When it’s chilly outside, there’s nothing better than baking cookies; Valentine’s Day allows for some creative twists on conventional confections. Are you a traditionalist? Spruce up a sugar cookie mix by adding red sprinkles or pink cream-cheese frosting, or—even better—both! Is your baking style a little more experimental? Buy an oatmeal cookie mix and add chopped dried cherries, coconut flakes, finely chopped pecans, and semi-sweet chocolate chips to make “I Love You This Much” cookies.

Kindle a fire while your cookies are in the oven—when they’re done, have a game night next to a roaring fireplace. If you’re in the mood for a lighthearted event, try Catch Phrase or Yahtzee; if you want to put your collective noggins to the test, play a few rounds of Cranium or Clue. Make it interesting by letting the winner choose the movie you watch as a family afterwards. Our suggestions: Be my Valentine, Charlie Brown, Shrek or Enchanted.

If you feel like getting out of the house, visit your local park for ice skating or a snowball fight or just go for a stroll around town. Layer up, the winter chill is still here.

Looking for something creative to do? Make your own paper floral arrangements to pass out to friends and family. For an affordable DIY version, all you need are clay pots, Styrofoam blocks, colorful pipe cleaners, mini pom poms, and construction paper. Make the flowers by cutting out various shapes in different colored paper. To create your arrangement simply attach the flowers to the pipe cleaner, then cut the Styrofoam blocks to fit the clay pots, and arrange the flowers into a dome-shaped creation. You’ll end up with a beautiful display that will perfectly adorn any area in your home.

Whether you stay in or go out, our ActiveLayer top is perfect for a day like this: it will keep you warm while wicking away moisture; plus, the hot pink top accentuates a Valentine’s Day celebration perfectly! Plus fall in love with the thumbhole as you layer with your favorite sweater.

What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day activity? We’d love to hear about your experiences with the above tips, or about your unique take on Valentine’s Day with the family by connecting with us through Facebook or Twitter

• Remember the 5 below weather that I was talking about? Don’t forget to dress warm! For a casual look, wear a cute solid colored knit dress and a pair of Softwear with Stretch Leggings, you will be comfortable and stay warm at the same time. You can dress up your outfit a bit by wearing your hair in milk maid braids pulled back into a messy bun.

• For a fancier outing, try wearing a taffeta type dress. Deep purple, navy blue, and black are all great colors, that are very flattering for the season. To stay warm, wear a pair of colorful ActiveLayer Leggings with a stylish boot. You can also wear a light sweater that you can easily slip of it you get too warm!

• Perfect for night out on the town with your friends where you don’t want to be too fancy since you know you will be out late and still want to stay comfortable, try making a dressy skirt more casual. A shorter skirt that’s hem is right above your knees, makes your legs appear longer than they are and is very comfortable! Bubble skirts or pleated skirts are perfect for this look, as they are fancier, but easy to dress down. To dress your outfit down, try pairing your skirt with a long sleeve Softwear with Stretch Top and a pair of tights.

• A tip to go by when creating a new look is not to go overboard. Choose one part of your outfit that you really want to stand out, but tone the rest down. Say you want to wear a tighter fitting, pencil sequin skirt that cuts right before your knees like those that have been so in style lately, that’s great! However, the skirt has a lot going on, so wear a simple shirt in a solid color and a pair of tights that are the same color as your shirt. That way, the attention is on your great skirt and other people’s eyes won’t feel overwhelmed!

Hopefully these tips will help you create some fun new looks while staying warm and looking great at the same time! How are you updating your wardrobe for the New Year?

Tips by Cuddl Duds Guest Blogger Reyna Meinhardt,
Out of the Notebook & Into the Blog

It’s 2011!

Our resolution is to defeat stress by appreciating the Simple Pleasures of life a little bit more – and to try not to make snowstorms out of light dustings.

Some of our friends feel like resolutions set us up for failure. Not this one! It’s easy and will help you gain happiness and refocus.

