I know everyone is probably tired of hearing all about Thanksgiving by now. So I thought today instead we might discuss what to do to not feel guilty about taking a full day off and relaxing with our families and not thinking twice about eating too much and indulging in our favorite foods. What’s the point of having a holiday to lay low if we are worried about everything?

For those of you like me, who do not want to let one day of indulgence throw you completely off your healthy track, I have a few suggestions for you to have a guilt-free holiday. First, make sure to stick to your routine as much as possible. If you generally workout once a day, keep it up. Granted, if you are like me and have to travel several hours to get to where you need to go for Thanksgiving, you may have to miss a day. I am lucky and my mom knows exactly what I need, so she went ahead and signed me up to take a boot camp class at her gym on Thanksgiving morning. This way, I can start my day off right, and then after my workout I will not feel so guilty about lying around on the couch all day.

There are also some of you may wake up as early as possible to get in as much shopping as possible on Black Friday. Yes, walking around the mall and running around finding the best deals might count as cardio, but I have an InMotion Eliptical at my parents’ house so I can just on that to get in an extra work out after my shopping.

The workouts you end up fitting in over this holiday weekend may not necessarily be your normal workout, but at least it will be something to keep your body moving. Make sure to utilize the resources you have. If you are going away, see if there is a gym you can go to as a guest, or if the people you are staying with have any dumb bell weights for you to use or maybe even a working treadmill to squeeze in a quick workout. Don’t forget, jumping jacks, crunches, pushups, wall sits, squats, lunges, and stretching, can all be done right in front of the television. What do you plan to do to stay on track this Thanksgiving holiday weekend?

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is this week? I just cannot believe that in just a few days I will be hanging out with family and friends watching football and parades, eating and drinking, and of course Black Friday shopping! I hope that all of you who are taking on the huge responsibility of hosting Thanksgiving dinner have managed your time and are prepared for this holiday that is so quickly approaching. Since the time is sneaking up on me, I thought it might be for you as well. And while I know we have discussed Thanksgiving Day planning, I thought today would be appropriate to discuss everything to do that has become last minute.

When it comes to planning and organizing for a big family and friend feast like Thanksgiving, some items simply slip our minds. Two things I think frequently stress people out are decorating for Thanksgiving and cleaning. Of course we want our homes to look perfect for the holiday but with the cooking, shopping, and preparation, cleaning and decorating get pushed aside sometimes. I am here today to help you get your whole house in the Thanksgiving spirit without taking too much time away from everything else.

Let’s first talk about decoration. If you are not crafty, and if you have no time, consider EZ Covers. With the EZ Covers you can change the whole look of your dining room from normal to Thanksgiving festive by covering your chairs in a different color fabric.

Second, let’s talk about cleaning. If you find that you do not have the time to scrub your hardwood or tile floors after making a mess in the kitchen cooking, no need to worry. The Robo Floor Sweeper can take care of that for you while you do whatever else you need to get done. The Robo Floor Sweeper can clean the floor while you put the EZ Covers on the chairs, and make any other last minute change you need to complete. Robo Floor Sweeper is just like having an extra person in your house for you to help with the cleaning. I love it when I can check items off of my “to do” list even when I do not have to “do” them myself!

So I am sure you are all very busy and very excited about the upcoming holiday. I know it can be a lot of work if you are the host of the party, but I truly believe it is all worth it in the end. I do hope that my easy cleaning and decoration tips help make your planning a little bit easier. I hope you have a great holiday! Happy Thanksgiving!

Well friends, another summer weekend is gone, and another work week begins. I know it has been August since the middle of last week, but it just dawned on me this past weekend how quickly this year is flying by. I could not believe my eyes when I was in the store and items to decorate the house for fall, Halloween, and yes…I even walked past one store that was actually already selling Christmas tree ornaments! Now, the stores are trying to rush my year (that is already going by very quickly) away, but I am still trying to enjoy the last bit of summer…though there are so many great things to look forward to.

While I know the summer is great and there is nothing quite like the sun staying up longer making our days last, sometimes the end of summer and beginning of fall can be such a great time of year as well. Two awesome things that typically begin in the fall are football and camping. Yep, the end of the summer is the time to start thinking about the sports and camping items to buy for this coming season. Those of you who like camping probably cannot wait for the cooler temperatures to settle in so the time spent camping, hiking, eating, and sleeping outdoors won’t be full of thick humidity and mosquitoes. This crisp, cool temperature of early fall is the best time for you to enjoy the great outdoors. Aside from camping, fall means football. Now, if you do not enjoy football, I am sure someone in your life does. People like to play football, watch football, talk about football, and even get so involved, play fantasy football. I guess I, too, can start to get excited for fall.

Camping and football – two excellent things to look forward to for this upcoming season. I feel like someone in everyone’s life likes one of these two activities. Outdoors and sports are great activities to do with friends and family – they really do build a great sense of community. They also can help the kids learn teamwork, and it keeps them outside, active, and off the couch – how can that be a bad thing? Whatever the reason, sports and camping are fun fall activities. I hope you find yourself getting ready to enjoy them soon.

I hope everyone has started planning for the big weekend this weekend. This weekend is Father’s Day. This weekend is the weekend we get to take care of our dads, our pseudo dads, our husbands who are the fathers of our children, and our friends and/or family who have recently become dads. It’s Father’s Day, and for me that means my dad (for this one day of the year) has to let me take care of his and he has to accept (and love) his Father’s Day gift from me.

Now, let’s be honest, most of the dads in our lives have a hard time accepting gifts and other people doing for them because they always (and enjoy) doing everything for everyone else. But we get this day to celebrate them, and I think, secretly, they actually enjoy the attention we give them on Father’s Day as much as they might say, “Don’t do anything special,” and (my least favorite line) “Do not get me a Father’s Day gift.” My dad knows none of these things are options. He can fight with me forever on it, he knows it’s a waste of his breath. If you’re anything like me, you love buying gifts, but finding the perfect gift is important – and with as difficult as dads can be, it is even more difficult to buy the perfect gift for dad. So, let me let you into a little secret, visit Gifts for Father’s Day from Taylor Gifts. On this page you’ll be able to find Father’s Day gifts for all of the dads in your life of all interests – no matter how hard it is for them to accept the gift we give.

Now after the hard part of buying a Father’s Day gift is done, what’s next is to give him the gift in the most special way he will allow. My dad doesn’t allow much. So this year, it’s just going to be a simple brunch with the whole family. I think my dad does the whole Father’s Day stuff to make the rest of us happy, but to be honest, I am happy that I get to celebrate my dad. My dad very rarely let’s me give him gifts, so this is one of the two days in a year he will accept my gift to him. I hope you all have a nice Father’s Day this year with all of the dads you celebrate with.

I wanted to share a blog that was originally written for our sister site Get Organized regarding dorm room essentials.

Dorm rooms have the basic furniture essentials; such as a bed, desk, and closet. But what other items are needed to make the next 9 months away from home the most comfortable. Here are some essential items that every college student needs to help their transition from home to living on their own.

Having an organized desk and the right materials is the first step to achieving higher grades in school. Organize your desktop with the 4 piece Mesh Office set. Includes 1 paper cup holder, drawer organizer, pen cup & letter holder. Metal mesh construction with silver finish.

Closet Doubler I know I had 3 suitcases worth of clothes when I moved into my dorm and only one stand alone armoire. This is the perfect space saver for keeping your closet clutter free for storing all of that excess clothing. The bottom bar is also height adjustable and the added hooks are ideal for hanging either your ties or belts and even purses!

Convertible Shower Caddy
Convertible shower caddy hangs from the shower arm or flips over to hang from the door or wall. Adjustable deep shelves let you customize to fit larger bottles. Suction cups affix the caddy to the wall for added stability. You can even hang it on your closet door to dry out when you are finished. Soap, razors, washcloths and more are kept tidy and out of the way.

This is probably the most essential item of all because if you miss class and oversleep Mom or Dad isn’t there to wake you up. Talking Alarm Clock starts your day with a friendly voice rather than a startling buzzer. Time and temperature are promptly announced at the programmed wake time, eliminating the straining to read the time in those first groggy moments. Digital display also includes date and day with a dimmer function for the blue background. Loud alarm feature also included.

Recently, we have taken a hard look at our Earth and decided to keep it clean for ourselves now and for the future. So much action has been taken in this Go Green campaign between reusable fabric grocery bags, to recycling bins in restaurants, to people even making solar houses, that there is a “green” option for just about everything we need. Becoming more aware of what we use and how we use it is not only an investment for the future of our children, but an investment plan to help us save more money as well. To help the cause this year, you can “go green” by simply using solar powered holiday lights to decorate your house this holiday season.

Christmas lights and Christmas decorations are always so pretty to look at; it is something my mom and I look forward to every year during the winter. While some of us enjoy sight-seeing and looking at all of the holiday lights, others (perhaps yourselves included) really enjoy decorating the house for the holidays. Of course, it all comes at a price, and I’m sure we all are looking for different ways to cut the cost. Solar holiday lighting is an excellent alternative for your Christmas decorations this holiday season.

Today we have the option of using solar Christmas lights to decorate our houses for the holiday season. There are so many different solar holiday light options to choose from – just because they are solar does not mean they are boring by any means! You can find solar string lights, solar net lights, solar wreath lights, even programmable solar lights. The solar lights are not just white bulbs either, decorate the house with lots of colorful bulbs.

Right now we have been sacrificing things that we love in order to get what we need. This is the holiday season, and we should not need to sacrifice our love for great, bright holiday decorations for Christmas! Go green, and save green – go solar with holiday lights this year!

I have a new favorite product. I never thought I would get so excited over hangers, but these soft grip hangers are the best thing I put in my closet since my shoes. I keep talking to my boss about how much I love them, so of course, I needed to let you all know about my new love for the soft grip hangers.

Recently I moved and during my move I decided I needed new hangers for all of my clothes to hang in my new closet. My co-worker purchased the soft grip hangers and told me how great they were, so I bought a set to test them out. My clothes hung nicely on the soft grip hangers, and even the softest and silkiest tops did not slide off. I purchased several more sets of the soft grip hangers to replace every single hanger I had in my closet. Since the soft grip hangers are so thin everything in the closet stays organized and neat and I can see every article of clothing that hangs.

Now, I am happy to look in my closet and actually see the clothes instead of having to dig through them to see what is there, and even when I move the hangers the clothes do not fall off! I gave my boyfriend all of my old plastic hangers during my soft grip hanger switch. He can keep the plastic ones; I have upgraded to smaller yet better hangers for my clothes.

Buying gifts for dad, I think, is a difficult task. If your dad is anything like mine, he is very happy with no gifts, but of course, as the “child,” I like to give my dad something tangible to show him I appreciate him being my dad.

A few years ago my dad and I were watching TV together and we really liked the tie the news reporter was wearing; so while it may be “cliché” I found that tie and gave it to him for Father’s Day. After that I realized my dad is more into fashion than I ever realized, so buying him nice clothes and ties is actually something he really likes to get! However, I do get bored giving the same type of gift every year, and I like to mix it up. So, if you need to spice up you gift for dad this year for Father’s Day, I have put together a list of some different items your dad might enjoy.

For the family-oriented working dad, the Monitor Corner Frame could be a great gift! You can put pictures of the family in the picture frames. The Monitor Corner Frame sits on dad’s computer monitor, and he will always be able to look at his kids all day long. My dad has lots of pictures of me and my brother in his office – and it still makes me happy to know he likes to have them there.

The Foldaway Hammock is the perfect gift for the dad who likes to relax, and for the dad who needs to relax. This easy set-up Foldaway Hammock is an excellent way to say to dad, “You have worked so hard with me, I am giving you just what you need to take some time to yourself”.

One of my favorite gifts that I gave to my dad is the Micro Cool Mini Fridge. I bought it for him because people at his office take food out of the common refrigerator that does not belong to them (his lunch was never safe). The Micro Cool Mini Fridge also is very portable, and can even be plugged into a car’s lighter outlet to keep food warm or cool on road trips!

If your dad has too many gadgets, and therefore too many remote controllers for those gadgets, a useful gift for him might be the Remote Organizer. The Remote Organizer will hold his controllers, so he will never be on a search for the TV remote again.

And last, but not least, for the dad who likes to play games, give him what he really wants…a pool table! Dad with love the Fold Up Pool Table to play pool with you, his friends, or himself. A great gift for dad is one that he can use with his family.

These are just some of my ideas on gifts to get for dad for Father’s Day. What have you gotten for your dad in the past? What is your gift plan for this year?

A summer road trip can be a time of bonding for friends and family. Getting yourself organized for a road trip is often a challenge. Organizing your car for practicality and fun during your extensive drive is important.

Practicality is important when packing your vehicle for a summer road trip. Remember to keep many liquids in a cooler. Consider a soft, insulated cooler to hold all of your drinks. Soft coolers are usually flexible and do not take up much space. You can also find an electric cooler that plugs into your cars power source and act as a mini refrigerator. If you have a lot to store in the way of snacks and drinks, you can use an insulated cooler that hangs over one of the car seats. This stores enough for the, and saves you from time-consuming stops along the way.

A head rest hanger can keep things well organized. This two pronged hanger comes off of your headrest, and can hold just about anything while keeping it off the floor. A floor free of debris is essential over a long trip.

For entertainment, ask yourself if you want to bring books, music, video, travel games, or anything else to make the ride more enjoyable. You can store your CDs and DVDs in a large book to hold a wide variety. Make sure that this case is organized in a way that anybody can figure out where to find disks, and where to put them back.

Books and games are difficult to store. Hanging a bag on a headrest hangar can work, but if too much is hanging up, the seat can become cramped. If you drive an SUV, then try a trunk organizer. This simple tote will keep your luggage separate from the items you want to get to.

With the right mix of practical organizers, and organization tools that can enhance fun, you can be well set towards a trip that will be memorable for the entire family.

It’s Mother’s Day weekend this weekend, so make sure to remember about all of the moms you know and wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. Also, show your mom (or any mom) how much you appreciate her and give her at least a card – my mom loves getting cards. If you want to give her something extra special you can do chocolates or flowers, or get creative and maybe give her a jewelry box.

There are many different jewelry boxes to choose from. So whether mom has a little bit of jewelry, or loves her silver, gold, platinum, and fashion jewelry, there is a perfect jewelry organizer for her. There are jewelry armoires that open up and have several compartments and drawers. Mom might like something to hang on the wall with a mirror to save some space, and there are certainly wall jewelry organizers with mirrors. For the more simple mom, she might want a basic jewelry box with felt inside.

The choices to jewelry holders are endless. I’m sure mom loves her jewelry and wants to make sure it is kept safe. By organizing rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelery she will be able to wear it longer. This year, whether for Mother’s Day, or another holiday, or just to give because you love her, think about giving mom a jewelry box that she will enjoy.