A Well-Heeled Life

Autumn . It's absolutely my favorite time of year. Bright sunny days and cool nights. Leaves begin to change colors. Then of course there are the weekend activities like watching my kiddo playing soccer and fun community events that are traditions for us like making our own Apple Cider at the town's Cider Squeezes and finding the perfect gourds to decorate our front porch at a pumpkin patches. Last, but not the least of my reasons for loving the fall season is the fashion ! Having been raised in the rainy Pacific Northwest, about 65 percent of my closet is fall/winter type clothing. Autumn is MY season! I have coats and jackets, gloves and hats. Turtlenecks and boots and I can't wait to drag them out of my closet again. Ooh...just thinking about all my "new" clothing options makes me a happy girl! You know what this frugal mom doesn't like as much? The hit my budget can take due to the many events, activities, and holidays that take place during this ...

Greetings! Happy Fall! Sorry for the long delay without a new post. I had surgery a few weeks ago and have since been laying low while I recuperate. This was the second surgery to deal with some ongoing health issues. My time in the hospital was difficult, but the good news is I have outstanding care team and feel much better now. The good news is the bed rest gave me LOTS of time to think up new topics.

Greetings Readers! I've just returned from a summer vacation trip to Legoland California and San Diego. Yes we had an amazing time. As we returned home and started to tally up the costs, I realized we'd managed to spend under $1100 for 5 days for our entire family. This included admission to Legoland, travel, lodging, catching a first run flick at the cinema, and meals out. My vacation glow may last another week knowing we little we paid for this trip! With that in mind, I decided I should share some of my fave tips for saving money on a trip to Legoland. Happy Days for this Lego Lovin' Kid Yes, it is possible to enjoy a fabulous vacation to Legoland without going broke. However, it does require advance planning. When we were planning our trip, I started searching the Legoland Website as well as other resources online trying to find tips and tricks. I love information from other parents. I also started looking on Groupon for nearby deals.My three bi...

Cool news to share (and shameless ask for votes)! My husband is a finalist in Cooking Light magazine's "Family Dinner Hero" contest. The magazine selected him as one of the finalists based on an essay I wrote about him. Now the public votes to name a winner. You can pick up the September 2016 issue on newsstands or read it here . Search his name, "Marcus." You should see the following picture. Then scroll down and look for the words, "Vote for Marcus." Screen capture of my dynamic duo of cooking! The Backstory: My husband is an amazing cook. He also makes about 75 percent of the meals for our family. Yes. I do know how lucky I am to be married to him. The BACK backstory: As a boy, my hubby was what was called a "latch-key kid." Back in the '80s, the idea of two-parent working households was still a little novel. The idea of young kids having to come home and fend for themselves for a few hours was still not that common. So,...

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A few weeks ago I confessed how lousy I was feeling physically. I also confessed that I intended to change my ways for the better. Well, I started to fall of the wagon last week. We hosted a cookout and the chips, the drinks, the hot dogs all called out to me. Then the next day, but who's counting, I was famished and bypassed the fresh veggies in favor of a bag of baked potato chips in the pantry. Forget they were baked, not fried. I probably ate 5 servings. Ugh! I'm the first person to admit that I'm not the most disciplined woman.I tend to tell myself, "oh well. you tried." and move one to the next thing. Then another month passes, my dresses feel a little snugger, and I begrudge myself for not sticking to my XYZ plan the last time. This time I'm trying something different. I went back to something a nutritionist had once told me. I used to be in incredible shape. I'm embarrassed to admit this was nearly a decade ago and pre-pregnancy. I weighed 75+...

I recently did a housekeeping/purge of sorts. Not of the home I live in, but of my social media accounts. The impetus? A ' Real Housewife ' (the city doesn't matter). I was perusing my Instagram feed and realized that for the 5th time in a week, 'Housewife X' was selling something. I found myself annoyed because it occured to me that the only things this particular housewife ever posts to her feed were new clothing items available for sale in her retail shop. Anyway, I decided to scroll back through her Instagram feed to confirm whether I was imagining this phenomena or not. A quick scan of about 1 years worth of posts confirmed that with the exception of 2-3 posts about her hubby/new baby, everything else she "shared" with her followers was about personal care, body care, or clothing items. All of which were available for sale. In fact, I couldn't help but notice several other fans commenting that they were "going to go broke" because...