Tips/How To

Mother’s Day Breakfast In Bed Cheat Sheet

May 5, 2012

One of the most popular Mother’s Day events is serving Mom breakfast in bed. Here are three tips to make your breakfast as unique and special as the woman you are honoring. Have the family present breakfast on a platter or breakfast tray and choose dishes that she will love to use throughout the year. You can make these part of the gift and the pieces will serve as a reminder of her fabulous day. I’ve chosen some fabulous platters, trays, mugs, glasses and plates on Pinterest for inspiration. Serve her favorite breakfast items. This one seems like a...

Tackling Your Goals Doesn’t Have To Be Hard

April 17, 2012

By Towanda

Tackling Your Goals Doesn’t Have To Be Hard

If you’re looking for a way to tackle goals in small, positive and manageable steps, DailyFeats may be your answer. I was introduced to the site last year at Blogalicious and I LOVE it! DailyFeats lets you sign up for small feats that will help you reach your bigger goals without being overwhelmed. These goals can be anything from health and wellness related, to “I want to do more in my community” to organization projects and so much more. For instance, I signed up for feats to help me eat more fruits and veggies, to stretch during the day...

Easiest Peach Cobbler You’ll Ever Make

April 11, 2012

By Towanda

In honor of Peach Cobbler Day on April 13th I’m sharing one of my secret dessert recipes that’s EXTREMELY easy to make. I have been making this peach cobbler dump cake for years… since my first apartment in college, and it is ALWAYS a hit. Factor in it only takes 5 minutes to assemble and 35 minutes to bake and you’ll see why I keep this one in heavy rotation. You’ll need: Two 16 oz cans of peaches in juice or syrup ½ box of butter or yellow cake mix One stick of butter Cinnamon (optional to sprinkle on...

Have Fun With Jelly Beans!

April 8, 2012

By Towanda

Whether you’re looking for some creative ways to celebrate National Jelly Bean Day on April 22nd, wondering what to do with leftover jelly beans from Easter, or you’re like me and will be scouring the ½ off shelves the day after Easter looking for goodies, this post is for you. And YES, National Jelly Bean Day is a REAL holiday, . Here are seven ways to use jelly beans in a creative way. These are great ideas for a spring party theme, a kid’s playdate activity or a way to add unexpected fun to a day. Personally, I can’t...

Spring Fun That Won’t Aggravate Seasonal Allergies

March 26, 2012

By Towanda

Spring Fun That Won’t Aggravate Seasonal Allergies

With Spring officially here, I had planned to write a First Day of Spring post. But then seasonal allergies hit my house… BAD! So instead of writing about the first day of Spring, this post is about allergy-friendly things you can do in the Spring with your kids. Grow orchids indoors. Orchids are typically allergy-friendly plants and they are gorgeous! This is a good way to still have the joy of spring flowers, minus the itchy, watery and swollen eyes. Play in the rain. You may not want to be outside on a beautiful, sunny day, but rainy weather...

Doodling Helps Us Pay Attention. Really. There’s Research To Prove It.

March 6, 2012

By Towanda

Doodling Helps Us Pay Attention. Really. There’s Research To Prove It.

Sometimes my schedule begs for a quick activity to help me relax and enjoy a few minutes of downtime. This is when I doodle. I also doodle during meetings and long conference calls, but that’s another post. There is something therapeutic about creating random shapes, shades and figures on paper. Something about the pen to paper feeling. And if I happen to have a colorful pen that’s even better. It calms me. To me this is a good enough reason to scribble randomness. However, if you need a another reason to spend time doodling, consider this Time magazine article...

Family Fun – Eat Dinner In Another Room

October 27, 2011

By Towanda

That picture up there? That’s dinner on my bedroom floor. And yes, my girls LOVE it! Every once in a while they get the treat of eating somewhere other than our dining table. It is a small change, but to them it is a huge deal. Their absolute favorite is having a “picnic in Mommy & Daddy’s room,” probably because eating in our room is normally forbidden. When our kitchen flooded I took that as a sign that the girls were ready for another of these picnics. Yes, divine intervention at its finest, . Another bright side, it kept...

Jewelry Exchange Party – Girls Night In

October 24, 2011

By Towanda

There is something about the shiny & sparkly section of stores that makes me adventurous. I imagine wearing jewelry that is huge and gaudy with my somewhat conservative wardrobe. I envision me walking into a club rocking something HOT… but totally not my style. This is where the jewelry exchange party came into play. After months (and sometimes years) of passing really nice pieces in my jewelry drawers it was obvious that I was never going to wear them. However, one of my friends might love it. So I invited some girlfriends over, asked them to bring some pieces...

This Year’s Family Summer Bash – Simple, Fun and Easy to Plan

July 15, 2011

By Towanda

This Year’s Family Summer Bash – Simple, Fun and Easy to Plan

I love entertaining and I am constantly looking for ways to make parties fun, without adding a lot of extra work. This is especially true when I’m expecting over 25 people for a summer party at home. For this year’s summer party I decided to go with a potluck event, games for the kids and various conversation areas for the adults. And it worked out great! This keep it simple format will definitely be used in the future! Setting Up: The front yard and driveway was Kid Central. I drew hopscotch on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. I also...

Twenty Years From Now…

February 20, 2011

By Towanda

Whether you are grown or a high school student, we all need short-term and long-term goals. This post is about long-term goals. You know, those goals that sometimes get lost in the chaos of everyday life and just trying to make it through right now. Here’s the thing, if we do not make decisions now to better our lives, we’ll look up in 20 years and wonder what happened. Today I encourage you to think about the life you want 20 years from now. Pray about it. Think about the things you will need to have that life. Then...