It also works as a complementary resolution – a re-solution, as we’re calling it.

For example, if your New Year’s Resolution was to get to the gym before work and you miss the gym one morning, consider it a “simple pleasure” of a day off and take that time to enjoy the simple pleasure that you just had – an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Problem? Re-Solution! Clearly, you needed the shuteye!

Simple pleasures are just that – simple; but they should be enjoyed as extravagantly as the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.

So, the next time you get a street full of green lights, take a minute and just smile about it. When you’re in the checkout line at the grocery store, look up from your phone and you might find a baby riding in the grocery cart, giving you a grin that can only be widened by a game of peek-a-boo.

Happy New Year! May your worst day of 2011 be no worse than your best day of 2010.

This time of year it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. If you’re anything like us, you probably still have shopping to do, sugar cookies to bake and a huge Douglas Fir tree to trim.

Oh, and only 8 days to get it all done.

We try to remember “it’s better to give than to receive” as we wait on the mile-long line at the store and fight rush-hour traffic on the way home. Something about the holidays seems to make our stress levels increase and our free time disappear.

Take a minute to relax and remember that the holidays are a season of giving. There are countless ways to give back to others this December. The holidays are a great time to volunteer of your time and give back to others. Helping out at a local shelter or donating to a charitable organization in your community are great ways to get in the spirit of giving.

Need an organization to get involved with? We are proud to support:

• Deborah’s Place, Chicago, IL
• Community Housing Association, DuPage, IL
• The Salvation Army, Chicago, IL
• Women’s Resource Assistance Program, Harvey, IL
• Joy House, Milwaukee, WI
• Sharing and Caring Hands, Minneapolis, MN
• People Serving People, Minneapolis, MN

Spreading warmth and comfort to others is especially important to us. These organizations rely solely on donations to make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and children in need, and will gratefully accept your time and donations.

Doing good for others this season will make your celebration even more special. So as you look down at your list of things to do today, try to make some time between the decorating and wrapping to bring joy to someone who really needs it.

After all, isn’t that what the holidays are all about?

He’s here already! We’re not buying the “experts” that say the first day of winter is December 21, 2010.

A quick look at a weather map will look pretty enough with its blue and purple hues spread across our great nation.  Still, look at the corresponding temperatures and you’re sure to shiver, even if you’re sporting a Softwear with Stretch top and legging under your pantaloons, inside, under an electric blanket.

Usual suspects such as Buffalo, Milwaukee and Chicago already have received the joy of their first big snowfall, but now even those Southern hotspots where we usually migrate for at least a winter weekend are learning to successfully pair their car’s defroster with a windshield scraper. This week, it dropped below freezing from the Northeast all the way down to North Florida!

But with this chilly weather comes unexpected fun. Hey, it’s not every day you can build a snowman with your kids, and let’s not forget about that fire pit in the backyard that toasts marshmallows to perfection.

We know it’s not easy to look cool when you can’t feel your teeth or tell if your nose is running, but it is possible. Try coupling tweed winter shorts with a Softwear with Stretch legging when you’re grabbing hot chocolate with friends.  Add a knee-length coat, insulated boots (at least for the commute and car cleaning!) with a faux fur trim, a cute winter hat with ear flaps, some mittens and a smile.  You’ll stay warm, look hot and feel like a kid again – actually enjoying the cold a bit!

Last night, millions of Glee fans watched as the cast closed with one of our favorite tunes –  Florence + Machine’s  “The Dog Days are Over!” Of course, with December approaching, most of us don’t need a reminder that summer is long gone.

As the weather gets colder, there’s two traps that we can easily to fall into.  The first is wardrobe-change denial, which can lead to colds and the flu.  (Yes, flip-flops are comfy and convenient, and we all look fabulous in our sundresses but not when the temperature barely hits 40!)

Secondly, this “winter wonderland” can quickly turn into the deep, dark doldrums as the days grow shorter, leading to laziness and lethargy.

