Simple Sun Candles March Sale!

Stock up on your favorite soy candles or try out a new scent with our March Sale, going on now!

Simple Sun Candles Giveaway of Two Free Candles!

Just stopping in quickly (GAH busy) to announce the Simple Sun Candles giveaway going on now on the Facebook page. The prize is two (!) fabulous candles of your choice from the current in-stock selection, shipped to you (open to U.S. residents only, excludes You Choose the Scent Listings).

How to enter:

1) Like 'Simple Sun Candles' on Facebook if you haven't already, by going here.

2) Visit the Simple Sun Candles Etsy shop here.

3) Leave a comment on the giveaway post on Facebook saying which two candles you would choose if you won.

Bonus entry for those who follow the above steps AND 'share' the giveaway post on Facebook.

Giveaway ends Monday, March 4 at 6pm EST. One winner will be chosen using random.org. There are currently NO (zero) entries so you could VERY possibly be the winner!

A whole lotta love

With Valentine's Day looming in the near future, I thought I'd share some of the ways we celebrate, even though they are not anything extreme, I still like to do a few small things to share the love this time of year.

Of course, there is always the class Valentines to hand out. Last year, we took a nod from Pinterest (I believe the idea originated here but who knows).

This year we made these and Dylan is so excited to hand them out to his friends.

I went the inexpensive route for decorating my ledge in honor of the holiday:

Basically, I found a valentine kit at Michael's on clearance for $2.99 that included the felt hearts. They had designs on them but I just flipped them over, and hot-glued to string I had leftover from previous garlands. I got the template for the XO banner from here, (pinned here) and used red cardstock I already had to create that. The 'Love' framed print was free here, and for $2.89 I printed it at Target's photo center. I added in a handmade 'I Toadally love you' clothespin craft Dylan had made years ago, and another touch of red with the Audrey Hepburn quote print, that reads:

The best thing to hold onto in life is eachother.

The print was purchased here earlier in the year, as a fundraiser for Sandy Hook. I loved it and had it for awhile, then realizing it was a perfect sentiment and touch of red for my love-themed display. 

We are looking forward to a simple celebration of the day on Thursday, with heart-shaped pizza, a little surprise treat for Dylan and another surprise I am thinking of doing that involves lots and lots of balloons.. hmm. 

We have another event to celebrate this week, which takes precedence over the Hallmark holiday on Thursday: Justin's birthday! We will be going out with his work friends on Monday (his birthday) and celebrating with family friends by bowling on Saturday. Phew, the pace that January held is not slowing down, but I am thankful the calendar is filled with celebrations in addition to our obligations. 

Three things.

This week has been crazy-busy filled. I'm trying not to start off every sentence with "OH It's so busy." But January has been my most-full month since moving this summer and I kinda-sorta-want a break. Despite the chaos fullness of this month, there's not much to write home about but more like a few little going-ons and sweet nothings.

• We started Financial Peace University, thanks to Sarah a.k.a. Thrifty Decor Chick. She so graciously offered a giveaway on her blog with the prize being enrollment in FPU (as she also has had a wonderful outcome with it) and I was shocked that I won! Justin has been "preaching" the word of debt-free living and Dave Ramsey's ways for a long, long (long) time but I'm very thankful because his financial planning, budgeting and paying-off-debtedness has literally saved our behinds. I don't like to talk about financial specifics, but I would like to say that we both brought a lot of debt to our marriage (and I continued creating debt with my stupid decision to go to grad school [SIDE NOTE: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH GRAD SCHOOL COSTS? Geeze.]) and we reached a place where there was no way to make the minimum payments on our debt, even after moving back in with my parents, and getting rid of a car which we so desperately needed at the time, and in fact on our salaries today would continue to be unable to make those payments. I'm talking not being able to make loan and credit card payments that did not even touch the principal.  I can't think about that time without being very sad but also extremely thankful that life threw us a few opportunities (cough, Saudi Arabia, cough) and Justin's ability to plan and budget (and basically follow the FPU ideas) that let us climb back from there. I'm not trying to write a sob story here, since uh, the debt was our fault, but rather a success story to let others know there is hope even when you are that in debt. I can't believe this enormous bullet we dodged and will never be stupid with money again. Although I don't espouse Dave's religious views, the beauty of the program is to live debt-free and build wealth so that you can give back, which is where our hearts lie as well. We are so, SO thrilled to be able to take the class and continue to fine-tune our financial planning and hear Dave's entertaining teachings to keep us on track. I don't mean to sound all cult-member-ish, but I'm just excited that this solid and logical financial advice helped bring us back from a very low point to a very, very relieved and enjoyable one. It is truly peaceful living. 
• This:

          was the temperature Wednesday. And also why I'm okay with the higher cost of living here.  
         (Rest assured, it did snow today).

