The Schwinn 'June' Coaster Bike

I have not ridden a bike since childhood.

There- I said it.

I’ve never been ‘big’ into bikes (don’t throw stones, you mountain-bike-weekend-trip-enthusiasts!!).

But it’s funny how life can change in an instant, with a whimsical choice…

Our family went down to Bethany Beach a few weeks ago, while at the very same time- my son had just taken his training wheels off his bike.  I remembered that there was a bike rental shop right in the heart of Bethany and asked my son if he’d like to rent a 2-wheeler for the week, He LOVED the idea and in the next moment I decided that I would rent a bike, then my husband decided he would rent a bike too…

So we spent our Beach Week riding bikes as a family-

~A place I couldn’t imagine getting to in our lives back when I was cleaning up snot or vomit or changing diapers.  We were ‘that family’, riding along, with the ocean breeze at our backs, that you glance at and think, ‘Isn’t that nice?!’

I enjoyed it so much that I thought about getting a bike at home.  So then we packed up everything and drove back to ‘reality’ and left the beach behind.  I arrived home to find a week’s worth of mail in our entry way, even though I had  ’stopped’ the mail… ‘Great’, I thought, as my son trounced through the catalogues and bills mangling up in a even bigger mess.  I reached down to gather a first pile up and on the top of the pile was a flier from Performance Bicycles (where we got my son’s bike) announcing they were having a huge sale- that weekend… (karma ?!).

The next day we all went to the bike store and I bought the Schwinn ‘June’ Coaster Bike (with automatic shifting!) and I love it…

and I LOVE that my son and I are riding our bikes together.

You’ve come a long way, baby!

Courtesy of The Preppy Pink Pony

Like I said in my last post, I had a super duper wonderful time at the blogger event at the Ritz on Sunday.

So many people wished me a Happy Birthday, it was truly lovely!

Almost as many people asked me about my bag… and where to get it…

(Let’s be clear, I just love this bag.  I am not getting compensated for this, in fact, I just went back to this store yesterday and bought 2 more bags (sshhh- for presents.))

You can get your very own super cool, everyone-will-ask-you-where-you-got-it-bag at The Preppy Pink Pony in McLean, VA, on Chain Bridge Road.

YOU CAN ALSO CUSTOM ORDER YOUR BAG ONLINE.

Here’s my Bag-

As you can see, you can also get these bags with a shoulder strap, like mine.

The Preppy Pink Pony has lots of other bags, and purses, and jewelry, and baby gifts, and belts, and everything else!  The owner is Virginia, and she’s incredibly gracious and helpful!

These bags are handmade in Thailand and are helping women in specific villages make a better living for themselves and their families…

MOM POWER!!

… You’re Welcome,

Go Look At My Shoes-

On Jodifur,

I’m the one on the right!

It’s Always Shoe Friday at Jodifur!

Why does Bingo rock?  Well, after just attending my first Bingo Night at my Kindergartner’s school I’ll tell you why-

• Bingo is easy
• Bingo is fun
• Everyone has an equal chance of winning!
• It’s inexpensive
• It involves PRIZES, and who among us, doesn’t love prizes!
• It also involves snacks
• It’s a social thing, so nobody is ‘ULTRA ANGRY COMPETITIVE’
• You can be a little distracted, and still do well (see first point above)
• A Kindergartner can win (my son won a Cooler and Beach Towel)!
• and last but not least, it’s a nice family activity

Or maybe, I’m just getting old older…

Do I sound like your Grandmother??

It’s a tomato… but it’s way more than that,

according to my son, it’s a ’snowman tomato’.

It’s 2 tomatoes grown together… I think…

Very Cool!  The coolness of this tomato did not stop my son from

immediately eating it after this picture was taken, however…

Sorry Mr. Tomato, a 6-year-old’s loyalty is brief and fleeting

A calmness, an unhurriedness (I don’t think that’s a word- but it should be)…   I just took my first trip to Target by myself… I mean EVER! 

I had time to look for things,

I made a list, 

I stocked up paper supplies for the house- toilet paper, paper towels, napkins (Paper supplies are always less expensive at Target)!

I bought myself a new curling iron: I’ve been meaning to do that for MONTHS!

I found a great pair of pajama pants that I ACTUALLY GOT TO TRY ON!

I bought my son a polo shirt with Bears on it (his favorite animal) for $7.99,

I saw 3 moms I knew there!

I told 1 of them that it was my first trip to Target By Myself, to which she smiled and replied,

“Enjoy!”

I was literally= giddy.

It’s the little things in life, isn’t it?

At

Jodifur’s Shoe Friday!

Have a Great Weekend!

or busy getting playdough out of the rug,

you may not have seen this video of Susan Boyle,

a 47-year-old unemployed woman who lives with her cat,

in a small village.

She was on Britain’s Got Talent

AND SHE HAS THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL.

Warning: This will move you to tears, good tears.

Simon was even moved…

If you haven’t heard her yet- Here she is…

What is so inspiring about her is that she reminds us that we all have a special gift inside us, that only we can bring to the world… discover and use your gift.

*I would have put the video right here but you cannot get it off of youtube anymore, you have to go to youtube and watch yourself, which explains the above link… enjoy!*

just a little, this isn’t a rocket science blog.

So, here it is.  (Shout-out to my mother-in-law for sharing this with me.)

Whatever your bedspread or color scheme for your bedroom, you probably have ‘good pillow cases’ that match your bedspread.  We have a navy blue comforter with matching sheets, with our bedroom accents in navy blue too, you get the picture.  But I have a bunch of different sheet sets in various blue shades that I’ve picked up at sales, or because they’ve advertised to be VERY soft, etc.

SO, I always have four pillow cases (and pillows, obviously) on our bed in various shades of blue, blue sheets of various shades and the navy blue comforter (it’s a duvet cover, you take out the comforter part in the summer).

SO HERE’S THE TIP: I bought 2 extra pillows (at Target) and put my ‘nice-company-coming-over’ navy blue pillow cases on them and put them in my bedroom closet.  NOW, when company is coming over: I take them out, put them in front of whatever pillows are already on the bed and- Bingo!

The bed looks all-pulled-together.  My pillows match my comforter and have ‘accent’ blue pillows under them.  But I always have the ‘good pillows with pillowcases’ clean and ready to throw on the bed!

Again, this isn’t rocket science, but you’d be surprised at the amount of time is saves you and how much better your bedroom looks in moments!

Try this during the holiday season… and thank me later.

Today, it is butterflies! I took these pictures myself.

Now before you gasp and think we have beautiful wildflowers all over our backyard and butterflies are frolicking to and fro, let me self- disclose: I took these pictures at the butterfly house at Hershey Park when we went this summer.

But I did take these pictures with my own camera and they do show that every once-in-a-while, when you need a smile… all you need is a butterfly!