There’s a simple solution that will kill two snowmen with one snowball. Stick to your daily regime!  Do the same things you did in the summer and the fall to begin each day and keep you in the groove.

We prepare to fight Jack Frost – no matter the wind chill factor – by keeping the fun and effective routine of playing one of our favorite songs as we slip on our Climatesmart V-Neck for our daily walk or put on our comfy leggings and read the latest Twitter updates with morning coffee.  We promise that  if you take our advice, you’ll be tweeting about how great you feel every day….no matter what the season!

It’s that time to share what we’re most thankful for –

When the front door becomes a revolving door with friends and family coming over to catch up and join us for dinner. Whether a delicious pumpkin pie or an outlandish story, everybody brings something to our lively table.

When the kids volunteer to take on the massive pile of dirty dishes afterwards, leaving us time to peruse the Black Friday deals in the paper.

That’s when we grab our Black Friday partner-in-crime and go for a walk around the block in our Activewear Lightweight legging. We relish this quality, one-on-one time, strategizing for our favorite shopping day of the year amidst the beauty of the changing seasons.

No need to readjust your screen.  You are still at CuddlDuds.com

Luckily, we’re versatile.  Welcome to the new home of CuddlDuds.com! Our new site features a shop section, so that you can peruse our collections; an events section to keep you in the know on what’s happening with us; a where to buy page in case you want to check out Cuddl Duds live and in-person at one of our retail partners; and a community page, on how to connect with us on Twitter and on Facebook.

We’re most excited about where you are now – the “Live in Layers Blog.”  Forgetting you’re wearing us – like with our streamlined Active Layer tops – is part of the pleasure for sure, but don’t forget us completely! Come back every couple of days and check out our thoughts on fashion trends, style tips, health and fitness, looking smart, feeling comfortable and advice on building a fabulous routine.

It’s our drive, amidst the foliage, towards a life well lived every day.

We dabble – in warm weather, cold weather, fashion trends, active wear and more – and we’re always available for a cup of coffee, a meeting or a run.

Life’s got a lot of layers and many can take the form of good or bad: family, work, friends, relationships, houses, cars and so on and so forth.  Peel those off and put ours on. You can “live with it” by living in Cuddl Duds.

Having a moment of sheer adulation?  Pull up your Softwear with Stretch Hoodie and jump!

Getting ready to take the dog for his daily morning walk?  Put on a Fleecewear Long Sleeve top to help you plow through the cold.

Layer up and start your week’s routine off right!

Sweater Shrug: The sweater shrug is this year’s trendiest way to add warmth to your summer clothes. This closure-free sweater comes in many forms — short, long, three-quarter-length sleeves, chunky, lightweight — and this season you can easily find one in every color of the rainbow. They look equally amazing with a pair of jeans and a slinky summery top as they do with a summer dress.

Scarf: Scarves are a trend that is seemingly going to stick around. Long scarves, patterned scarves, silk scarves and more can be the perfect accessory for making your style look and feel warmer for fall. But this year’s top scarf incarnation is the chunky infinity scarf — a chunky knit scarf that has its ends sewn together to make it one big infinite loop.

Hidden Layers: While a sweater shrug or scarf is a great way to add warmth and style to your outfit, you can also add layers underneath that no one will ever know about. Slip a Cuddl Duds tank under your summer dress so you won’t freeze when you go for happy hour drinks after work. Or add Cuddl Duds leggings under your lightweight summer pants to ensure you’ll stay warm on a Saturday afternoon apple-picking trip.

Dark Accessories: If you were wearing white and light brown belts and shoes a few weeks ago, now you should trade in those accessories for darker ones in rich browns, deep purple, grays and black. Even on a warm fall day, a dark accessory will make your outfit look seasonally appropriate.

Boots: It’s no secret that trading in your opened toed shoes and sandals for a pair of boots will keep your feet warm as cooler temps arrive, but they’ll also turn any summer look into a fall look. A summer dress with knee-high boots suddenly doesn’t look so summery anymore.