• Dylan and I are reading the Harry Potter series together (Hey- I'm only a decade behind the times here, and in my defense, I have seen and enjoyed all of the movies). It has become a really enjoyable bonding experience for us- each night Dylan will ask, "Are you going to read with me tonight?" and asks me not to stop when we conclude a chapter. Last night, he decided he was going to write a story entitled, Mama and the Chamber of Reading. I love that boy, and our nightly reading sessions. 

It's not you, it's me

I would like to start off by stating, for the record, that I am fully aware that I am the type of person who learns best from her mistakes, from doing something and then seeing if it works and if not, reflecting and tweaking from there. I see this whole process play out in my day job, other pursuits, and my parenting.

I am a big advocate for kids having chores, i.e., responsibility. I think we've always had Dylan help with chores but I wanted to make a more organized system for him. Being a list-maker, I sought out to create a carefully-thought-out and planned but what ended up being a not-quite-effective system for him to do so. I even have the laminated chore chart to prove it:

The system seemed okay, with my original intent to teach self-monitoring (re: checking off what he had done) and delayed gratification (re: receiving reinforcement a.k.a. allowance at the end of the week). However, we everyone else realized quickly that this was not going to work. It took me awhile to come to this conclusion, being the stubborn "LET'S JUST KEEP TRYING" person I am, and a little bit of ego over the whole "LOOK HOW CAREFULLY PLANNED OUT THIS SYSTEM WAS!" Wow there's a lot of self-disclosure and introspection going on in this discussion. Anyway,  the process of checking off each day's worth of chores and waiting the entire week for money was not teaching my intended lessons, and leaving everyone frustrated when I was nagging reminding Dylan to do chores, and checking them off, and then he would forget and end the week with an empty chore chart and of course be frustrated that he didn't earn his allowance DESPITE DOING HIS CHORES. Which is SO not the intended lesson here.

I wanted to do something much simpler, that would actually motivate Dylan to do chores and help out without me nagging reminding him, and would not require a complicated system of checking-off and completing 3 chores from the above column while also completing everyday chores (as I'm typing this out, I'm hearing myself and how complicated I made it.. geeze).

 We talked to Dylan and decided on having him complete his expected chores everyday, without any type of allowance or reward, because they were expected as part of our family and helping out with household chores. These 'everyday chores' are pretty straightforward- making his bed and feeding the cats. He must do them before going out to play with friends, and if not, he will lose 30 minutes of his weekend video-game time (he has a timer and allotted time for videogames on weekends... a system which has actually worked very well for us).

Additionally, I post tasks and chores around the house that he can complete, along with the money he will earn for completing, on post-its on the fridge. These have included, cleaning his room, vacuuming the rug in the living room, dusting shelves, cleaning the bathroom mirrors or windows in the living room, and so on. Dylan can take a post-it with the chore, complete it, hand it to me and instantly receive his money. These come and go- for instance, the other day I had 'vacuum the rug' posted, which he chose not to do, and I decided to vacuum the whole apartment myself so I took that one down. There's no arguing, fighting, or nagging anymore, which I like. Dylan has chosen to do a few of the chores, and skipped others, but I suspect he will be more motivated once his holiday cash runs out.


Lesson learned: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. BUT IF IT IS FACT BROKE, by all means fix it. 

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta- Dylan's favorite dish

Whew. It has been a hectic week getting back into the 'normal' schedule after break, and break itself was a whirlwind. So, yeah, busy! But not complaining.

I wanted to wish ya'll a happy new year with one of my go-to dinners, which is Dylan's personal favorite and not only his most-requested dish but also what he asked for his birthday dinner. Yes, I am truly blessed with a child with good taste.

This dish is something I make so often I kinda sorta don't remember the exact measurements, so play around with it to your liking (particularly the spices). I've made it with lemon-garlic seasoning, adding garlic powder, and so on and it always comes out delicious.

First, start off by boiling some water and throwing 1/4 box of angel hair pasta in there until done, about 8-9 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add in 2 cloves chopped garlic, and sauté until fragrant. Then, add 1 tsp. of red Chile pepper flakes.

