Check Out Charming Bliss in a Whole New Way!

Wondering why you haven't seen me much here? I've been busy starting my own business! Exciting stuff huh? I'm excited to introduce Charming Bliss-my new custom photo card design company. I love all the great, inspiring ideas from all the amazing bloggers out there. I've been so inspired that I decided to start channeling all those creative juices into my own business. Check out my blog, my card gallery and my portfolio and spread the word if you like what you see!

Oh, and you can follow Charming Bliss on twitter or check out my Charming Bliss facebook page and become a fan.

The Thanksgiving Table

(Photo via http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com)

One of my favorite blogs, Tip Junkie has assembled some amazing ideas for making your Thanksgiving table beautiful. You can see ideas for centerpieces here. You can see place settings and other ideas here. See what ideas you can incorporate into your Thanksgiving table.

Turkey Sugar Cookies

(Photo via http://puppycove.blogspot.com)

Here's a cute idea for the kids just in time for Thanksgiving. Let your little turkeys make these cute cookies to take to your Thanksgiving host or let them decorate while the adults visit. You can get the complete details and recipe over at the Puppy Cove blog.

Good Deals This Weekend

Famous Footwear: Buy 1, get 1 half off
Bath & Body Works: Select Signature Collection 5 for $25
Aeropostale: 30% off everything Friends & Family Event
e.l.f. Makeup: Buy 1, get 1 half off (50 hours only)
Eddie Bauer: 20% off entire purchase with online code: FRNDSAVE
Studio 32 Shoes: Clearance sale with shoes as low as $5
Yankee Candle: Buy 1, get 1 half off
Old Navy: $15 deals
Gymboree: extra 20% off all markdowns for a savings of 60%
American Eagle: all tops buy 1, get 1 half off

Pink Day

(Photo via http://lets-explore.typepad.com)


I loved the idea of having a day that revolves around a color. The Let's Explore blog featured a pink day a while back. She tied in the story "Pinkalicious" and then prepared a pink lunch for her daughter. You can read all the details here. Start thinking about what other color days you could prepare for your family.

Why I Like Thanksgiving

(Photo via www.hornblowerholidays.com)

"What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?"

~Erma Bombeck

Organizing and Managing Your Digital Photos

(Photo via www.online-tech-tips.com)

Since you brushed up on your photography skills yesterday, I thought today you would like some ideas for organizing all those pictures you just took. I stumbled across the Living Yellow blog a while ago and bookmarked it because I loved her steps for managing digital photos. You can check out all the details here. Get a good system in place now for your photos, so when you take hundreds over the holidays, they won't get lost in the shuffle.

*Your organization assignment for today is to scan your photos and purge any blurry, eyes-closed, cut-the-head-off pictures you have taken. Spend 15 minutes and work from the most recent backwards. If you don't get it all done in 15 minutes, make a goal of spending 15 minutes a day until you get them cleaned up.

Brush Up on Your Photography Skills

With the holidays fast approaching, why not spend some time brushing up on your photography skills now? We all take hundreds of pictures between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve and everything else in between. Take a few minutes and check out Mom Shots blog. She has some great tips and tricks to help you get some great pictures. Be sure to check out her tip of the week for some really good pointers.

http://www.momshots.com/

Corn Chowder & Bread Bowls

Natalie's Corn Chowder

From my very own kitchen!

½ Onion
3 Potatoes

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 T. Butter
1-2 cans Corn with the juice
Crumbled Bacon

1 ½ t. Dill Weed
2-4 cups of half & half (depending on how much soup you want to make)


Chop up the onion and sauté it in the melted butter and dill weed until the onion is clear. Add the potatoes to the onions and let cook for about five minutes. Pour in the entire can(s) of corn including the juice into the onions and potatoes. Add your cream of chicken soup to the mixture. Add half and half to that to make enough for your family. I usually pour in enough half and half to make dinner for that night and leftovers once. Let the soup simmer for about ½ hour to 45 minutes. (Closer to 45 minutes if you used real potatoes.) Once your soup and potatoes are cooked all the way through, sprinkle bacon on top of the soup and serve.

Bread Bowls
1 Loaf Rhodes Wheat Bread Dough, thawed (one loaf makes 3 bread bowls)

Thaw the dough until it’s soft (about 3 hours at room temperature). Cut the loaf into thirds and form each third into a ball. Place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed, generously, with a non-stick cooking spray. Cover the dough with plastic wrap that has also been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Let the dough rise until it’s double in size (about 2 hours). Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the bowls to cool and then slice off the top. Hollow out the bowls and fill with soup. The bread that you’re not using as a bowl is great for dipping.

Home Organization for Small Spaces

Make the most of little nooks and forgotten spots as storage spaces. Home Made Simple walks you through each room and talks about storage spots you may not have thought of. There are ideas for the family room, kitchen, master bedroom, children's bedrooms and bathrooms. Go find some new storage solutions for your small spaces by visiting Home Made Simple.

