Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

The children’s book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? was recently given to us by a friend who loves it and now that we have read it, I am passionate about spreading the word because I feel it is a book that needs to be in every child’s library.

The book deals with two incredibly important topics – positive self-esteem and kindness.

I was taught from a very young age the importance of kindness.  My mom always told me, “You don’t have to be friends with everybody, but you do have to be kind to everybody.” That lesson has served me well through the years, and it is a value I try very hard to teach my girls on a daily basis.

Now that I am a mom myself and around young children all the time, from what I have observed, I don’t think kindness is innate. I believe it is something that has to be…

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Slow Cooked Short Ribs and Celery Root Puree

Fall is here (it seems to be cooling down ever so slightly?!) and so it’s time to bust out the slow cooking recipes! You know the ones where you walk in from your long day and your whole house smells amazing? Yup, this Slow Cooked Short Ribs and Celery Root Puree recipe is one of those.

Jen and I picked up these ingredients on our recent shopping trip to the new Whole Foods Market in Newport Beach…

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Meghan Yang OC Interior Designer

Get ready to pin some of these interior design ideas mamas! I wanted to start pinning before it was even posted!

Meghan Yang is a fellow OC mommy with a passion for interior design and helping others create a functional home that makes them happy. It was this desire that lead her to create her business, Meghan Yang Interior Design…to help families like yours love the space they live in.

She believes good design should be accessible to everyone, not just the rich and famous. When you live in a space you LOVE, one that makes you feel balanced and peaceful and joyful, that joy will seep over into other areas of your life.

Our lives as moms can be chaotic.  She knows, she is ONE!  So she gets great satisfaction out of helping clients bring order to the chaos in their homes, so even if you have a crazy day running around to drop off, soccer practice, piano lessons, when you return home to your sanctuary, you have a space that brings you peace.

I chatted with Meghan at length on the phone last week.  She is one of those people that is so easy to talk to, I felt like I had known her forever.  One of my questions was about the scope of her services. For example, does she help with everything, or…

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A Family-Friendly OC Oktoberfest!

My husband’s father (Siegfried!) is from Germany, his mother is from Switzerland and I have some German in me too through mother’s side, so a love of Oktoberfest runs in our family!

Those are my two little German girls pictured above. My youngest is wearing her aunt’s authentic dirndl from Germany which is over 40 years old!  I just LOVE it when I get to put one of them in this get up come October, which has now been passed down from big sister.

Over the years we have tested out many OC Oktoberfest celebrations and have found The Phoenix Club in Anaheim to be home of our very favorite family-friendly event. 

Whether you are German or not, this Oktoberfest is SO MUCH FUN, you will want to get your Chicken Dance on and shake your tail feathers like you are!

Open every weekend now through October 28th, every Sunday is family day opening at 11am….

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5 Must Have Baby Items (from a second-time mom!)

[Photo credit: Sandy Heit Photography]

This is a guest post written by my sister, Suzanne, a new second-time mom of my three-month-old nephew Gavin. Since I have been out of the newborn world for awhile, I asked her to write about her favorite and most used baby items from a real mom currently in the trenches. Even if you aren’t having another baby soon, I always love useful gift ideas for new moms!  Here is what she wrote…

“I’m sure there must be hundreds of blog posts and magazine articles with this title.

BUT…after making some unnecessary purchasing mistakes the first time around, I couldn’t help wanting to share my (not so!) humble opinions on a few of my favorite baby items…

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