Add 1 lb. deveined and de-shelled (is that a term?) shrimp (if using frozen, make sure it is thawed, and I like to leave the tails on).

Cook until the shrimp is pink.

Add in drained, cooked pasta and mix together. Turn off heat, then squeeze the juice of one lemon over the pasta and shrimp.

Serve! I typically will garnish with fresh chopped parsley but forgot to pick some up from the store.

So, you caught me: the pictures were taken at Christmastime. OR did I not yet put away my Christmas stuff? Bwahaha you'll never know!

A very simple yet crave-worthy dish. I like to enjoy with some white zinfandel. Not that I'm a wine pairing expert or anything... I just like white zin and would recommend it with everything (burgers? WHITE ZIN). I digress...

Lemon-garlic shrimp pasta
Recipe from: I can't remember...
Serves: 3

1/4 of 1 box angel hair pasta (I use whole wheat)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon red Chile pepper flakes
1 pound shrimp, deveined and thawed, with tails on
1 lemon
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Boil water and cook pasta until done, about 8-9 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic, and saute until fragrant. Sprinkle garlic with red Chile pepper flakes and add in shrimp. Cook until shrimp is pink.

Add cooked and drained pasta to pan, and stir together for a few moments. Turn heat off, and squeeze the juice from one lemon over pasta and shrimp.

Serve, garnished with fresh parsley.

Our Elf on the Shelf: A Cautionary Tale

Merry Christmas Eve! So I'm sure you've heard of the The Elf on the Shelf*, a tradition that was started in our home back in 2008. Dylan is so eager to find the Elf each morning (ours is named Blooper) and is so enchanted with him. I catch Dylan talking to him, telling him the good things he's done and updating him on his wish list.

If you're not familiar, the elf visits from the North Pole and changes location each night after returning to Santa to update him on your child's behaviors. A story book with the Elf outlines the details and reminds your child to never touch the Elf or he will lose his magic.

Cue mistake on our end.

A babysitter came to watch Dylan one evening (while we attended the SMASHING PUMPKINS in concert OMG it was fantastic, hearing Billy [yes of course we're on a first name basis] play 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' and 'Disarm' AND an awesome 'Space Oddity' cover live was a.maze.ing., I digress)... So a babysitter came and was unfamiliar with the 'rules' surrounding the Elf and we overlooked letting her know. Dylan woke up the next morning to get ready for school and was upset, telling me that the babysitter didn't know and moved the Elf, and he didn't move and now his magic is gone! (Again, completely our fault for not sharing this information re: not touching the Elf).

So, I did what any parent would do on 4 hours of sleep (did I mention I was out rocking to the Smashing Pumpkins live late into the night before?) and googled: What to do if someone touches your elf on the shelf. Surprisingly G-rated and appropriate results came up.

Thanks to Southern Disposition, I was able to act fast. We quickly e-mailed Santa himself, asking what to do, and about 15 minutes later (MAN he's fast for such a busy person), we received our response:

Forgive the grammatical errors... I (ahem, er I mean Santa) was on 4 hours of sleep here.

Dylan. was. thrilled! He went off to school, and when he returned home, the following was waiting in our mailbox, magically:

"Mailed via Reindeer Express; Caution: Magic Elf Dust enclosed"

We sprinkled the Magic Elf Dust on Blooper, and he returned to the North Pole that evening and ended up in a different spot the next morning. Dylan still excitedly talks to him and continues to jump out of bed to look for him each morning.

Belief in Santa Claus: saved. Cue: self high-five.





Merry, merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



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We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas...

Like I said, I get really excited about Christmas. So, here is part 3 (I think the final portion but I make no guarantees) of my holiday decorations. This portion of the tour takes you to: my kitchen.

On top of my cabinet (that stores candle-making supplies and candles) we have a frosted cranberry tree, and two plates that I made with Dylan when he was itty-bitty. The left plate is his hand prints in wreath-form from 2005 (zomg, so little!) when he was 2, and the right is a reindeer made from his hand- and footprint in 2004 when he was 1.

On top of the cabinets sits our Santa (can you see the theme here, we love the guy is all I can say) with his sleigh and reindeer.

I added jingle bells and a red candle to my candle vase.

And the grand finale, my centerpiece tray to which I added jingle bells and small glittery ornaments to surround 3 of my holiday-scented candles.

Please excuse the mess of bags/containers in the background, our 'treat table' is currently overflowing (but not for long bwahahah)

I am enjoying the festive look around here and all the warm candlelights and tree lights add a warm, comforting glow in the evening.

We've been hosting a 'hot cocoa bar' nightly for ourselves, accruing our beverages with our choice of Christmas-tree shaped Peeps, mint M & M's, candy canes, and whipped cream covered in cinnamon or sprinkles. We've been sipping these delectable creations while watching our Christmas classics DVDs. Tonight we'll be renting 'Arthur Christmas.' Before bed, we read one of our favorite Christmas stories, so far we've covered Bear Stays Up for Christmas, The Polar Express, The Christmas Magic, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Bad Kitty Christmas and more. We save "The Muppets Christmas Carol" movie and The Night Before Christmas (illustrated by Jan Brett) for our Christmas eve tradition.

I try to emphasize to Dylan that Christmas is a time to spend with family, friends and loved ones and enjoy their company. I hope we are conveying that through all of our traditions.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

After a busy week, I'm back to share more of my holiday decorations. I previously shared my Pinterest-inspired ones, and here are the ones in the living room and outside on the porch...

We added a Dylan-made wreath to the mirror with ribbon, and a few of our favorite Christmas classics (Frosty and the Grinch with Max) to the bench. On top of the shoe organizer sits a little holiday vignette:

Gold and red ornaments round out the previously pumpkin-filled vase, and poinsettias replace my fall mums. The little nutcracker is from CVS, and one of my holiday-scented Mason jar candles adds warm candlelight at night.

These are our beautiful hand-knit stockings, made by my mom. She made Dylan's extra-large so Santa would spoil him!

On top of the TV armoire sits another one of my candles, surrounded by a wreath. The Santa rustic wood piece was a new purchase this year, Justin saw it in Cost Plus World Market and we both loved it.

On the bookshelves, we have our Dylan-made Christmas town.

And a garland that matches our Christmas tree. The large ornament was a gift from Santa last year, filled with candy. The Peace sign comes from World Market as well.

Out on the porch, Santa left us his sack one year. We also added a glittery white reindeer that lights up at night.

And finally (for today, forgive the picture-heavy posts!) are our Christmas lights attached to the railing.

Although you can't see them, there are jingle bells attached to the ribbons that make a lovely sound whenever the wind blows.

We are excitedly awaiting Santa's (and Nana's!) arrival. Off to cook and clean some more in preparation... 

A Pinteresting Christmas

Like I've said many, many times, I love Christmas and in particular, decorating for Christmas. Another love of mine is Pinterest, which I need to join a support group for because it. is. addicting.

As I thought about posting my holiday decorations, I wondered about the best way to organize them. I looked around and realized many of my decorations were Pinterest-idea-inspired and decided to do a post specifically dedicated to the 'pins' that I re-created and "nailed it."

First off is my pride and joy, the Santa sleigh and reindeer garland. The idea is from The Proper Pinwheel, where a downloadable template is available.

To make, I simply downloaded the (free!) template and printed onto card stock. I then cut out the template, traced on card stock I already had, cut out, and hot glued twine to the back. I went over the hot glue twice to ensure it stayed. Finally, I hot-glued a red gemstone onto Rudolph's nose.

I'm really excited about how it turned out. In fact I keep staring at it and my family is starting to think there's something wrong with me.

Ahem. Moving on. The "Baby It's Cold Outside" print is ANOTHER Pinterest-creation, from Over the Big Moon. I prefer to print these types of things on photo paper, so I ordered a poster size (11" by 14") from Walgreens and used a 40% off coupon for a grand total of $5.99. I love that I can keep it up past the holiday since it is more wintry than Christmasy.

Although not a Pinterest-related item, I just wanted to point out the beautiful Cardinal print I purchased on Etsy from greenpix. It is very wintry (again something I can leave up past the holiday) and the red ties in with the Santa and other decorations in the room. Cardinals are my favorite bird and have a special meaning to me, which if I explained you would think I am crazy, so I'll skip that. The photos here do not do this photograph justice, please check out greenpix's shop to see its beauty.

Also on the mantel/shelf are a stamped-clay Santa sleigh that Dylan made, a mini-Nutcracker that is actually a place card-holder from CVS ($2, score!) and another of Dylan's awesome creations: a Clothespin reindeer.

The print that will stay up all-year-long and is also awesome (Be The Good) is from the Sprinkled Joy Etsy shop. Other addictions I may have: Etsy, Ikea.

