Ready for spring

Well apparently the warm temps have settled in, we are in an every 2 to 3 day storm pattern, so I guess it is officially spring.  A few good days of warm temps sends me to the closet for major rearranging and cleaning out.  I took the iPad into the closet, pulled up Netflix and spent 4 hours putting my hands on every piece of clothing I own.  Usually at the end of the season I go thru the closet and get rid of those things I didn't wear.  But I just didn't feel it was fair to the sweaters and winter clothes this year.  It never stayed cold long enough to really use my winter clothes.  So most of those just got rearranged.  Although a few pieces went into the donate pile because honestly they have been hanging around way too long.

I feel like I am way behind, but here is what I watched while working in the closet



I made it thru half of the first season.  I may reorganize my husband's closet so I can finish season 1. If you have some time it is worth a good binge watch.

After I rediscovered all my warm weather clothes and shoes, I am fully committed now to wearing them.  Good bye, Lucky booties, see you in the fall.

I never paint my nails in the cold months. Just not motivated..... but oh the spring gets me motivated.  Check out these great colors





This color is called Bubble Bath.  I love a good neutral like this. I've linked you to the Amazon site.  They have this fun feature that you can click on the color and see it on different skin tones.

My other go to color is red.  So I like this one

It is Big Apple Red

While on Amazon I ordered myself this pair of espadrilles



They were only $50 and I think will be good with skirts and pants.  They arrived yesterday and I think they are a good choice.  They also come in Black, Sage and Dusty Pink.

Oh and just in case you are on Amazon ordering something, please consider using my friend Abby's affiliate link.  Amazon has the ability to allow people to raise money.  Abby and her husband Nick are in the process of adopting.  If you use their link, they get a little commission from your sale.  They don't get your name or know anything about what you purchase.  All they see is a little uptick in their dollars.  Abby blogs at I Know the Plans if you want to read more.  Here is their link.  Simply click here and do your Amazon shopping like normal and they will receive a contribution to bringing their baby home.

Now for a few quick fun items you might want to pick up.



Quinn Top $34



Greenwich Tunic Dress $42
They list this as a dress but depending on your age this may just be a tunic.  I think this would be cute over some white denim leggings.  This also comes in sizes S - 2X and has free shipping.



The Tillie Maxie Dress $38.  If you need a great swimsuit coverup, I am voting for this one.  The description says it is generously sized and looks cute tied up on the side which would help depending on how tall you are.  So if you are a petite lady heading to Hawaii in a couple of months (#talkingtoyoumom) this might be a good option.

We are one week into the sleep number bed and so far so good.  I have had to adjust my number a little but I think I may have found my sweet spot.  So far my body is very appreciative of the better sleep and I have actually been getting out of bed pain free.  I still have a snooze button issue but that has nothing to do with the mattress.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Talk to you on Monday.

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We tried it.....

My friend Jennifer found this article in the February issue of Redbook and we thought we would give it a try

If you are remotely close to my age you will remember macrame yarn.  In our day we made plant holders out of it and added lots of beads.  You guys remember these, right?

photo source · Macrame Eye Candy-designrulz (22)

Well apparently they may be making a comeback.  They are all over Pinterest.

But this craft uses the same material.  We ordered out macrame thread from Wal Mart.  They had a huge assortment of colors.  

So the magazine told us we needed the following supplies:

Two colors of macrame thread, a glue gun with sticks and a cheap laundry basket.  The laundry baskets were only 75 cents!!!

The lady who wrote the article said this was a one hour craft.  Our hats are off to her because we worked together and it took the two of us a little over 2 hours to complete one basket.

Here is the finished product.

You can find the complete details and instructions in the magazine, however, I would like to highly recommend an investment in these.

We may have lost a fingerprint or two .  I have another one to make but we will be doing it with protected finger tips this time.

Anyway, fun to try some of these creative things people come up with and especially fun to see macrame yarn out there for another generation.

Go ahead and try some craft you've been wanting to try.  If nothing else you'll have a good afternoon with a friend.

Going to the Grocery Store.....wooo hoooo!

I know this is not one of most people's favorite things.  It is totally one of mine. 1) It's shopping and I will just about shop for anything. 2) It is a chance to be creative - you take a bunch of random things and make a meal out of it. 3) They have this self-service soda machine where I can get crushed ice and a coke and drink it as I peruse the aisles......and then there's refills!

So you can see it is a happy place for me.  But I do a few things to make it a little easier.  First, I use emeals.com.  It is a great website where you sign up, choose your grocery store, choose what kind of meals you like (classic, low carb, gluten free, weight watchers, etc) and precious little meal fairies prepare not only a plan for 7 meals, but also an itemized grocery list and meal plan instructions.

I have been using this service for almost 9 years.  It costs $5/month if you pay for 12 months.

