You'll Thank Me Later - Part 2

Time for another edition of "You'll Thank Me Later!"

Again, I searched the web high and low for some of the best ideas to make our lives a little simpler. For full details and how to "do" these tips and tricks - Check out my pinterest board - "Cool Ideas."


Let's get started!!

Check this out - Lemon, rosemary and vanilla - let simmer all day, adding water when needed. Williams Sonoma store smell!

Meal Planning - have ingredients for each meal for the week. Grab a bin and start cooking! LOVE this!!!

Is this not the cutest idea??

Source

Lawn version of Twister. What a novel idea for summer fun!! (Plus, you don't have to worry about the plastic sheet blowing away!!)

Kids can roll the chore blocks each Saturday morning! How fun!

How many times do we throw away the broken hangers??? Here is an EXCELLENT IDEA!

Again, check me out on pinterest for more great ideas I have snagged from truly talented people.

Have a GREAT DAY!

Once Upon A Time..

Most little girls dream of one day finding their very own Prince Charming. The handsome man that will whisk them off their feet, and carrying them into a magnificent castle. In my dream, I always envisioned a dark haired man, with brown eyes, and of course, would have a foreign accent.

I think we know how that turned out! ;-)

However, there is one more detail that far outweighs the shining  Prince - it's the ceremony in which this love is legally and spiritually bonded! I don't care how tough most girls are, they want a wedding, of some sort. Say what you want, but if money was not an issue, or time, or any other crazy details - come on, admit it, you want a wedding.

When I was 25 I met this really nice, southern boy. About two years later we got married. I created the wedding of my dreams (at that time.) It's the wedding I had planned my entire life. The big cathedral wedding with over 400 people invited. Big puffy, cinderella wedding gown, lots of pearls, white roses - WHITE WHITE WHITE, while my bride maids wore these "Audrey Hepburn" inspired block gowns. My best friend's daughter was the flower girl, while my God son was the ring bearer. The groomsmen wore block tuxedo suits, with a tie and matted silver vest. Ave Maria was sung in Latin, there was a full Catholic Wedding Mass - followed by a fantastic reception with DJ, champagne on each table, full buffet, and even a keg of beer off to the side. LOL.

That marriage lasted six years.

Then when I was 34, I met THE man of my dreams. He was Mediterranean, he was intelligent, he spoke numerous languages, he recited poetry.... and we decided to get married. The problem was - the government. Once he arrived in the states, we had exactly 90 days to get married, or he would be deported. Also, we were told 3 days before he arrived that he was coming, with an expiration on his Visa in four days. No real time to prepare.

We ended up having a quick private wedding contract ceremony at the mosque, followed by a reception party at the gallery in my home town. It was an "Arabian Nights" theme complete with belly dancer!

But the truth is - I had two other ideas. I even have a different wedding dress. That's right. In my closet hangs a Victorian lace wedding dress. One idea was to rent the Sidney Lanier Cottage in Macon, and have a more traditional "southern" wedding reception complete with ceremony. The cottage is quite the southern belle home, and would have been nice. But the costs, with the space, and so many limitations on what you can do there. Not to mention, my bridal shower to my first husband took place there, and that would just be weird.

Then my PERFECT idea was to rent the old Estella McGee Lodge out at Camp Martha Johnston. I spent every summer as a kid out at this camp, and then worked there every summer as a college student. If anything represented my life and love - this place would be it. Not to mention, my husband is obsessed with the "American Outdoors." Idea of horses, and ranches, and what not. This beautiful lodge over looked a flowing creek, complete with a waterfall. But of course, the lady who is in charge of rentals absolutely hates me and was causing me all sorts of headaches over insurance (commercial) to rent the property, as well as dates available. Since my plans were so up in the air, I just gave up that idea.

As I was running through my "boards" on Pinterest, I came across my "Event idea board." I keep all types of pics there - for parties, even weddings. You never know when a friend might need an idea. What I have found, I have saved pics of what I wanted my wedding to look like, to the man I love. Yep.

So, to purge that dream once and for all. I am going to share some of those pics here for you today. Maybe you are planning a wedding, or maybe you know someone who is. Here is what I would have done.. if I could have...

