We can’t click our fingers and make you quit smoking but we can help you find the best deal on the equipment you need to you stick to your resolutions – be it to get fit, stay organised or be more creative.

Invest in a Tablet

Whichever way you play it, tablet technology brilliantly bridges the gap between work and play. Tablets are great as a slimline, featherweight alternative to your bulky laptop for meetings, email and the internet. If your New Year’s resolution is to get a subscription to Vanity Fair magazine and the New York Times, or to watch your favourite TV shows when and where you want, then the iPad2, Samsung Galaxy, or Sony Tablet S is a great place to start. They are also a good place to start if you’re looking for motivational applications to help get you through the year.

Laptops

Laptops have come down in price in recent years and compared to tablets, offer better value for money. A laptop with plenty of grunt and great graphics can start as low as $499 for the Toshiba C660/01M Notebook. Make a New Year’s resolution to get all your work done on time or sort of all your photos!

Journals

Much more than a destination for your innermost thoughts, the new range of journals can help you document and organise your family, recipes, travel, accounts, and share accommodation expenses. There are also journals for expecting and new mums.

Exercise equipment

If you don’t have the space or money to invest in heavy duty treadmills and cross trainers you can still get fit at home. Try a home Pilates kit, weights, a Portable Exercise Door Gym Sit Pull Chin Up Bar, or a Zumba Fitness Bundle.

There are many e-readers available but the Kindle is quite possibly the original and the best.

On the plus side, the Kindle has an extremely long battery life, (approximately 30-hours if Wi-Fi is turned off) and can hold up to 3,500 books, all of which are much cheaper than those in real world stores.

It’s portable, has an easy to use interface and is easy to read in full daylight with no eyestrain – you can also read in bed without turning the light on and disturbing your partner.

For those reading weightier content, there is a built in dictionary and you can also highlight pages or passages for later reference. Adjust the font size and you may not even need your reading glasses.

Books are downloaded instantly from amazon.com, which is great for late nights or browsing for new reading material from the comfort of your poolside banana lounge. A try before you buy feature allows you to download free samples.

You can also share books with other Kindle users linked to the same credit card.

Now for the downside. The range of available titles in Australia is not nearly as extensive as it is for US Kindle users, and you are restricted to Amazon as your sole supplier of books and other content. It is also light on Australian content and while US users have access to hundreds of magazine and newspaper subscriptions, this is really limited in Australia.

You an even use the kindle to upload documents, e.g. speech notes for presentations or study material.

Overall, this is amazing- there are not many ways you can carry 100’s of books wherever you go!

Hopefully, this time of year finds you enjoying some much needed down time and the chance to catch up on your reading.

But forget about taking bulky books on holiday; try one of these compact, lightweight e-readers and travel with an entire bookstore at your fingertips. But before you buy, make sure you know which eBook store your reader is compatible with.

Kobo eReader Touch

eBook shop: kobobooks.com/Australia

borders.com.au/ebooks

Best features: Access to over two million titles, many of which are free.

Sony Reader

eBook store: borders.com.au/ebooks

www.angusrobertson.com.au/ebooks

Best feature: WiFi, and MicroSD card slot for extra memory, adjustable fonts, and web browser.

iRiver

eBook store: Google books

Best feature: Six-week battery life

Kindle

eBook store: amazon.com

Best feature: There is an entire range of Kindles suitable for every price point but be aware content is limited in Australia.

Pico Life 7” eReader

eBook store: /onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ (Free books)

www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

www.Kobobooks.com

www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain

http://www.ereader.com/

Best feature: Has most of the features of the more expensive models but for less. Includes 16GB multi-format eBook music video and image feature.

Decluttering your handbag is easy if you stick to these five handbag essentials:

1. Wallet: While you’re cleaning out the arm candy, get your wallet organised as well. File receipts you need and throw out the others; organise loyalty cards into one section and get rid of any cards you haven’t used in the past year.

2. Perfume: Don’t carry a heavy bottle with you. Invest in a travel size version of your favourite scent so you can top up on the go. For something special, try a solid perfume necklace from Marc Jacobs or Chloe.

3. Notepad and pen: The Smartphone revolution hasn’t killed the efficiency of the humble notepad and it’s often quicker to jot down work notes, shopping and to do lists the old-fashioned way rather than with one-finger typing on your phone keyboard.

4. Lip gloss: Travel light this year with your makeup. Do you really need to cart the entire kit from foundation to bronzer with you everywhere you go? Get back to basics with a lipstick or lip-gloss at the ready for on the go touch ups.

5. Hairbrush: Getting caught without a hairbrush is a recipe for disaster if it’s windy, you’ve left home in a mad rush, you need to freshen up for a meeting or you’ve got something on after work. Try a fold-up or compact brush and leave it in your bag always.

The big day is over for another year but if you store your leftovers properly, the feast can continue long after the last guest has gone home.

Tips for preserving flavour and preventing spoilage

· Refrigerate turkey, pork or other meat, stuffing, gravy and other cooked dishes within two hours of serving.

· For best results, slice meat off the bones before refrigerating.

· Put meat and stuffing into separate containers.

· Divide leftovers into small, individual portions and refrigerate or freeze in covered shallow containers. Putting a large portion of leftovers in one container results in longer cooling times which gives bacteria a chance to form.

· Rather than covering plates with plastic wrap, use airtight refrigerator-safe containers. You can fill the containers almost to the top but don’t over stuff them so that the lid might pop open.

· If you are using plastic wrap, try and avoid leaving any gaps in the plastic or air bubbles between the plastic and the food.

· Try and spread your leftover containers throughout the refrigerator shelves so that the cool air has room to circulate and cool everything evenly. Avoid stacking your storage containers on top of each other.

· Glass storage containers are great for keeping salads and desserts at optimum freshness and preventing flavour from escaping.

Finally- just get some storage containers because they look nice - especially the nice sets!

Have a browse of food storage items in Lasoo- you never know what you will find!

When I reflect on my earliest memories of Christmas- I think of Christmas morning. I’d wake up at 6 am run to my parent’s room and urge them to wake up so I could ransack the presents under the tree.

The presents of course would have had the edges peeled slightly back (from previous attempts of getting a peek) and I would have put aside all the presents with my name on it to ensure optimal present unwrapping efficiency by the time I was granted permission to begin!

When the excitement will settle slightly us kids would  gather around the Christmas tree, posing with our presents, ready for the yearly Christmas haul photo.

… ahh… the memories!

As I get older, the thrill of Christmas morning changes as many of us now hope to live vicariously through our kids, going to great lengths to make Christmas morning really special. From laying Cookies and milk out for Santa, carrots and water for the reindeers, to shaking Baby Powder on the floor and putting footprints in it… we all do our part to make Christmas that little bit magical.

I guess you could say, as you get older it becomes less about the presents, and more about the giving…

What do you do to make Christmas morning that little bit magical?

We love rewarding our loyal Lasoo fan base with great prizes!

The winners of our Alvin & THe Chipmunks Prize packs are:

R.Caple, 2619 NSW

Y.Pointon, 6158, WA

S. Woods 2430, NSW

K. Kitto 2763 NSW

T. Andreatta, NSW

Merry Christmas everyone! We have lots more great competitions coming in 2012!

Not since the invention of the double-sided toaster have consumers taken to a household appliance with the same gusto with which they have embraced the home espresso machine.

If you love your coffee and are in the market for a home machine, then you have the inalienable right to expect barista-quality coffee as part of your morning ritual.

Use our easy to follow guide to decide which one is right for you

Manual espresso machine:

Skill level: Medium to advanced

How they work: Manually grind the coffee beans, spoon ground coffee into the filter handle, and froth your own milk. You also need to manually stop and start the flow of coffee through the filter.

Benefits:

The user has full control over the coffee making process.

Most models are smaller and less obtrusive than their automatic counterparts.

Tip: The perfect single shot espresso only requires 30ml of coffee

Semi-automatic

Skill level: Intermediate. Perfect for anyone who can froth milk, or is willing to learn.

How they work: Add ground coffee to the pod that sits in the filter handle, tamp it down tightly, screw handle into the machine, and press a button. You will also need to froth the milk.

Benefits:

These models are the most popular home espresso machines because they are easy to use.

Pre-set water amounts let you create the perfect cup.

Pre-set your desired amount of coffee for either a stronger or weaker brew.

Tip: To avoid buying a coffee grinder and having extra kitchen clutter, look for one with a built in grinder. Built in frothing devices are also more reliable and less messy than external options.

Fully automatic:

Skill level: None. Perfect for coffee lovers who like their coffee to appear at the touch of a button.

How they work: Supply the machine with coffee beans, milk and water, press a few buttons.

Benefits:

Start and stop by themselves.

Grind beans and froth milk for you

Used grounds are neatly dumped into a compartment.

Usually self-cleaning.

Pod machines

How they work: Pod espresso machines require pre-packaged coffee pods into a designated slot and the rest is done for you.

Main benefit: No mess, no fuss

Drawback: Your choice of coffee is limited and true connoisseurs for this reason often shun them.

A very popular brand of pod machines are the Nespresso range. They look very chic on the kitchen benchtop especially with all their amazing colours!

Watermelons are a plenty!

And with a bit of skill you can turn the humble watermelon into a fantastic Christmas treat!

Step 1: Get a portion of watermelon.

Step 2: Slice the watermelon into slices 2-3cm thick

Ever find yourself stuck for a present for that person who seems to have everything?

As I roamed the shopping centres on the weekend I noticed many shoppers in a robotic-like trance repeatedly blurting the words: “What on earth can I buy for…?”

My tip is: Buy them something they probably have never heard of and subsequently never knew they needed…. until you gave it to them! This means cool gadgets, obscure contraptions that make life a little easier and random trinkets that make you stop and go “WOW!”.

I recently saw a cool gadget segment  on the Today Show which show some of those products that you might have never heard about:

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/videoindex.aspx?uuid=8f4dc53b-7cc4-472e-bb3b-00fc0d7d1df9

App Blaster: http://www.lasoo.com.au/search/app%20blaster.html

App Mate: http://www.lasoo.com.au/search/app%20mates.html

Air Swimmers: http://www.lasoo.com.au/search/air%20swimmers.html

These are great ideas for presents and I’m pretty sure not many of your friends or family have them!

What obscure items have you bought for your friends who seem to have everything?