November in Scottsdale

November for so many people means a big change in weather, trees are almost bare, jackets and beanies are a must and Thanksgiving is on it's way!

Not so much here in Scottsdale.  There is definitely a change is weather from the 90's to the 70's!

The trees are still green and there are those that survive our summers that are now changing colors.

It's time to hit the open air farmer's markets, bike to our favorite local restaurants and eat out on the patio.

The nights are chilly by our standards, in the 50's, so we need to bundle up! Lol!

"Old Town Scottsdale Farmer's Market"

We put our fresh flowers on the patio for "alfresco dining" 

(that's code for I don't want to sweep up the crumbs, bird food!)

Saturday mornings are meant for riding bikes and hitting up our favorite breakfast joint halfway through our ride.

Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away! 

I hope to share my table setting with you before it gets here.

I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Easy Peasy Doughnuts

Easiest Doughnuts EVER!

Would you like my recipe for the easiest doughnuts ever? 

Here ya go...

1 (or however many doughnuts you want to make) can store bought canned biscuits

Crisco

Melt the Crisco (enough to make at least 3" deep) in a deep sauce pan and keep it pretty hot.  Take one biscuit at a time and cut a hole in the middle with a small round cookie cutter or anything that will cut about a 1" circle. Save those cutouts, those are your "donut holes" :)

Using tongs drop your biscuit into the hot Crisco and cook until browned on one side then turn over and cook the other side.

Repeat with all of your biscuits and holes.

Dip in cinnamon and sugar mixture or powdered sugar

&

Voila!

Dining Room Refresh

My Dining Room

I was getting super bored with my dining room.  It was starting to feel a little out of date.  I still absolutely love my furniture although I am considering reupholstering my chairs. That scares me a little. Anyway, that's for another day.
I like glam, my hubby does not.  Here is where I compromised.  I did a little on the wall.  
Here is a before picture from last Thanksgiving's post.  

Since then, we made a few changes.  The beautiful picture over the buffet was our Christmas gift to each other last year. It's called "The Bow" from Z Gallerie.  One of my favoritist stores in the world!  We had eyed it for a very long time but couldn't justify the cost in these harder times and just before Christmas we decided instead of dropping money on a bunch of unnecessary "stuff", we would give that to each other.  

Merry Christmas Honey!

Well, now it's the end of August and I wanted to pay a little attention to this special room.

Target had these fabulous mirrored frames that didn't look like the rest of the world's.  

So I decided to revamp a wall with sepia toned wedding pictures. Our parents, us and our children that have married.  We have one more that is still single so I went ahead and purchased the frame for his future portrait and placed a copy of 1Corinthians 13 in it. That's the chapter about love.  If you  haven't read it, it's a beautiful design on marriage as well as life.

Then I moved my Corinthian column to the other side of the cabinet to place a lamp that I took from another room where it was under appreciated and voila!  More light!  I love lamps and light You can control your ambiance so much with them.

I found the large metal "Trophy" at my other addiction, TJMaxx.

Bye bye chalkboard, it was fun while it lasted.

I have a blank table at the moment but never fear!  There is something in the works! A little "earthy glam". Your='re welcome Honey. XO

Target is still my favorite "$100 Store" !!

And Z Gallerie? Well let's just say the $ signs multiply but it's worth it!

Thanks for visiting!!

"To Be Frugal or Not To Be Frugal"...That is the Question!

Frugal...Ugh!  I hate that word.  It usually means I can't do or have something.  Go out to eat or go on a trip.
BUT!! It actually means that I can do those things even more often than I think if I would just make a few changes.
Recently I was very excited to hear that there was a new "gel" nail polish out that didn't require the special light you have to cure it with.  Well, my favorite "$100 Store" carried it! Target here I come!  Now in the name of Target Love, this is not to bash that store.  It's my go to for just about everything. (I wish they carried everything but they don't) 
This brought to mind, how much money I dump into that store on a weekly basis on "non frugal, yet to be listed items", nail polish, lipstick, spatula, candles, etc, etc...
Then it brought to mind my mom.  She was an upper middle class lady that had her hair and nails done probably once a week (she had 6 kids, she deserved it). But... did we have a new candle, new dishes, new nail polish, new lunch bag, new tee shirt, new, new, new... every week.  No way!  
This is no way shape or form to put us on some sort of guilt trip.  I thought it might be encouraging to start a few new ways to see your money grow, spend time with friends and get creative.
Here's what I mean by that.
See this picture?

Front and center is the fore said gel polish. Cost $14.99 for the start up box set of 2.  The new bottle of red to add to my collection was $7.99. Now that's a total of $22.98. Plus tax.  Can't get away from that.

See the basket of misc. polishes.  Now there's a bunch of waste.  I think there are a total of 2 that I actually use. AND by the time I get to them again they'll be thick and not worth their weight in pennies.  By the way, The gel brags that it lasts up to 2 weeks.  Yay!! Nope, not even 2 days for me.  Sorry.  