Let's talk dress. This is very similar to what I have hanging in my closet. I love the lace. It's so romantic.

These flowers are such a good idea. Can you imagine this in an old lodge/barn/outdoor?

What a need game for a bridal shower.

Now, if you go a more traditional bouquet route, wrapping it in the lace from your mother's wedding gown is such a beautiful idea.

I fell in love with these shoes.

How about this for an entrance??

Or if you had a more open area, I thought this was a really cute idea.

I even love the story book roses idea. Might make for a great bouquet to toss!

I love doves and the idea of love birds. (Really birds of any kind.) Wouldn't this make a great groom's cake?

I like this idea to sit at various tables for people to fill out. "What should we do on date nights?" What a great keepsake.

A cigar grotto would have been great. In our case, maybe a sheesha grotto! lol

The morning after bride's maid mug shots. Too cute of a gift for the couple.

I love the idea of lots and lots of twinkle lights.

This is excellent.

Love the positive twist.

I added this - because it is full of gardenias. How wonderful this would smell.

I am in love with this cake. I know the egyptian would be too. It is the complete poem of e.e. cummings, "I carry your heart."

How about the wedding party signing the bottom of the shoes??

Or making it easy for the guests with carry out boxes for their pieces of cake?

The type of wedding I was thinking of would have been adorable with centerpieces like this.

I love this idea - especially for a keep sake. How simple this would be?

I like the idea of sparklers, and here is the sparkler and match book all in one.

This is absolutely perfect...

Maybe a different flower.. but sooo cute for chairs..

This would honestly look like the inside of that lodge I was talking about.

How cute is this?? Love it for an outdoor, or daytime wedding.

I love this save the date.

I love the mason jar idea, and how about chalk paint on each, and you can write your own name!Great keepsake also!

Of course, since my idea was at my old camp - a S'more bar would be fabulous!

I thought this was too cute, champagne Popsicles

LOL - Great for a country wedding.

What a beautiful detail.

I could see this on the back porch of this place over looking the creek.

I am obsessed with doors. I love this.

How cute, instead of a guest book - write on a rock and keep in a jar forever.

Finally - how cute? Wrapped in twine.

Of course I had to add this - rock candy with champagne. LOL

Of course, these are ideas I want you guys to use! If you would like to see a clearer picture and get more details on each idea - click HERE

ps.. THERE IS ALWAYS RENEWAL OF VOWS... RIGHT? hahahaha..

Happy Mardi Gras!

High School in the 80s

When I think of all of the decades I could have grown up in, I am just thrilled to know I grew up in the 80s! It was a time of excess and bright colors. Materialism and happy moods. Granted, most of my younger years were in the 1970s, by the time I hit 1980- I have a concept of what was going on. I was 7 in 1980, and by 1989 I was 16 years old.

This blog post is going to be totally fun! ;-) I have tried to capture as many memories as possible from my teen years. Don't worry, I have a little library of toys for another post one day, but this post is specifically what I remembered from growing up as a teenager in the 80s. (Of course, when you turn 11/12 - you think you are a teen. I believe most of my hair/makeup/fashion mishaps happened between 6th - 8th grade.

Me - 1989

I am going to post some pictures of items I owned or was obsessed with. Following the pics, I found one of those great, "You know are a child from the 80's if.." lists. Please take a moment and scan it. At the end of the post, leave a comment and let me know what you remember most about being a TEEN in the 80s.

Okay.. let's get to it!!

Just look at that cover! Many of my crushes! Not to mention, I would BEG my mom when we were at the grocery story to buy me one of these magazines. I would then, pull out the posters and just splatter my walls with them.

Probably more so my early teen years, I would buy these "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. We would shop at Walden Books... whatever happened to that place?

I probably owned a bazillion pairs of these socks. I was OBSESSED with the pom pom sock.

This is EXACTLY the boombox I owned. Or maybe it was my mom's and I took it. Loved it. Loved the color. To me it screams 80s. My first car did not have a tape player, so I would put this in my car and play my tapes that way. LOL

The banana clip. They were tricky, because I still had to have my puff and bangs on the top, but pull the rest back. Wore these a lot in the summer time.

