February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Today is the last day for my sweet little avatar, Sweetie Pie . She officially goes on break at midnight tonight so that her mischievous little cousin, LuLu (short for Lucky Lucinda) can take over for a bit. 

Product of the Week

Week of February 5-11, 2012

Apple Pecan Salt Soak

A natural bath sand filled with the goodness of real apple bits, pecans, brown sugar and sea salt.
Apples provide your skin with vitamins A, B, C and E, collagen and elastin. All great things for clean, shiny, healthy skin. Protection from sun rays, antioxidants, moisturizing and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles - all packed into these sweet little apple bits. Pecans, Brown Sugar and Sea Salt provide three different types of moisturizers and exfoliating properties.

Product of the Week

Week of February 12 - 18, 2012

Apple Pecan Salt Soap Bar

A natural bath soap filled with the goodness of real apple bits, pecans, brown sugar and sea salt. I took all the natural goodness in the bath sand and created a solid bath bar. Pecans, Brown Sugar and Sea Salt provide three different types of moisturizers and exfoliating properties. Shown here in the 4oz bar, you get three soaps per order. This soap is also available in the Apple Pecan Gift Set (soap, soak and scrub).

January 2, 2012

The first Monday of 2012, I wanted to share this video with you for

Fun With Music and Video

Here's to a year of triumphs and tribulations, smiles and sadness, hellos and goodbyes, joys and sorrows! Cheers!

Thank You, God, for keeping me here to see another year end and a new year begin!!

December 14, 2011

Anything Can Happen Wednesday

My children get out of school for the holiday break this coming Friday, December 16^th. Two weeks ago, I was feeling a tad bit overwhelmed and more than ready for them to be home (three less “things” to have to prepare every day), but now that it’s almost time….AAAGGGGGHHHHH!

It’s actually more planning to have them home during the school hours than at school. I totally forgot about preparing lunches and planning activities (no way are they vegging in front of the tv with video games for two weeks) and sharing my daily routine with theirs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE spending time with my boys (my daughter can’t come home for the holidays, she just got a new job), I just have to have a game plan that will hold the interests of a 15-, 13- and 6 year old boy. 

Lunch Plans

My sons love hanging out in the kitchen, sometimes with me, sometimes not. Lunch plans look like this:

Sat, Dec 17 – Homemade Burgers and Fresh Cut Fries	Sun, Dec 18 – Mom & Son Day – Mom’s Ramen Noodles	Mon, Dec 19 – Sub Sandwiches	Tues, Dec 20 – Mom & Son Day Tuna Salad
Wed, Dec 21 – Middle Son’s Birthday – Meatloaf/Mashed Potato “Cupcakes”	Thurs, Dec 22 – Spaghetti-Os and Mondo Salad	Fri, Dec 23 – Mom & Son Day – Mug o’ Tomato & Grilled Cheese Soup	Sat, Dec 24 – Brunch: Pancakes, Bacon, Sausage & Eggs
Sun, Dec 25 – Leftovers All Day	Mon, Dec 26 –International Week – Sushi, Tempura Shrimp, Rice Noodles	Tues, Dec 27 – International Week – Grape Leaves, Hummus & Chicken Shwarma	Wed, Dec 28 – International Week – Bratwurst & Sauerkraut, Potato Pancakes
Thurs, Dec 29 – International Week – Polynesian Chicken Skewers	Fri, Dec 30 – Boys’ Day In The Kitchen – Make Your Own Pizzas	Sat, Dec 31 – Ramen Noodles (Eating feast with family tonight)	Sun, Jan 1 – Day At The Movies – Hot Dogs, Potato Chips & Milk Shakes
Mon, Jan 2 – Fish and Chips	BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

 

