort of grown up a bit since. Now that I own my own set of dishes and have chipped and broken more than a few along the way, I can see why some things are just that much more precious and more importantly why I should never spend more than $5 on a plate or bowl.

That said, these Classic Century Dinnerware are just so lovely (and steeply priced) that they would certainly warrant special love and care. Crate&Barrel is reintroducing this line of product in celebration of world reknown designer Eva Zeisel’s 100th birthday. Originally introduced in 1952, this collection certainly will be one that withstand time. If I print money in my basement and learn the term “handle with care” I’d totally jump at this, especially the sauce boat. Prices from $54 - $236.

Too pretty - Kaiku Shower Curtain ($48).

Fun and totally unexpected, these memory sticks truly stick out from the bunch. Available in 256MB (45 euro), 512MB (60 euro), and 1GB (70 euro) here. If you’re in NYC area, you can pick one up locally at The Reed Space down by LES. No webstore there.