Now let me ask you something - is it worth $1.25 a week for someone to hand you an itemized grocery list, with recipes? I'm going with a yes here!

You can sign up and try it here for 2 weeks free. (this is my personal referral link)

I am currently using Kroger.  I like the selection, it is close to my house and there's that soda machine.

So the one thing about Kroger is you have to have a Kroger Valued Customer card.  But don't worry it is linked to your phone number so you can always type that in and not carry that card around.  Now when I say you have to have a card.....I'm serious.  Kroger can be a little gangsta without it.  They will literally say with a straight face - these cookies are $3.99 with card OR $125.99 without a card.  Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration but there is usually a significant difference in the two prices.

Once you have the Kroger card you can register online or with the app and be able to load digital coupons and save even more.  Plus they do a Friday Freebie that I load to my card and pick up when I go shopping.  Yeah, I don't care what it is I'll take it.  One time it was a Reese's Cup and I ate it on the way home while drinking my refilled Coke ---Score!!!! Double Score!!!!!

Then there's the gas points- now those come in handy.  I usually buy my gas at Kroger because I usually have 20 to 30 cents off per gallon.  To help the cause I also buy all my gift cards here.  You get a lot of points for those little jewels.

And Kroger has this app that you can put on your phone.  When you are in the store and you can't find an item, you can type it in the app and it will tell you what aisle the item is located.  Girls, if you send your husband to Kroger please get them the app.  I cannot tell you how many times I have had the following conversation:

Mystery husband: Excuse me, do you know where the Velveeta is?
Me: Yes, aisle 7 just down from the spaghetti sauce
Mystery husband: What? Shouldn't it be refrigerated?
Me: Well, only after you open it.  Before then it is ok just on the shelf
Mystery husband: But it's cheese and cheese should be refrigerated
Me:  Well........have a good day. (I just can't break it to these trusting souls....it's a "cheese product")

But the app actually happened to help me a few weeks ago when I had to buy Tahini.....that was a first and the app knew exactly where it was located.

Kroger also allows you to order on line and pick up your groceries for a $4.95 fee.  I have done this maybe 3 times when the weekend was packed and I knew it would be a struggle to make it.  Occassionally, it's worth 5 bucks to ease a little stress.  And yes I know it is free at Wal Mart and if Wal Mart is your jam.....go for it (you can use emeals there too).


See you in the aisles..... I will be the one with the clipboard and the coke!

12 South.....Nashville

Over spring break we had a chance to visit an area in Nashville, TN called 12 South.  This area is several shops and restaurants all on 12th Avenue.  You park once, get out and walk from shop to shop, pause and eat along the way.  Now let me just say we found this to be a shopping venture more about quality rather than quantity.  We have made shopping runs where we thought we might have to strap a kid to the top of the car to get everything home.  The prices in most of these shops did not lend themselves to me filling up the cargo space of my car.  But it is always fun to look and every other shop or so had affordable items.

You can click on this 12 South link and see all the available shopping opportunities.  But here are our favorites.

First up, Serendipity - This store has food items, clothes, shoes, jewelry, candles and a little bit of everything.  They had several items that were locally made and very unique.  We bought the most number of items from here.  Three pair of shoes, a top, a ring, and a candle all went home with us.  The sales people were very nice and we look forward to shopping here again.  They are available online but they have a small fraction of there merchandise listed there.

Another favorite was Whites mercantile.  They were sort of an old fashioned kind of store with wood floors and shelving.  They had house stuff, books, soaps, clothes, candy and lots more.  I won't tell you what I bought here because someone reading this blog may be getting it for Christmas.  But this one was definitely a favorite store.  One of those stores that you look up and you have been looking around for 30 minutes easy.

If you are familiar with Sprinkles cupcakes they have a store there.  But the fun thing is they have the cupcake ATM.  Yep, it's a little machine that you make your selection and out pops your cupcake.  Cute and delicious.....two things we appreciate.

We had lunch at Burger Up.  We didn't eat until around 1:30 and they were still packed.  Get your name on the list and hit a few of the close by shops while you wait.  We started with fried pickles and onion rings.

I had a black and blue burger with regular fries.

We also a had a couple of classic burgers with sweet potato fries, a bacon cheeseburger and one turkey burger.  All plates were clean.  All tummies were satisfied.  I am not sure that we wouldn't go to this area just to eat again.  It was quite good.  And reasonable - $10 for a burger and fries.

Our final stop was Draper James.  This is Reese Witherspoon's store.  It is super southern.  As soon as you hit the door they welcome you and ask if you would like some sweet tea. Say what?  Yep they have a decanter of sweet tea and they give you a cute little blue and white paper straw. I am not a tea drinker but those who had some loved it and I loved the idea.

