From my Bonnie:

30 skills every woman should know before she turns 30

1. Hard boil an egg
2. Diplomatically tell Mom to butt-out
3. Ace a job interview
4. Ask a man out
5. Send a thoughtful thank you note
6. Listen to a friend in need
7. Ask for help
8. Effectively end an unhealthy relationship (romantic or platonic in nature)
9. Beautifully wrap a gift
10. Say “no” gracefully
11. Whip up a great dinner with the five items in her fridge
12. Forget pleasing him, by 30 a woman should be able to tell her man exactly how to please her
13. Sew a button
14. Mix a kick-ass cocktail
15. Take off her bra without removing her shirt
16. Apply lip gloss in the dark
17. Balance her checkbook
18. Create a budget
19. Find the best deal
20. Negotiate a salary and/or pay raise
21. Read a map
22. Hail a cab
23. Say something in French just for the hell of it
24. Apologize when she’s wrong
25. Dress for her body type
26. Change a flat (or know whom to call to come change it)
27. Spot a fake (handbag, diamond, potential friend…)
28. Feign interest
29. Know what to tip on a $25 dinner bill
30. Hold a baby (Hey, someone you know is bound to have one sooner or later)

Except for #20, I'm good. I've never worked at a place where I was able to negotiate anything. I consider that a good thing.

Chilean sea bass...

Who needs turkey when you can have this for Thanksgiving dinner...

Impressed with myself...

If you've ever worked in a restaurant you may not be so excited about these, but OMG, how cute are these silverware packs I made for the luncheon Thursday?



And I'm modest, too.

I did all the shopping for the shower today, except for cheese cubes and crackers because I left the list in the car and forgot them. I set up the food table and am in the process of putting all the favor bags together. The only thing left to do is set up the outside tables, but I'm waiting for the last minute to see what the weather does.

...and seriously, with the weather? Doesn't mother nature know I'm trying to have an outside party this week?

Another productive day

Two in a row! That's out of the ordinary for us.

Today we put down mulch along the driveway - Dave killed some crabgrass a while ago but we have decided grass may never grow or look good there because the crabgrass roots start under the driveway. I suppose we should have thought about that before we had it paved, but we didn't.

We also re-mulched the flower beds after cutting down all the flowers for the winter. We planted late this year and didn't get blooms like we would have liked, so hopefully in the spring it will look better.

Here are some blurry pics of the finished product.

25 minutes till "True Blood"!

Productive day so far...

I'm trying to get the house set up for Ashley's bridal luncheon next week, so today we started by taking all the furniture off the deck and setting up the gazebo. Now we're committed and the weather better be good on Thursday! It was 85 this morning when we were putting it together, so I am hoping it stays this warm :)

Here are some pics...now we're off to Lowe's to get some mulch to winterize the front flower beds - not for the shower, they just need to be done and I'm on vacation so I have time to do it!