With Brody’s first birthday approaching in less than a month (so hard to believe), I’ve been doing a lot of research online for various ideas.

I, at first, had planned to not do anything special (just get a smash cake and enjoy watching Brody ourselves with my parents, who will be in town to celebrate with us), but after talking to some other friends, everyone seems to be going the birthday party route and I don’t want Brody to be left out of the fun (plus, secretly, I love planning this sort of thing).

So…it was easy to come up with a theme….sports, but more importantly, soccer (this way I can use the next few years and go through the various sports, if I want to, until he can come up with his own ideas). Ok, so back to the soccer theme. I found a cute shirt on Etsy (see above photo…a sneak peak from his photo shoot a couple of weekends ago). I am making Brody’s birthday invitations (um…can you guess…soccer themed) and wanted to get pictures of him in his birthday shirt (which has a “1″ on the back). The photo displayed above is one that I’m not using.

I found soccer themed plates and such at the local party store (haven’t purchased these yet). I have called in our cake order. We’re using a local Mom from one of my Mommy Groups. I hear she makes a mean cake. I can’t wait to try it. I told her soccer themed and she came up with some awesome ideas. I can’t wait to see it all. We’ll do a chocolate cake, some side cupcakes (vanilla) and then a smash cake for Brody. I’ll show pictures of his party when that time comes.

I found some fun “goody bag” ideas to hand out to the kids (so no one will go home empty handed). I think I’m even going to get small pumpkins and put the kids names on them to take home (overdoing it???). This party thing is my sort of thing. I love planning and putting together a good party. I do stress (a lot) come the day, but it’s so much fun to create things or come up with ideas.

Ok, so I’ve gotten really off track. The whole reason for this post was to mention a cool website that I found. The coolest kid birthday party themes are mentioned with loads of pictures and how-to’s. It will definitely be a go-to site for me in the years to come. It’s called, “The Birthday Blog – creative party ideas for kids“.  Enjoy!

Were you ever into using Carmex lip balm?  Remember those tubs?  I hated putting my fingers in them (still do), so I boycott Carmex products…until now.

I found a Carmex Moisture Plus STICK the other day at Walgreens and LOVE it!  It smells like Carmex and has the feel of Carmex, but you don’t have to put your finger in a tub to get it on your lips (hallelujah!).  Just wanted to share this with you (in case you’re a closet Carmex fan too, but hated the tub).

And, I also just saw that they have tinted ones as well (pink and peach colors…sheer).  I’d love to get my hands on one of those to try it out.

I came across this video last night and fell in love!  We’re huge Chick-fil-A fans!  They have the best chicken around and their breakfasts are amazing!  Wish I could go now, but I doubt it’s on my diet.   Enjoy this video and YouTube has a ton of videos by this guy, Tim Hawkins (all hilarious!).

I have to say that I always thought that water pressure was water pressure.  What you get is what you get.  Although I did find it odd that one shower seemed to have more pressure than the other.

This past week, we took the shower head from the guest bathroom and put it in our bathroom (we both liked that shower head better and it appeared to have much better pressure).  Then we figured we should get a new shower head for the guest bathroom (looking for something similar to what it already had).  We searched at Home Depot this past weekend and found a shower head that we both seemed to like (at least it was worth trying).

Jason wanted to try it out in our shower first (why give it to the guests if we like it better).   We were blown away by this new shower head.  The pressure was far better than even the shower head we had in our guest bathroom.  It takes seconds to wash the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair now.  I’m so thrilled!!!

I now know that it has nothing to do with the house’s water pressure but what shower head you have.  If you’re not thrilled with your shower water pressure, I suggest getting a new shower head.

And if you’re wondering what shower head we got, it’s called Delta Victorian 5-Spray Shower Head in Satin Nickel and they also have this shower head in a hand held option.

My online consignment shop that I love so much has gone out of business, but I’ve recently stumbled upon something else, called “thredUP”.

This is a site where you can list your gently used child’s clothing and purchase gently used children’s clothing in return.  Everything is shipped and received in a medium sized flat-rate USPS box (stuffed to the gills).  And you can order your medium sized flat-rate boxes from the post office website for free and they get sent directly to you.  How easy is that.

You take time to list the contents of your box, sizes, type of clothing, name brand, color, etc… and wait for someone to pick it.  When your box is picked, you ship it out and then get rated.  You do not receive any money for your items.  It’s a straight “trade” for a trade.  You also do not pay to ship your items (as thredUP has you print out a pre-paid label to put on your box).

You can pick a box out first (to try it out), but have to list a box (or multiple boxes) and have someone pick one of your boxes before you’re able to purchase another box (I do like these guidelines).

It’s a pretty cool concept.  Thought I would share it with everyone.

Have you ever wondered what to give to your friend for his/her birthday or to help him/her celebrate something special?

