For International Women's Day, I want to hear from you: what female-run small businesses do you think deserve to be in the spotlight? (And if the answer is "my own because I'm AMAZING," don't be shy.)

A few of my own favorite female-run small businesses, to kick things off (and I'm sure I'm forgetting...oh, twenty or thirty, so I'll be adding to this list over the course of the day):

• Domus: This NYC-based home decor and gift shop is run by two women who literally travel the world in search of unique items that bear the mark of the artisan who created them. It's one of my absolute favorite places to shop when I'm in the city - and while not everything they sell is currently online (because the pieces are usually small-batch, inventory turns over quickly), the proprietors are great at making unique suggestions for any and all gift occasions, so give them a ring.
• Su Casa Portraits: South Bay photographer (and frequent RG collaborator) Sue Hudelson applies her editorial background to family portraiture, creating images that are anything but ordinary.
• Hippo: This Massachusetts-based boutique owned by artist Shelley Cardoos features a variety of unique handcrafted goods and independently designed products, and is all about promoting local artisans. Shelley also runs craft fairs in her town every week during the summer months, and is, in the words of a mutual friend, "AMAZING."
• Stripes Boutique: Owner Elise Alden (who also manages glam | camp) has curated an adorable and completely unique assortment of clothing and accessories for infants and kids - and makes many of the items herself. (The We Can Do It denim jacket, made by Elise and available on glam | camp, is a personal favorite.)
• Free Range Mama: Artist Lindsey Stewart's teeny-tiny paintings on Minnetonka moccasins are the BEST. For real, the best.
• Gugu Guru: This one-of-a-kind registry site created by Monica Banks helps moms-to-be create highly personalized registries with unbiased product recommendations tailored to her lifestyle (and the service is 100% free).
• Alchemy + Aim: This website development business founded by Brandi Bernoskie helps businesses and brands create and maintain a spectacular online presence...whether what's needed is an entirely custom site, brand support, or simply routine maintenance and advice. I especially love the company's emphasis on honesty: they're not going to try to sell you a custom site if that's not what's best for your brand or budget (as evidence, here's a post on the site about why you don't necessarily need to have your own website). Love.

And now it's your turn: Tell me about awesome women who run awesome businesses!

Every single time I come home for a few days I end up rifling through my bedroom (now my dad's office) closet in search of...I don't know, exactly. Some amazing piece leftover from my high school years that I somehow forgot about, and somehow escaped what happened to my parents after they read The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up. I do this every time I come home, despite the fact that were there anything there, I would have found it by now (as my closet is located in New York City, and is not exactly what you'd consider "spacious"). And every time, all I find are the same four things. None of them are the kinds of pieces I'd ever even consider wearing again, but all of them are pieces that - for various reasons - I've never let go of. And so my childhood closet is where they stay.

First, here is my junior-year prom dress, worn to beguile and enchant my junior-year boyfriend, Alex (who bore a striking resemblance to Seann William Scott, but only in Dude, Where's My Car). I designed it - by which I mean drew it and sourced fabric for it, and then found hired someone to sew it for me, but still: I think that's sort of neat. Unfortunately, this self-designed dress also looks exactly what Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have worn to her prom, accessorized with a bunch of butterfly clips.

"Screen time" in our house has officially become a problem. We restrict it to what feels, to me, like a normal-ish amount - half an hour of TV at night, maybe an hour of educational-type computer games over the course of the day, and a half an hour of garbage (Angry Birds, etc) - but it's getting to the point where we're talking about (and fighting about) iPads and phones and TV shows upwards of twenty times a day.

This is not tenable. Not only because it's making me crazy, but also because while I'm generally of the opinion that all this "screens are the devil"-speak doesn't take into account the enormous educational benefits associated with them (seriously, YouTube just taught my five-year-old the concept of photosynthesis, and he can now explain it better than either of his parents), I hate the fact that they've become the default, the thing we reach for when our kids are fighting or tired or just bored. It's such a quick and easy solution, but it's also not exactly teaching our kids to look to the world around them to find fun.

The other day a friend of mine brought up the concept of a Bored Jar, and it's completely brilliant. (Apparently it's also a thing that parents everywhere - or at least parents on Pinterest - know about, but it's new to me, so I figured it may be new to you, too.) You literally just fill a jar with a zillion pieces of paper with activities written on them (popsicle sticks work especially well), and every time your kid comes to you and says "UGH I'M BORED," you're all "Here you go." I filled ours with a mix of chores, activities that I thought would be a little out-of-the-box for our kids, and a bunch of things I knew they'd just love ("watch your favorite movie," etc).

Sometimes I wonder whether those of you who read here every day can tell when something's up with me; whether I seem distant or grumpy or just "off" somehow. (...Or maybe I'm better at faking it than I suspect I am? Probably not.) Anyway, if you've noticed anything of that sort these past few days, here's what's going on: