20 Years.

I’m in the midst of planning our twentieth reunion. 

From high school.

As in, I graduated from high school twenty years ago. 

Two thoughts permeate my brain.  One, how is that even possible?  Two, my best friend is a hoarder.

So, I should tell you that one of my very best friends moved back to Ohio this summer.  She has lived in Florida for my entire marriage and almost all of the time I have been with Dave.  She has seen my kids grow up through pictures and visits twice a year.  I still sometimes forget that she is here permanently.  It is weird and wonderful to have her a three minute drive away.  It’s bizarre to be able to call her and ask her to come over in the middle of the week.   When we do get together, it feels a little like vacation Natalie, home for just a minute.  Let’s pack everything all into one week of shopping and dinner out and fun!  Woooo! 

Dave just keeps saying, “Well, you DO have a lot of time to make up,” and sending me on my way.  I think he secretly loves it because Natalie tells him all kinds of stories about Fun Michelle.  That is what we call me, in the late nineties.  Fun Michelle are the stories my children won’t hear until they are old and planning their own 20th reunions.  Hopefully.

While we’re on the subject, most of our reunion planning meetings go like this,

HOW is it possible that we have been out of high school for twenty years?

It can’t be twenty years.  Don’t you feel like we’re supposed to still be twenty-two?

Maybe late twenties, max.

Do you think so and so will come to the reunion?  I wonder what ever happened to so and so.

Remember when so and so did that thing in high school that was hilarious?

Remember when you dated so and so?  Ahhhahahaha! 

Well at least I didn’t date so and so!

We were such idiots.

SUCH idiots.

We didn’t get anything done!

Totally, but I laughed so hard, my face hurts.

Worth it.

We also have the added bonus of Natalie memorabilia.  Now, I have a box of stuff from grade school and high school and college.  You throw in your senior pictures, some old grade cards that your mom saved, and a year book or two, right?  Pretty typical?  I feel like a lot of people have that box.

Natalie takes it to another level. 

She has receipts from a store where we used to work, with the cashiers’ names circled.  Did we really need to know that you bought a salad and cheese from Julie in 1993?  Probably not.  How about ticket stubs from movies she went to with names scribbled on the back… it’s important to remember that you, Jay, and Abby went to see Jurassic Park, twenty some years ago.  Have I mentioned every award and certificate she was ever given?  There is a folder full, people.

Oh, I can already hear her yelling at me while she’s reading this.  She’ll tell me it’s not fair if I don’t tell you that her parents just moved and so they went through everything that was packed away there.  She will protest that she was just keeping all of this for our twentieth reunion.  For this very occasion.  She will try to convince you, THAT was the reason she had two copies of everything from our prom program to our commencement announcement.

I maintain that the ticket stubs speak for themselves.  And I am going to wear this 1994 vintage broomball beauty, pinned to my sweater…

Just so you all know, Nat is the best sport in the universe and gave her blessing for this post.  By blessing, I mean, she sighed and told me that she was going to tell you all that we’re only friends because she let me cheat off her in pre-calculus class our junior year. 

Clearly, math is NOT my forte, but choosing best friends is.

Minted + A Giveaway!

If you have been reading So Wonderful, So Marvelous for any length of time, you already know that I have mad love for parties of every kind.  Birthdays, baby showers, dinner parties, I’m not picky, I love them all.  I have long been a fan of the pretty paper virtuosos over at Minted.  I care about design and I love gorgeous, thick paper, both of which the folks over at Minted have in copious amounts.

Every holiday season I drool over the designs they offer, especially the photo Christmas cards.  I love that they source independent designers because each one is unique and there are tons of gorgeous choices.  If you have ever had the good fortune to open a Minted card in your stack of mail, you will know that the paper can only be described as luxurious.  I mean it is thick, gorgeous, and the printing is flawless… this isn’t your average cardstock.  

And yes, they are known for their holiday cards, but they have gorgeous invitations and announcements of all kinds.  I only wish they had been around when Dave and I were getting married because their wedding stationery is incredible.  They also offer business cards, journals, gift tags, and full party suites as well as a la carte items. 

I want the funniest thing journal to record all of those Finnisms. 

The sweet peeps at Minted would like to offer one of you $75 in store credit to be spent how you wish.  Maybe a pretty new cake stand for your favorite blogger whose husband has banned her from purchasing any more?  Oh, ok.  Use it on yourself.

Tell me, what would you do with $75 to spend at Minted?

{You will use the Rafflecopter box to record your entries!}

Contest runs until 6/28/2013 at midnight EST.

Disclaimer:  This post is sponsored content and Minted is providing me with a store credit to enjoy their many amazing products as well as a store credit for one lucky reader.  Pssst… I hope it’s you.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Moo.

Weird things make me smile.  It is probably why I am friends with all of you.

