Two things more people should know about their faces:

1. If you, or your kid has had a cold for a few days, apply some Burt’s Bees Beeswax lipbalm to the nose and upper lip. It protects the skin that’s been chapped from all that nose blowing, and the peppermint in it facilitates a blissful cooling sensation.

2. Ladies, if the skin on your upper lip seems to be darkening, it could be hormones. OR could it be that you’ve been using SPF makeup every single day for a year or so, but have neglected to put any on your upper lip.

It’s a fact!

The gorgeous personalized children’s book above is by Sarah of Party Perfect. She used objects familiar to her baby to help teach first words. Ever since I saw it, I’ve been thinking about how nice it would be to make a photo book specifically for Hank.

I wanted an idea that would have the maximum impact if it was personalized. Because Hank seems intrigued by feelings lately, I decided to go with that. I’d really like him to learn early on how to identify his emotions and then do something constructive with them, and he already loves to talk about how his toys are “so happy” or “really cross” (thanks Thomas the Tank Engine).

I love the end result. Here are some examples of what I put together:

Shutterfly bought some ads on Mighty Girl, and they let me try their photobook service to lay out my book and print it. It actually ended up taking more time to choose the photos than to make the book. If you’d like to try it yourself, Shutterfly is offering codes to twelve Mighty Girl readers to let them print books for free. You can enter the drawing by leaving a comment about what you’d like to make.

The contest will run through August 24, and I’ll announce winners here. One entry per person please, I’ll have to delete duplicates for fairness. Good luck!

Hello. Do you know I’m on Twitter? If not, you should follow me here. I am not noisy.

Also, if you use Twitter to keep up with your favorite sites, and you’d like to know when I’ve posted here, on Mighty Goods, or elsewhere, you should follow me here too.

The first account is mostly for original content and the occasional post of which I am very proud (I’ve sent you my clippings, Mrs. Tenenbaum!), the second is an automatic feed I just set up to update when I’ve posted.

In conclusion, follow me, my friends. I will not lead you astray.

I’m sure all of you remember my tap instructor John Kloss?

Yeah, I bet you do.

If you’re in the Bay Area this weekend, you must attend his Bay Area Tap Festival, which features Friday and Saturday night performances by professional tap dancers from Broadway and film.

To celebrate the culmination of a whole lot of work putting the festival together, I asked Mr. Kloss if he’d share his top ten favorite tap performances on film. (Shockingly, mine did not make the list, but I’m climbing the charts with a bullet, you guys.)

Here they are, counting down to his favorite. Take it away, Mr. Kloss…

10. Savion Glover “Time After Time [Cadenza and Finale sections]“

“There is much Savion Glover material on film, and many clips, such as ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ with Stevie Wonder, could easily compete with this one. But I’ve been watching Savion’s performances — from backstage, from in the audience, on my TV, and on the big screen — since around 1995, and to me, this performance best crystallizes his technical wizardry, unquenchable passion, razor-sharp wit, and superb showmanship.”

9. Peg Leg Bates

“Peg Leg Bates could make it on this list for any number of clips of his work — a compilation of some of his work on film appears here.”

8. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers “Pick Yourself Up” from the film “Swing Time”

“Though Ginger’s taps routinely were later dubbed in by Astaire choreographer/collaborator Hermes Pan, she and Fred both are undeniably “in the pocket” in this righteously tasty morsel of their on-screen work. See 1:20-1:30 and 2:00-2:07 for examples of how Fred and Ginger were ’serving up the funk’ long before that expression meant what it does today.”

7. Various Dancers, “Lullaby of Broadway” from the film Gold Diggers of 1935

“A huge cast, innovative camera angles, striking lighting effects, reverse motion film, remarkable sets, Broadway presentation, and raw hoofin’ all come together in this tour de force of choreography and cinematography courtesy of Busby Berkeley.”

6. Sammy Davis, Jr., Gregory Hines, et. al. “Challenge” Scene from the film TAP!

“HD footage of some of the greatest in Tap laying it down — opening dialogue provides essential narrative context, but dancing starts at about 1:57.”

5. Bill Robinson Stair Dance from Harlem is Heaven

“An ultimate classic — the stunning simplicity of rhythm tap, incredibly sophisticated compositional quality, and the unmatched clarity and precision of Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson.”

4. Gregory Hines with Sammy Davis Jr. from “Sammy Davis Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration”

“Not quite film, but an absolutely spectacular capture of the essence of Gregory Hines in a touching televised tribute to Sammy shortly after Sammy’s cancer diagnosis.”

3. Gene Kelly Singin’ in the Rain

“Of course, a classic. Close runners up for Gene Kelly entries to the list include the “Alter Ego Dance from Cover Girl (Cinematic Achievement); Live Action Gene Kelly with animated Jerry Mouse in Invitation to the Dance (Cinematic Achievement) (ed note: This video unfortunately also shows a Family Guy version on the right); and also “I Got Rhythm” from An American in Paris, which is pure fun.

2. Jimmy Slyde “On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)” from the Tap Documentary About Tap

“A quintessential recording of my favorite tap dancer of all time and an inspiration to so many other tap dancers at the top of his game.”

1. Nicholas Brothers “Jumpin’ Jive” from the film Stormy Weather

“Here we are at number one. Fred Astaire called it the greatest tap number on film — I have to agree.”

Well, if that last one didn’t put you in a good mood, you can’t be helped. Again, many thanks, to John Kloss of Stepology. If you want to get in on the action this weekend, tickets for the Bay Area Tap Festival are available here.