Hello from 1993!

Today had me feeling nostalgic for my years in high school for some reason. I miss those days! Winona Ryder was my style icon and I loved my black hair and black nail polish. I remember borrowing certain weird things from my parents' closet, like my dad's duck hunting jacket. I also remember wearing a really cool mail man jacket. Where has my style inspiration gone to? I used to love wearing interesting weird stuff. These days, it's whatever takes the least amount of effort to put on.

Oh well, remembering the "good old days" is still pretty awesome.

What were you wearing back in the day?

Happy birthday to our little (big) boy!

Happy birthday, little man! We all love you so much!!

Go, Packers!

Even though I'm not a big sports fan, it was hard not to get super excited to see the Green Bay Packers at their training camp this weekend. I was super impressed by all the drills, and the size of some of those guys. The fans were great, too, all dressed in green and gold.

Now I may not know any of the players, or any of the strategies, but I do know one thing...it's got me thinking about fall! I thought I'd be sad to start thinking about summer ending, but with as hot as it's been this summer, it's not sounding too bad. Sweatshirt weather is sort of welcome after a summer like this!

So football gets me thinking about fall. What about you? What signals fall for you? Are you ready for it?

A Thrifty and Vintage Wedding Idea: Dessert Buffet

I'm coming up on my 8-year wedding anniversary. Phew, we made it this far! Here's hoping for 10! I really loved having a wedding. By not having a ton of money to blow on it, I got more creative and had more fun figuring out how to make it unique and suited perfectly to us.

So given that wedding season is upon us (and that I had the old photos out to find that photo of me in the sweater I had stashed away since high school), I thought I would post something that I thought turned out super cool. You could do this for your wedding and save all that money most people spend on cakes. Of course the "cake" part was one of my highest priorities with my wedding. I absolutely loved how this turned out.

I asked five or six of my friends if they'd be willing to bake something for the wedding. Now, normally I think the pot luck thing for a wedding isn't that great (who wants to cook when they're gettin' all fancied up to come party with you?). But I have friends who I know love to bake, and I knew this would be right up their alley. I didn't put any stipulations on them. All on their own they came up with what you see here.

They brought pies, truffles, cupcakes -- even an insane chocolate layer cake with green flames, topped with a vintage wedding cake topper I bought on Etsy! All I had to do was provide the decor for the table, some white Christmas lights, and it was done. It cost me next to nothing and my friends were excited to play a role. I think some of them were a little nervous that what they made wouldn't be "fancy" enough, but there wasn't a crumb left at the end of the night, so I'm pretty sure the guests didn't notice.

Did you do anything cool, vintage or thrifty for dessert at your wedding? I would love to hear your ideas! Because I liked getting married so much I might just do it again (yes, to the same guy) at 10 years. Who knows!

Song of the Day

This cover of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" is so vintage with the synthesizer that I just love it. I've been trying to talk my son into emulating Ben Fold's piano talents, and I think it's working out...he seems receptive!!

Raising Thrifty Kids

Yeah, I'm thrifty. I sometimes consider reusing things like zippie bags, and stuff. I'll admit it. I keep way too much stuff and I really, really have come to dislike having to spend money on stuff I can find used. It's kind of like a sickness. But a sickness I'm not really interested in curing. It's like mommy's little quirk that everyone has to live with.

Not only that, but I'm constantly thrifting, too. And as a mother of two, my kids are inevitably dragged along to a LOT of estate sales, thrift stores, and all that. In fact, as a two-year-old, my son would sit on the little car at our local McDonald's and say "Hey, mama, I'm going to the thrift store!" Slightly embarrasing? Nah!

Here are my tips on raising a family that values thrift and also loves to thrift!

My son's latest estate sale "find" -- a glittery nutcracker. Hmm...

Raising Thrifty Kids Top 10 List:

1. Be a good example by not wasting stuff and not being a shopaholic.
2. Let them pick stuff out sometimes (you buy, or better yet, have them use their allowance).
3. Set the rules; my kids know that they may not find anything at every thrift store we go to.
4. Figure out fun ways to repurpose the stuff you find into cool kid projects -- how about a robot out of old metalware from the kitchen aisle?
5. Know when to take their cues and change gears, because kids can only take so much "don't touch that."
6. Set limits and budgets for things, like "Hey, you can pick out XYZ for your birthday party, but it has to be under $15" or whatever.
7. Set up an allowance system. We give our older kiddo $2 (he's almost 5). He can spend half and he has to save the other half.
8. Make them learn to pay for their stuff themselves; this is just a good practice for being polite, dealing with strangers, and learning how to count out proper change.
9. Show them that you can often find the same stuff in a thrift store/garage sale/whatever that you can find in a regular store, but for much less.
10. Let them make mistakes. They will make dumb choices with their money and buy poor-quality plastic junk. BUT, that in itself is a lesson. When you make them use their own money, maybe they'll feel a little of the hurt and make a better decision next time.

What are your tips for raising thrifty kids who like to thrift?

Summer cleaning

We did a LOT of cleaning this weekend, like the insides, outsides and screens on our windows (so that's what the outside looks like...!). But the most fun was getting our car cleaned. We came across these girls, raising money for the cheer team. 

I'm a sucker for a good, old-fashioned car wash. It was cheap, and the kids got a big kick out of it. My daughter tried to play cool, but I could tell she was impressed. Can't you see it on her face?

I am so exhausted from the work and play this weekend, I'm about to fall right into bed. I hope you all had a good weekend, too!