It has long been my philosophy that it's better to spend money on experiences, not things. I will always remember one of my first dates with hubby at the old Tigers Stadium in Detroit, and joking about how he sampled every single ballpark food offered. My best vacation ever was a completely unstructured and unplanned road trip to Canada. I'll never forget running the wrong way down a moving sidewalk, trying to get back in Caesar's Palace when I was 18. 

I don't recall what I gift I received for my 3rd wedding anniversary. I can't begin to tell you what the first thing I bought for our new house was when we purchased it in 2007. I am routinely surprised when I come across something in the basement that I forgot I have. 

I've spent a lot of money on things over the years, but when I get a chance to drift off and daydream, I don't think about Michael Kors purses, iPads, or Pottery Barn's spring offerings (well, sometimes the latter). I think about music festivals. Casinos. Beach cottages. Amazing restaurants. Camping trips. Drinking wine in the pouring rain. Eating the best biscuit ever at 3am in New Orleans. That time I almost got divorced because I suggested a two-person kayak excursion in the Chesapeake Bay. 

Now, I learn, science backs me up. If you want to maximize your happiness, spend your money on experiences, not things. And the awesome thing is this: experiences can be had at any price point. Go plan something amazing. 

This is advice is out of character for me, folks. But this is a do as I say, and not as I do kinda post. Fact: Cleaning your home for a party does not have to be a massive undertaking. (My reality: I wait until the last minute and then freak the #%@$% out). Unless you're a serious hoarder, you should be able to get things presentable in less than a week by focusing on the areas that guests are most likely to spend their time - places like the living room, porch, kitchen, downstairs bathrooms, and maybe the great outdoors. Forget about cleaning out closets, getting the grime out from under the washer and dryer, and repainting rooms. (Do you hear that self? Do you!?!) 

The infographic above lays out the timeline. 
Day 1 - focus on your entry. You want to make a nice first impression, so sweep away cobwebs, throw a festive wreath on the door, move the recycling bin off the porch, etc. (To be honest, my entry is one of the most neglected areas of my home. But I'm working on it, truly I am. )

Day 2 - move on to the bathrooms. If you have more than one bathroom in your home, congratulations. That means you probably only have to really focus on one of them, and it's probably not the one bursting at the seams with your beauty products. Remember, we don't want to be jerks here, so avoid the temptation of filling your medicine cabinet with marbles to get back at the people who poke their nose in your bizness. That said, those kinds of people do exist, so if you're mortified to have friends and acquaintances see your Preparation H (I know, I know... you use it to minimize under eye circles), then clear that stuff out. 

I took this picture of a tulip pushing its way through brick pavers on the walkway in front of my house. It was last Saturday - a beautiful sunny spring day. Seeing this flower growing in such an unlikely place was inspiring to me. It reminded me of the possibility of overcoming tough obstacles, and how even in unexpected places, we can find good.

I posted the pic on Instagram, using the hashtag #overcomingadversity. Then I thought to myself... how much fun would it be if people all over creation used this hashtag during spring to keep on keeping on with the inspiration? Flowers do this all the time - they grow in unlikely places, seeming to thrive on practically nothing. What if a whole slew of us spent the springtime traipsing around, documenting these flora triumphs with social media?! What if we ended up making friends with each other?! What if in the course of our traipsing we got exercise and some vitamin D?! WHAT IF, y'all?!?!?

So, do you want to join me? I hope so. Grab your phone, and go for a walk. If you see a plant defying some odds, share it widely with #overcomingadversity (and sharing it on the Good & Gracious Facebook page is cool too). Let's create some synergy between nature and technology, and see what good comes of it!

I had a super busy weekend. Busy busy bee, that's me. I started lots of things, which as you can see from my bio is kinda my M.O. Why can't I ever do ONE thing, from start to finish? I shake my head at myself. Alas, these projects will all be finished in time, and then I will feature them all as their own independent projects here. Until then, sneak peek time, from L to R, clockwise.

1. I am violating one of the cardinal rules of before and after pics here. #1 and #2 are not from the same angle, so you can't really get a sense of what I actually did. To quote Inigo Montoya, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up." My "home office" was previously a closet under the stairs in its previous life. It's a cozy little spot to sit and work a while, and it is usually a big ol' mess, as seen here. That's all you really need to know. Moving on.
2. I decided to try and corral two problem areas. First - little stuff: envelopes, the bazillion pencils I've apparently accumulated, stationery, and disposable tape dispensers, to name a few. Second, wrapping paper. This picture shows my solution. The area pictured is the wall to the right in pic #1 above. The wall stretches above the desktop about 3 feet, and then there is a slanted ceiling (underside of the stairs). I bought 8 little baskets at the Dollar Tree for $1 apiece, and a cup hook kit ($2) and two 36" long bungee cords ($1.89 ea.) at Ollie's. Now, there is plenty of little stuff storage, and wrapping paper storage to boot. Of course, the mess isn't gone yet, but progress has been made. Win.
3. I worked more in my bathroom. This project was started in August. Shameful. The beadboard is up. It's all painted. It looks awesome. I hung up the beeee-youuuuu-tee-full curtains. But... there are two walls that need a second coat of paint, and I can't find the paint roller handle. I saw it a few days ago, I swear. Grrr. So that didn't get done. But I did fix the wobbly toilet seat cover. There's something to be said for that. 
4. I took a break and painted these two cute pictures for the kiddo's bathroom. I used some stencils that I bought in the clearance aisle at Michael's a while back, and some acrylic paint I had on hand. I outlined the paint with a black Sharpie to help the text stand out. It's not fine art, but it's cute, and the smile on her face when she saw them was priceless. She repeated both of the sayings as she started to drift off to sleep. 
5. We have a freestanding cabinet/armoire dealy-o in our bathroom to hold all of our toiletries. I bought these mini-crates at Dollar Tree in 2006, and they have faithfully held all of our stuff for a long time. Sorta. Because they are crates, things fall out of the holes. Messes pile on top of messes, and in short time the cabinet is in disarray. 
6. Meet the solution: The kiddo and I had craft time last night. I cut cardstock-weight scrapbook paper to the appropriate sizes, punched holes, and threaded the corners with jute twine. The scrapbook paper was something I had on hand, and if you look inside the crates you will see whimsical vintage Halloween designs. No bother. I've had the paper for at least 3 years, and there's no sense in continuing to hoard it. Put it to use! Plus, the visual clutter of the cabinet has been greatly reduced. So why is this on the unfinished projects list? It's because I ran out of paper. I think that I have some that's the same color/type but with a different pattern in the messy office (see #1 above). Once I unearth that, we'll be rocking and rolling again. 

I am definitely further on my #goodliving journey. What a good weekend.


 

Do you have stuff hanging around your house that is totally meh? Stuff that you could breathe new life into with a few minor tweaks? Then what are you waiting for? 

Above is one of my most recent upcycle projects. I bought a wooden bin at a yard sale for $2. It's about 12 inches long, and 4 inches deep. It's divided into two compartments, so I thought it would be perfect for key storage just inside the front door. 

The original finish was dark brown, and it was chipped and worn. I know you can't tell much about what it looked like initially versus now in the picture. My bad. The after picture is actually painted gray with chalky finish paint, with a white and gray map of Page County, Virginia decoupaged on the front. I had to go with black and white pics here because the after picture on my phone actually looks bright pink. That is NOT the look I was going for. But it's not like I've mounted this thing on the wall yet, so I'll hold off and do the real after picture soon. Trust me, it looks better.

My point is that this upcycle project took all of maybe 30 minutes to do (stretched over a few hours to allow for drying time). It was easy because I had supplies on hand. I'm always a fan of being prepared (aka, craft supply hoarding), so I thought it might be useful to come up with a list of basic craft supplies that are useful to keep in stock. You want to be ready when your creative transformation itch needs to be scratched. 

Ok, maybe my title is a bit misleading. I actually hate to fly because of my imminent fear of plummeting to the earth in a manner beyond my control. In a weird twist, though, I LOVE airports. Even though people behaving badly is a pain when I'm in the midst of it, it is really a lot of fun to watch as a spectator. Hence the popularity of reality television over the years, I suppose. 

