Category: Life

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Comfy Work Clothes

Some days I wish I had chosen a career that had a uniform. If I wore nursing scrubs to work every day I think my life would be easier. I’d always be in something super comfortable and I could wear tennis shoes to work!

I only mention this because today after I left work I had to go to the grocery store for my weekly trip, pick up the kids, and drop off a few things at the post office. I was wearing a very smart looking tailored suit today along with 4″ heels. Running around town after being at work all day was taking a toll on my feet. I saw a woman in the grocery store as I was picking out a bunch of bananas in the most comfortable looking scrub clothing and cute blue sneakers. She didn’t look miserable from walking around in her “work clothes” like I did.

It was at that moment that it hit me. I bet most people that wear uniforms to work feel a lot better at the end of their day than those that don’t. They don’t have to spend time picking out what to wear or wondering if their shoes match their outfit. At the end of the day they get to go home or run around town in sensible shoes. I know this wouldn’t be true for all jobs but, off the top off my head the only job that comes to mind that might include heels as part of a uniform is a flight attendant. I bet even they have nice flats they can chose to wear.

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Saving and Spending

So I decided that I wanted to take the family on a nice vacation this year but, realized I needed to take a look at our finances first. I’ve always had an idea of how much we spend on everything, but never really had a budget that was written down. In order to get a realistic idea of what we’re saving and spending, I thought maybe I should track everything.

I looked up free budget software online to get started. After all, I’m trying to save and I don’t want to shill out more money in all of this. At first I thought I would be overwhelmed. I watched a few video demos on how easy the software programs are to use. Some programs wanted a ton of information and others looked just like a spread sheet. I already have spread sheet software… that’s not what I was looking for.

I looked at reviews for best budgeting sites to get opinions of what other people thought worked and didn’t for them. I’ve narrowed it down to three different sites. I think just to get a good idea of what each site can do for me I’ll use them each for the next two months. At the end of the two months I should be able to tell which software will work best for me in the long run.

I can’t wait to see where our money is actually going. I wonder if I’ll find that it hasn’t been going where I thought it had been this whole time. No matter where it’s going I want to save so that we can afford a nice vacation. Budgeting here we come!

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Hello new car goodbye old car

My neighbor came over yesterday and told me that they wanted to buy a new car. They’ve been looking into sedans and suvs. She wants something that has plenty of space, good gas mileage and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. She told me they are going to send their old car on an auto transport to their son in California.

I asked her why she was going to ship it instead of driving it across the country. Apparently with the price of gasoline car shipping is actually cheaper than driving it yourself. If she were to drive it she would not only have gas fees, but also fees for hotel stays and food. These additional costs can add up quickly.

I bet her son is going to be thrilled when he goes to pick up the car from the car transport pick up location only 5 miles from his house. He’s been without reliable transportation ever since he got laid off last fall. My neighbor, Karen, is happy to help him and she gets a new car out of the deal too!

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Caring For Floral Arrangements

It’s always nice to get flowers delivered to you. I love getting a big bouquet with a nice vase and a little card. I usually always get a bunch on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If I’m lucky I also get some flowers on my birthday. This year, for Mother’s Day, I got a lovely bouquet from the kids and my husband. I love the arrangement. It has gorgeous yellow lilies and violet and lavender additions to compliment the yellow.

I want to make sure that my flowers last for awhile so I’m taking special precautions as I care for them. I’ve given them plant food and fresh water. Once the water gets dirty I’ll change it and refill the vase with clean water. I’m making sure to keep the arrangement away from any heat source as well. So even though they might look great above my television set, I don’t want the heat to age the flowers prematurely. I sprayed the flowers with a floral preservative to help keep them as fresh as possible.

I know that if I follow these precautions, my floral arrangement should last awhile and I’ll be able to enjoy them for a few weeks.

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What You Should Know About Wedding Invitations

Jill and Chris haven’t set the date yet for their wedding. However, I thought I would start collecting information for Jill about all things pertaining to the wedding. Since I’m doing all of this hard leg work I thought I would share it with all of you too. There is no sense in it not going to good use by others as well. I can just print off my blog posts for her or just e-mail her links as I find new information.

To get things started, I decided to go with wedding invitations. I’m starting with wedding invitations because they are usually one of the very first impressions everyone will have of your wedding. I say usually because save the date cards come before the invitations but I’m not sure if she will be sending those out. The invitations will set the tone of the wedding and can introduce many aspects and themes of the occasion.

It’s important to pay attention to detail with the invitations. Color schemes can match the bridal party’s chosen colors or just be classic. The design flow can be simple and elegant or complex and unique. Whatever the couple chooses to go with will give every one an idea of what they can expect of the wedding to come.

