Category Archives: Wonderful STUFF

Uh, yeah….in my Rainbow House!

4 May 2012

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….notice how it is out in the middle of the ocean? There’s a reason for that!

Last night, I told my husband “I’m going to have a glass of wine and phone a friend in my “RAINBOW HOUSE!“

Meaning: I’m going out to the patio to have a glass of wine and talk to a friend, ALONE! ….and I’m taking my friend on the phone with me as my guest….I invited her over for a glass of wine…in my Rainbow House!

A couple of days ago my friend Heather at Flawless Skin Spa, wrote a hilarious blog post about a saying a group of my friends have been saying for years; it is a phrase I absolutely adore and I thought it would be fun to write a post about how it came to be.

Here is the story: I have a dear friend named Lynn and she has a daughter named Haley.  About 6 years ago,  Haley was talking to an adult about all of these wonderful things she had…..a pony, some chickens, a beautiful diamond crown, lots of cake, etc.  The adult, wondering where she had gotten all of these things and where she kept them, said “Really?!?” to which the little girl said “Yes……in my Rainbow House!”

Everyone in the room just looked at each other and thought “Oh – my – gaaaawd! That is so perfect!”

It is incredibly cute for a kid to have a Rainbow House and an absolute NECESSITY for a woman to have a Rainbow House!  – and it is a wonderful phrase to have as part of your repertoire for sarcastic retorts!  Like….

“You went to Paris, France for the weekend!??”

“Uh, yeah – in my Rainbow House!!…actually I went to Paris, TX to visit my in-laws!”

Once you get the hang of it, you will find yourself using “Rainbow House” aaaall the time!

You may be wondering what my Rainbow House is like……

In my RAINBOW HOUSE:

  • No part of my kitchen counter is held together with Gorilla Glue because of a child using a hammer to crush Oreos….in my Rainbow House.
  • I have the perfect body without even trying, everything looks fabulous on me and everyday is a “good hair day” ……in my Rainbow House.
  • “Stuff” puts itself away!….in my Rainbow House.
  • There is no dust or dirt or sand spilled from socks and shoes…..in my Rainbow House.
  • The surroundings and decor change according to whatever I happen to like on Pinterest…in my Rainbow House.
  • My child never whines and we never argue. We spend time doing only fun and emotionally rewarding things together; making wonderful lasting memories……in my Rainbow House.
  • My dear husband is dear and sweet ALL the time….in my Rainbow House.
  • I am dear and sweet ALL the time….in my Rainbow House.
  • Every window looks out onto a different view – my balcony with geraniums looks out to the blue sea off the coast of the Greek island of Paros, my lanai looks out to a beach on Maui and my breakfast room is actually a street side cafe in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy (that serves the most sublime pesto you have every had in your life!)….in my Rainbow House.
  • There is no mortgage on my Rainbow House.
  • Telemarketers do not have the phone number to my Rainbow House.
  • George Clooney does have the number to my Rainbow House, and he calls it frequently to talk to me and see if I will accompany him to his house on Lake Como. Alas, I cannot but I do enjoy the attention….but apparently, he also calls Heather to try to talk her into going to the Academy Awards with him….this must be addressed!

If I ever become a little restless in my Rainbow House, I go over to Heather’s Rainbow House and we play “ring toss” with her pet Unicorn in her infinity pool.

Since no one’s life is perfect, I often wonder what celebrities’ Rainbow Houses are like – they must have them – perhaps their Rainbow Houses are impossible for the paparazzi to photograph, have stores/restaurants/movie theatres where they can go and just be a normal person without everyone bugging them!

If anyone has the guts to Tweet/ask your favorite celebrity “What’s in your Rainbow House” with this post url (so they have some idea what you are talking about), tag your Tweet with #inmyRainbowhouse to make it searchable.

What is in your RAINBOW HOUSE?      (if you Tweet it, make sure to use #inmyRainbowHouse)

By Eleanore Macnish

Friday’s Gift…..have you heard of Fiverr?

27 April 2012

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Last weekend our neighbors had a crawfish boil!  Sitting in the driveway under a tent strung with lights, at a folding table spread with newspapers drinking a Hurricane while the kids played tag in the yard….a pretty great way to start off the warm weather months!  While drinking aforementioned Hurricane, I started talking to this great artist and blogger, Laura Bruzzese! She is really funny and really talented too – an awesome combination!

Laura told me about this fantastic site called Fiverr.com — I may be completely out-of-the-loop, but it was the first I had heard of it and since hearing about it last weekend, have probably spent 60 minutes of my life trolling the hilarious videos of people telling me what they will do for me for $5 bucks!

One guy will create a video testimonial for you/your company as the “Plastic Bag Man“, another will produce a video in which your message/logo is revealed inside a banana; and there is even a little kid who will sing Happy Birthday while holding her little dog Manny!

Enjoy your weekend!

By Eleanore Macnish

What’s In Your Bag? Mine’s like Mary Poppins’ without the lamp!

25 April 2012

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Years ago I read about an artist by the name of  Nathalie Lecroc, a Parisian artist.  You make an appointment with Ms. Lecroc, meet her at her apartment and empty the contents of your handbag onto her dining room table. Three hours later, she hands you a watercolor painting of your bag contents. The only rule is that you cannot not edit the contents before you visit Ms. Lecroc….and she can always tell when someone has – usually pharmaceuticals — which I also edited in my photo….seemed like a good idea….