The encouragement I have for you in this one is.  Buy ONE bottle of your absolute favorite, doesn't matter if it costs $2 or $12.   Now use it.  Use it again, again and again.  Oh! and if your friends love it loan it to them and borrow  their favorite.   You could even have a "Polish Party" one afternoon or evening to try them out to see which brand you love most with your friends.  Sometimes it's not the expensive ones that last longer.  

Having said all that, I spent $24ish bucks on polish this month.  That doesn't include any pedicures.

So today I'm starting an envelope to save $25 I would have spent on the pedicure, do it myself (waaaaahhh, I'll get over it) and next month I'm going to add $40 to it for misc, polish or pedi junk.   Think it'll add up?

Thanks for visiting!

Conversation Etiquette

Conversing Well is an Art!

• Never! Interrupt! Always wait for the person speaking to finish. AND, try not to appear like you can't wait for them to finish so you can talk.
• Always! Ask questions. Nobody likes a one sided conversation. You will actually find that the other person could very well be interesting. It also helps in keeping the conversation moving.
• Avoid! Drifting.  Keep eye contact when the other person is speaking. I can totally tell if someone is listening or not by eye contact and their "uh huhs"!
• Keep it Clean! Bad language is always tacky.  Unless you're a sailor straight off the boat, you might want to think twice about your choice of words. You can make a poor impression really fast with the shortest of words!
• It Takes Two! Try not to talk about yourself. It's good to answer questions about yourself or give tidbits but you don't want to come off as arrogant or self absorbed when you it's all about you.
• Repeat! Try to repeat the person's name once in awhile.  If they are a new acquaintance it will help you remember their name and it will also help them feel like they are important to you.
• Hope this has been encouraging!
• Thanks for visiting!
• 
  

Etiquette for Guests

We occasionally get invited to each others homes for celebrations or just casual get~togethers.  

It's a very nice gesture to bring the hosts a small gift.  Fresh flowers are always perfect but if you like to be different,  there are other suggestions.  I would advise not to go over the top though, people always feel the need to reciprocate and you don't want it to get competitive.
Here are some other suggestions.

1.  Candle (be careful of scents though)

2.  Plant, a fresh herb from a local nursery is always fun

3.  Box of chocolates

4.  Package of fun cocktail napkins

(subtle hint for next time)

5.  The ol' standby, a bottle of wine :)

(This beauty was a gift for keeping our G'kids for the weekend while our kids went to Napa)


If you haven't made this a habit in the past, it's never too late to pick it up!  
Better yet, invite someone to dinner this weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Reviving a Lost Art Form, Etiquette

Etiquette is a very intimidating word to some people. It says "Proper". Well, in 2014, A LOT  of  people are not "into" what's proper but what works for them, leaving a wake of problems that can resonate into generations to come.

I happen to love etiquette.  It's safe.  It doesn't mean you HAVE to do it that way and only that way.  It's a guide to helping you do things the way to protect you and the people surrounding the event.  Preventing problems.  Now that's my kinda help!

This book, "Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette" has been in my possession since I planned my own wedding.  36 years.  My Mom and I used it to plan my wedding and I have gone back to it so many times over the years for other celebrations and events, including my own children's weddings, baby showers etc.  It is very well worn. 

I am sure there is an updated version but I love this one.  I still have a napkin from my wedding and something my Heather had drawn as books mark in it. 

I am not a stuffy, do it right or else kind of person... but I am sensitive and concerned about doing things right.  People are very important to me so I like to plan parties and events.  If you give me too much time to think, there will be an event in the not too distant future!

I would like to revive a little bit of this special art in memory of my mom.  She was a lady.  Mom taught me from a very young child the qualities of being polite and kind.  To always think of others.

Hopefully you will enjoy this and it will be helpful.  I would like it to have a trickle down affect to children, so it definitely won't be too stuffy!

More posts to come!

Thanks for visiting!

Tooth Fairy Door

I found how to do this on a blog from a friend a few years ago and couldn't resist!
The first one I made was for my granddaughter Kyle...

Not the best pic since it was from my phone a year and half ago.
 Now one of my younger grandsons is starting to lose teeth. So here's #2...

This one is simpilar but I like it for a boy.  His favorite color is yellow. This yellow screams 
"YIELD" to me.  But Gregory will love it.
There are no set rules to a "Tooth Fairy Door" that I know of so I'm going to make up my own.

1. The closed door is set out by a parent the night of the big event near their bedside. This allows the fairy to come in and give a special reward for such a great tooth.
The message behind this is that you are inviting the fairy in that night for the exchange.

2. When "The Fairy" comes, he/she opens the door, takes the tooth and leaves their gift under the child's pillow and closes the door behind.

3. Parent puts the door away after the child gets their prize.  The door gets put away until the fairy is invited in for the next "loss" :)



Here's a picture of the goods. I purchased everything from Hobby Lobby.

I hope you enjoy this imaginative time with your children!

Thanks for visiting!