A Fairy Good Birthday - Sleeping Beauty -Themed Party

I’ve had a lot of clients in my 19-year public relations career, but one of my toughest clients to date is my own kid.We just wrapped another birthday party season for Miss Lennon and let’s just say the party for her classmates really challenged me. Let’s recap our previous party themes (and I may have some blogging catch up to play): 1 - Flamingle2 - Tea for Two3 - Camp Lennon4 - Strawberry Fields...

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Cooking * Watching * Reading

Do you know my Google Doc of unfinished blog posts is 61 pages long!? I mean, you probably don’t. No, you really don’t know that. I mean, I only just found out when typing this post in that doc. Oh and that doesn’t count the notebooks! I love notebooks. In case you missed me over the last eight months, here’s a quick list of things that I can’t wait to share with you all - focused on what I’ve been...

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Shot of Brandi Gift Guide: 40 Things for 40 Years - Part 4

Here we are. Only a few days left to buy gifts. Or, maybe you are celebrating after the holiday and still have some time to shop. Whatever your situation is, here are 10 more gift ideas from yours truly! 31. Reminiscing on the older gift guides has been inspiring. Back in 2011, I created gift guides based on different monetary values. On the first day, I recommended the Tiffany & Co. charm bracelet...

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Shot of Brandi Gift Guide: 40 Things for 40 Years - Part 3

21. The teen years were rather hard - both for this gift guide and in life lol. I’m actually looking forward to today - the 20’s! And we are kicking things off with something fun - 21! Booze is the obvious one here, but let’s not go with the obvious. How about some hangover helpers! Too Faced makes a hangover lip balm and face primer. A weighted eye mask will help block out the light and remove some...

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Shot of Brandi* Gift Guide: 40 Things for 40 Years - Part 2

Let’s roll into the next decade with gifts for 11-20-year-olds. This is a bit of a weird age group where it feels like a drastic change between a tween and an “adult.” You really “grow up” during these years into truly becoming an adult!Speaking of rolling, I hear roller skates made a bit of a comeback during the pandemic. Probably with a boost from TikTok. I love this pair from Chicago Skates. Not...

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Shot of Brandi Gift Guide - 40 Things for 40 Years

Earlier this year, I celebrated a milestone birthday. The big 4-0. So when thinking about themes for this year’s gift guide, I decided to break down 10 gifts for the last 4 decades of my life. I figure by offering things by year, it could match up to anyone at any age on your list (i.e. gift number 1 would be for a 1-year-old or something I liked at that age - like 21 = booze!). Let’s get things going...

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The Positives of the Pandemic: More...

Wow. It’s been awhile. I haven’t forgotten about this thing. Just busy doing life during a global pandemic! Reflecting on the time since I’ve been gone from this blog (sing that in a Kelly Clarkson voice), there have been highs and lows. Real lows. But I’ve decided I need to focus on the positives of this period of life. So let’s dig in on the positives of the pandemic. The things it’s brought more...

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How I Homeschooled - Flowers & Bugs

Early in this quarantine / distancing / whatever this is officially called, my husband mentioned that it’s like living the song in the Rapunzel movie (Tangled). Last week, I realized we were going from painting, to reading to dance - we were literally living the song “When Will My Life Begin.”  I heard from some readers that last week’s post helped, so here we go with a recap of our recent...

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Add Substitute Teacher To My Resume

There’s a part of me that always wanted to be a teacher. Like most kids, I would play “school” by setting up my stuffed animals and teaching them assignments.  Fast forward to Great Social Distance of 2020 and I find myself playing the role of preschool teacher. Things started out okay, then my student began to rebel. My worksheets were no longer fun and she learned the term “I’m bored.” This...

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The Smiths' Social Distancing Survival Kit

Today I’m bringing you yet another post about things that are helping us survive social distancing! Yes, I know there is an abundance of information being shared, but I have to be honest - some of the posts are helpful, so I thought one of these suggestions could spark something for you! Without further ado, here’s how we are thriving during the great social distance of 2020. Guess Who: Yep,...

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