What’s in my bag….

According to Ms. Lecroc, American women always carry mints and more make-up than French women & French women usually carry a good luck charm of some sort.  The oddest things she has seen? Firecrackers, a hula skirt, part of a sandwich & lettuce……hmmm, I wonder what she would think of the little bag of magic tricks I carry around with me (between my purse and the little round box with a red lid in the photo above) – and yes, that is a fake thumb.  I was a little taken aback by how much I carry around – like Mary Poppins’ without the lamp! …..I actually weighed my purse after I photographed everything and it weighed in at 6 lb!

There is also an awesome time-sucking Flickr site where you can spend countless hours looking at the contents other people’s bags…….I don’t even want to think about how much time I have spent looking at What’s In Your Bag [but NOT camera bags] on Flickr!

Contact Nathalie Lecroc at pypaul@club-internet.fr

Google her name for wonderful articles and photos of her work!

By Eleanore Macnish

Friday’s Gift……”Saving Graces”

20 April 2012

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“Why Ellie Mac – Tart of Life?  Why do you think these things are so “fly”?”

Because they “rock” – that is why!

#1. Bill Atkinson’s Photo Card iPhone App – Ohhhh yes, there are so many photo card apps and I have many of them; but this one is the one I keep going back to time after time! Easy to use, fantastic quality & customer support, 5×7 postcard (laminated front and back) arrives in your mailbox…..love, love, love!  A “saving grace” for me because I tend to document my child’s life on my phone!  I take a picture with my phone, choose it as the front image, type a message on the back (there is plenty of room), add little “stickers” -the heart and basketball in this photo), send it to myself and sometimes others – Done! Yay!!

You buy PayPal credits ahead of time, so you never have to enter your credit card info or “log in” – you just choose if you want to email the card (free) or have it sent in the mail. It costs $2 to send the card by mail.  Particularly helpful when on vacation! – you just compose one card and choose as many recipients as you would like from your contact list!

#2.  Stuck On You ID Labels.  Ok, I know at the outset this might seem like a “no big deal” thing………and in that case you would be wrong…….so very very WRONG!  A friend of mine (April Young) turned me on to these about 5 years ago and I love them so much, I even have a set for myself with my email address!

This is why they are so amazing:

  • They are dishwasher & microwave safe.
  • They are vinyl (not paper!)
  • You can put them on the inside of shoes & coats
  • They are so small, kids are not embarrassed of them (the ones in this link are about the width of your pinkie finger nail) – and you can trim them down to just their name to make them even smaller.
  • They come in “cool” colors.
  • Stick them to everything!  Mobile phones, tools, inside of luggage, loop around the zipper of anything, cameras, chargers (think “Girls weekends” when everyone is plugging their charger into any available socket and everyone’s is the same), iPods, iPads, Nintendos, laptops, key fobs, notebooks – a bottle of wine – ha! – anything you do not want to lose – slap one of these babies on it and you’re good to go!
  • Think: Every single freakin’ thing you send your kid to school with – lunch boxes, cups, supplies – anything you want back or don’t want to have to buy again if it is lost – think about that my friend!

This a NOT a sponsored blog post – these are just things I love and thought you would like to know about – that is if you don’t already know about them!

Enjoy your weekend!

By Eleanore Macnish

Friday’s Gift……Fill in the blanks and make your own crossword puzzle!

13 April 2012

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Crossword I designed for the child of a friend – kids LOVE this….because it is all about them!

There is a site I truly adore.  I adore everything about it….the aesthetics, the mission, the beautifully honest and charming way she speaks about everything that is who she is, what she makes, why it is important to her, her products and her wonderful sporadic blog (I gather she is quite busy!).  “She” is Lea Redmond and she is refreshing and so great!  Her site is filled with her products and many free projects – my favorite is one of her conceptual knitting projects called the “Sky Scarf“, in which you knit a row of whatever color the sky happens to be everyday; at the end of the year, you end up with a 5 foot long scarf that is a visual sky calendar of the past year.

One day while looking at her blog, I happened upon a link that generates a crossword puzzle with your own words!  -You also write the hints (obviously)!  Such a fun thing for birthdays, holidays…..or any day! Kids love it because it is all about THEM!! — and you can make the answers as simple as can be, so even a 4 year old can enjoy something like this as long as an adult is there to fill in the blanks!  NOTE: Sit down and come up with a list of questions and answers first – then go to the site and plug in your answers & questions!

** #2 across “An old ______ injury makes Eleanore’s (me) back hurt sometimes.”

Answer: Bullfighting (I have an old bullfighting injury that makes my lower back hurt – but only about once a year…..and it is waaaaay cooler than having an old tennis injury!  When I was pregnant and hurting because of it, my OBGYN just looked at me dumbfounded.  I said “I was not fighting a bull yesterday! It was 15 years ago – in Spain no less!!” …..my explanation didn’t seem to make a difference.)

Enjoy your weekend!

By Eleanore Macnish

The sweetest little gifts EVER!

15 August 2011

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There is the sweetest little website that will make the sweetest little packages and mail them with a sweet little gift and message of your choosing….I just ordered one for my daughter! They also have wonderfully quirky fun “stocking stuffer” stuff and great free projects – like gathering a bunch of yarn in different colors of the sky and knitting a scarf, one row per day in the color that best matches the sky that day! How cool is that!?

LEAFCUTTERDESIGNS.COM


Have a good…..EVERYTHING!