Moving on next to the couch is another Pinterest free download/print-out, a chalk drawing by Nest of Posies. I love the look of this, and purchased the gold frame from Target just for this print.

Finally, I am always looking for a way to display cards. I loved the idea pinned from Greener Grass, which is to attach ribbon to the cabinet fronts and use clothespins to attach the cards as they come in.

I attached the ribbon with 3M removeable sticky strips, and covered the clothespins in festive Washi tape from PickYourPlum.com. Oh, and the Santa and Snowman jars hold festive cookie cutters, hot cocoa mix, and holiday teas.

Those are all of my Pinterest-inspired holiday decorations, for now. If you're interested, my Christmas Pinterest board is here.


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Tragic.

My heart is heavy for those in the community surrounding Sandy Hook Elementary, and especially for the families of the victims. When Dylan got off of the bus yesterday, safely, I have never felt so fortunate in my life.

Please hug your kids extra tight, and teach them the difference between being angry and acting upon it, and how to express that anger in a healthy way. It is okay to be angry, it is not okay to hurt someone. 

It's Christmastime... in the city

We went to see the National Tree this past weekend. Here are a few photos from that romp around DC that help get me in the spirit...

My neighbor Obama.

This last image is of Dylan peeking into Santa's workshop. I can't tell you how excited he is over Santa's upcoming visit. I love the joyful chatter about the logistics of making a trip around the world, the qualifications for being on the 'nice list,' and so on. I wish this stage lasted forever. 

O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum

Like I've mentioned before, I do love me some Christmastime. Instead of sharing all my decorations together in one post like I did at Halloween, I'll break it up a little to show more detail, and also since my Christmas decorations are more, ahem, elaborate. Something about home decorating and me, that I've noticed, is I'm getting somewhat better at it over the years (and I guess having an actual income helps too. Hurray for incomes!). So, on this trajectory, I should be an HGTV featured designer by 3011!! SCORE.

I do a 'theme' of reds, ivories, and golds on the tree (and in most of my decor) for the holiday, mixing in more sentimental and meaningful ornaments, which are my fave. I would love (LOVE) to do a matchy-matchy themed tree, and a separate 'sentimental' tree, but alas, there is limited room at Casa del Claire. That being said, I do love my tree.

Side story (AS ALWAYS): My neighbor came over to drop off some extra cake the other day (YES I LOVE MY NEIGHBOR OMG) and wanted a holiday tour of my decorations (more like, I twisted her arm into coming to see my holiday decorations) and was all, "Did you study design?" "I should have brought my camera!" etc. etc. She is such a sweetheart! If you knew her, you'd know it was her personality to be so complimentary (AND BRING YOU CAKE OMG) but still, warms the heart (tear).

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments...

At first, you may think this is an ordinary family of snowmen...

BUT THINK AGAIN. It is not. It is a handprint!

Dylan made this in 1st grade and I love. love. LOVE it. So sweet, and such a nice commemoration of his childhood hand print!

Next on the list is one my mother-in-law gifted us back in '08.

"Bears?" you may be asking yourself. "Is this some type of representation of your love of bear-hunting, or bear-wrestling?" My response is: No. Bear-wrestler, I am not. However, we  do refer to each other as [insert name]-bear in our family, so this is a nod to just that. And perhaps the one time I wrestled a bear to the ground AND WON. Anyways it's a cute family ornament, and the first one commemorating our family together. So, it is on my list of favorites.

Moving along and far past the bear-wrestling thing... if you know me, you know I love the ocean. This deep-rooted appreciation for all things nautical is certainly represented in my holiday tree, as in here and here:

Side story #232904: The Sea Turtle Hospital of Topsail Beach, NC is awesome, both to visit and for the work they do. Once you learn of the kajillion predators that sea turtles have, the arduous journey they have to sea once born, on top of the fact that their moms just, like, leave them there to hatch on their own and all, it's amazing these poor things survive. AND THEN THE HUMANS COME ALONG AND TURN LIGHTS ON TO LEAD THEM AWAY FROM THE OCEAN AND POLLUTE AND RUN MOTOR BOATS AND HARM THEM. Geeze. 

Back to my point: so I love nautical ornaments but this is my favorite:

This is my favorite, because, like the bear ornament, it represents one of my favorite hobbies. 

So on that note, happy holidays. I hope your preparations and festivities are enjoyable, and also stress- and crazy-Republican-uncle-free. And filled with cake-bringing neighbors. 

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