{click here to see my favorite things from last year’s party. I wish the links were still up from last year’s party!}

There are a few more things I wanted to add this year:

We Had Everything But Money

I can’t tell you how much I love this book. My mom showed it to me when she was visiting last spring. It has the neatest experiences of people living in the Great Depression. I love reading of how they helped one another, how they “made do” with everything. It brings me back to a simpler time, and is a beautiful reminder that happiness doesn’t come from things …just remember that as we’re sharing “things today :)

(it looks like Amazon is out of it right now, but check Ebay or Half.com!)

Look at these colors! I dub Brooke, from All Things Thrifty, the queen of color. She uses it boldly and it pays off: I love the quote on her blog:  "Creativity takes courage."~Henri Mattisse.

She has a talent (that I am completely jealous of) of bringing bold pops of color together to completely finish a room and give it new life. I am going to try to get my “All Things Thrifty mindset” on as I tackle my kids’ rooms and family room and try to be more daring with color, because I could look at her photos all day. She also has 3 beautiful kids and is expecting #4 in January!

Here are some great questions to get to know Brooke

Did you see what they did on their backyard blockwall?

This girl does wonders with her projector.

Her $12 leaf stenciled wall..such a big impact for so little $$!

She has tons of step by step tutorials as well …so excited to have her visiting today :)

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This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Intel. I received a laptop for compensation and will tell you my honest thoughts about it…

a typical Wednesday:

wake up at 6:45 after hitting the snooze 3 times, scriptures, plan day, wake kids up, get them going, get workout clothes on, start laundry, unload dishwasher, kids’ breakfast with scriptures, family prayer, piano practice, notebooks signed, permission slips in backpacks, pack lunches, find other shoe,

look for the purple headband, kids on bus, clean up lunch making mess, Special Agent Oso & Dora on for boys, eat my breakfast, check email, Google Reader, download bank transactions and categorize, check deals, check budget, check Craigslist, Dora’s over (blast), turn off TV, turn off computer, switch laundry,