Activities

Sat, Dec 17	Put up Christmas Tree, decorate the house (tree, lights, bulbs and garland inside & out)
Mon, Dec 19	Mom’s Date with Son #1 – Window Shopping at the mall (Must check out the new high school fashions while allowing him to flirt with girls as if I don’t notice ^_^)
Tues, Dec 20	Gift making day – (Make presents, bake goodies, wrap it all up for gifting)
Wed, Dec 21	Middle Son Birthday Celebration/Kick’s TaeKwonDo Holiday Party (older boys are Black Belts)
Thur, Dec 22	Mom’s Date with Son #2 – Lunch Date @ Buffalo Wild Wings (who can eat the hottest wing sauce challenge – he usually wins)
Fri, Dec 23	Great American Wii Decathalon! (Just Dance, Wii Sports, Wii Games – May the best mom win – hee hee)
Sat, Dec 24	Christmas Eve at the Grandparents House (A family tradition!)
Sun, Dec 25	Boys visit with Dads (my time to recover from the late Xmas eve celebration)
Mon, Dec 26	Veg out in front of the TV all day – Movie Marathons
Tues, Dec 27	Prep Day for Back to School (Laundry, School Work, Clean Back Packs, etc)
Thur, Dec 29	Shopping for Pizza fixings
Fri, Dec 30	Mom’s Date with Son #3 – Play Date @ Arcade (bells and whistles for 6 year olds)
Sat, Dec 31	Prep for Mondo Dinner with Family for New Year’s Eve Celebrations
Sun, Jan 1	Let’s Go To The Movies (Boys watch the games, Gals go to the movies)

So what are your plans for the holidays?

Holiday Time, November 2011

So here I was, on a blogging roll when this fabulous 10 day show popped up on my calendar of events. Ten days?!?! Low booth fees?!?! How could I not be there? Aahhhh, but how do I communicate this information to my local customers at the last minute? How do I tell my online customers that I'm having a sale to commemorate this awesome event? I could try phone calls or individual emails, but where does that fit into the production schedule?

Let me let you in on a secret, I recently discovered to handle this. Okay, not so recently discovered, at least not in the big scheme of things. I know you've seen those signs everywhere saying "TEXT _______ to _______ and receive ________". I know I have. I get text coupons from Cold Stone Creamery and Payless Shoe Source just for sending a code text to some random code. Great for big business, but what about us little guys (and gals) who want to do the same thing? Enter the WWW (world wide web, for you non computer geeks)!

I started researching services and found some serious information out there. Customer service runs the full gamut from basic "you-run-the-whole-thing" to ultra supreme "just-tell-us-and-we'll-make-it-happen-for-you". One of the companies I checked out is Textingly. Textingly is a online based text message software. It's like having instant messenger with all your customers at one time. Customers can respond to you and you get real feedback in real time. You manage the messages from your computer. Better yet, you can try the service for free....yes, that what I said, FREE.

Textingly.com

Soooo, now you've seen the video, your interest is peaked and you're wondering what to do next...it's easy. Try it out, click the link on my sidebar or the one right here and see for yourself how you can utilize the service. Me? I'm trying it out for my holiday specials, so if you want to find out what they are, email/convo me your cell phone number and you can get a second hand look at how it works. Don't worry, you can always opt out and never hear from me again, but what fun would that be (tee hee)?

Okay, so that's it for today's Fun with Music and Video. I know it's not Monday, but I promise I'll be back in full swing on Tuesday!

Happy Holidays and remember, we can celebrate Thanksgiving everyday of our lives by appreciating all the people and things we have around us.

November 21, 2011

Fun With Music and Video Monday

This week's video is a mini tutorial on miniature paper roses. I was looking for some cool ideas for my Valentine's Day gift boxes and came across this wonderful little idea. She makes it look all so easy. I can't wait to try them out. I'll be posting the trials next Monday for your critiques.

November 18, 2011

Friday is Talent Round-Up Day!

So let me introduce you to one of the men inside one of my favorite Etsy teams - the Promotional Frenzy Team. I first came across Martin while looking for balloon pictures for a treasury and I found this:

So I was pleasantly surprised when a few weeks later, I saw that Martin was a new member of the PFTeam.

Martin's shop is called GraphMagics. A cool shop full of acrylic and metal necklaces, brooches, pins and earrings in funky shapes, many of which evoke memories from my growing up years.

As a graphic design student Martin started experimenting design with different tools and materials. But he's not a limited artist. Not only does he play the guitar (music is one of his passions), he has been learning contact juggling and uses it to relax in his free time.

Hailing from the beautiful Buenos Aires, Martin has also been learning how to work with epoxy resin and polyester resin in many different ways. According to him, "This became more than a hobby, almost an obsession with shapes, colors, light, perfect roundness of my resin pieces. I dedicated a lot of time to it. I love spending all the afternoon paper-sanding and polishing pieces if they look perfect at night. Currently I am working on metal most of my time in my home studio."

