Instagram Geomap

This is a public service announcement!

I recently started using instagram and I love it. It's so easy to snap a quick picture of what I'm up to and I absolutely love seeing what everyone else is excited about.

However being a newbie I made a very serious mistake, which scared the pants off of me when I discovered it. I checked into a few other accounts and found that I am not alone.

Look at your instagram. Do you see the third icon that looks like a tear drop. Click on that.

This is what you will see on Kate Spade's page.

If you expand the map you can actually see the places at a street level. Not a problem for Kate Spade, but for me, and I'm sure for a few of you, you are unknowingly disclosing where you live to the world.

Don't panic it's a very simple thing to fix. For the locations that are already on geomap you can edit and remove them using the edit option on the top right corner of the screen.

Going forward just slide the "Add to Photo Map" button to no before you share a picture.

#You're Welcome

      

To Do Cards

One of my favorite things about blogging is getting inspired by other peoples ideas. One of the bloggers that I follow had made some business cards with her logo on one side but instead of leaving the back blank she had used the header "To Do" so now she had adorable mini cards for list making.

I loved the idea, but she is a professional blogger and I'm a housewife so I have no need for business cards. I am however constantly needing to write things down so I had some cards made that have "TO DO" on one side and "NOTES" on the other.

I just love them and I think you will too. If you would like to make some yourself, they are from here, and if you use the code ZASF5922NTQZ you can get 15% off your order. I selected the chubby cards in white, and used pale grey for the text.

As part of my craft room makeover I also ordered a monogrammed acrylic pencil cup and the cards fit perfectly. (I must admit that the fact that my monogram isn't centered is driving me nuts!)

      

Two Days Off

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

It has been such a busy time for us. We spent Thanksgiving at the lake and then had company that arrived the next day. It was wonderful to see them and I enjoyed playing tourist for a while, but it meant that Christmas came so fast. We have spent the last two Christmases in Florida, but this year it was just the four of us at the lake. It was really peaceful and we had lots of quality family time.

For New Years Eve we went to Charlotte to see the Avett Brothers in concert. Our children are 13 and 16 and we all had a really great time. The next morning we stopped at a premium outlet mall for an hour and Sophie and I ran into J Crew and Ralph Lauren while they boys stayed in the car and then we visited a waterfall and went hiking through a gorge. It was a really fun day.

Once we got home it was time to start working through my huge to do list. There were thank you letters to write, decorations to be put away and a lot of cleaning and tidying. I had a mad week getting both houses looking good again and then on Monday morning I had my wisdom teeth removed and everything...just...stopped.

I have just spent two whole days in bed! The first day I was pretty out of it, I slept a lot and read Divergent. The second day I was much better but it still hurt to move so I spent the morning reading The Fault in Our Stars and by the afternoon I was going stir crazy. I gave myself a manicure and now my nails are a beautiful red.

I bought a dress at the Lilly sale.

I found a monogrammed calendar on Etsy that will look fantastic on my desk.

The gold foil designs are different every month but will look so great with my Erin Condren planner.

I decided that I loved my red nails so much that I ordered "April" from Chanel. It's the perfect red with orange undertones, whereas Lotus Rouge is the perfect red with blue undertones.

Today I feel so much better, ready to get back on the merry-go-round and looking forward to my packages arriving over the next couple of days. 

I hope you too are full of enthusiasm for 2014.

      

When You Get Behind....

With two houses to run I really try to stay on top of things but having spent Thanksgiving Break at the lake followed by house guests who arrived the next day and stayed until yesterday I find that I have been far too busy having a wonderful time and consequently my home in GA is in serious need of TLC.

It's a mess, it's dirty, I am way behind on the laundry, haven't opened my mail in over a week and my calendar is packed between now and Christmas. Today is probably the only day that I have nothing going on so I had better make it count.

It is not possible to get everything done today but I can do a lot and then finish up over the next few days in what little free time I have.

Here is the game plan that I use when I need to catch up

TODAY :

Wash everything, including all of our sheets
Fold and put away everything that doesn't need to be ironed
Iron as much as I can, do the rest as soon as I can. (When I get behind on the ironing I just stop in and iron 10-15 things at a time until it's all done)

Clean the refridgerator
Plan meals for the next 3 days (Slow cooker meals are GREAT when I am short of time)
Go grocery shopping

Tidy the whole house
Put clean sheets back on the beds
Clean the bathrooms

Sort through the mail
Pay bills

Clean countertops
Vacuum and clean the hardwood floors
Clean stainless steel appliances

Clean clothes, sheets and towels, good food, beds made, clutter put away and clean kitchen and bathrooms will give the illusion that things are under control to the rest of my family. I'll clean the rest of the house over the next few days and by the weekend life will be back to normal!

Do you have a game plan for when you get behind?

Friday 5 Favorite Gadgets

It's been quite a while since I did a favorite gadgets post and I have 5 simply amazing items to share with you.

Macbook Pro 15"

This is the reason that I am blogging again. I used to use our Apple desktop, while the other members of my family all had laptops. A couple of years ago I got an iPad and that was the end of me actually writing a blog. An iPad is fantastic in many ways but as an entertainment tool. I found it too hard to actually compose a post on it, so just ... stopped. Last month I decided to buy myself a laptop, and chose the 15" Macbook Pro. For two reasons, firstly because of the graphics and secondly because as a stay at home housewife I really don't care that its a little more cumbersome, I wanted the bigger screen. It's been a big hit because within two weeks of my getting it, my 16 year old daughter upgraded her 13" macbook pro to the 15" too. She is the editor of her schools yearbook this year and as soon as she saw how much better the graphics were on mine she wanted one too!

