I've got the whole world, on my wall...

Not quite how the song goes, but it is the truth. I had a blank space on my living room wall where I have been wanting to hang a large map . It was a rare occurrence, but my boyfriend must have actually listened and lo and behold he got me one for Christmas! It was a National Geographic World Map and it was the perfect size- 46" x 31". Being the wise man that he is he also got me a gift card to Michael's to get it framed. We have been out of town and running around so today was my first chance to get there. There were no standard frames any bigger than 24" x 36" so I was out-of-luck. I inquired about the custom framing because it was 55% off (yeah right!). The price for custom framing, with acrylic instead of glass ranged from $270-370! I thought that was crazy, especially since the map cost less than $25. So I got creative.

Since the map was already laminated, it really didn't need a frame at all, so I picked up some Scotch 3m Velcro pieces and got to work. I simply applied to all four corners, held up the map where I wanted it and then applied the other side and stuff them to the wall. I am not sure how it will affect the paint when I take it off. Hopefully this is no time soon, so I decided not to worry about it. Here is the final product- I love it!!

Be Kind

Sticking with the title of my blog, today I am asking everyone to embrace kindness. Our country has been deeply saddened by the shooting in Newtown. If you are like me, you are feeling powerless. There is a feeling that you want to help, or honor the lives lost, but aren't really sure how or what to do to deal with the sadness this tradgey left in your heart. Well, Ann Curry came up with an idea: 20, or 26 random acts of kindness. (One for each child, or each person, who died in the shooting). You can search #20acts or #26 acts on Twitter to see what some people have done.

Some things were as simple as taking a neighbor's garbage pails out for them, or paying the bill for a person behind you in a fast food line. So I am starting today with my 20 acts. I am going to spread mine out, it may take 2 months, maybe longer, maybe I will never stop. I will document them on the blog as I do them. Some, I may not document all, because I may do some for people that may not what their story disclosed.  If I can get one other person to do this I will feel as though I did a little more good in the world. So join me in showing that in light of all this bad, the world does still have a little good left and please share as you do them...

Unleashing My Inner Artist

Last night I used a Living Social deal I had to a place called Wine and Design. It is located on Broad St., near Gus' (or the Science Museum for less bar-familiar folks). My friends and I had bought this deal for $19, it is usually $35, but they ended up going on a night that I couldn't go. That was fine because I had my eye on a painting of "the fan" district in Richmond.


Basically you check out the calendar and pick which night you are going to go based on what painting you like. When you get there, there a outline you work off of.


Then the artist leads you through the painting in different steps. I had so much fun and I am pretty pleased with how my painting turned out. Most of the paintings that I saw displayed used a lot of blended colors, and not a lot of clean lines, so that you can't mess them up too badly.

It is so fascinating to me how they all look similar but so different.

I think it is so cool to have a piece of art in your home that you actually painted yourself. I can't wait till people say "I like this picture" and I can say "oh that, I painted it..." very casually.

The cool thing about this location is that you can bring your own bottles of wine in and drink for inspiration. They also sell beers and food. The prices were good, I got a delicious hummus platter for $8. You can find the Richmond location's website here, but they have a ton of other locations for you non-Richmonders. They also do private parties- I am dying to get Club Rec there!



I really can't wait to do the "paint your pet" night. It is a little more expensive, but I can imagine it is a lot more individual instruction since everyone is painting a different pet. Who else wants to go?

Holiday savings tips- no dEBATE about it!

Today at lunch, my coworkers and I were talking about the website ebates.com. Some had never heard of it, while others swore by it. I am one of those people that swears by it. It is a website you go to before you buy something off another website. So if you are buying something from target.com, you first go to ebates.com, in the upper right hand corner it will say "search stores or items", you write in Target, and it will tell you how much cash back they are offering. I have gotten 1-12% at different stores. You click on "shop now" and it takes you the regular Target (or whatever else) website. Almost all major websites are on here. And you can also sort by item instead of by website so you can see what website has it for the best price.

After you buy something you have a little "bank account" of sorts through ebates. Every quarter, they take your total and send you a check for straight cash!!!! If you are shopping on these websites anyway, which most people are especially during the holidays, it is just more money back in your pocket.

The other good thing about ebates.com is that it lists all the coupon codes for the websites they work with. So for websites like victoriassecret.com, which always has a million different coupon codes, it makes it so easy to have a nice, up-to-date list.

The most amazing thing that is after you sign up, and make your first purchase through ebates, they will send you a $10 gift card of your choice of 4 websites. So sign up soon and take advantage of this for your holiday shopping.

If you aren't already signed up and need to here is the link.... (disclaimer: you get a refer a friend bonus so you are helping me too)

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=uGsTZRI%2BhXU5wWEgKOWO0Q%3D%3D


The other holiday tip I have is to take advantage of the 4x the fuel points on giftcards at Kroger. I believe it lasts through Dec 9th. Basically for every $25 gift card you buy, you will get $0.10 off per gallon of gas, up to $2.00 at a time. Not only should you do this if you are actually buying gift cards for people, but do it for yourself. If you know you are buying $200 worth of stuff at Target, buy gift cards worth $200,  get $0.80 off per gallon, and buy the item using your giftcards. Also go through ebates.com and you will blow your savings loving mind!!!

Hopefully saving money puts you in the holiday spirit as much as it does me!