Are we there yet??

• Etch-a-Setch, Doodle pads, or Magnet pads
• A cookie sheet with letter magnets from the fridge 
• Pipe cleanersor Bend-a-roos to make fun creations 
• Small chalk boards 
• Bubbles
• Water ring games
• Melissa & Doug’s Memory Gamehas several changeable versions
• Pieces of tinfoil to make crowns, necklaces, or animals
• Crayola Window Markers

- Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

I really do ♥ my Camry!   I drove a red two door sports car right up until the day I gave birth to my first child. 

For a few months before I was due my husband and I test drove many cars.  Just cars.  I refused to step foot inside the mini-van.  I just couldn’t go from the two door, red, sunroof chick car to a mini-van.  We tested many cars out – but I fell in love with my sliver Camry.  Nothing too fancy – but safe & reliable for my baby and I.  It had the latch system and we were good to go!

We were cutting it close though.

The afternoon we were scheduled to pickup my new Camry I got a call from the Dr. saying I needed to come in for an induced labor, as I was starting to develop pre-eclamsia.

Knowing I couldn’t do all the car stuff after childbirth, and needed the car to bring our baby home – we went to the dealer before heading to the hospital.  We quickly rushed them through all the paperwork – I think they were afraid of my water breaking right then & there!

Here I am on the way to the hospital in our Camry!

It has almost been 6 years since we got that car.  She has just over 116,000 miles – few dents & scratches – but NO repair work done.  NONE!  {Do you hear me knocking on the wood!}

Did you know this?  Camry came from mixing up the words

 my car  =  camry   It is my car – my Camry.

We even encouraged my dad to go Toyota – check him out in his cool ride! What do you think?  Any other Toyota fans out there?

I’m participating in a Toyota/TwitterMoms campaign, which inspired this post. My opinions, thoughts and feelings are my own. As a TwitterMom, I’m eligible for a courtesy gift of $50.

- Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

For years my husband and I have dreamed of having our own marketing business.  We met in a marketing class at grad school – ahhh – those were the days.  School, work, dating, no kids.  Our life was simple, but not as fun and crazy as it is now.  After I gave birth to my first son I decided to stay home with him and take a break from my marketing career.  It has been a wonderful and wild 5 years!  We now have two boys that keep us on our toes. 

I have been blogging here at Domestic Success since the fall of 2009.  It has been so fun in this blog world, and I am so happy to share my passion for baking, cooking and homemaking with you all!  However, my other passion is marketing – that goes for my husband too.  We go on date night – and no we don’t talk about the kids too much – we talk about marketing too much!  It is a passion - we have ideas, concepts and solutions to help small businesses grow. 

This past fall a friend of ours contacted us for some marketing help on a new business they were starting.  We jumped at the chance to help them!  So after years about talking about it – we have created Make It Happen – Marketing & Business Consulting

I wanted to share with you some recent projects we have been working on for our awesome clients! Our passion is getting to know our clients – and finding ways to make their business stand out in a crowd.  They project in the next 5 to 10 years the biggest growth sector of our economy is going to be small business.  We are a real mom & pop shop -  and it’s our passion to help other small businesses grow to their full potential!

1. Ad created for placement in a teen magazine for an amazing photographer. 

Ad for Nicole Nielsen Photography

2. This is a brochure was designed to highlight the craftsmanship

work for a remodeling company. 

 Brochure for CRS - Custom Remodeling Specialists

3. We call these ones “Biz Bling” for your profile picture on your facebook business page. 

This way your fans get a better idea of who you are – right there on your wall. 

Facebook Biz Bling for Material Girl.

4. This is a logo creation for a social worker – using the imagery of a leaf to conceptualize the idea of turning over a new leaf with a therapist!

 Logo for Social Worker.

5. And of course we created a flyer for Make It Happen! 

!!! GIVEAWAY !!!! 

Custom facebook Biz Bling design

One entry for becoming a fan of Make It Happen on Facebook. Additional entries can be made by recommending to your friends to become fans of Make It Happen on Facebook!   Entries need to be submitted by commenting on this post -  let us know if you became a fan and/or recommend to friends!  One winner will be chosen by random on  July 27th. 

The GIVEAWAY is a custom facebook Biz Bling design – don’t worry if you don’t have a facebook biz page – we will create a personal Bling for you.  My personal one looks like this:

Let us know how we can help your business happen!  Find us on facebook or our website www.makeithappen.biz

Thanks for your time!  I can’t wait – baking for my next post – back to the kitchen with mixed berry scones!

- Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

By now you may have heard of the movie Food, Inc. and the T.V. show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.  I have seen the movie and am currently watching Jamie’s series. 

I was very fortunate to grow up with in a health conscious home.  We weren’t allowed to eat sugar cereal, no candy (except holidays) – we ate carob bars instead – which I still love!  My mom baked homemade cookies and my dad got us to try all sorts of foods to eat.  I loved Calamari until he told me it was squid!  I am not sure my parents realized at the time what an important lesson they were teaching me, one that has had far reaching effects.  Now I am doing the same for my kids.  I follow this rule that my friend Love told me recently – if my great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize an item in the grocery store – it’s probably not good for us! 

