Sign of True Love

This morning I woke up to Abe moving my car, an egg sandwich, a much-needed Gatorade, and fresh orange and yellow flowers. It's the little things, folks. XOXO.

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Tonight we celebrated Lauren realllll good in honor of her 29th birthday.

Lindsey blindfolded Lauren at her house, spun her around for good measure, and then walked her about a 1/2 mile to Carmine's Pizzeria - where 10 of us were anxiously waiting.

[note the man curiously looking at the blindfolded girl]

[note the man not interested in us cheering and yelling]

Once the blindfold was off we showered her with jewels and accessories.

Then we ate a butt-load of pizza.

[Penne a la vodka pizza. A bit too much starch for my taste.]

After the pizza party we kicked it up a notch and got classy over at The Richardson.

Quilt of Dreams

Excuse me while I channel Rachel Zoe...

I die.

Seriously, this quilt is bananas. The owner found it at an antiques show. Grrrr....

[Seen in House Beautiful, July 2008.]

Here are some other quilts you can purchase if you win the lottery....

[1870's Ocean Waves $1,699.00, 1940's Cotton Quilt $350, 1860's 4-Block Red & Green Applique $1,450.00, 1900 Red, Green & Cheddar Tulip Applique $1,250.00, 1913 Red & Green Applique Whig's Defeat $830.00

PSA from Wicked Mint

I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey's radio show. I discovered him a little over 2 years ago when I watched the movie Maxed Out.

I don't agree with every little thing Dave says, but I do believe in being debt free, financial responsibility and the power of knowledge to make money work for you. His approach and philosophies make learning about personal finance fun and interesting. Best if all - it's not complicated, it's just common sense.

Anyway, I highly recommend listening to Dave's podcast and learning more about his programs at daveramseyonline.com. I don't think I would know half of what I know about investing if it wasn't for his radio program. For those of you that shy away from religious conversations I warn you that he is Christian and makes reference to church and behaving as a Christian, but don't let that get in the way of you becoming a millionaire - the show is about money, not religion.

I sound like I am being paid to advertise Dave, but I'm not - I just really want to share what I find to be extremely valuable information. I don't think I would be buying a house right now if I hadn't started to follow his plan 2 years ago.

In the meantime, he made this monthly budget calculator available for people to post on their blogs. Try it out, you'll probably learn a few things about your money and expenses.

Allyson's 30th!

This weekend I went to Boston to celebrate Allyson's 30th birthday. Allyson and I have been best friends for 17 years and when we were about 20 or 21 we decided when we turned 30 we would leave our kids home with our husbands and go out for a big night in NYC.

Bless us, we didn't have a clue what it would be like to be 30. The closest we are to that prediction is that I live in NYC and Allyson just got engaged like a month ago.

We started off the day with Allyson's family, fiance and 2 other best friends at the Olive Garden. Mmmm, bread sticks!

Paws' gift to Allyson was a box of receipts. He's such a thoughtful cat.

Allyson's mom makes the most amazing carrot cake in the world.

Allyson is a micro-manager when it comes to her b-day.

A toast to Allyson!

Carrot cake down! Don't worry, we scooped it up and had ourselves a late-night snack.