My Suburban Kitchen

Delicious Recipes to Keep my Family of Four Happy and Full

I’m Dreaming Of…

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The countdown is on to my absolutely favorite time of year: Christmas!  I’m totally having dreams of jingling bells, the smell of pine and gathering around the Christmas tree.

Yep, I’m the girl who listens to Christmas music in July just to hold her over until the day after Thanksgiving comes around and the radio changes permanently through January 1.

{Source}



I love to go in stores and browse the aisles to see what is hot for the upcoming holiday season.  One my favorite stores to browse {and shop!} in, especially this time of year, is World Market.  They have so many awesome options for food, gorgeous holiday wrapping supplies and great gift ideas.

Right now, I am really focused on decorating the house for Christmas.  We just recently bought new furniture for our family room so I am changing up the typical decorations in that room too.  My main focus:  the mantle.
As usual, World Market did not disappoint with their beautiful decor options.

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The World Market website offers inspiration photos and insights into their various holiday collections. I was instantly in love with the Noel collection.

I can just see a mixture of the white glitter trees and the bottlebrush trees scattered on my mantle.

While not directly part of the holiday collections, I fell in love with Alana mirror because I could picture the gorgeous Noel wreath draped in front of it as the centerpiece to the mantle.

Glass vases filled with patterned ornaments, shiny silver pillar holders and a silver and gold leaf garland would totally complete the look I am searching for on the mantle this year.

Want another reason to visit World Market? Right now, World Market is running The Life of Pi Sweepstakes.

Life of Pi is the story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper’s son, who survives a disaster at sea and is thrown into an epic journey. While adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another a fearsome Bengal tiger. The movie opens in theaters November 21, 2012. You can watch the trailer for Life of Pi here.

The Life of Pi sweepstakes runs from 11/17 through 12/28.  It features a Grand Prize package including a dream trip for 2 to India and a $1,000 World Market Gift card.
There will also be 3 runner up prize winners that will each receive a $500 World Market gift card!
Bonus:  If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering.
You can also enter daily for more chances to win.
Enter the sweepstakes here or here.

Be sure to make World Market part of your Black Friday shopping too!  The first 100 customers to shop in-store on 11/23 (Black Friday) will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi ornament and a FREE Life of Pi movie ticket.
The first 100 customers to shop in-store on Saturday, 11/24 & Sunday, 11/25 will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi Tote Bag and a movie ticket.

Want to win the Life of Pi Tote Bag and Ornament before the store starts giving them away?  Well, you can right here!

In coordination with World Market, I am giving away a limited edition Life of Pi Tote and ornament to two lucky readers!  See below on how to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to stay connected with World Market via their website, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest!

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shannah
This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own. http://cmp.ly/3/KqtZiE.

© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A Not So New Fall Wreath

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Ok, my dear friends…I have a confession: I fell way behind on my craft plans {thanks to a certain house renovation project…ahem} and didn’t make a new wreath for fall/Thanksgiving. I know…it gives me the sads too.

Never fear: I’m bringing back a blast from the past and sharing the wreath I made last year for fall. It is, after all, what is living on my front door this year. {A bonus: I took a few more pictures of it with my slightly improved photography skills}

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Spaghetti Jar Vase

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Happy Thanksgiving week!  Can you believe that, in a few short days, we’ll be sitting down to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner?!  Time is certainly flying by this year.

I mentioned last week that, this year, I would be hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever.  It is a small crowd {just us and my parents} so I haven’t really done much decoration wise.  I was sitting in the dining room though and decided it needed just a little something extra besides our table decorations. So, I created a spaghetti jar vase..actually several to be exact.

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Survive Black Friday

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We go black Friday shopping every year.  I absolutely love preparing for it and then going out super early to try and pick up gifts for my family.  One of the most important parts of my black Friday shopping trip: the Black Friday survival kit.


My kit is made up of two parts: shopping lists/coupons and food.

I have a little felt bag that I keep all relevant coupons in.

I also create two lists: Store opening times and my shopping list.