Our house is filled with quirky little things.  There is art in the bathroom.  We have a real, live, fruit producing lime tree in our kitchen.  For ages, until I let my sister have it, we had an art deco desk serving as our entertainment center.  A sundial side table sits next to a chair in the living room.  And the most hideous plastic beaver you will ever see in your life hangs out in our garden.

Dave doesn’t understand things like sundials in the living room acting as a table.  In his world, a sundial belongs outside in the sun telling time and a table is a table, damn it. So you can understand that when, exactly one year ago today, I purchased this cow that matches nary a dish in this whole house, Dave would be confused.

It’s a cow.  A cow creamer.  Get it??  Milk.  Out of a cow.  I mean, it’s her mouth, but Dave, it is magnificent.  Don’t you love it?

Davester? Wasn’t so enamored with the cow.  As with most things that make me ecstatically happy for no reason whatsoever, he smiled, shook his head, muttered under his breath, and the cow came to live at our house.  He even puts up with the fact that every time we open our cabinet, that cow is staring him right in the face.

Moo.

I for one, love this cow.  She is a such a jaunty little fellow.  Isn’t she?

So obviously, you will be on my side when a poor cow-matching-rooster was sitting all alone on a shelf just waiting for his forever home a year later and made his way into my cart?

I’m thinking of having a whole menagerie.  Look.  They are friends already.  Don’t tell Dave.

You would totally come to my house for coffee, wouldn’t you?

Spring Cleaning–My Favorite Cleaning Products

It’s spring {ok, ok LATE spring} and that means the dreaded cleaning must begin.  It doesn’t help that for the last few months, we’ve been bunking with Finn while our bedroom is overhauled AND my nesting is kicking into high gear.  The combination is a recipe for scrubbing down every surface in sight and just in time too because this house is a DISASTER area right now.

I must confess, I have tried an impressive amount of cleaning products.  Much to my mom’s dismay, I am not a neat freak or a cleaning maniac by nature, but somehow the lure of a new product kicks me into cleaning gear.  I am a marketers dream.  Something new?  Ooooooh shiny.  Even better if it makes my cleaning routine faster. 

Ha!  You see there?  I don’t even have a cleaning routine!  But, if a product is so good that it gets me out to lunch with my friends faster or an extra half an hour of nap time, I’m all about it.  Even better if it smells luscious and makes Dave think that he married someone that sort of knows what they are doing.  You know… a miracle product.

Ok, so there are no miracle products or we would all be using them.  There are, however a few products I absolutely love and to which I am extremely loyal.

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Microfiber Cleaning Cloths.  Oh my love for these, is undeniable they are so useful for cleaning everything and they are re-usable.  I use them for dusting, for cleaning glass, for cleaning stainless steel, for wiping down counters, and for scrubbing floors.  We bought ours at Costco, a giant pack of them for super cheap.  {I think they were in the auto section actually.}  Just pitch them into the washer and voila, good as new.  You’re not supposed to put them in the dryer with fabric softener, but I always do and they’ve still lasted 3 years and are going strong.

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Arm & Hammer Oxy Laundry Detergent in Fresh Scent.  This laundry detergent is my absolute favorite for a few reasons.  Dave is allergic to some other brands, I absolutely love the scent, and unlike some other detergents, I feel like this rinses very clean and never leaves a residue on our clothes.  I also love that they frequently have coupons and their regular prices aren’t outrageous to begin with.

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Method Stainless Steel Cleaner.  I’ve tried a few things over the years for our {perpetually fingerprinted} fridge and our stainless worktable that we use as an extension of our counter.  We’ve used wipes and three or four other brands of cleaner, but Method smells really, really good and in combination with the microfiber cloths, takes just a minute to spray on and wipe away all those prints.  Method products can be a little pricey, but one bottle of this stuff lasts forever.

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Mr Clean Magic Eraser.  This is just an occasional use item in our house, but one that I always have on hand.  I don’t even need to know what makes this ‘magic’ I just want to enjoy the awesomeness.  Crayon, scuffs, all kinds of random weird marks… they DISAPPEAR people, with just a swipe or two of the eraser.  Truly magic.

Honorable Mentions:  Mrs Meyers Clean Day Lemon Verbena countertop spray smells SO good it feels like a room freshener rather than a cleaner.  Plain old Clorox Bleach mixed with water for disinfecting the entire bathroom & kitchen sink.  Windex for my mirrors & windows.  Our Dyson also gets a mention, it’s so fun to see all the junk you’re vacuuming up {and makes you feel like you should be doing it more often} plus, I love all the tools it comes with, great for cobwebs and pet hair! 

Your turn, tell me your faves!  Have you done any spring cleaning?

 

Disclosure:  Just so we’re clear, the opinions stated are my own, I have not been compensated in any way by any of these companies.