Here we got a super cute little striped shirt and an adorable little camel swing jacket.  In this store we  found ourselves start using the words "investment piece" because those are the kind of coping skills we have.  We would totally shop here again.

These beautiful blue doors welcome you in.

It is so cute and they have such great investment pieces (wink, wink).

We had an overcast, drizzly day and still managed to really enjoy the area and the shopping.  It's a dream location for a girl trip.

Our sleep number mattress is being delivered today.  We are very excited as we are way overdue for a new mattress.  Looking forward to some good sleep this weekend.  I will report back on how we like it.

Talk to you on Monday.  Hope you have a great weekend.

All about YOU!!!!

I want this to be a place for all of us, so today I am pausing from pushing my thoughts to you and anxiously awaiting to hear from you.

Any topics you want to see covered here?

Any trouble spots in your home that you could use help with?

Wondering how others handle this or that?

How about products you are wondering about?

Restaurants? Stores? Online shopping sites?

Anything at all....what do you want to us to talk about here?

Leave a comment or send me an email.  I'll answer what I can or try to find someone who can shed some light on your subject for us all.

And meet me back here on Friday, I will be doing a report on a little shopping trip we took over spring break.

See you then!

Happy Spring and Christmas Prep

We are less than 9 months away from Christmas this year.  It is time, dear friends, to start planning and preparing.  I mean just think about gradually getting done and having more time to actually savor the holiday when it comes.

Yes, I fully embrace the sentiment above.  I am here for you!!!

Don't worry we are going to start slowly.  These books from May Designs are my go to organizer for all the gift buying I have to do.  I make a list of every gift I am going to buy.  Yes. Every. Gift.  I start with Christmas and list every family member, friend, co-worker, service provider, and neighbor.  I even make a couple of pages for my kids - one for stocking stuffers, one for Santa, etc.

I also take a couple of pages to list the other occasions I will buy for - Valentines, Mothers/Fathers Day, graduation and birthdays.

Periodically I will post gift ideas here, but any of the retail items posted can be considered as great gift ideas.  Maybe they aren't things you are interested in for yourself but maybe someone on your list could use them.

Here's where your little gift planner comes in handy.  You can shop all year and keep up with what you buy and what you need to buy.  This little book helps me for two reasons 1) it helps me stay focused as I shop through the year and 2) it helps me not overbuy (I don't fully understand this concept but I've heard people mention it and wouldn't want it to happen to me).

So I will shop all year and when I run across something unusual, fun or cute I literally flip through my book and figure out who I can buy it for.  Plus occasionally people will mention something they want or wish they had and I jot that down too (but in pencil - only purchases get written in ink).

And you know how you always have some people you are going to buy a gift card for? Well often Kroger has 4x the fuel points on gift cards.  I usually buy at least a couple a month, rack up some fuel points and knock some gifts off the list.  Plus it feels much better to spend a little as I go thru the year than a fortune in November or December.

You could use any book - but I made these on on May Designs and I love them.  The one on the left is my Gift planner (my daughter's designed this one for me).  I use the one in the center to take notes at my Bible Study. The one on the right is a calendar for 2017 where I plan and record family obligations and events.

You can choose the cover, the wording, whether you want a calendar, lined pages and all sorts of other things.  All of mine are the 5x8 size.  I find that size is purse friendly.

Go ahead make yourself a little gift buying book and let's get started on Christmas 2017.  In about 9 months....you'll be really glad you did!  Trust me.

Oh and by the way, Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Going Green

It's St. Patrick's Day and you know what that means....it's the day we buy green (wear green, buy green, so close to the same thing)

So here's some lovely green to add to your collection.

This Kendra Scott necklace.



Green is a good color to mix with animal print.  Imagine this with a white tee, jeans and leopard flats.  Yes, if you think you can't wear green this is a good way to incorporate it.

Now if you can rock green.....

This is a cute top


as is this one 



or a simple cardigan










or a little green for the home, this teapot


or this tea kettle

or a succulent

These are all the rage and super easy to keep alive.

or an avocado keeper

If you know someone who loves avocado, you should mark this one down as a potential stocking stuffer.

And finally,

Publix makes a delish key lime pie and we will be having one tonight.  

Enjoy your weekend.  Talk to you on Monday.

Grace.......

Grace is one of my favorite words.  There are many good definitions of grace.
 - unmerited favor
- not getting what I deserve
- covering rather than convicting
- loving in spite of

I receive a lot of grace.  I am sure of this.  I know I clumsily speak and act on a daily basis.  I know that many people in a day shake their heads and smile as I blunder and fumble.

But I want to give more grace and to give it out of habit, naturally, easily, as a first response.

I want to put aside my need to have the last word.

I want to be OK with not being right.

I want to be kinder in the car and not so intolerant of the idiots drivers on the roads. (See why I need improvement here?)

