Add a little “pop” to a party with surprise balloons
Offbeat Mama posted a really good idea for a party addition that’s fun and secret. I love both fun and secrets — I want to use this at a party soon.
Why I love my cookbook club
One of the most lovely things that has happened to me this year is being inducted into a cookbook club — a group who meets regularly to cook dishes from the same book and share food. Every time I mention it, people say they want to join a cookbook club too (some of you intrepid folks have even gone out and started your own).
Giving up shampoo and washing my hair less ICKS ME OUT — how can I make natural hair care products fit my life?
I really enjoyed the advice on brightening up red hair. In fact, Evathedefiler’s comment led me to buy natural shampoo bars from Southland Soap.
Now I’m a little intimidated by my journey into Pantene Pro-V-free living, especially since I haven’t had the best luck with this stuff before; trying to wash my hair every other day gave me icky shame. Could I get some advice on what to expect when you’re switching to natural hair care? I’d like to hear about the face and body too.
Use chopstick sleeves to make place holders for dinner parties
Offbeat Bride has a great idea up right now: using chopstick sleeves to make place cards for dinner parties.
We wanted a place card that would be pretty, tie our various themes together (travel, Chinese food), and actually be useful, cheap, and simple to make. So, we decided to make dressy paper sleeves to hold chopsticks and to double as the place cards, which seemed appropriate for a Chinese-food wedding dinner.
Yes! Smart! Now I’m kind of thinking about a Chinese food dinner party…
No, that’s not my daughter: how being a sister prepared me for motherhood
Sometime in 8th grade I went to the store with my mom and my youngest sister, AJ. I remember people watching the three of us walking through the store with quizzical looks. They would look first at my mom, then to me, then to AJ, then back to me. Finally, as we made our way through the checkout, the cashier looked at me and said “Your daughter is so cute,” then back to my mother and finished “You are a lucky grandma!” I stared, my 14-year-old self feeling completely embarrassed and horrified, as my mom calmly answered, “Actually, I’m the mom. They are both mine.”
Detaching, reflecting, and moving house — how a home becomes a house
It’s strange how, when you know you’re going to be moving, you start to look around where you live and see things in a completely different way. Even before the For Sale sign has gone up outside and the first potential buyers have stepped in the door, it stops being quite so much of a home and starts turning back into a house.
AVAST! Three ways to gird yeself for Talk Like a Pirate Day
Ahoy, buckos! If you haven’t heard, today be Talk Like a Pirate Day — worldwide. For your edification, here be three ways t’ add a little Captain t’ your day with pirate-y music and swashbuckling decor.
Log cabin contemplations: reacting & reflecting
As I was sweeping the first of the yellowed leaves from the cabin’s porch, I was trying to line up all the ways that the homes I’ve created for myself in my adult life have been both a reflection of this space, and a reaction against it.