Hello??? Wasn't the skating rink the THING to do? Especially for middle school for me. Loved the white skates with the pom poms.

Me - Prarie Skirt

This made me laugh. For my younger friends, this is computer paper. I swear!

I remember I went to a county fair in Indiana with my cousin, and we bought sooo many buttons with Duran Duran stuff on them. My jean jacket was covered.

Oh my, you were NO ONE if you did not have jordash jeans. I remember the display in the department store called "Aim." I would just circle the racks.

In 8th grade - we ALL wore Primo. hahaha... (And the boys wore Polo.)

I always carried a fruit stripe pack in my pocket book. (Which is what we called purses.) What I hated about the gum, the fantastic flavor would disappear after 5 minutes.

The clip. We used these to pull our hair back when we were at home.

Every year, our club would sell these chocolate bars for a dollar. The chocolate was terrible.

I was THRILLED when the erasable pen came out. But to be honest, the ink was crappy.

Bahahahhaahaa.... You know you did it to. We took this into the 90s.

LA Gear. All of the LA products were hot in the 80s.

I remember all of the kids just turning these boxes up in class. You would hear the "shheeshhhh" of the little nerds sliding down the box, then "crunch crunch crunch" as the kid chomped down before the teacher caught them!

The double sock. Heck, for forth of july, I did the triple sock - red, white and blue. PS - Don't forget the tight rolled jean.

My FAVORITE movie in High School, along with Lost Boys, St. Elmo's Fire.. and a few others.

Ocean Pacific - or OP. All of the boys wore these shirts, and Panama Jack ts. I thought it was hot. LOL

We thought we had designer, imported water. LOL

Stirup pants with sweaters.. totally.

Remember the guess jean rage? 

What about playing Atari??

The one thing our parents gave us to wash our face with.

My razer! LOL It was sooo cute.

Swatch Watches were the stylish thing to wear! Don't forget the swatch guard.

Did you put sun in - in your hair? I did, and let's just say - I had a skunk streak. Did not fair well with the dark haired girls.

I LOVED my penny loafers.

This and Rave #3 I should have bought stock in.

Sabagos (I am SURE I misspelled. How do you spell that??)

I recently cleaned out my trunk of memories, and threw away a few of these.

The Breakfast Club - excellent choice.

Oh yes - I loved this style.

And this.. I can remember this quite well...

And playing this game.. my oh my...

Or having this VERY caboodle to hold all of my blue, pink and yellow eye shadow.

She was my fashion idol. In the back of my senior year book, if you look at my choice in song, it says - "Nicki Thurston - "Vogue." LOL

The ballerina look - which I totally wore, and yes, I was a ballerina. Big sweaters with tights.

We all understood this mantra.

The coca cola rugby was a hit.

These glasses or Ray Bans

Anything Paint splattered.

Now for the fun list!

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE

2. You watched the Pound Puppies

3. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy

4. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.

5. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls

6. Two words: Hammer Pants

7. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"

8. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect

9. Your grandma was addicted to TAB cola

10. You owned both Underoos and Garanimals!

11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!)

12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons

13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head

14. You know all the turtles' names from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series

15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school

16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side

17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it

19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?

20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's Truly Outrageous.)

21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth Grade Nothing and all The Ramona books

22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"

23. You wanted to be a Goonie

24. You ever wore fluorescent neon clothing (some of us...head-to-toe)

25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted

26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf

27. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard

28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets

29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence

30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts

31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band

32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.

33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly shoes.

35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"

36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.

39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.

41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.

42. You remember Popples

43. Don't worry, be happy

44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.

45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do..getting yelled at by younger hip members of the family)

46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"

49. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales

50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot

51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac

52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"

53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class

54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - > YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME

55. You just sang those words to yourself

56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird

57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)

58. You remember when mullets were cool!

59. You had a mullet!

60. You still sing "We are the World"

61. You tight rolled (pegged) your jeans

62. You owned a banana clip

63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"

64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?

65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it

66. You're still singing "Shot Through the Heart" in your head, aren't you!