In the grand scheme of things, some of this stuff that raises my blood pressure really should not.

Maybe I could store all the grace I receive into my "virtual grace bucket".  I could then pull from my supply when I need to extend it to others.

I would always have more supply than demand - The grace God affords me each day is way more than  I would need to extend to others.

Here's wishing you much grace - to receive and extend.

Pi Day....grab yourself a deal

Due to me losing an hour of my day, we have a short post today.

Remember Tuesday 3/14 is National Pi Day and some companies are offering some deals.

Stevi B's Pizza Buffet is offering their all you can eat buffet for only $3.14 with code 4051

Pieology is offering pizzas for $3.14 but I think you have to download their app.

Enjoy a FREE Boston Market Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie with the purchase of any individual meal & drink with coupon on Tuesday, March 14! Get the coupon here: http://www.wral.com/16576327/

Whole Foods is offering you to save $3.14 on all large bakery pies and on all large take and bake pizzas. 

I am sure there are other offers out there.  Check all your pizza places and anyone who sells pie and see if they are running a good deal.

Enjoy your week......

Taking a slow leisurely stroll....forward

Springing Forward - Boo! Bah humbug! I'll pass! Negative! No thank you!!!!!

This is my least favorite weekend of the year.  I do not spring forward very well. I am not a fan.
I need sunlight in the mornings to get up.  I need this hour that  mysteriously disappears while I am in bed.  It's just odd.  I will not be springing forward.  I will slowly adjust.  Ten days in and I will be caught up with the rest of you.  I make no apologies for this.  I absolutely dread it.

So luckily I found these at Target today.  I am an M&M fan.  I am a white chocolate fan.  And yes, I am a vanilla cupcake fan.....so thank you Mars Company for making these

As I try to deal with this new time thing, at least I will have Vanilla Cupcake M&Ms to help me through.

Fortunately, next week is our spring break, so at least I won't have to have any conversations about homework as I work through this transition.

Do you get the urge to clean and organize as spring approaches?  I totally do and that is what is on my agenda for the next week.  Some people go to the beach, we purge closets.  It takes all kinds, right?

But we will also try to squeeze in a couple of fun things too.  Who knows maybe we can replace some of the items we donate with some fun new spring things.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love a white t-shirt.  And I get a couple of new ones every spring.  I mean you just have to restock on fresh white t-shirts.  I am liking this one from JJill.

It is only $39 plus 25% off with code 25MAR17.  If white is not your thing, this comes in 6 other colors. It gives good coverage without being too oversized.

This shoe from DSW is super cute and has good reviews.

It comes in blush, taupe, black, tan and blue and is only $49.95.  I feel like it would be very acceptable to purchase this shoe in more than one color.  It would be a cute shoe for dresses or pants. And great for Easter.


This is a cute little swing dress for only $59.


which also looks cute with a jacket if you don't do sleeveless.

There are 5 color choices and it comes in petite and regular sizes.

These other sweet retailers feel my pain and offer some soothing discounts:

Williams Sonoma is having a 75% off spring clearance sale.
The Loft is having 40% off regular and sale merchandise
Banana Republic has 50% off 5 items
Belk is having 20% regular and sale items 15% off shoes
Kohl's has $10 off $25 purchase with code LUCKY

Don't forget you only have a few more days to redeem your yellow receipt at Chick Fil A if you received one on Groundhog Day.

Have a great weekend!  I will be doing the best I can.

February Books

So here's what I managed to get read in February.

First up,


This is a heavy book.  It is a true story.  It is about missionary work.  It convicts, inspires and pulls practically every emotion from within you.  If you need some deep, grounding, serious reading - this is for you.

Next up,


This is one of my favorite authors.  I'm a fan. Jeanette Walls also wrote The Glass Castle and Half-broke Horses which I also highly recommend.  Her books always deal with some interesting family dynamics. After some super heavy stuff, I really needed this entertaining book to balance my book game.  If you haven't read anything by her, start with The Glass Castle but then work your way to this one.  While they are not connected, I would still recommend that order.

Lastly,


I've read several of Elin Hilderbrand's books.  I find them enjoyable.  This one, like the others, takes place on Nantucket.  This one, like the others, makes me want to visit there.  This one is a lot about love, true love that will not die, but just might take a few people out in the process.  I never found anyone to really cheer for in this one.  The relationships were so intertwined it just felt like no one was going to win and I am not sure in the end who actually did.  But the book is entertaining and if you are one of those people who is still swooning  over some boy from your past.....you can probably relate to this one.


This is my new cookbook for the month



If you are trying to eat delicious food but still watch your calories, sugar and salt.  This is a good one.

I have a fresh stack lined up for March.  Hoping to find time to get at least a couple of them read.

Hope you are finding to time to escape into some good reads yourself.