Thanksgiving Countdown Turkey

(Photo and idea via www.makeandtakes.com)

Have your kids make this cute turkey full of feathers to count down the days to Thanksgiving. I especially love the idea of writing a new thing you're thankful for on each feather each day. That way when you get to Thanksgiving, you have a fully decorated bird. Another alternative is to pluck a feather each day until the turkey is bare. You can get all the step by step instructions here.

Cupcake Pops

(Photo & recipe via http://bakerella.blogspot.com)

I ran across these darling cupcake pops at Bakerella today. I think they'd be darling to make for a little girl's birthday party or for a neighbor or friend. I'd love to receive these. You can visit Bakerella here for the complete recipe and step by step pictures and instructions. Enjoy!

Travelzoo

Looking to travel this holiday season? Look no further than Travelzoo for fantastic deals on airfare, vacations, cruises and more. You can sign up to have the top weekly travel deals sent to your inbox so you never miss out on the lowest deals. I get the weekly deals emailed to me and there have been some fantastic low prices and sales that I wouldn't otherwise have known about.

Charming Bliss Won an Award!

Crazy Crafty Cousins just gave my blog an award and I'm so honored especially since Charming Bliss is still pretty new! Thank you! You can check out their other blog awards here.

Ghost Hunters Live

I have fallen in love with the Sci-Fi series, Ghost Hunters. It's a show that follows a team of investigators as they search reportedly haunted locations trying to disprove the hauntings. When they gather substantial evidence they can't explain away, they deem the property as haunted or having paranormal activity. It's usually on Wednesday nights here, but today is a marathon. The show started running episodes at 6:00 am and will continue until they start their live investigation tonight at 5:00 and continue until midnight. If you need a good scare with your kids tonight, tune in and watch. It always sends a chill up my spine. Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

(Photo via http://www.bakingbites.com/)

This is the recipe I use to make our own pumpkin seeds each year...

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

Garlic salt

1-Rinse the pumpkin guts off the seeds and pat dry. The seeds need to be as dry as possible.

2-Place them on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes to dry them out so they'll absorb the sauce.
3-Melt the butter and combine with worcestershire sauce.
4-Put the seeds to a bowl and pour liquid over the top. Mix well.
5-Return seeds to cookie sheet. Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn them over with a spatula.
6-Sprinkle with garlic salt. Then bake for another 30 minutes or until crunchy.

Coldwater Creek Sale

Up to 70% off at Coldwater Creek and you can use the code WXH5320 to get free shipping. Now that's what I call a good deal!

Halloween Countdown Printables

I ran across this calendar with a new printable every day for your little witches and goblins to count down to the big day. You can print off new activities every day and you can go back and print all the way back to October 1st. Have fun!

Scary Scooby

Hold on, man. We don't go anywhere with "scary," "spooky," "haunted," or "forbidden" in the title. ~From Scooby-Doo

Family Packing List

Are you traveling any time soon? I'm going to spill my secret about organized packing for a family. As an avid list-maker, I have a family packing list that I use each and every time we go on vacation. I created it years ago before we had kids. It's an Excel spreadsheet. I have one column and one color for each member of the family. Hubby is blue, I'm red, and the kids are blue, green and purple.

I have sub-sections on the list.
1- The first section is travel essentials. This includes items like pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, car seats, camping chairs, airline tickets, suitcases, strollers, etc. I modify or delete these items on my list prior to printing the packing list, but I always have everything on my master list and I never save the changes.
2- The second section is clothing. Next to socks, underwear, and shoes I have a #______ to fill in the quantity needed. Then I have spaces for outfit #1, outfit #2, outfit #3....etc. This is especially helpful to list the outfits prior to packing them if you're OCD like me and make your family coordinate on the off-chance that you will capture a great picture to scrapbook one day. (That's an entirely separate post!) I also include hats, belts, swimming suits, pajamas in this section.
3- The next section is entertainment. I list the kids gaming systems, books, toys, DVDs, etc. here. I also list my books, magazines, etc.
4- Next I list toiletries. Toothbrushes, paste, makeup, vitamins, shaving supplies, combs, hair styling aids, etc.
5- The last section is for snacks. I list a couple of different snacks along with water bottles or sippy cups for the kids so I have some food on hand for hungry travelers.
6- At the top right of my packing list, I have a list of pre-travel preparations. I include things like stopping the mail, stopping the newspaper, asking a neighbor to take our garbage cans in or out, getting money from the ATM, setting lights to a timer, watering plants, gas in the car, prepaying bills, and asking the neighbors to watch the house or gather any special UPS or FedEx shipments that might arrive while we're gone.

Amazingly, this entire list fits on one page. I include checkboxes next to each item so we can color them in as we check off our list. I will say that being an organized packer makes it so we rarely forget anything. It's easier to enjoy your vacation with peace of mind. Happy packing!