Can a Stick Vac change your life......

I have read about this little stick vac for a long time.  I have considered buying one but never did.  So this Christmas I received one as a gift.......has it changed my life? I gotta tell you.....it just may have.

I enjoy a lot of household chores.  I LOVE laundry!  I LOVE cooking! I totally enjoy bleaching some surfaces and sanitizing things. Vacuuming.....ummmm.....not so much.  I've had an Oreck upright for years.  It is not heavy, has been very reliable and does both my hard woods and rugs.  I'll grab it out and go to town just moving the plug and getting all the floors.  I never look forward to it.  In fact, if there is an idle child or husband in earshot, I will always ask them to run the vacuum.  But now This little stick vac

has me vacuuming myself and not even dreading it.  Here's what I love about it

1) it is super light weight

2) it charges when not in use and I can grab it and go with no cord

3) it is super easy to empty and no bags

4) it has a super low profile so I can reach everything

5) it does my hardwoods and rugs with no problem

6) it is great for stairs

Hmmmm, now that I think of it maybe it has made the bigger change for my family because now I am just grabbing and vacuuming on my own.

It is the little things, right? Small things that just make you smile or enjoy......or not dread doing something.  Maybe you could use a little Dyson Rechargeable Vac in your life.

By the way, this is not a sponsored post......I just want to share something I am loving because I think you might too.

Gotta go, I just spotted a piece of lint that I simply must vacuum up.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Party, Winner, Enter

This was a hard post to title because there is so much going on here today.  Welcome to Monday, girls. Make sure you read to the end because there is another giveaway.

First up, let's announce and congratulate the winner of the Favorite Book of the Year Post.  You guys were so split on which book you would choose......they are all good.....hard to choose just one.  But the random number generator landed on

Susan L.

Congrats Susan!!! Susan chose The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah.  I have ordered your book and will get it to you as soon as it arrives.  And as a little bonus, you will also receive this book lover's t'shirt.

Now let me catch you up on a little party we had last week.  I posted last year about our Favorite Things Party.  This year did not disappoint.  Basically I invite some of my favorite people, they each bring three of their favorite things and we do a gift swap so each person goes home with three new favorite things.

I prepared a little food

Everyone bought their three gifts wrapped and ready

We played one little short game.  I had everyone stand and I read a list of holiday themed things like

Built a Snowman

Wore a Santa Hat in public

Strung Popcorn for the Tree

Made Hot Chocolate from Scratch

Etc.

If people had never done the item I read off, they took their seat.  The last person standing won a prize.  It was fun and quite interesting to learn some of the things people had and had not done.

There were so many good gifts ....throws, fuzzy socks, photo frames, shower gels, Bible highlighters, journals, books, letter boards, hats, art work, movies, etc.

It is always fun to discover someone else's favorite product and then to find out you too love it.

I had two parties one on Thursday and one on Friday.  For the Thursday party I made a Ruana.......well actually I made three Ruanas.  Here is one of the recipients modeling hers

Come back on Wednesday and I am going to share the simple details of how you can make your own.

The second party I gave 3 sets of my favorite pens

Stabilo Pens

I found a cute little pen pouch and included a journal.

To top the evening off I had a little tote that I found on J. Crew

We made a name tag for each and it was the perfect thing for each guest to carry home their goodies.

I am already starting to think about next year's party.  It is truly one of my favorite things.

Now because you are a favorite, I have another giveaway for you and it is a GOOD one.....

This Barefoot Dreams throw is up for grabs

It is super duper soft and cozy.......perfection

All you need to do is comment here on the blog or head over to instagram and comment there. Tell me your favorite Christmas Song.  I will use a random number generator to select the winner on Tuesday, December 18th at 5:00 pm CST.  I will announce the winner here on Wednesday. Giveaway open to U.S. Residents only.

See you back here on Wednesday.  Have a great week!!!

A Favorite Things Party

I love to have friends over to hang out, laugh a ridiculous amount, eat food and why not exchange gifts too.  A couple of years ago we did a scarf exchange.  But last year we did a Favorite Things Party and it was a big hit.  Here is how this year's party came together

First of all, you simply ask each person to bring 3 of their favorite things.  No category.  Just anything they really like.  We had food products, make-up products, bath products, kitchen stuff.....you name it.  Everyone wraps their three items individually.

I made a simple little 4 question sheet for each guest to write some of their favorite things. We each listed our favorite Christmas movie, tradition, food and song. 

We placed them all in a basket.

We then placed each guest's name in another basket 3 times.