I know that some people's travel plans going into spring and summer involve flying, so I thought I would whip up a quick, handy airline etiquette guide (see image above). Here are some suggestions on how to make everyone's travel experience a bit less gnaw-my-arm-off annoying.

So, a little bit about me. I started my Ph.D. in Women's and Gender Studies at Emory University waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2003. Flash forward a decade to find me living in Virginia, mom of a super awesome baby girl, running a non-profit, teaching part-time at a university, and STILL. NOT. FINISHED.WITH.THE. #$#*@%!. DISSERTATION. 

To be honest, I wanted to quit. I had long since lost any perception of value in the degree I was pursuing. But it's not really like to me quit something academic. After Christmas (the day after, to be exact) in 2012, I really got to work. I had 3 or 4 badly written chapters already hammered out, and I had exactly 4 months to finish the entire opus. 

It sucked.

Every day I went to work at 8:30 am, and stayed after work until 2:00am writing. I ate way too much chocolate. I drank too much caffeine. I gained a lot of weight. I lost valuable time with my family and infant daughter. The days (and nights) during that period were dark. I honestly feel like I emerged from my dissertation writing marathon with a touch of PTSD. It's been almost 2 years now, and I'm only beginning to feel kinda normal again. [Aside - I mentioned the PTSD feelings with someone else who recently completed her dissertation, and it was a total bonding moment. For those of you out there struggling with an academic albatross, feel free to reach out to me. I'm a good listener, and it can help to talk!]

People on Etsy are making a killing with the custom party printables. Or at least I guess they are. I've spent approximately $12 on such products, so they must be rolling in it. (Don't question my logic!) But this is an area where you can totally DIY it, even if you don't know a lick about graphic design. 

Solution: Canva. There are tons of free templates - ample options to do most of what you need to do for free. Or you can upgrade to premium content without a subscription - most images, custom backgrounds, etc. are only $1. Downloads as a .PNG image file or a .PDF are free. 

I've been using Canva to make this ol' blog purty, and I plan to use it oodles for the kiddo's upcoming birthday party. I'm not a graphic artist, but I used to spend lots of time attempting to create party printables myself. Using Canva has slashed that time to next to nothing. Give it a try. I promise, it's awesome.

I love how people start to emerge from hibernation as soon as the temperature starts to warm up. The kiddo has been down for the count with a stomach bug all week, and yesterday she was finally starting to feel close to normal. We decided to take a stroll to a local restaurant (it's downtown dining week), and enjoyed the opportunity to bump into friends - both those we happened upon and those we sought out. 

The friends we sought out were so hospitable to us unexpected guests. They invited us in, offered us beer, and we had a nice impromptu evening watching the kids yell "bouncy ball!" as they beamed each other in the head with an inflatable basketball (by the way, the kiddo is a pretty persistent door-knocker... world, watch out when it's Girl Scout cookie time in a few years!). I initially felt really rude knocking on their door - as if we were an intrusion into their evening plans (which we probably were). But they let us in anyway, and for that we're grateful. 

My point with this story is that hospitality doesn't always have to be planned. It's more of a mindset - a willingness to engage with other people, and to take steps to make them feel comfortable and at ease. I often forget that lesson, and I buy into the modern-day perspective that hospitality = big parties with color-coded themes, favors, and entertainment. Truth be told, there's a lot of good on both ends of the hospitality spectrum, whether it's dropping in on a neighbor for a cuppa Joe or a lavish wedding for 400 guests. 

That said, I still like planning parties. And if you're anything like me, you love a good party planning tool. I'm going to develop one of my own someday soon, and I'll give it away to you here. But first things first - I have to figure out what I think is helpful and necessary in a party planner. Even though I throw lots of parties, I don't currently have a system. So, I've done some research. Without further adieu, I offer you a printable party planner roundup. This is some of the best that's out there right now. I hope you will find some of it useful if you have a big event coming up in your life. Just don't forget (I'm talking to myself here too) that there are always opportunities for micro events every day. Don't be afraid to knock on your friend's door.

In no particular order: