As I write this post there is currently a rumor pending that snow is coming our way. I love snow rumors and everything that comes of them. I love going to sleep at night thinking, “It is just a rumor, there will not be any snow,” and then you wake up the next morning your neighborhood is a winter wonderland.

I am always under the assumption that it is not going to snow so I do not get my own hopes up. However, I am always prepared just in case. This of course, mostly has to do with my car. My fear is being out and driving in the snow. I do not have a big car that easily plows through the snow, and that will definitely be more of a requirement when I buy my next car. So, with that being said, I always keep my Roadside Emergency Kit in the trunk of my car. I never take it out of my trunk; it lives there until I hear it might snow while I am driving, and I move the Roadside Emergency Kit from the trunk to the backseat of my car. It makes me feel better and safer, especially when I might be driving or travelling alone.

So the moral of this story today is although snow rumors are fun and they definitely bring out the child in people; make sure you are safe and keep your Roadside Emergency Kit with you if you plan to be driving during the potential snow storm.

This past weekend I had the same problem I find myself having fairly regularly. I am not generally a forgetful person, but I am the queen of misplacing my keys. I know I am definitely not the only person who seems to have this problem, and I know this mostly because there are so many products out there to help us find our keys when we cannot find them.

We have all seen those items they sell where you attach a beeper to your keys and you hold onto the other one to use as a key finder, which helps you to find your misplaced keys with a beeping noise. To make a long story short, what do you do if you also cannot find the key finder beeper?

I have recently come across a new item that I recommend called the 2 Piece Find It Key Finder System. Now, I know what you are thinking, “You just said you can never find the second piece!” This is true. Except the second piece (the “finder” piece) in the 2 Piece Finder It Key Finder System is a credit card thin, touch button transmitter that tucks into a wallet or purse. This way, you will likely always keep the transmitter in your wallet, which hopefully will not be lost nearly as often as your keys.

I know how difficult it can be to need to get out the door in a hurry because you are already late, and to make everything worse, your keys are missing. Where is your go to place to find your keys? What do you do to help keep them in the same place so you do not habitually lose them?

Winter weather can be harsh on more than people, pets and plumbing. Snow, ice and driving winds can ruin outdoor furniture. Such weather can fade, mildew, crack and even warp or tear various materials, leaving your outdoor décor looking shabby, tired and tacky by the time spring comes back around. Instead of risking what you’ve gone to great effort to acquire, be prepared this winter by considering one of these ways to protect your valuable outdoor furniture.

Try going clear so you can see your outdoor furniture even as it’s being protected from the elements this winter. Outdoor Vinyl Covers come in a variety of sizes to offer protection for patio chairs, stacking chairs and lounges. Each see-through cover is constructed of heavy duty ten gauge vinyl, and each piece features reinforced seams for added strength and security. Elastic around the bottom of every cover ensures a secure fit around the base of each piece of furniture. That means fewer snowflakes, raindrops and ice chips will reach the legs of your chairs or base portions of your outdoor sofa.

When you use a cover, your wooden rockers, wicker chairs, metal or plastic tables and lounges will survive the winter weather and come out looking new when the air turns warmer and dryer. At that time, loosen the covers and remove them, then fold them flat for storage over the summer months.

Go green—or white—this winter with Patio Furniture Covers that act like fitted sheeting for your outdoor furniture. Constructed of 3-ply tarpaulin plastic, each cover features double stitched seams to ensure they won’t tear as you fit them over your favorite wicker chair or chaise lounge. Sturdy and durable, the covers slide easily and snugly in place, so you’ll be able to protect your outdoor furniture in a short space of time—and that will get you out of the winter weather faster, too.

Choose white or green plastic to protect your backyard chairs, deck lounges and patio tables. Everything will stay safe from the elements and dry beneath these weather resistant Patio Furniture Covers because they secure in place with attached cords. And each cover will stay as good looking as the furniture they protect because they won’t fade, discolor or tear over the winter months. You won’t have to worry about mildew forming on your furniture or on the covers, either. Everything will come out of storage looking and smelling fresh when spring is in the air, and the Patio Furniture Covers will fold away until you need them again.

No matter which way you choose to protect your outdoor decor, your chairs and other items will come out of storage in the spring looking fresh and ready to use for the summer season.

We are officially into the second week of January. That means everyone who has made a New Year’s resolution they intend to keep is either just beginning to go strong, or is continuing to stick to their resolution. This also means the gym gets busy.

