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8 Favorite Holiday Cocktails To Liven Up The Most Awkward Parties

8 Favorite Holiday Cocktails To Liven Up The Most Awkward Parties

With the cold snap that just blew in, and seeing all the skeletons hanging from the eaves of homes around town and pumpkins plunked in front yards signals my brain that it’s not only time to start shopping for a new fall outfit for my Bitmoji, but that it’s almost that time of year for entertaining, which - as you know - I have a love-hate relationship with. 

Groups of people make me panicky, and the thought of being in a group of people makes me panicky. And thinking of panicking while in a group of people makes me panicky.

So, yah. Parties. 

When To Start Decorating For Fall In Texas

When To Start Decorating For Fall In Texas

It’s starting to feel like fall! 

Oh wait. No it isn’t.

Even if you doused the scorching earth with iced pumpkin spice lattes pumped straight from gushing firehoses across the entire God-forsaken state of Texas, it wouldn't cool down here until late October and sometimes well into November.*

But these vibes ain’t gonna change themselves, so the time is NOW to get some fall feelin’ up in herr (not a typo).

How To Elevate 4 Meals From Dreary To Dreamy In A Flash

How To Elevate 4 Meals From Dreary To Dreamy In A Flash

You know I’m all about cutting corners, right? But I also want to present my family with meals so delicious, I’ll forever be one step above whoever my boys marry someday. 

That my boys will always show gratitude for their sweetheart making them a meal, but that they’ll also give an invisible-to-the-naked-eye shake of the head while thinking - deep inside - “My mother would be horrified if she could see this.”

That, no matter how much butter or sugar is involved, every recipe is sub-optimal in comparison to what they grew up with.

Of course, I know the likelihood of this is close to nil, considering that - to this day - I still have to make an alternate meal for my youngest, just like most people do for their toddlers, despite my sweet baby angel closing in on 143 months old.

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Best Classroom Craft: How To Make A Scrapbook For Each Student

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Best Classroom Craft: How To Make A Scrapbook For Each Student

When my youngest was in elementary school, I got a wild hair and started doing a class scrapbook each year. 

Here’s what that looked like: going into his classroom twice each month of the school year - once to take pictures of each student doing a certain activity, then - after having the photos printed - going back a second time to hand out the photos, along with a scrapbook page for them to decorate.

At the end of the school year, I assembled the loose pages into books for each student to take home, and they absolutely loved it.

It wasn’t technically my idea.

My sister-in-law was doing it for her daughter’s class, and - not to ever be outdone by her - I immediately stole the idea and took it to my son’s school, claiming all the credit for my own, WHICH IS HOW I ROLL.

How To Install Sconce Lights Without Electricity

How To Install Sconce Lights Without Electricity

We just completed this fun tween boy’s bedroom update and I’m in love with how it turned out. We put in a shiplap accent wall, repainted some previously hodge-podge furniture, and got his room organized and grown-up looking.

But my most favorite part is these farmhouse sconce lights, which I installed without having to run electricity, and I’m currently in love with myself even more than normal.

I’m sharing a tutorial on how I did it, and I’ll warn you: there were moments when I thought it would have been easier to just call in a damn electrician, but then it became a quest to get this thing done by myself.

And I did it!

Here’s how to install sconce lighting without electricity:

Kristan Braziel LeBaron.jpg

Kristan (Braziel) LeBaron is an author, writer, marketing professional, and the voice of the blog, Bring Mommy A Martini. Mom to two hilarious boys: one in college and the other in middle school, she writes “real mom” stories on life with anxiety & depression, and choosing happiness as a daily practice. She lives outside of Austin with her two sons and two lavishly kept dogs.

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