I fill the food bag with stuff to keep hunger away for the hours I know I will be out shopping.  Last year, Mathlete joined me so I made sure I had stuff he would like too.  {See if you can pick which items are mine and which are his}

It all fits in my little thermal tote bag too which is great.

Do you go black Friday shopping? How do you prepare in advance?

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shannah
Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T.,  Makin’ You Crave Monday at Mrs. Happy Homemaker, Just  Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What’s in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, Made by You Mondays at Skip to My Lou,  Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House, Making the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill, Creative Mondays at Clairejustineoxox,  Pintastic Monday Link Party at Sarah Dawn Designs, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple,  Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff,  More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, Show Me What You Got at Our Delightful Home,  It’s Party Time at It’s So Very Cheri, DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff, Calling All Crafters Monday at All Things Fee, Cure for the Common Monday at Lines Across, Tuesday Confessional at Crafty Confessions,  To Do Tuesday at The Blackberry Vine, Lil Luna Link Party at Lil Luna, Tell Me Tuesday at Me and My Boys, Too Cute Tuesday at Funky Polka Dot Giraffe,  Tuesday Time Out at Reasons to Skip the Housework, Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff,  Uncommonly Yours Link Party at Uncommon Designs, Homemade by You at Pincushion Creations,  Craft and Tell at Cherished Bliss, Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings, One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons, Be Inspired at Elizebeth & Co., Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts,  Tasty Tuesday at Naptime Creations, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, the Tuesday Talent Show at Chef-N-Training, Open Call Tuesday at Salt Tree, Share It Linky Party at the Winthrop Chronicles. Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen,  Riverton Housewives Roundup at The Real Housewives of Riverton,. Sugar and Spice {Wednesday} at 733 Blog, From Dream to Reality at The DIY Dreamer, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Snap!, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything,  The Fun in Functional at Practically Functional, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts,  Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Inspiring Creativity at Dragonfly Designs, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways Wednesday at Frugally Sustainable, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Taking a Time Out Thursday at Mom On Time Out, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Link it Up Thursday at Seven Alive, Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff at Something Swanky, Thursdays are Your Days at 52 Mantels, Creative Thursday Link Party at Michelle’s Tasty Creations,  Weekend Wonders at Love and Laundry,  Look at Me, Live, Laugh Linky Thursday at Live, Laugh Rowe, Thing’s I’ve Done Thursday at Bear Rabbit Bear, Creative Juice Link Party at Momnivore’s Dilemma, Crafty Soiree at Yesterday on Tuesday, 20 Below Thursday at Christina’s Adventures, Creative Genius Party at The Creative Paige, Blog Stalking Thursday at The Crafty Blog Stalker, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, , Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, P’Inspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection, Taylor House Thursday at The Taylor House,  I’m Lovin It at Tidy Mom, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge,  Friday Happy Hour at Craft, Scappy Happy, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Freestyle Friday at Happy Hour Projects, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, Weekend Show Off Party at Ladybird Ln, Fancy This at Truly Lovely Blog, It’s a Hodgepodge Friday at It’s a Hodgepodge Life, Lovely Craft Weekend at Lovely Crafty Home, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, Shine on Fridays at One Artsy Mama, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party at Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Link Party at Lolly Jane Boutique, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Strut Yourself Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal,  Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.  

© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Feed Me Friday Blog Hop

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Before we get started with the Blog Hop we all love, I need to announce the new winner of the Clean Mama Printables prize.

Mandy Haynes, you are the new winner!

Please email me at justusfourpartners {at} gmail {dot} com to claim your prize!

And, speaking of giveaways, be sure to check out the two that are going on right now:
Mystery Box of Goodies
$50 Blurb.com Gift Card

Now, on to the hop…
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Welcome to Feed Me Friday Blog Hop, hosted by Nap Time is My Time, Great Contradictions and Just Us Four and Eco Baby Mama Drama!
Feed Me Friday is a Blog Hop to help you meet new bloggers and build your e-mail subscriptions.
Want to be a part of Feed Me Friday?