Martin wants to share his creations and hopes people like it and get inspired by them. So I was inspired to put Martin to the ABC test. I asked him to choose several random letters from the alphabet and use them to describe himself (yes, a short version of the The ABCs of Me). Here's what he came up with (in random order):

M - Musician, J - Juggler, I - Independent, G - Graphic Designer, S - Skater,
G - Guitarrist, R - Resin Crafter, A - Artistic, D - Drummer, T - Twenty Three Years Old,
D - Dog Lover, S - Shower Singer, M - Metal Crafter

 He forgot one...F - Fantastic!!

Take a moment and drop by GraphMagics. I think you'll like (read LOVE) what you find there!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Social Media Thursday

These awesome images are from my Pinterest "Breathless" board.

What makes you speechless...takes the breath from you simply because it's beautiful, fantastical, inspiring....What makes your mouth drop open and your eyes open wide, like you did when you were a small child seeing holiday lights for the first time.....What makes you reach out, unconsciously, and hold his/her hand, so that you know someone special is sharing a special moment with you....What makes you....Breathless?

Pinterest is a great place to indulge your ultimate wish list. Go shopping, find a new book, read a blog, try something new, find a recipe...whatever. It's all there waiting to be pinned!

November 16, 2011

It's Wednesday! It's Wednesday! That means it's

Anything Can Happen Day!

 So what’s going to happen today? Hmm, I think it’s going to be about…

CLEAN EATING

What is clean eating? Well, it’s not making sure your hands are washed before you eat, although that is important as well. Clean eating is about eating foods as close to their natural state as possible (known as “whole foods”). So basically, we’re talking fresh, fresh, fresh. Fruits and veggies, whole grains and lean proteins. No box ‘mac and cheese’, canned/tinned ‘beef stew’, real butter, not margarine. Clean eating is a Way of Eating, not a “DIET” like say Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, South Beach or Dukkan. In fact (or at least my experienced opinion) the best approach to South Beach and Dukkan is to eat whole foods or eat cleanly while applying their eating plans to your weight loss goal. 

According to Livestrong.com, there are five steps to Clean Eating --

Step 1
"Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Choose fresh, unprocessed foods over canned or processed products. Clean eating enthusiasts believe that we were meant to survive on fresh fruits and vegetables and that processing them reduces their nutritional value and fiber content and adds salt, fat, sugar and chemicals. Choose fruit instead of fruit juice and if you must pick a processed vegetable, frozen is always better than canned."

 Step 2
Balance protein and complex carbohydrates. Incorporate whole grains like brown rice or millet over processed grains. Eat lean meats, and choose organic or grass fed meats when possible as these foods are usually clean of pesticides, hormones and additives. Grill, broil or steam your meats rather than frying.

Step 3
Avoid sodas and high calorie, sugary drinks. Follow the tenant of clean eating that aims to remove added sugars from the diet. Choose water or tea for your beverages, or juice your own fruits and vegetables and enjoy them without added sugars or preservatives.

 Step 4
Trade bad fats for good fats. One of the most important aspects of clean eating is removing saturated fats from the diet. Lower your saturated fat intake by avoiding fast food, choosing lean cuts of meat and getting your fat calories from foods like nuts and fatty fish.

 Step 5
Eat several small meals to keep blood sugar stable and to avoid overeating. Choose snacks like nuts, low-fat or fat free dairy and fruits and vegetables. Note that some people who live a clean eating lifestyle don't eat dairy products while others adapt clean eating to a vegetarian lifestyle.

The photos included here are from Clean Eating Magazine's "Comfort Foods 2011" Special Issue. "With 101 nourishing, never-before-seen recipes, this book is your answer to the winter blues! Features include comforting 15-minute meals, simple slow-cooker recipes, revamped cheese classics and soups, stews & chilies."And they're so tasty, too!

 While we haven't made the total switch to clean eating, my little family is probably at 65% Clean. As the boys learn to prepare meals on the stove and in the oven, I add about 2% a month. Of course, with all things healthy, it can be expensive to eat clean. Clean Eating Magazine has loads of helpful items to make things easier to achieve your goals. Each issue (and available online for free) are shopping lists for the recipes in each issue and each issue includes a set of budget menus and a shopping lists for those as well!

Ain't life grand!?! Are you eating clean?

Resources for this information: Livestrong.com, CleanEatingMagazine.com