Black and Decker must have seen the post I did two years ago where I used a three foot level to measure, mark and tape stripes in my entryway here. I can just hear their marketing team now... "That dumb poor girl.  Did she really use that clunker of a level to measure EVERY, SINGLE one of those stripes? Doesn't she know we make a laser level? Let's send her one and let her try it out.  She might go jump off a cliff after she figures out all the time she wasted by not using our laser level."

This past month I received this beautiful invitation to the 2nd Annual Blogger Social at Alice Lane in the mail. Leave it to the ladies at Alice Lane to put together the most exquisite party with impeccable details and goodie bags. There was a lovely gift exchange... and I received this scrumptious candle. Here's me with Jessica, owner of Alice Lane and my sis-in-law Erin of Designer Blogs. Talk about an evening with some very talented bloggers! Special thanks to Kirsten Krason

Thanks to Rebecca J. Razo for the office feature in Cottages and Bungalows January 2012 Magazine!  

I've been visiting the salad bar at Whole Foods Grocery Store quite a bit lately. I always grab an extra to-go salad container for sharing... (my boys always say they don't want any... until they see me eating and suddenly I have none left).  Over the past while I've collected a few un-used containers. Here's how I made use of them. 1. Homemade cookies (I've found this recipe to be the very best). 2. More chocolate treats bagged and tied with ribbon. 3. Arrange neatly in to-go salad

They say whatever your budget is...double it. Whatever your time frame is...triple it. So according to the "experts" we're right on schedule. Here's the latest accomplishments:  

We thought we'd be in our house by Christmas but we've been told that's "extremely optimistic". Oye. Since all our Christmas decor is in storage we're having fun decorating with household items such as paper, kleenex, string, crayons, etc.  It's been very fun for the boys. In the meantime, here's a cute Christmas sign I spied on Houzz made by Gail. See if you can figure it out.   "Noel".  Love the non-traditional, play on Christmas.