I came across something that I think is a great gift idea.  It won’t break the bank, is fun, thoughtful, something no one would expect, and very tasty!

A couple of years ago, I came across a little Etsy store called Fat Daddy’s.  It sold cakes in a jar (cute concept, huh?).  Over the past couple of years, this little store has gotten very big and has changed its name.  It is now called Bangerang Bake Shop and is no longer on Etsy, but has a site of its own.

I’ve ordered three as gifts for others (my sister, Mom, and neighbor’s kid) and have ordered a few for myself, to of course try (had to make sure they were worthy of giving as gifts).  They are packaged very cute and perfect to eat all by yourself or share with one other (if you’re feeling generous).  There are quite a few flavors, even one that is sugar-free without the sugar-free taste, along with some holiday and special flavors.  There’s something for everyone.

Feeling really generous?  Give someone “The Cupcake of the Month Club” gift.  You would be SO loved (um, pick me, pick me).

Yep, you read correctly, “Toilet Paper Origami”.  Go ahead, laugh.

I remember going to my friends house years ago and when I used her bathroom, she had the toilet paper folded into a point at the end.  Very fancy!  I loved it and thought it was sweet she would take time to do that for me.  Now whenever we have people visiting us, I take time to fold the toilet paper into a point.

Recently, I came across a blog post about toilet paper origami and it intrigued me.  There’s even a book out there on this subject.  I found a few tutorials online about toilet paper origami, so went to a couple of our bathrooms to try them out.  How fun!  I love stuff like this!  It’s like going to a hotel and they have their towels folded into a dog or something.

Thought I’d share my new silly find.

I’m not sure if you know this, but I HATE to iron.  I mean, I LOATHE it!  I will say that just recently I figured out the steam button on my iron and can now do some real ironing.  LOL! I rarely iron and make Jason buy wrinkle-free shirts and pants when possible.  I do iron fabric though and for that reason, I love my iron.

Jason and I have talked about getting one of the mini ironing boards that come in the cabinet.  You can recess them into the wall.  I’ve had one on my wishlist for the past two years.  This year, I decided I was getting it.  I did some research to make sure I wanted to get what I had on my wishlist and found something so much better.  It’s a fold-able, full size ironing board.  I even painted the cover to match my wall (not that it’s any less noticeable though).  LOL!

I’ve been using it this week for the first time and absolutely LOVE it!  It’s so convenient.  I love having an ironing board in my craft room.  I used to have to set the ironing board up in the hallway or the loft area and it was so inconvenient (walking back and forth).

I will admit that it’s on the LARGE side and definitely sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s functional and that’s all that matters to me.

With my hair going through it’s “falling out” faze, I’m having a hard time finding a shampoo and conditioner that is working well with my tangled mess.

I was at the store the other day and decided I’d try TRESemme’.  I have never used this in my life, but I think we all know the jingle (TRESemme’, TRESemme’ Ooo, La, La).   Now you’ve got it stuck in your head, don’t you?

I am loving this shampoo and conditioner (I got the Naturals Radiant Volume Shampoo and Conditioner)!  It smells great too!  I think I’ve found a new favorite!

A few months ago, I was reading a blog that posted about getting a free Bible for Mom’s called, the Busy Moms Bible.  The title intrigued me.  I first thought to myself that I was being selfish for wanting to get a free Bible.  I can afford a Bible.  But then I thought, this offer is open to the first 5,000 who accept it and why shouldn’t I be one of them.  I can benefit from a Bible like this.  So, I filled out the information and within a few weeks, wahlah, the Bible had arrived.

It was packaged so nicely, as if someone gave me the most precious and beautiful gift (thank you Lord for Your Word).  It was so pristine and perfect!  It was fun looking, intriguing, and just calling out my name.

In this Bible, there are 52 “Thought Starters” that take one minute of your time to get your feet wet.  Each “Thought Starter” starts off with a verse (short enough to memorize and meditate on), followed by a short paragraph that gets the juices flowing.

If you have more time (5 minutes), read further with the “Reflect & Pray”.  This section asks you thought provoking questions that get you thinking more on the topic at hand.

And if you have even more time (10 minutes), read even further with the “Study”.  In this section, it will tell you a page and a topic to look up in the study index.  In the study index, you will find verses already written out for you (so you don’t have to reference them…they’re right there).  Each verse goes hand in hand with the topic you’re reading about.

At the very bottom is a section called, “Words to take with you today”.  A word or phrase is listed for you to think about its meaning as you go through your week.

I cannot begin to tell you how simple this Bible is to use.  I don’t feel like I need to put God off until later in the day because I just don’t have time right now or would prefer to devote more time so want to wait until later, then later never comes.  When you get a chance, you’ll have to check out this Bible.  It should be a “must have” for all Moms.