Elizabeth
“Like A Girl”
Proctor and Gamble's #LikeAGirl commercial aired during Katy Perry's Superbowl halftime show, coincidentally (or maybe not) the only part of the Superbowl that most tween girls probably watched. The commercial presents a series of video snippets of men, women, and...
De Leon Springs State Park
Living in Orlando and having a Disney employed husband means that we take full advantage of our access to the Disney attractions. But Central Florida offers so much more to explore. Several years ago...
Five Reasons Why I Love My Husband
I had dinner with friends on a school night, leaving the Tuesday evening chaos for my husband to handle. I came home to find homework done, and the girls showered and ready for bed. Classical...
The Mom Purse
I ordered this cute little crossbody bag for myself late in the evening on Cyber Monday. It looks great in my closet. I'm sure I'll have an occasion to use it sometime soon, but most...
Celebrating Half-Birthdays
Past a certain age, some people would prefer to have their birthday pass without notice. Not me. I embrace my special day. In fact, I love birthdays so much that in our family we...
Amazon Prime Simplifies My Life
Like every busy mom (and really, have you ever met a mom who isn't busy?), I'm always looking for services that simplify my life. With two children, a husband, and a full-time job, it's hard...
A Winter Visit to Blue Spring State Park
January is a perfect time to head to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees. The park is in Orange City, just a short drive from downtown Orlando. The spring flows into the St. Johns river...
Our Binder of Ideas for a Rainy (or Sunny) Day
I always seem to have stacks of articles torn from magazines, pages ripped from catalogs, and printed recipes that wind up stashed in a drawer or piled on my nightstand. When my daughters were small, the stack grew larger...
Displaying Christmas Photo Cards
We race to the mailbox in December because we love receiving Christmas photo cards from friends and family. Every year we hang gold ribbon in our kitchen and staple all of our Christmas cards (not just the...
Our “Hodgepodge” Christmas Tree
We have what I fondly call a "hodgepodge" Christmas tree, decorated with all sorts of ornaments that we've collected over many years. Each Christmas, I love unwrapping the tissue paper from every ornament and remembering its...
Santa Gifts – To Wrap or Not?
"Different families, different rules," is my simple explanation when it comes to why our family's rules are not the same as other families. A modified version of this saying applies to Christmas, "different families, different traditions."...
The Most Special Christmas Ornaments
There was a teacher in the checkout line behind me at Michael's Craft Store on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I know this because I overheard her talking excitedly about the hand print craft she was...
A Visit to the Orlando American Girl Store
After much anticipation, Orlando's American Girl store opened in the Florida Mall in mid-November, just in time for the holidays. I surprised my daughters with a visit to the store, including lunch at the Bistro, on the...
Moms Judging Moms
Every mom needs at least one, and preferably several, of those friends. The non-judgmental, "OMG I've done that (insert any less than spectacular parenting moment in here), too" kind of friend. Since you are...
The Red Dress Tradition
Please allow me to share some wisdom that I've gained over the years... The best family traditions are those that just naturally evolve.
When my daughters were born, I had lots of ideas about traditions that I...