This can be a cumbersome time to hit the gym. Newcomers may feel intimidated, and old-timers may feel defeated. I usually go to the gym when it is normally not very crowded, but it was definitely more crowded than normal yesterday; so much so that one lady found herself
waiting for an elliptical that she always starts her workouts on because someone new was on it. So, she hopped instead to get her workout started. I also had to switch up my work out a little bit. When I went to use the 25 pound bell weights
on the exercise bike someone else, who was new to the gym, was using them. I had to go with the 15 pound weights instead. The gym is crowded and will be for about another month or so. For the time being we must adjust and deal with it.

Sometimes it is not as fun going to the gym when it suddenly becomes more crowded with new members and it may throw off your routine. But if a new gym member is using the exercise
machine you typically use, take it as an opportunity to try a new workout. Who knows, trying something new may be beneficial to you in the end too! Either way, I hope nobody lets the business of the gym today discourage them from going tomorrow. Stick to your resolutions!

It is the week of New Year’s resolutions. Everyone that I have spoken to this week has told me about their goals, plans, and strategies to completing those plans for 2013. Interestingly enough, only a small handful of people have told me that exercising was on their list. The most popular resolutions I have heard have been the following: eat healthier, read more, give back to the community, and save money. I was definitely surprised to hear these were at the top of many peoples’ lists.

Reading more and giving back to the community are at the top of my list too, but my number one is to save more money. I know one way for me to save money this year is to use coupons at the grocery store. I go to the grocery store every week, and it occurred to me: why do I not go through the coupons given to me at checkout from my last trip that I can use for the upcoming week? How hard can it possibly be to buy a coupon organizer, place my coupons in there as I get them, and bring it with me to the store? Saving money buy clipping some coupons can’t be that difficult. I know people can save a lot of money every week by shopping on sale and with coupons and this year I want to be one of those smart shoppers as well.

So this year, I resolve to pay more attention to my grocery bills, and use coupons to cut the cost. I need to work on not throwing this money away, especially when I could be spending it someplace else.

Happy New Year! Can you guys believe it? We are officially into January of 2013. I hope you all had a very happy and safe New Year ’s Eve. It is usually a good time and a late night. I personally love New Year ’s Day. I really enjoy having a day to do nothing, but I like doing nothing with other people. This year we had the fortunate coincidence of celebrating my niece’s first birthday on January 1st, which meant one thing: one big family party.

I was able to ring in the New Year with great friends on December 31st and I was also able to start the New Year with my family. It was so nice for all of us to get together. There was also a lot of delicious food – and what is a birthday party without cake and sweet treats? But when I tried to pawn off my piece of cake to my cousin he said, “New Year’s resolution, Alissa! Starting today, no sweet treats.” And of course my response to this was, “It’s a party, start tomorrow!” But my cousin did not go for it, and would not take my cake. This conversation got us and the rest of the cousins talking about what our New Year’s resolutions are for 2013. Aside from my one cousin wanting to watch what he eats, no one really had a “resolution” so much as we all want to continue to eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. So in the spirit of my cousin starting his healthy eating resolution on the very first day of the year, I thought I should follow suit; and when I got back to my apartment after the party, I changed into my workout clothes, and went straight to the gym for a thirty minute run on the treadmill. It felt really good to start the New Year off with a great run.

Did you have any New Year’s Day plans this year? What did you do? Have you given any thought to what your New Year’s resolutions might be this year? If you have made New Year’s resolutions, did you decide to take the plunge and actually start on day one, or did you wait until you recovered from staying up so late the night before?

Wow! Can you all believe it? It is already the end of December and almost time to ring in the New Year 2013 on New Year’s Eve! 2012 was a year that definitely flew by for me. January 2012 feels like it was just yesterday and the summer is just a blur.

So with all of the parties, people coming in and out of your house, and potential New Year’s Eve parties at your house, you probably have a lot of cleaning up and touching up to do. It never happens on purpose, but somehow my cabinets and floors always get the worst of the destruction when I have holiday parties. And, of course, I need to get everything back to perfect condition before New Year’s Eve, since I like to have some people come over to celebrate.
Do you have to clean your floor two to three times in order to get in back to normal? That is the hardest part for me: cleaning the floor. The cabinets are tough too because at times I will find that not only do I have to scrub them to free them from the grime of the party, but sadly, with lots of people the cabinets sometimes chip. I never knew what to do about that until I recently came across a new As Seen on TV item called the Quick 20™ No Heat Fix-A-Chip Repair Kit. From what I have read, the Quick 20™ No Heat Fix-A-Chip Repair Kit can help repair the chips on hard surfaces in three steps, which should only take about twenty minutes. I am thinking of giving the Quick 20™ No Heat Fix-A-Chip Repair Kit a try since it would be nice for my cabinets to be back to perfect before my friends come over on New Year’s. Have any of you had to do small repairs on cabinets or counter-tops? Is there something you would suggest I try?