Simply Human Trash Can

Nothing dates a house more than not keeping up with technology so if you've been in your home for 5 years on longer then you may want to check out the new trash cans that are on the market. This one by Simply Human is amazing.

Bissell Hard Floor Vacuum

This vacuum actually gets the crumbs that seem to collect at the edge of your baseboards.

Shark Sonic Cleaner

Promises 1,000 scrubs per minute! Say hello to very clean hardwood floors. (But it terrifies poor Milly.)

HP Officejet Pro 8600 wireless printer

We recently upgraded our home printer to this wireless one, and boy are we glad that we did. All four of us have laptops and it just makes life so much easier.

      

5 on Friday - for the Kitchen

1. Noodle Bowl 

We eat a lot of stir fry. It's just such an easy to cook meal, the whole family likes it and I'm always amazed at how many vegetables I can get my kids to eat just by cutting them up into tiny pieces.

The other day I went into Pier 1 and saw this beautiful bowl.

I'll have four, please and thank you.

2. Custom Place Cards

I use place cards whenever we have a formal meal. They're a little different every time because I like to customize them in some way. I just purchased these avery printable stickers which will make my life so much easier because my calligraphy is not that great.  For Thanksgiving this year, I plan on printing names onto these stickers, attaching them to cream colored place cards and using pumpkin place card holders. Simple, elegant and easy.

3. Apple Corer

If you're a fan of baked apples then you need one of these.

4. Vase for your dishwasher tablets

Even though I keep my tablets under the sink I still prefer to keep them in a beautiful container rather than the plastic tub that they came in. I found mine at Pottery Barn.

5. Mini Pie Plate

If you like to make chicken pot pie then try serving it in individual dishes. It just makes a much more elegant presentation than a piece cut from a larger pie. I purchased mine here. 

Do you have a great recommendation for a kitchen item?

      

Countdown to the Holidays

The holidays are approaching fast, I know different people celebrate different occasions, but for me, these are my deadlines:

14 Days until Thanksgiving

41 Days until Christmas

48 Days until New Years Eve

Sitting down and looking at my planner and considering these countdown's as well as travel plans, visitors and our children's hectic schedules I am slightly panicked at how much I need to do and how little free time there actually is to do it. Chances are that you are feeling the same way. Don't worry, there is plenty of time. You just need a good plan!

Schedule

The first thing you need to do is to get a handle on what you have going on over the next two months. Make sure that everything is written down somewhere so that you can get the big picture at a glance. I use this planner.

Gift List

Make a list of who you need to buy gifts for. Then look at your schedule and add any gifts that you will be bringing to all events on your list. Secret Santa? Add it. Children's parties? Teachers Gifts? Write it all down. Dinner with friends? Add wine and flowers to the list.
Now set your budget.
Every time you buy something add it to the list as well as the cost so that you can keep track of how you're doing. I keep my list on Excel. I have three columns on my list Name, Gift, $. I fill in gift ideas as I think of them, and list actual purchases in bold with the cost so that I can easily see what is left to buy. I try to get most of my shopping done by the end of November. This gives me plenty of time to ship items as well as for wrapping. Wrapping a few gifts at a time is a lot of fun. Marathon wrapping sessions are not.
Now is the time to order any monogrammed items. Do you or your children like to give handmade gifts? Make them now. I am giving cookie sheets and cookie mix as teachers gifts this year, and I know they will be much prettier if I make them now rather than the night before the last day of school.
I also always try to have a couple of small gifts on hand, just in case.

Christmas Cards

If you haven't already ordered your cards. Do. It. Now. I can get overwhelmed trying to pick our card each year. There are just so many choices. I like these, these and these.

I mail overseas cards on December 1st and those for the US on December 10th. 

Cleaning and Organizing

Hosting any event over the next two months will be a lot less stressful if you do the cleaning and organizing now. Now is the time to schedule yard work, window cleaning, repairs, get the guest room ready, and get everything spick and span. Not the day before you host a dinner party, or your guests arrive.

Decorating

At the moment my homes are decorated for the fall, but the Friday after Thanksgiving, that will all be replaced by our Christmas decorations. Some years it all gets done in a day, other years I'll just do a little bit at a time. Just have fun with it. Make some mulled wine, buy some Pfeffernüsse and play some Christmas music.

Food and Drink

Follow these three simple rules for any holiday meals and entertaining:

• Plan your menu. 
• Write your shopping list. 
• Write a time plan. 

Remember those countdowns and start planning. I'm sure you and your family will have an amazing holiday season.

Do you have any tips on how to have amazing, stress free holidays?

      

Living The Life That You Choose

I had an aha moment last weekend while watching a TV show when one of the characters talked about what a bad cook his dead wife had been. He said that she made pancakes for breakfast every Sunday morning but that they were always awful. When asked why she continued to make them his response was that she wanted them to be the type of family that ate pancakes for breakfast on Sundays.

The comment really resonated with me because I think it's a good description for why we do the things that we do. Don't we make our choices based on the type of lives that we want? We study because we want to be educated. We work hard because we want to be successful. We make the beds every day because we want our homes to be clean and organized. We cook dinner because we want to be the type of family that eat meals together. We exercise because we want our bodies to be strong and healthy. We save money because we want to have a nest egg. All of the things that we do have a purpose. It is our choices that create our lives for us. Small decisions made day after day add up and we become the person that we want to be.

Make the right choices. Set your goals and then keep them in mind as you go about your day. 

Do you set goals for yourself? Do you have any advice that you want to share?