The wording of the invitation is one of the trickier points to master because you need to follow proper etiquette. It all depends on who is paying for the wedding, who is hosting it, who is attending and  more. I suppose once you can answer those questions the rest will be pretty easy to figure out by looking up wedding invitation wording etiquette.

No matter what the happy couple choose, they have to remember to get them out in a timely manner.

 

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Choosing the Right Wedding Centerpieces

Wedding centerpieces set the look of your tables at the reception. The goal of the centerpiece is to have them compliment your wedding theme and style. Adding special details with your centerpieces can really carry your theme out For example, a vase with sand and sea shells would be beautiful for a beach ceremony and would bring aspect that back to the reception for the guests.

I’ve seen big giant wedding centerpieces and also small little something centerpieces. At a few of the weddings I have attended the center piece were given out to some of the guests to take home as additional gifts or giant favors.

I know some people enjoy having candles as a part of their centerpiece. Pillar candles can be added to a floral arrangement and really make the piece stand out. Personalized candles also make great decorative items on the table.

I had very simple wedding centerpieces at my wedding reception. I didn’t have much money so I got little glass candle holders or, small and fat vases I guess you could call them, and filled them with pretty glass stones. I set them on the table with things I call balloon weights or table cloth weights. They were a pretty opalescent color and had hearts and bells confetti streamers coming out of the top. They were simple and looked great for my small wedding reception.

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What Would You Do If Today Was Your Last Day?

What would you do if today was your last day to live on the earth? Would you spend all of your money on frivolous things? Would you eat high calorie food and have have seconds and thirds and not care? Would you want to be all alone to meditate in your last moments alive? Who wold you want to spend your last moments of your life with? What would your last words be and who would you say them to?

If today is your last day how are you spending it? I’m spending today with my family. We’re having a family game night and movie night. We’re making homemade pizza and everyone is decorating their own pizzas and then we’re going to play a few board games. Finally we’ll finish up the night with a movie and some popcorn followed by nice warm mugs of hot cocoa.

I love spending time with my family, and if today really is my last day I’ll be happy to be spending it with those I love and hold most dear. What are your plans for the day today? Who are you spending it with?

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Celebrating the Unity Ceremony With Sand & Candles

It is becoming more and more popular for couples to elect to have some form of unity ceremony during their wedding service. Unity ceremonies can symbolize the joining of two families into one and or the joining of the bride and groom into one flesh.The unity ceremony can be performed with candles or sand.

The candle unity ceremony consists of two long tapered candles and one larger unity candle. The tapered candles can either represent the bride and groom each or their respective families. It’s common for a representative from each family to light the tapered candles. This is usually done by the mothers of the bride and groom. During the ceremony the bridge and groom light the larger unity candle together with their tapered candles. This large candle represents the new couple and or the joining of the families into one unit that love the happy couple. The unity candle is often decorated with the wedding invitation, monogram, some inscription or a picture of the couple. These candles are more than often white in color. Depending on the representation and symbolism the couples elect to follow the individual tapered candles may be blown out or left lit.

A similar unity ceremony can be performed using sand. Instead of lighting a candle together, the couple uses colored sand from individual vessels and pours them together into a larger container. The sand can match the color scheme of the bridal party or be your classic black and white. Some couples elect to use a different color for each family member and have everyone participate, especially if there are children involved in the new marriage.

Whether you choose to have a sand or candle unity ceremony is up to you. There are many options to choose from style wise to have the perfect additions to your wedding ceremony.

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If Cars Could Talk

If cars could talk I’m sure they would have a lot to say about their owners. I bet each of the cars I’ve had will have something different to say about me. That’s probably because I was a different person with each of the cars I’ve owned.

The first car I owned as a teenager. I didn’t take care of it as best as I should have. There was wrappers from fast food places all over inside. I didn’t wash it nearly as much as it needed. That car would probably tell you I neglected it cosmetically. I always took it to get an oil change and tune ups as needed. I even bought new tires for it.

The next car I had in college would tell you that I loved to party. I would take it out to go dancing almost every night of the week. We drove up and down the coast to visit other dancers and go to different dance exchanges. That car would tell you I am a well traveled person.

Another car I had would tell you that I am a hard worker. I drove it to work every day. I also took pride in my car. It was the first car I owned with heated seats and I just couldn’t get enough of them. I washed this car weekly and even spent extra cash to get it detailed. I loved that car and wish I still had it today.

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Free demonstration

Stan was really excited about the new web-to-print software program that he is thinking about recommending to his boss. He signed up for a free demonstration of the workflow dashboard for the program, and now he is waiting for his boss to schedule some time to sit with him and review it with him so they can discuss the features and benefits of the program. He’s hoping to impress his boss, and get that long over-due raise in pay he’s been promised for the past several months! I wish him the best of luck – it’s really hard getting a raise in pay in this business economic climate!