Anyway, aside from cleaning up and fixing some things around the apartment, I think I am about ready to kick off New Year ’s Eve. Since I was lucky enough to get to travel a good amount this year, I unfortunately did not get to save as much money as I would normally have liked. Saving money is always my number one New Year’s resolution and now is the time to start thinking about ways to make 2013 better than 2012. What do you think will be your New Year’s resolution for 2013?

How does the holiday season affect you and your regular household activities? Do you find that you are able to stay on top of all of the chores around the house you usually have to take care of? Or are you like me – too busy at work, running errands, wrapping presents, cooking dinner, and not having enough time to even dust or clean the bathroom. I will tell you what bothers me the most, and that is letting all of my laundry pile up.

I have so much laundry piling up all over the apartment. I simply have not had the time to dig through my clothes that are overflowing from my rolling hamper onto the floor, and sadly, into the living room. Sorting my laundry itself will take me a very long time…which reminds me, I should probably invest in a sorting hamper so I can skip the sorting step in doing my laundry. I must have easily four loads of clothing to do, and this, of course, does not include sheets from weeks ago, and towels. I wish there was a way to make doing laundry go by much faster. I have found that I much prefer to hang my clothes on a drying rack as opposed to putting clothes in the dryer for several reasons: 1) My clothes do not shrink or change shape when I hang them dry 2) My clothes do not fall apart when I hang them dry 3) I do not need to run the dryer for several hours hoping the clothes will dry in 60 minutes or less.

Anyway, I am thinking that maybe I should try to do some laundry, a little bit at a time, as I try to get other things done around the apartment. Maybe while I am cooking dinner throw in a load of laundry, and then when I am cleaning up from dinner try to get in another one. The problem may be that I just do not have the time around this holiday season to fold and put all of the clothes away once they are clean…but at least they will be clean.

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about giving the perfect holiday gift. I have friends and family who have still not completed their holiday shopping for important people on their lists. I know some are simply procrastinating, but I know some of them are still just having problems coming up with great gifts to give to the people they love. As time gets closer to the holidays, these friends of mine are running out of time to find the perfect holiday gift.

After having given this some thought, I thought of one item in particular that most people in my circle would actually really appreciate. The item that can be personalized, picked out specifically with a theme for each individual person, and age appropriate for any person on your list is a puzzle. Puzzles are a great gift! You can find puzzles with any photograph, picture, or design, and that are big and small. There are some puzzles with a lot of small pieces, and some with a small number of large pieces. Some are simple, and others are more challenging to put together. What I know is that completing a puzzle is a great feeling. I also know that some people get so proud of themselves, and love the picture on the puzzle so much that they actually frame the finished product. Plus children can definitely use puzzles as a learning tool; in fact, I bought my niece a puzzle for the holidays this year—she is one year old and she is loving it.

Anyway, if you are still on the hunt for the perfect gift, I would recommend finding a puzzle that will speak to the remaining people on your holiday list. Of course, gift cards to the perfect store placed in a gift card holder can be a great gift, too, but if you have a chance to think of a puzzle that might work, it might be just a little extra personal than a gift card this year.

This weekend was great as I had the opportunity to go spend some quality time with friends before the holidays. I love being able to see my friends before the holidays because I do not have to worry about squeezing in time with them while trying to organize my holiday family time. And of course, in addition to catching up with friends I do not get to see very often, I also had the honor of helping one couple decorate their Christmas tree.

Decorating the Christmas tree is a very fun activity. This is so special to me—being included in such a fun tradition—because I know how special decorating the tree means to my friends. Last week when my friend who I went to visit this past week called me and told me that he put together his Christmas Tree Stand I was very excited. He told me that as long as the tree was still up when I arrived to his house, he would let me help him and his fiancé decorate the tree that Saturday night. So, on Saturday afternoon when I arrived to their home, I saw the Christmas tree standing up just waiting for me to decorate it. After a little walk around town, some snacks, and a lot of talking, my friends and I grabbed the Christmas Ornament Storage Box, and went about our evening of decorating their Christmas tree. By the time the end of the night rolled around, we had a gorgeous Christmas tree before our eyes. And of course, what better way to end the night than a little Christmas music karaoke?

Helping my friends decorate the Christmas tree was a lot of fun. I love seeing how pretty the Christmas tree looks after it has all of the ornaments and lights glistening on it. I do not know what your Christmas tree lighting traditions are, but I highly suggest inviting over some friends who do not normally have their own Christmas tree to decorate, and letting them help you with yours; you will probably make some of your friends very happy…I know I always am.