Luck of the Irish

 

May your luck be everlasting today and the sun shines a path for you directly to your pot of gold in life. 

Happy 4th Birthday Eleanor

 Happy 4th Birthday Eleanor!

We have gone on so many adventures over 4 years. You have been such an awesome companion these last 40,000 miles. 

Thanks for listening to all my phone conversations, my car-karaoke, my pep-talks and random rambles; I hope you have enjoyed all the snacks I've eaten in you and all the crap I throw around. You are a true companion and these last four years wouldn't have been the same without you. 

One small favor thought, can you and android auto call it a truce and let me actually listen to my music and audio books without disconnecting every five minutes?! Please and thank you. 

I love you bunches Eleanor! I am so excited where we will end up this year!

[[Life is a bumpy road; You eventually learn how to drive on it.]]

 

St. Patrick's Treats and Crafts

Happy almost St. Patrick's Day!

I, for one, love all the pretty shades of green that start popping up in March. I find that St. Patrick's Day is the prelude into spring colors. You can start the month out with dark hunter green but by the end of the month you have pastel greens popping up. March is a great transition month and I am here for all the green-ness you can get especially for St. Patrick's Day....

In honor of the holiday, I, ahem, Mix and Match Mama has rounded up some fun treats and crafts for the holiday:

Check out these links 1///2///3///4

She always has the very best ideas and the yummiest cocktails and food. Enjoy!

[[Everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day]]

Dollar Tree Favorite Finds

My love for the Dollar Tree has been a slow burn over the past few years. I am continually impressed with the selection of items I can find in stores and I love how different stores have different items too. I have 8 Dollar Tree's that I can go to. I think during the pandemic they really stepped it up and realized that their consumers have limited resources but still want quality products. My family and I have definitely put Dollar Tree in our rotation of places we shop at. 

I have compiled a list of things that I LOVE buying at the dollar store. I will preface this list by saying, I will 90% of time stick with buying brands I know and I have used before. 

Balloons and birthday items/// I love buying balloons at the dollar store. They have really awesome fun balloons and it will definitely save you money in the long run especially if you are buying A LOT. Now are huge character balloons fun, YES! but they will deflate in a few days and what are you going to do with a deflated balloon? Birthday items such as bags, gift wrap, tissue paper, bows, and other party supplies are perfect to buy here too. They have confetti and matching plates, napkins, cups, decorations, everything to make a fun party. You can definitely supplement with higher priced items you find at Walmart or a party store to make it even extra special.

Greeting Cards/// On the top of celebrations, 2 for $1 greeting cards are my favorite thing ever. They have hallmark cards that are just as good as the food store or card store cards. Do we ever really keep greeting cards very long? No, so why (literally) throw money away. I do have to say that sometimes they are lacking a variety of cards for Aunts/Cousins/Uncles etc. Its usually just one design. 

Holiday Items/// This is another thing I love to see what they have to supplement what I have bought other places. For Easter, currently, they have adorable fillable Easter eggs in all shapes, sizes and colors. My favorites I found were the golden eggs and the Lego brick eggs. You can always find fun things that sometimes you cannot find at other bigger name stores, that make holidays even better.

Tupperware/kitchen gadgets /// How many times do you lose the lid to your Tupperware? I have found on multiple occasions, Rubbermaid Tupperware at Dollar Tree for $1.25 (now) and then I find it either at the food store or Walmart for a lot more. Some of the name brand  kitchen gadgets are great finds but you will have to be patient looking for them and it might take a few stores to find what you are looking for. 

Candy/// Hi, I'm Gabrielle and I love candy. I have little self control when it comes to candy. I have found that buying candy at Dollar Tree is perfect for me. The smaller portions are equally perfect too because I have no self control with candy (there are worse thing, I suppose). AND you can get a variety of things for the price of one bag of candy somewhere else. I think that is the best part! #variety

Puzzle books/// I love word searches and sudoku. I don't play them often but when I do, I always grab my puzzle book I bought at the dollar store.  It might be wrinkled, tattered, creased but I think it is good as any other puzzle book you can buy at any other place. I also recommend the coloring books, both for kids and adults.

Health and Beauty///Now I always feel this is hit or miss. I look for name brand items and I only buy things/brands I have used before. I have found some really good deals on toothpaste, chapstick and face scrubbies. 

Craft Supplies/// One of the most surprising finds is the ever growing craft section. Crafting is so expensive and Dollar Tree makes it so affordable. They have paint, canvas, wooden cut outs, yarn, all different type of tools and gadgets. This is perfect for parents and grandparents of little kids who want to create things but spend a lot of money. 

My advice for shopping at the Dollar Tree is buy name brand items, go to a few different stores for a variety of items and don't always have a set list in your mind. If I find a few things, great and if I don't that's okay too! 

Have fun shopping and let me know you favorite finds at the Dollar Tree below!

[[Its not your salary that makes you rich, its your spending habits- Charles A. Jaffe]]

PS. This was NOT  a sponsored post. I truly do love these finds :) 

Who runs the world....

......GIRLS! 

Happy International Women's Day! 

I am consistently in awe of what women can accomplish. The way women can juggle careers, home life, family life, social lives and our own personal lives continue to impress me. We truly can do anything, just like Barbie said. 

Who inspires you to be the best woman you can be? 

My momma inspires me every single day. 💗 She definitely showed me what it is to be a strong woman. 

[[What makes you different or weird- that's your strength. Meryl Streep]]

The beginning of the end?

 COVID.....ugh.

Today marks the official end of the public health emergency New Jersey's governor put into effect on March 7, 2020. 

2020 seems like 3 lifetimes ago yet it also seems like yesterday. For the past two years, I kept thinking, this is all a bad dream and we are going to wake up and it will be March 13, 2020 again and things will be totally different. 

March 13, 2020 for me is when the shit really hit the fan. I had a terrible day and my welcome screen on my computer was this ominous black and white photo of a mountain with clouds AND its was Friday the 13th. what could go wrong?!

You know in the beginning where it was two weeks to flatten the curve, everyone was excited to have time off, to be home /work for home. The memes that were floating around the internet were hilarious and while we all tried to make light of this situation but people were fighting for their lives in the hospitals and the front line workers were fighting something that they didn't have proper protection for. They were experiencing all the uncertainty, the rest of the country was facing but they couldn't stay home, they had to work.  We never thought in our wildest dreams that in 2022, we would still be in this mess, its much less then what it was but nonetheless, were still in it.

In March and April 2020, I wrote a lot about my thoughts and feels on COVID-19 and how confused and scared and nervous I was because everything was so new and unknown. Writing had helped me process what I was feeling and what was happening. After a while, I stopped watching the news, it got to be too much for me and I just couldn't take it anymore. 

COVID had brought a lot of things into perspective for me and reflecting back on the what life was like before COVID. I think in these past two years, I have grown into someone that I am starting to really like. Does this new person still have some growing to do? HECK YES! But she seems to be on the right path and in the right direction. I don't think I would be this person if COVID didn't happen. Things work out in the weird ways. 

As we enter into the end-emic stage (I don't know if we are truthfully, but I would like to think so seeing how restrictions are become less and less and life is slowly returning to normal), I am thankful for all the hard times and how I've grown during this time. I guess everything happens for a reason but to be honest, I wish this didn't happen the way it did. 

Looking back in the photos/screenshots I took back in  March of 2020, I found this:

I believe it was from I ♡intelligence and I feel this is the perfect way to end this post, may we never take for granted the small things we have missed over the past two years.

[[Its not going to be this hard forever]]

Ps. Below are the posts, I wrote previous on COVID-19:

On COVID-19

The New Normal

Thoughts on Quarantine and COVID

Friday Favorites March 20, 2020

Friday Favorites March 27, 2020

Friday Favorites April 3, 2020

Friday Favorites April 17, 2020

Favorite Masks

Quarantine: 1 Year In

Random Things #2

 Howdy!

I loved sharing what screenshots I had on my phone I figured I would share again this month. I use screenshots as things a reminder- what I want to look at more closely, what I want to add to my wishlist etc. Does anyone else do that?

Tilden over on To Be Bright posted this bag. I LOVE the idea!

#goals

It's a warm hug to reaffirm what I am doing is right.

Its the lining that caught my eye

#metoo

Love how the colors go so well together

this is a PAINTING! Go check out his work, its so impressive

BRRRRR

hehe

How do I obtain this mom knowledge?

I loved this. I've struggled with finding my purpose for years.

hehe

Valentines for Climbers

Giggling at this tweet

painting inspiration

relatable

I agree with these characters #me

Only child syndrome

love BIG

Nerdle. Its a love hate relationship.

So pretty

These are wild times

buzz buzz🐝

I don't see anything wrong with this.

You have to find the video of him mic'd up introducing himself
its sweet and wholesome.

Chasing my why all this year.

valentines for attorneys/accountants

best dog dad ever

filing this in the "to remember" file

an hour goes by way too quick

#wishlist

yeah me too!

I'm looking at you Realtor.com

very accurate

#strong

dreaming of Kayla Weber Art's workshops

Honest Joy

cuddle party

Is this a thing? Asking for a friend.

so wholesome and delightful. 

It's like Midwestern-ers taking tornado warnings seriously

❤

I want to be like this when I am older

Painting Idea and inspriation.

I hope you enjoyed tour of things I love and saved. 

[[Be filled with wonder.]]