If you haven’t seen Food Inc. yet be sure to rent it. 

If you’ve seen Food, Inc. – be sure to fill out the

petition:

http://www.foodincmovie.com/sign-the-petition.php 

to help get  healthy food choices in our schools!

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is amazing.  I had no idea that french fries were considered a vegetable – and that pizza and french fries are a balanced meal according to the government.  His series is provoking and cuts to the heart of the matter – that our school system let’s our kids down by offering over processed foods.  We can help make a difference – but we need to sign the petition – and better yet – go to your school and speak out!   Here is a link to the petition.  So far California is in the lead – no surprise there! 

Petiton:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

I know kids today have busy parents, but the least we can do for them is offer healthier lunches at school.  Teaching kids to eat healthy at a young age is a lesson that will last a life time.

- Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Nurturing yourself

We’ve all been here before – stressed out, tired, no pizzazz left.  How do we get back the joy – to that fun loving, happy-go-lucky, free spirited person we used to be?

Do you want more joy in your life?  It begins with accepting you can’t be supermom.  No one expects it from you.  You are the one putting the pressure on yourself.  You don’t need to do it all.  You don’t need to be an expert gardener, supreme baker, creative crafter, home project do-it-yourselfer, gourmet chef, Mrs. Cleaver organizer and coupon clipper.  You don’t need to do it all, and obviously can’t do it all.  But we put so much pressure on ourselves to accomplish it all.

Just being you is what your family needs.

You need to decide what is important to you, decide the things you want to focus on and most importantly know the things you are not going to do.

When we feel like we have to be super spectacular at everything we do, and take on more and more responsibilities – that’s when it starts. That is when the fatigue – the stress – the overwhelmingness of it all starts to set in.

 When I started feeling out of balance I knew I had to make changes.  Something that is so important and has been such a positive change for me has been scheduling free time for me.  It’s actually on the calendar – MY DAY!  After getting married and having children it had been quite a few years before I took some free time to myself.  A few years?  That sounds so crazy to me now!  And when I finally did take some free time I felt like a new woman!

I need some “white space” in my head.  Managing a household, raising two boys, being a good wife – my brain was on overload – I lost touch with the real me.

Scheduling a day for myself gives me the white space I need to relax, focus on my needs, plan goals for the future.  All of which I can’t do while juggling the hub-bub of daily mommy life.

Nurturing your relationships

Your friends are there for you thick and thin.  They are there for the fun times – the weddings, the babies – the real joys of life.  They can also be there for the valleys – the meltdowns in your life too. 

So many times we put on a shinny, happy, plastic face.  Everything’s good over here!  While you are just dying inside – all stressey and feeling bad. 

Do you find yourself only calling your friends when you are in a good mood – or having a great day?  Try this – the next time you are in the middle of a meltdown – call one of your good friends.

Perhaps she’s never heard from you in a meltdown type sobbing state.  But she is your friend.  She is there for you.  And you, you’re having a meltdown – these things happen.  But be real about it, let your friends in, let them know the real you.   Your friendship will grow from it.

Your friend will be so happy to be there for you – to be that shoulder you need.  She will offer fresh perspective – maybe even get you to laugh in the midst of your meltdown like my good friend did for me!

Connect with friends – don’t hallow away.  It takes time and effort to stay connected, but your life will be filled with more joy having these relationships in them.

It’s hard to be a good mom if you don’t take care of yourself first.  Reconnect with yourself, reconnect with your friends.  Take better care of yourself.  Realize when things are getting out of control.  You’re never going to be 18 again – but you can get back in-touch with that free spirit you had then and incorporate that joy into your daily life now. 

-          Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

I am pleased to announce the winner of my first blog giveaway! 

photo by D Sharon Pruitt

The Treat Yourself coupon set goes to Carie of  www.cariescoins.blogspot.com  - she has a great bargain hunting blog! 

Carie – I hope you will present these coupons to your family in order to take some time to treat yourself in the new year!  Don’t forget they have an expiration date on them – don’t let a year go by without treating yourself.  Maybe your family will be so happy to reward you with these coupons, that they will even let  you recycle them throughout the year!

My husband and I live away from our families, so we don’t have access to drop them off for the weekend for time alone.  So now we have it planned out on the calendar  – me time, family time, project time.  We were finding that we just weren’t taking good care of ourselves (me mostly).  So now once a month we have scheduled  “me time”  – we both know it’s on the calender, and we are free to do whatever we want – go to the movies, cafe, park, bookstore, mall….for the day.  We don’t give each other trouble about taking the day, as we know our own day is coming soon! 

Along with the coupon for a day to yourself the set also includes one for date night with hubby, free laundry weekend (yes, someone else in the family can do it), coffee date with friends…..you get the point.  Sometimes as a mom/wife – you are sooooo busy taking care of everyone else, you forget to take care of yourself.   In the new year remember that if you don’t take care of yourself, you CAN’T take good care of others!

-Helping you achive your Domestic Success!