We randomly selected a sheet of questions and read the answers.  We all tried to guess whose sheet it was by the answers given.  This is especially helpful if you have people in the group who don't know each other well.  It is a great icebreaker and helps everyone learn a little about the other folks in attendance.  Finally, someone owns up to that being their sheet and they draw 3 names out of the other basket.  To those 3 people they present their favorite items.  And we worked our way through until everyone had presented and received 3 new favorite things

I ended up with 3 very nice new favorite things:

I got a spin spa, some great stress relief bubble bath and some warm slipper socks.

As everyone arrived I had a cute little craft set up for them to complete.  I bought clear plastic ornaments and dropped in some acrylic paint with a couple of drops of water to make them white.  Then we tied a string  on for a hanger, used a sock to make the hat and drew on a face with sharpies.  You know the drill, I found this on Pinterest and have it pinned there on the Christmas Craft Board.  I made a few small modifications.  I used plastic ornaments rather than glass and I painted the entire ornament white.  I could not get the paint to smooth evenly and just do half of it. But I think it still worked out.  I pre-painted all the ornaments so the party guest essentially just had to decorate.  I had little stickers to apply to the back of each ornament so we could remember whose was whose at the end of the night.  If you decide you want to do this craft, I would definitely try to find some ornaments that are already white, that whole painting them took me a solid week.  I worked on them each night for about an hour so finding some ready to go would be a definite plus.

Look at how cute they all turned out.

Next the food.  I know some people ask each party guest to bring something.  Perfectly acceptable and you definitely get a good variety that way.  I prefer to provide the food.  Only because I don't get to host these girls very often and so this is just kind of my little gift to them.
We had a spinach dip with pita chips, a spicy ranch dip with tortillas, roastbeef sliders, smokies wrapped in bacon and several sweets.

We also played a little game.  I took the song My Favorite Things sung by Julie Andrews and made a fill in the blank game.  Those with the most correct answers filled into the blanks won a prize.


Next, I prepared a little bag for each girl.  This way they all had a place to gather all their goodies to take home at the end of the night.

I just made simple little name tag and tied them to each bag.  Here are all the bags lined up at the beginning of the evening waiting to be filled and carried home.

It was such a fun night.  It is difficult to find an evening that everyone is available to come so we were definitely missing a few of our favorite people but a fun night still.

Don't forget the giveaway that is still open.....make sure you enter
Giveaway #2

I hope you have a great weekend, finish your shopping and prepare to rest and enjoy the holiday.

Meet you back here on Monday!

Favorite Product Series - 4th edition Huggable Hangers

Today is the last installment for this month's favorite product series.  If you missed any, we covered
1) Elfa Door Storage
2) Paper and Paper Cutter
3) Magic Pants

Today's product is the one that I have actually owned the longest.

It all started one night at 11pm when I flipped to QVC to see what the new special of the day would be.  Then as I always do, I flipped to HSN to see what they were offering.  My typical mode is to see what the new specials will be, go to sleep, and decide by morning if I want to order.  I know - it is an extreme demonstration of self-control.

Well this night.....I didn't.....I couldn't look away - organized, beautiful closets???? Ok, HSN, let's see what you have going on.

This was the beginning of my long term relationship with Huggable Hangers.  I know there are knock offs, but don't be fooled.  The specials that they offer on these typically come out to about $1/hanger.  It's worth it to get the real thing.

They offer the prettiest colors, we have camel, lime green, and purple.  My girls went with fun and lively colors.  My husband and I went with safe neutrals.
Having everything in your closets on the same type hangers really makes a difference.  You get a more uniform look and you avoid the dreaded hanger tangles that occur when you have wire, plastic, and store hangers intermingling with each other.  Plus the thin design really does allow you to hang more items in your space.

Now I'm going to be honest with you, Joy makes all kinds of extras to go with these hangers.....cascading hooks, pant clips, etc.  I don't use any of those.  I try to buy the hangers when they are offered alone or with as few extras as possible.

Let me warn you, you just may have to slowly build up your hanger supply.  The first order I made was for 100 hangers.  I thought surely that would do it.....psshhhh I was in denial.  I won't go into how many subsequent orders I've made but all have been worth it.

This set  gets you 50 hangers plus some of the extras for $39.95


This is a smaller set of 24 for $19.95

The good news is HSN is currently offering free shipping on these hangers and that, my friends, is a good savings......did I mention my first order was for 100....Aaahhh free shipping, a love language indeed.

Give'em a try.  I think you'll like them.

Come back on Friday and see what I actually swiped my Belk Card for at the Charity sale.

Favorite Product Series - Magic Pants

Welcome to the 3rd edition of my favorite products.  If you are just tuning in, favorite product #1 was Elfa door storage and favorite product #2 was gift wrap and a paper cutter.

Now for this week's feature - My magic pants also known as my favorite pants.  I call them magic because when I wear them people always comment about me looking thin.....oh you silly goose....it's just my magic pants.  Look I don't know what it is about these but I even feel thinner in them.

