Only in Maryland...

…do one year olds start learning how to eat crabs!

I think Grandma loved it as much as William!

September is Here and so am I

Whew - I'm back! I can say pretty confidently that I won't be blogging as frequently as I used to (before the summer) because it has become one more thing to keep up with. I never wanted to view it that way, but with posting pictures to Facebook, being a busy say-at-home/working mom and spending real time with William, I just can't find enough hours in the day. But I am going to make an effort!

August was a busy month with weekend trips to the beach, a suburb of Philadelphia, and down to Georgia for a friend's wedding (post in itself). I even went five weeks without seeing my good friend Holly and her girls because we were away, she was away, I was too busy, etc. Oh and we, well William, also had hand foot and mouth for a week.

If you are "only" a blogger friend, not a Facebook friend or friend in real life, here are a few pictures of our growing boy since you haven't seen him in awhile. He just turned 17 months last week!

To Buy or to Rent?

When I was a student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!), i always tried to pinch pennies in terms of my textbooks. I recall buying used books for a few days until my order from Amazon or eBay or another seller arrived since it saved me a few dollars. Since I graduated, which was only five years ago, you can now RENT textbooks - fab idea!

One company, Campus Book Rentals, asked me to look through their service and site and give my opinion. All you do is is their search box to find your textbook. You can choose to keep the book for a semester, a quarter, or a summer session and the price is different based on the length of time. And for those students who attend a few classes and decide to drop the class after getting the book -- you can return them without charge within 30 days and take advantage of their FREE shipping!

I was the student who wrote in the margins and highlighted the heck out of my books. But when its a rental, I thought that would be a problem for others like me, but you can highlight in books from Capus Book Rentals. Pretty neat, although it means you will receive books already marked up too (help you get through the reading faster?? :) ).

This is an actual book I remember purchasing and although it is a less expensive buy, the rental is nearly half the price. Saving about $15 is alot and that is on the low end of savings (typical range is 40-90% savings)! As a side, note, the author of that book, Brian Solis, is a big social media guru now and I have seen him speak at a conference and have read other books he has authored.

To make you feel better about your purchase, feel good knowing that they donate to Operation Smile with every rented book. Some of you may be familiar with that philanthropy via Panhellenic/Greek Life or the PSA ads.

So for you college students, and siblings and parents of college students, forward this post and a link to Campus Book Rentals to save "your" students money. Hey, it will give them more money to spend on gas to drive home and visit YOU!

Time Off and Time with my Family

Life moves fast. I started to feel like I was missing things: moments with my son, moments with my husband and moments alone(!). For that reason, I have taken a step back from blogging. It makes me a little sad because I have all these recipes saved with coordinating photos I took to share and I will, just not so frequently.

But, when my son sees the laptop and comes running over to my lap, I know HE is most important. I am using my "spare time" if you can even call it that, to grow my successful business and for that I am grateful. Grateful for my creativity and the support of family, friends and strangers who keep me busy ordering my products!

I'm trying to step back from Facebook too, reminding myself that if anything "important" happens in the lives of those I am close with, they will call or text or even e-mail me to keep me in the loop. So, there you have it folks…I am on a little family hiatus.


I do have a post coming up soon that will be of interest to college students and their parents!

Sweet Balsamic Pork Loin {recipe}

Life is busy! So, I took advantage of a summertime recipe in the crockpot a few days ago and it was wonderful. Pork loins were buy one get one free at Harris Teeter so I picked up two and used one for this recipe. Everything else we had at home already.

I found the recipe on Mel's Kitchen blog, but as her post says, it isn't her original recipe. It's a keeper!

Feeling Grateful

I was talking to the mom of this cutie yesterday (as I do most days of the week)

 and she commented on how different they look from last July…when we first met.

And it got me thinking…was I really not friends with any of my local "mom friends" just one year ago?

I used to work full-time in DC and spent the rest of my time at home "in the country" as some say and my husband and I had friends with kids, but it just happened they were in our age range. What I mean is, we didn't purposefully seek out families with children. But I do now! Last fall I was part of our town's first MOMS Club and hold an Executive Board position which is alot of fun. I have met many more moms in town which is wonderful for those days when you go to a park and just shoot out an email to see if others want to join. Only a five minute drive for anyone in town, well except Jake and his mom ;)

But, the first friends I made as a new mom were some of these ladies:

This is what William looked like the day he met future friends Louisa, Samantha, Mason and Zoe:

These are some of the adventures they have had since then (plus another new friend or two):

    

I am so happy to have these friends (and their babies) in my life!

Happy Birthday to my Husband

Today, this little boy (now man) is celebrating a birthday. We are having a seafood-something dinner since he ordered chicken parmesan on Sunday while out to eat and that was my original dinner of choice, and a cake with our family.

It will be the second birthday that our son will be celebrating with his Daddy. This is still one of my favorite photos of them.

This was Brad's birthday last year. William slept through half of dinner and woke up for cake and gifts…typical!

Happy birthday Brad -- we love you!