Team Boom Fundraiser for Tripp Halstead

I am currently holding a fundraiser to raise money for this wonderful little boy. See the flier below for more information.
Simply place your order online at www.mythirtyone.com/CMiranda under the fundraiser event party and 100% of my commission will go to him and his family and you will still get amazing bags that you want!

Thanks,

C

A new adventure has begun....

OH sweet blog how I have missed you! I am so sorry it has been a lifetime since I have posted, but I plan to keep this up to date now. Just to fill you in a little bit, I am officially a college graduate from East Carolina University with a bachelor's in Mass Communication! I am contemplating going back in a year to get my Master's in Social Work/Psychology, I started my own business in January as a thirty-one consultant and am loving life!

So since I have started my new business I have really seen such a transformation in myself. I am not a quiet or shy person by any means, but I do have issues with speaking publically and since I am a communication major, that just had to change. Since starting with thirty-one I am really breaking out of that fear and becoming more comfortable speaking in front of people and it is really exciting! I am really loving that I get to party and make money doing it! I have always been a party planning person so this fits right into my area of expertise and I love to organize so the products are perfect for me too!

I have been to a lot of direct sales parties...I even went to my fair share of thirty-one parties and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever be the type of person that would want to sell it! Well, I was wrong! Signing up with that little ol $99 in January has changed my life! And I'm just getting started! So for all you fellow followers out there, share my blog and share my business if you will!

Right now I am doing a great giveaway! Anyone who hosts a party with me in June, July or August will win this Large Utility Tote in our fun new summer fun flops pattern for FREE!!! That's right!
If you are interested just send me an email to rachelcaroline8@gmail.com and let me know what month you can do it and I can email you back with the dates I have available!

~C

Diaper Genie deodorizers....I think so!

Okay, so I realize it has been a lifetime since I have posted anything and this post doesn't have the most glamorized title. But here is the issue. My son is two and a half now and he has still not mastered the potty training bit. Since I did not get the memo about how cool cloth diapers are until well after he was born, we use disposable diapers. And his diaper genie smells horrible! I mean horrible! I clean it weekly with clorox and take the diapers out regularly and still when I open it to put a new diaper in, the smell is overwhelming. So I went online and found my own DIY deodorizers that are so easy to make. I found them on Pinterest. I just took baking soda and water and made a paste and then put a few drops of essential oil for smell. I have to wait a couple of days for them to dry out and then I should be able to just put them in the bottom of the pail.
I'm super excited to see how they work out. So below is a picture of the finished product. I will make sure to give you an update on how it works out.

~Rachel

Mother's Day 2012!

Today was such an amazing and special day! To all the mother's out there, I hope your day was as special and wonderful as mine!
Saturday, we went to visit Titi (B's mom) for Mother's day a day early and give her her present. I wish I would have taken a photo, but I forgot of course! I painted a terra cotta planter black and then mod podged photos of the grandkids all over it and put a nice hausta plant in there for her:) It turned out pretty great actually.

Here is Titi and G!

This morning, B let me sleep in and I was awoken by G saying "Mommy, Mommy, wake up!" In a beautiful black bag with Gold striped tissue paper was a day of luxury and relaxation. B and G got me a full day of pampering at the Spa! I cannot wait to cash that in!:)
Then, we headed off to church where we heard an amazing message from the pastor's wife about 8 ways that moms reflect the nature of God. It was so great!

This is me and G before we went into church!

After church, B took me to Carrabba's for a Mother's Day lunch! I worked there for a few years and I always remember thinking of how I couldn't wait until I was a mom and could go there for lunch! It was so special, with great food and G was on his best behavior, using his napkin and dipping his chicken in their house dressing (they didn't have ranch so we improvised).

Then, we went to my Nana's where my sister and mom and aunt and all the kiddos were and exchanged gifts, mostly plants, but I made everyone homemade sugar scrub (post to come)!

Here's all the lovely ladies in my fam that were at my Nana's today.

My other sister, Trish came by the house later and I gave her her gift. It was a beautiful wonderful day and I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's day! Such a great holiday! I am so blessed! Blessings to all you mothers out there!

~Rachel

Grason's 2nd Birthday Party...his big day!

Grason's birthday was a huge success! I can't thank all our friends and family more for their support in showing up for G's big day! Pictured above is the shirt I made for him to wear:) He always has to be dressed up, lol

The photo above is our food table. I made the sign (which I showed in a previous post on how to make) and the picture frame is my absolute favorite piece! The streamers were not what I had invisioned but I only had about 20 minutes to set up everything so I was a little stressed!

As you can see, my elmo pops are displayed, as well as the cute little bucket I made for Cookie Monster's cookies and my handmade signs to let everyone know what everything was...Dorothy's goldfish too!

 Elmo's pizza was brought to you by Papa John's lol and was a huge hit with all the kiddos!

 I was originally going to make all the cupcakes look like the faces of the characters, but time and energy were lacking and so I decided to make these cute little cupcake toppers instead and just use the different color icing, but they turned out great and looked amazing and were eaten up by all so I consider them a huge success...sometimes less is more I guess:)

I also made an elmo cake so Grason had something to blow out, just in case we didn't have enought cupcakes for everyone...

 I wanted Grason's beautiful invitation displayed at the party, so I put it in a frame that I had at the house and took my cricut and cut different designs on adhesive paper and voila!

  My awesome welcome sign looked perfect on the door to the food room

 Outside the food room were the plates and cups (you can't see on the cups but they each had a label that said "This cup belongs to:" and crayons for the kids to write their names on them) and the books I got from the dollar store just to display and Grason can use them in the future to learn his colors and letters.

 These are all the goodie bags for the kiddos! They loved them!

 

And finally, the star of the day, enjoying his cupcake:)

It was the best day with the best of friends and best of family!
Thank you for all that participated and joined in our our special day!

Below are some additional photos from the party.....it was the best day....

~Rachel

Elmo Pops!

I made these same pops for Christmas goodies to give away to G's teacher's at school. So I just changed it up a bit and used the candy melts in the color red and added eyes and a nose to make an elmo face.

I started with oreos...

I melted the candy melts in the microwave....

Then you just take a lollipop stick and use the melted candy to put two oreos together. You can let them cool on their own, or to speed things up, pop them in the freezer.

 Orange M&M's were used for the nose

 Candy eyeballs for...you guessed it...the eyes

So here is the end result....I also took a box top from our paper at work and covered it in Elmo wrapping paper and then used a piece of styrofoam to put inside so the pops would stay upright and display nicely.
Voila!
Easy Peasy!

They were a huge hit at the party and everyone thought they were deliciously cute!
The greatest thing about these treats is that you can use them for all kinds of holidays...as I said, I first made them as a Christmas treat, but you could do them for any holiday or event really.

~Rachel

Happy almost birthday to my sweet boy!



My dearest Grason,

I can't believe that you are already 2 years old! It truly has been a whirlwind of laughs and cries and I have never felt so blessed than to be your mommy.  In this last year, you have grown to be such a little man. You have learned how to walk, to jump, to run, to kick a soccer ball, to say words like no, mine, why not?, ahh man, ahh-choo, i love you, night night, and tot tart, just to name a few.
You go a mile a minute and keep mommy and daddy busy and entertained. Your smile starts from the moment you wake in the morning and never leaves. You have this way of drawing everyone to you with your infectious personality. I wish you all the blessings you can comprehend this birthday and hope that this next year of your life brings that many more special memories I get to share with you.

Love,

Mommy