Let me just say - thank you, Isaac Mizrahi, for making these pants.

They come in an ankle length and it comes in petite, regular and tall. I am 5'4 which is borderline petite.  So I cheat and buy the regular ankle length and since it is meant to be ankle length on long legged girls, they fit me like a regular pant. So you will need to decide where you want them to fall on you.

I own 2 black pairs, 1 white pair, 1 navy pair, 1 khaki pair and 1 grey pair......see I told you I like them.

They wash great.  I don't dry any of my pants because my hips are allergic to pants that have been in the dryer.

I buy my normal size so I think they are true to size.

Here are the pants


They are from QVC and they come in white, black, lemonade, camel, paprika, passion fruit, grey, navy, french blue and turquoise.  Again, if you don't want ankle pants just search on QVC for the Isaac Mizrahi 24/7 pant and all the options will come up.

Talk to you on Friday!

Favorite Product Series - My Paper and Paper Cutter

As a reminder each Wednesday this month I am sharing a product that I am so pleased I purchased.  If you missed the first product, it was the Elfa Door Organizer and you can look back to read it.

But now on to this week's product.....

In 2015 my mother-n-law gifted me a very nice Amazon gift card.  I knew exactly what I wanted to buy.

This paper cutter

Yes, I worked several years at Parisian.  You guys remember Parisian, right? Well those were the good old days.  They actually had a customer service desk and they wrapped any purchases for FREE - might this be the reason they don't exist anymore ----eeehhhhh maybe.

Well my favorite department to work in was gift wrap.  Honestly, it was so much fun.  And when you have the right equipment - even gift wrapping is enjoyable. Well Parisian had vertical gift wrap cutters.  I chose the horizontal one.  You simply load your paper roll, pull off what you need a get that qqqkkkkkkttt sound as you cut it one fluid movement......did that give you chill bumps...it totally did me.

I went with a 765Ft Brown Kraft Paper. The particular one I ordered is currently unavailable but all you have to do is make sure you get a roll no wider than 36 inches to fit on the cutter.  And, yes, 765 ft. is a lot of paper.  I have wrapped 2 years of Christmas gifts, and practically every  birthday, wedding and graduation.

Look at how much is still left

One year I bought various rolls of traditional ribbon - a red check, a solid red, an emerald, a plaid.  You can put any ribbon with this paper

I have also used baker's twine.

And for other holidays I have used all kinds of different ribbons.

This year I found these little snowmen, gingerbread men, ric rac and Ho Ho Ho and I can't wait to use them.

We wrap Christmas gifts on July 25th.  It is our traditional Christmas in July.  I take off from work, we wear Christmas PJs and eat chili.

It literally takes us all day to wrap.

Remember the whole Christmas planner post? I am about 75% done with gift buying this year.

Get your gifts.  Get your wrapping supplies and join us July 25th getting slightly way ahead on Christmas this year.

Even if you don't want to join in the early Christmas wrapping, you will still enjoy the paper cutter whenever you choose to wrap.

Favorite Product Series.....Oh My Sweet Elfa

Each Wednesday this month I plan to share a favorite product.  These are things I spent money on and still feel good about buying.  We all fall for advertisements, great marketing and suffer sheer loss of will power and common sense at times which result in purchase regret and the birth of yard sales.  But the products I will show you this month are things I love and would quickly buy again.

This week's product - Elfa door organization system.

I ordered this from the Container Store.  They have a step by step design tool on their site.

Click here to get started.  First you will choose your color.  I went with white wire.  Then you choose your installation.  I went with the 'hang on residential door' option.  Listen, the installation could not have been easier or quicker - super simple.  I'm talking less than 15 minutes.  Plus with this option you can easily take it off and move it to another door or even another home if you relocate. There is no drilling or anything. You then choose the size of your door and finally you select the items you want to put on your bar.

You can add up to six items to your bar to customize the storage to your needs.  I put some baskets to hold ribbon, a peg board to hang scissors and tape and a gift wrap organizer.

Now if you are nervous about customizing or need help getting started.  They provided some best selling configurations here.

I spent around $80 on each door.

Here's how I am using mine in our spare bedroom.

Sorry the pictures are not that great.  I had some odd angles because my gift storage is inside this closet and I didn't want to risk any of you to spotting your gift!


What are you doing with the back of your doors?  Nothing you say? Well here you go.....think pantry, bathroom, linen closet, bedroom closet doors.

I am currently considering another one for my closet door.  I need some accessory organization and this just may be the route to go.

Anyway, go bond with the back of one of your doors, have a heart to heart talk with it, tell it you need more and feel like it has more to offer.  Then go for it!!!!

Stay weather aware and safe today!