So Much To Celebrate

As a child, I was always excited to figure out which holiday comes next. My mom had a way of making every holiday special: heart shaped pancakes on valentine's day, something that was unexpectedly green on St. Patrick's day, and Easter always seemed bigger than Christmas.

I am determined to make all of the holidays special for Mini K and Baby C.

While I can't be at all of your homes to make heart shaped pancakes, and to be honest, pancakes aren't my thing, I can help you find a little something to make the next few holidays special, and throw in a deal too!

How cute are these t-shirts for Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day? They aren't on our site, so just send us an email and the shirts will be on their way to you!

What do you do to make the holidays special?

Catch Up!

I feel like I have been in a vacuum these past two weeks. Grove Gal E and I headed to Atlanta two weeks ago and found some great new things for the Grove...stay tuned as they will make their entrance in March.

When we returned I hosted my Spring Kate and Libby trunk show. Despite a house full of seersucker and monograms, both Mini K and Baby C ushered the trunk out with a sinus infection and double ear infection respectively.

So logically, since I was working from home, our wireless router had to go meet the wireless router gods.

All I can say is thank God for Crossfit...it keeps me sane and laughing. I hesitated to even blog this, but then thought this blog is about keeping it real and sometimes life, well is life.

We are now healthy and back online and I am so excited to tackle my to do list. I get a lot of emails about how I juggle it all. Here is my answer: controlled chaos. Everyday something goes wrong, but if the kids are healthy and safe I have forced myself to laugh it off. My mother always used to say, there are no problems in life, there are merely expenses and time. I never realized what that meant until I became a mom.

I FINALLY got our fabulous new ipad covers on the Grove. You didn't think we would miss an opportunity to preppify and monogram the ipad did you? You can find them all HERE.

I am so looking forward to getting organized for the weekend tonight. I have wedding gift to wrpa, orders to box and ship out and I need to plan a few Valentine's Day circes to get in the mail.

I have a request for all of you. You know how on some days you open your front door or mailbox and find an unexpected card or present and it literally turns your day around? Well in the next week be the person who turns someone's day around. It doesn't have to be big, just make the effort.

Cheers!

Personalized Valentine's!

I LOVE these! Mini K is one of a kind and her Valentine's for her friends should be too! For a little more than what you would pay at the store for generic Valentine's you can send them to school with a Valentine as unique as they are!

Just email us to place your order!

no internet at casa grove tonight. our router will officially be kicked to the curb tomorrow morning!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The Superbowl of Bargains!

A dear friend of ours is the founder of the Old Town Boutique District and the uber chic owner of The Shoe Hive, wife, mother and her list goes on and on.

Elizabeth is also the founder of the Old Town Boutique District Warehouse Sale. Sale is an understatement...think Tory Burch at 80% off, society women standing OUTSIDE in the cold with their Starbucks in hand for an hour waiting for the doors to open sale.

Well, it will soon be here. So mark your calendars for Saturday, February 5th from 9am-4pm at the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia. The best ladies, Elizabeth gave you a built in excuse to shop: Super Bowl Sunday is that same weekend so we shall just call this the Superbowl of of Bargains, because we can all be football fans for a good deal, or two, right?

Sweet Start

Last week is still a blur. I spent 3 days on travel for my day job and my laptop and TSA got into a fight and TSA won...if you call dropping an innocent laptop winning! It is now at the Mac hospital and I can pick it up tomorrow. Despite many attempts, I just can't seem to get the feel of blogging from my iphone, yet another reason I need the 2nd generation iPad to hurry up and arrive!

I always try and keep it real on this blog. Grove Gal E and I juggle a lot. Is it insane sometimes? Yes! Would I trade it? Not a chance!

One thing that I won't skimp on is Mini K's lunch. Everyday she has a homemade treat. Some weeks its brownies, some it's cookies. This week I found a new recipe for an old favorite and it has resulted in a war around the cookie jar. Casa Grove is big on chewy cookies. If you are on team chewy, you will love these!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, MELTED

1 cup packed brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees. Either grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper. NO silpad baking mats.

2. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl,, cream melted butter and both sugars until well blended. Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients and stir in chocolate chips by hand.

4. Drop cookie dough 1.4 cup at a time on the cookie sheet. Keep cookies 3" apart.

4. Bake for 15-17 minutes until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes then transer to wire rack.

Enjoy!

The Deep End

I have never been known to wade in to cold water. I just jump right in so the new year is much the same for me. The past 7 weeks are a blur of orders, fights with UPS, parties, meetings, orders, planning and a total lack of sleep. They have left me feeling in need of a fresh start.

Some of things I need to work on don't come in a bottle, but fortunately two of them do!

I feel like my face has aged in the last 7 weeks so i am hoping to give it a fresh start over the next 6 with a series of peels.

I have been wanting to kick up my Crossfit and running program by changing my eating habits. In a few short days the CLEANSE. I almost ordered this 18 months ago and then found out I was pregnant with Baby C so 2011 is the year for my date with David Kirsch.

Tip: I originally saw this cleanse on the Bliss website, but it is almost half the price on the David Kirsch website.

Thankfully, I can still consume my McDonalds unsweetened iced tea on the cleanse!