These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

As I sit down to make my lists and check them twice (and sneak out during the workday today to do a little shopping and have lunch with a girlfriend) I am thinking about all of the amazing things that help me live the (mostly) balanced life I live. The tools that allow me to be in two places at once, work at 5 am (when I'm typing this post) and from any location. These tools and the flexibility they provide allow me to put my kids on and off the school bus every day and for my toddler and I to bike to preschool together and "do lunch" at least 3 times per week.

Here are some of my favorites:

• Laptop. It seems like ages ago when workers were trapped to a desk with a computer and an internet connection. My laptop allows me to work from my home office, the breakfast bar in my kitchen during the day, my favorite local coffee shop, client sites and remote locations, including the nine road trips my kids and I took this past summer.
• iPhone. This device has literally changed my life. A single palm-held device allows me to answer forwarded office calls while I'm listening to tunes on a midday gym break, reply to emails in the carpool lot, take photos of the amazing things my children do everyday, review important work documents stored on GoogleDocs when I'm out on interviews and a million other productive and distracting applications. This is the ultimate be-in-two-places-at-once device.
• Notebook. I'm a big fan of the right size (not too big, not too small) and simple cute designs of Carolina Pad. I have one of these going at all times, in my purse and by handy laptop. I jot meeting and interview notes, my nightly to do list for the next day and all of the brilliant ideas that pop into my head as I jog, shower and sleep.
• Portable Scanner. Gone are the days of a desk-clogging, tethered photo scanner for my daily business use. I got the Pentax DS Mobile 600 last month and it makes scanning receipts, documents for internet faxing and even low resolution photos a breeze. It's tiny, light, fits into a small bag in your tote bag and is powered by a USB cable to your laptop.

And these are some of the things on my wish list this year (Santa, take note, I've been awfully good this year!)

• MacBook Pro. After nearly two decades as a solid PC user I think I'm ready to take the plunge. All of the smug Mac users out there (including my husband) have convinced me that this is the ultimate productivity enhancing, user friendly machine. 2010 is going to be a huge year for Momentum Resources and I don't have time for the twice daily laptop shutdowns that are occurring now.
• iPhone3GS. I don't need a new iPhone, mine works just fine. But this is one is even more amazing than it's predecessor (get video testimonials for our website? photo zoom of my sweet boys? Twice as fast? Voice Control? Are you serious??)
• Cole Haan Nike Air Black Pumps. I'm 5ft. 0," and by all accounts I should be in heels every day that I am sporting professional attire. But because my daily routine usually includes at least one sprint down the block to the bus stop, climbing a broken metro escalator and wrestling a 2-year old that doesn't want to leave the babysitter's house to come home from nap, that's just not possible. I've been waiting for a splurge opportunity to see what a tennis-shoe-on-the-inside and high-heel-on-the-outside shoe can do for me.

What tools do you find indispensable every day? What's on your wish list?