P.S. I just looked at their site again, and there are other items marked down to prices that are just too good to be true. But they are true. I think today is turning out to be a perfect Monday.

I had no time to reflect on the changing of the seasons. Although I was grateful that my daughter’s first day at her new school brought around a slight dip in temperature. The new school year isn’t the new school year when it’s 80 degrees out.

It might still be autumn where you are. If you’re lucky, it is. It’s cool enough for a light jacket. But not so cold that you can’t feel your ears.

As I was removing some of my autumn favorites to make way for the winter staples, I was struck by how many of those items were now in constant rotation in my closet, my kitchen, my medicine cabinet.

Among my favorites are Neutrogena Sesame Body Oil. It’s the perfect consistency for the changing of the seasons. My skin gets a little tight, a little itchy. And this does the trick. And the smell? Is heaven.

And as I leave my light and oil-free moisturizer behind, I completely embrace Olivella. But only at night. It takes a while to seep into the skin. But it works on that tightness I start to feel, come October. I’ve used this for quite some time now, and as someone who is prone to breakouts if you so much as look at me funny, this product, I swear, does not make me break out. Not in the least.

Lip Guard, in the shade ‘Pebble Beach,’ from Bare Escentuals, is the best. It has SPF, goes on with a sponge applicator very lightly, and the shade is perfect for me. It’s the sincere color of my own lips, just bumped up a notch. I can’t live without it. In addition, I make sure to always have a tube of Blistex Deep Renewal with SPF 15 on my person, at all times. Blistex does a great and not-so-basic lip care line, most of the products have SPF in them, taste good and give a nice, healthy sheen. My all-time favorite is the one in the purple tube, Silk and Shine. The DCT with SPF 20 comes in at a close second, and would take first place, if it weren’t in a pot. I hate to use my finger to smear on lip product. I’m doing it constantly, all day long, absentmindedly, and really, I can’t actually say where my fingers have been.

My big splurge: a flannel shirt by Elizabeth & James. (And can I just add in here that nobody was as shocked as I was to learn that the Elizabeth & James line was conceived by Mary-Kate and Ashley. As in Olsen. The twins. Those twins. Let me just pick my jaw up off of the floor. Who knew? That these two actually had good taste? Turns out, they have impeccable taste.) But it’s not just any flannel shirt. It has little western-style pockets on the front. And 3/4-sleeves. And on the back? The most fantastic set of little buttons that, when buttoned, create the most incredibly perfect fit of any shirt I’ve ever owned. It’s machine washable, best left out to dry on it’s own, and just the most perfect item of clothing in this stay-at-home mom’s wardrobe. I do not apologize for this splurge. Sometimes, you just have to pay more for quality. And then a little more for style.

My Dansko clogs. Yes, I know. Hypocrite. Just last spring, I wrote of how much I detest these things. But then my husband brought home a pair for himself, and wandered around the house in his size 14 shoes, going on and on, about how comfortable they were. How awesome they were. How did he ever live without them? And then, to top it all off, Pea asked me for a pair. Begged me, is more like it. In red. And while hers are actually by Sanita, it’s all the same. Clomping clogs; Frankenstein feet. But I was drawn back in. It’s the official shoe of this town, I think. So I broke. I bought a new pair. But this time, I purchased them in a shiny brown, thinking it made them a little more chic. And while they’re nice and all, chic they are not. Comfortable, however, they are. And back in my wardrobe. But I figure I can cancel out the borderline hideousness of the world’s most comfortable shoe by wearing them with my favorite sweater, a grey shrug, by Donna Karan. And my Paige Premium Denim jeans. The only jeans I will wear. They are cut for a woman. Know what I mean? I promise, if you wear just one pair of her jeans, you will never wear anything else. Really, invest in a good pair of jeans. You will never look at yourself in the mirror again, and say, “what the?”

And while I’m not much of a jacket-wearer, not until it hits about 30 degrees, I found this North Face vest, in ‘Brownie Brown,’ a ‘feel better’ gift from my husband during a particularly bad bout of the stomach flu just a few weeks ago, to be perfect for my neck of the woods. It’s warm, the chocolate shade has a nice sheen to it, bumping it up a notch with the style factor, and it honestly kept me warm enough last weekend, when I waited for one hour with my husband, outside in a line with what seemed like two thousand other skiers, at the Ski Swap. I was warm. And I looked good.

And since my cheeks have a nice flush to them this time of the year, I can forgo blush or stains on a regular basis. What I cannot forgo is my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer with SPF 20, still the best tinted moisturizer around. It’s creamy, it looks natural, it covers well, and it’s perfect for this time of year, when my entire face gets just a little chapped.

Most of these products have been regulars in my daily arsenal. And a few are newcomers, but they’ve passed the test and will, in the future, become regulars. Some are bargains, some are splurges. All are well worth it.

But if you go to the MoMA website, there’s a small stock of Muji products, from housewares to office.

The best thing about Muji, aside from it’s obvious style, would have to be the prices. And since I’m in Holiday mode right now, I’m already adding many items to my list. For my mother, the forever frustrated artist, colored pencils and sketchbooks. For Pea, in her Christmas stocking, an envelope of markers and a stack of notebooks to scribble and doodle in.

