52 Weeks of Mail

Picture it with me....



You go to the mailbox after a long day at work. You open it, only expecting sales flyers and bills. But instead you are greeted by a wonderful card or letter from a friend or family member. How good does that make you feel when that happens? Well, it doesn't happen enough and should happen more!



Some wonderful people started a program called 52 Weeks of Mail. You don't have to sign up or register, just simply send one card or letter a week to someone. It begins October 9 and wraps up October 7, 2012. Please participate and brighten someone's day!



I love snail mail. Whenever it is a friend's birthday or wedding anniversary or their child's birthday, I love to send a physical card through the mail and just let them know that I'm thinking about them on their special day.



Jared's grandma and I write letters and cards back and forth frequently and it always makes me smile to get a letter from her or to be able to write her and fill her in on our life since we don't get to see his grandparents much. She is the whole reason I buy cute stationary! :) So she will most likely be the recipient of the majority of my weekly mailings!



And if you're looking for some cute notecards or stationary to use for this project, you should check out The Social Butterfly (thesocialbutterflyar.blogspot.com and on Facebook)!

Or you can also check out The Paper Clouds, an adorable Etsy shop I've used for notecards too! (etsy.com/shop/ThePaperClouds)

I hope you will join me in particpating in this project!

Appropriate Shoes

Can someone please tell me why you would wear these shoes if a man asked you to go hiking with him?

He soooooo deserves better.

Christmas Cards!

So who else is pumped up about Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve already? This crazy girl is! I've already started planning my menu for Thanksgiving, thinking of gifts to buy for friends and family and even set the date for my annual cookie swap! Our Christmas card photo shoot is set up and outfits are being picked out for said memorable photo!

I know it's early, but we all know how that time of year sneaks up on us and then we are left wondering where the time went! With my dad's huge 60th birthday bash in November and some parties and events I'm helping friends plan, I say I can't start soon enough!

At least I have this trusty erincondren.com life planner at my side to document all of my thoughts and ideas! :) (Dear Erin Condren, feel free to send me free gifts as a thank you for that shout-out and as a motivational tool for more shout-outs. We all have a price. And mine is pretty much on Ebay, it's so low.)

I initially wanted to do something unique with our Christmas cards last year and to start a tradition. I don't watch much TV, but when I do, I become addicted to certain shows. So last year I wanted to do a "Jersey Shore" theme and have Jared be Pauly D and I be Snookie. Needless to say, that idea got shot down quicker than that little boy in the homemade aluminum bubble.

This year, I wanted to go with that theme again and dress up like characters from Swamp People since we were addicted to that in the summer. But again, no bueno.

Maybe instead, we can do a Toddlers and Tiaras themed card. With me all dolled up and Jared in the crowd mimicking me the dance moves I should be doing and the "heart face" motion where I make a heart on my face with my two index fingers and then do spirit fingers all in one motion.

Or....wait for it....a card with The Notebook theme! (We all knew Ryan Gosling was going to come up sometime today, didn't we?) Jared and I could just stand out in the middle of a lake on a boat with a bunch of water fowl around us while it rains. And we can send it out late, after Christmas and write "You thought the holidays were over? They weren't over. They STILL aren't over!"

A girl can dream, can't she?

One of life's greatest questions....what to blog about today?

So I'm taking a much needed study break, or hiatus since it's been about an hour. I've had quite a bit of traffic on my blog-which I love!! There have even been some international visitors and everyone seems to be reading the same post....Dear Ryan Gosling's Abs! Welcome and I hope you share my love of his abs, and him in general. He has about 134 movies coming out in the next year or so, which is exciting!

Okay, back to my original post. So every day, I think about blogging and wish I blogged more. (You don't get book deals with just weekly posts!) I get so excited when I visit a blog that I follow and there's a new post, and I hope that people have that same excitement with mine. But the main question is: what to blog about?

I try to keep my blog light and simple. There is enough stress, worry and bad news in this world and my blog should not be one of those items. I tend to write about celebrity stories. My good friend Katie and I read People like it's a yearbook of friends we actually know. She even frantically called me on the phone one weekday morning just to tell me that Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes had been spotted on a date. Yes, it's that important to us. (FYI, I instantly called her a liar. Then immediately googled the topic and it was everywhere. Insert sad face.)

But I'm not trying to be Perez Hilton (love him!) and I don't have his inside sources, so it's not like I could even compare. I guess I could make this blog "The National Enquirer" of blogs and just make up random stories. But that might stir up trouble and make it where I couldn't sleep at night. Besides, some of the real stories in Hollywood ya just can't make up!

I think what I'll write about are the charities and causes that are near and dear to my heart, funny moments in my life (which happen each day, so that alone could be a blog!) and celebrity news I think you need to know! :)

I will leave you now with a quote from one of my new favorite shows, Dance Moms.

Mom to dance teacher: "I know you've said before you don't like me."

Dance teacher: "No, I never said that. I said I can't stand you."

Well, at least we got that cleared up....

Discussion Time!

Okay, so a co-worker and I were talking today and we were debating the issue of when you stop referring to your child's age in months. You know, like when you ask someone how old their child is and they said "21 months" instead of just saying 2.

Personally, I think after they reach the 1 year mark, it shouldn't be about months anymore. She seemed to think it was the 18 month point. And then we began wondering why people do this? I think maybe parents (moms, especially) feel that their babies grow up way too fast. So I think they refer to them in months to subconsciously keep them babies!

What do you think, when should the "month-age" stop?

And FYI, in case my mom reads this and someone asks, I'm 332 months old. :)

Happy "You best not wear white after Monday or I will call you out" Day weekend!

Whether you are having a BBQ with family, heading to the lake with friends or simply rooting on your favorite college football team (Go Hogs! Woo Pig Sooiee!), I hope everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing Labor Day weekend.

But for real....don't let me catch you in white pants Tuesday. I will put you on Front Street!