Just follow these simple rules:

– Add your blog link to the linky
– Subscribe by email and follow via Google+(or Linky Followers) to the four hostesses (Nap Time is My Time, Great Contradictions, Just Us Four and Eco Baby Mama Drama). Make sure to leave us a comment and we will return the favor.
– Visit as many blogs on the list as you can. If you like the blog subscribe to their email (feel free to follow on Google+ too, if you want)
– Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Feed Me Friday. Be sure to confirm your subscription! Subscribing back is not mandatory, but it is recommended. It is a great way to build blogging relationships.

Since this is an email subscription blog hop, your blog must have a place for people to subscribe to your email. If there isn’t an email subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky without warning.

Every Friday we will put up a new Feed Me Friday linky, so be sure to stop by and add your blog. Each week we will typically have a featured blogger, if you’d like to be our featured blogger next week, link up below. We’ll use Random.org to select one!

This Week’s Featured Blogger is…


In this journey called life I am trying to find a ray of sunshine in every situation, every step I take and in every storm.

Thanks so much for linking up with this this week. If you’re a new participant, please be sure to leave a comment below!

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© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A Fun Game Instead of Features

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No features today. I’m spending every extra moment I have with this

We are working on all the trim in the basement so we can start getting paint on the walls.

Instead of our regular features, I have a fun game that will win one of YOU a secret prize {Pinky promise that it is a good one though!}.  

Here’s how to play:
Go visit last week’s party and then come back here and leave me a comment with your favorite project that was linked up AND visit that person’s post and leave them a comment.

Some guidelines:
1) One comment per person please.
2) Your project should not be your own.
3) Please play fair. I will be checking to ensure you commented on the blog post you mention here as your favorite 🙂 {be sure you tell them you came over from this party so I can easily find it!}

You have until midnight on Monday night to do this. I’ll draw a winner on Tuesday and announce it here.

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shannah
  

© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Pictures into Books

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My kids are adorable. I’m not saying that to brag because of course I think they are adorable. I’m their mom after all. In fact, as their mom, I think they are so adorable that that I take about a billion pictures of them {up from only a million before I was a blogger!}…Pictures of important events right down to silly things like my son sitting on a table playing with tape.

Unlike when I was growing up and my parents were drowning in physical pictures of me, all of the pictures of my kids get stored on a handy dandy little hard drive. Besides seeing them rotating on the digital photo frame, they don’t get much attention.

To sort through some of that picture madness, each year I create a book filled with some of the pictures taken during that year. There is typically one book for each child. It is a great way to summarize the year in pictures.

I recently created a book for my daughter H to highlight her recent start in Kindergarten. I used Blurb this time around because they offered a ton of options for me when creating my book. Once my book was done, in addition to having the physical copy, I could also share it with my friends and family on Facebook, Twitter or even here at Just Us Four.

The software is super easy to use! I chose one of the templates from their Bookify Online program. It allowed me to easily use my pictures from Facebook and Instagram to create my book while still maintaining a professional look and layout.

I only added text to one or two of to my pages because most of the photos speak for themselves. 

I love how it turned out. Right now, it is living on top of our living room ottoman. I find H in there thumbing through the pages at least every other day.

With grandparents coming to visit soon for the holidays, I’m sure it will get lots of attention too. Guess I should probably hurry up and finish E’s book too so they can check them both out.

Now that you’ve seen my awesomesauce book, I know you are ready to click over to Blurb and create your own! Definitely go check them out BUT be sure to enter to win a $50 gift card to Blurb to create your own masterpiece RIGHT HERE!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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shannah
Blurb is a creative publishing platform that allows anyone to create, share and sell a professional quality book. Make a portfolio of your client work, an archive of your blog, a cook book of your favorite recipes, a photo book of your family pictures or a quick book of your instagram photos – the possibilities are limitless. It’s easy and quick to do – with a variety of software options you could complete your dream book in next to no time.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Blurb. The opinions and text are all mine.

© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.