Seriously, though. Consider some of the larger items. Such as furniture. I’m a huge fan of mixing styles. You won’t ever nail me down to one look. My husband and I, as a general design rule, love to work our home around our art and things from our travels. His Mao statue. My Italian watercolors. His ancient license plate collection – a worthy grouping of Americana. My Fat French Royalty Guy with Crumbs on His Gut print from my very first trip to the Louvre in Paris. These are sentimental items, and they each tell a story. And while they are pulled together with neutral furniture, such as our Ralph Lauren sofa or our pair of French Deco leather club chairs, there is always room for a bit of sass. The unexpected. Such as this coffee table, in aluminum. Although it’s not large enough for our needs, I think it’s fantastic. That it’s on casters makes it even cooler. Very industrial, no? And at $180, it’s practically a steal.

And the bangle watch? Love it. Has Christmas gift written all over it. And the jewelry box? I’ve had one on my list forever, but couldn’t find one chic enough to leave out. Until I came across this clear acrylic one, for under $40. I have to have it. The laptop case? Perfect gift for the guy who carries his laptop to and from the office. And the travel accessories? Perfect gifts for someone like my husband, who is on the road more than he’s at home. He can always use a new toiletry bag, or the travel organizer, which is perfect to pack all of the essentials that he’ll need on an international flight.

This stuff is basic; the items you use every day. Staplers, pens, lint brushes. Even trash bins. The line is simple. Utilitarian. But in all of that is the fantastic style. And with these prices, I plan to stock my gift drawer to the hilt. You just can’t go wrong with these items that we use each and every day. Why shouldn’t these things be gorgeous? And affordable?

I have fair skin. But I have fair skin that doesn’t burn. I get dark. Very dark. But it’s not a look I’m striving for any more. A little healthy color is all I want or need.

My husband? He’s outside a lot. And I’ve talked to him about needing to wear sunscreen, too. It’s just something we have to do. Like brushing our teeth or putting on deodorant. And when we’re together, I can remind him and stick the bottle in his hand and watch him put it on. But he travels a lot. And I can’t keep my eye on him. So I had to find him something that was a “manly” grooming product but that would satisfy my desire for him to protect his skin. At the very least, the skin on his face. Because while I know he can take the two seconds to put on a “manly” moisturizer with an SPF in it, I’m pretty sure when I send him on the road with a secondary bottle of sunblock, he’s not using it. Not that he’s in a rush, but he’s a get-in-and-get-out kind of a guy.

Hopefully, he thinks this Jack Black product fits the bill. And he will use it. Every morning.

The other problem we have is that he wears a size 14 shoe. This is not a joke. And although he’d probably say, “no, I wear a size 13…” I can say that it is a rare occurrence when he can wear a 13. But when you get into shoe sizes that high it doesn’t really matter anyway, there’s not much difference between a 13 and a 14. No matter what he asks for at a shoe store, chances are they’re not going to have his choice in either size.

But we got lucky. At our neighborhood shoe store a couple of days ago, we struck gold. Not only did they have his boot of choice in his size, it was the last of about four choices we requested. But personally, I’m glad that they didn’t have the first three in stock, because the Ariat Rambler that he ended up buying is incredible. In a shout out to his Texas roots, it’s a cowboy boot. But in another shout out to his work life on his feet, it’s a comfort shoe. And in a final shout out to the slippery sidewalks of our snowy hometown, it’s rugged and won’t have him falling on his bottom any time soon.

I’m a sucker for a guy in a cowboy boot.

We ended up blowing the rest of our alloted money on a couple of bags for him by Keen. I love Keen. They make some of the coolest “athletic” shoes around. And I had no idea that they also made bags. My husband travels a lot, all over the world. And by a lot, I mean sometimes he will be on up to 8 flights in one week, jetting from Texas to the East Coast and then off to Germany or Hong Kong or Hawaii or anywhere else you could possibly imagine, and then back home, only to start all over in a couple of days. So, the way women have a wardrobe of shoes? He has a wardrobe of travel bags. Each trip is different, and requires a different type of bag. Sometimes he’s in need of a backpack. Other times, a messenger will do. And we found both by Keen. Possibly the coolest bags ever.

We picked him up at the airport, after a business trip to NYC. The girls were wearing matching “Daddy” tee-shirts that we found online. These were a huge hit, my husband is a sucker for his little girls wearing anything that proclaims that they are his. I think he’d have been very happy if we had stopped there. But we didn’t. Because we spent a month (one whole month!) preparing for his Father’s Day.

Since he also loves photography and has been known to travel with the world’s largest tripod, we bought him this tripod that you can use anywhere and weighs practically nothing. He loved it. Said he’d seen it before, knew exactly what it was and was pretty jazzed about being the new owner of one.

We also bought him a copy of this really cool book that I knew he’d love because he loves to know stuff. It has some fascinating projects in it, too, that I thought he’d enjoy doing with our oldest daughter, a real tomboy at heart.

And then there was the DVD of “Planet Earth” that I knew he’d love because he’s a huge fan of Nova and The Discovery Channel. That was a big hit, even if I bought the HD version because I thought, “well, we have HD TVs in this house, so naturally I need the HD version.” Wrong. He patiently explained to me that HD DVD players are going to be extinct, along the lines of the Beta Max (remember those?), so I have to exchange it for the SD version, but that’s not a big deal. He was totally into it.

Lastly, I bought him a new watch for work because he goes through them. I realize I buy him watches a lot, but he seems to like to have a selection to choose from – his “dress” watches (a Raymond Weil I bought for him our first Christmas together), and then he has his “casual” watches: a Suunto for when we are skiing and hiking, and a Tag for work. But I found this really cool one and I’m so glad that I did because he hasn’t taken it off yet. Good choice!

And then we had his favorite meal, Beef Bourguignon, and he took a nap. Just a perfect Father’s Day for my girls’ perfect father.