by Pam | Oct 23, 2018 | Everyday Adventures, Relationships, travel
Just one more weekend of Halloween inspired fun left this month! As one of my favorite times of the year, this makes me a little sad, but there is still time to create your own Halloween themed everyday adventure! If you are looking for something in the Indianapolis area, check out ZooBoo at the Indianapolis Zoo. When the kids were younger, I always had a family membership to the zoo. It was a great option for a fun morning or afternoon with the kids. Even if the weather isn’t the best, some of the most interesting exhibits at the zoo (pet a shark anyone?) are indoors, so it is definitely a year-round option. One event we got to every year was ZooBoo. The kids loved the trick-or-treating, I loved being outside and we all loved watching the animals. However, as sports started taking over our lives, we have missed the last few years of ZooBoo. Each year, I’d try to fit in a visit and it just didn’t happen. This year we finally made it back! I couldn’t believe how much ZooBoo has grown in the past few years. The old standbys were there – the pumpkin bowling, trick or treating on the plains and the carousel riding backward, but we also found some fun new additions. Check out the mirror maze – I loved that the employee working held each group back a bit so we weren’t just following the person in front of us. Made for a much better experience. The section of the zoo where most of the activities were held is much fancier than the white...
by Pam | Oct 19, 2018 | Everyday Adventures, Food, moms, parenting, Relaxation, restaurant, travel
I have to admit that even though I’ve lived in our current area for over twenty years, and driven through Kokomo dozens of times, I’ve never stopped to explore this charming Indiana town that’s only 30 minutes from my home. Thank goodness I finally came to my senses and we decided to check it out. Kokomo, Indiana has some wonderful adventures to offer! We started our day in Kokomo with a tour of the Kokomo Opalescent Glass Factory. This tour was phenomenal. Kokomo Opalescent Glass is 1 of only 4 factories left in the US that specialize in art glass. They are the oldest having begun operation in 1888 – that makes them 130 years old this November. During the tour, we got to walk through the entire factory and learn the process of making art glass from start to finish. I’ve never been on a factory tour where we were able to get so close to the action. Our first stop was the ovens where they melt the glass – look at this! These ovens last about 25 years and run continuously at over 2000 degrees. Needless to say, it was HOT in this room. We got to watch the employees running the molten glass to a machine where another employee mixed it and pushed it through to be flattened. Then it goes through a cooling process and you’ll end up with a beautiful sheet of glass. It was really amazing. Here’s a short clip where you can see a tiny bit of how it’s done: After watching that, we walked through the rest of the factory including...
by Pam | Sep 27, 2018 | Everyday Adventures, parenting, Relationships, Relaxation, travel
Fall is upon us, which means it’s time to find a fall festival! There are easily a dozen festivals around the state every weekend. Which means there is always something fun to do. If we can’t get away for a full weekend, spending a few hours at a festival can really feel like a little getaway. We have our favorites of course that we try to get to each year, but it’s also fun to find new ones. Although I’ll share in this post a little more about how to find festivals, I have to admit I love it when we stumble across one – especially when traveling – so fun! However, if you have limited time, you can’t just assume you’ll find something. You need to know what’s out there. Here are some tips: Use the visitors’ bureau website. There is almost always an event calendar so click on that, pick the dates you are free and see what’s happening. I always do this while traveling too – you never know what might be going on while you are vacationing. Request a brochure. Many states have guides that specifically list festivals by season. Indiana has an amazing one that shares all the festivals throughout the entire state by month for the full year. I keep a copy on my desk and on Thursday or Friday morning I’ll thumb through it and see what’s nearby. Ask around. Ask your friends, families, and co-workers if they know of any fun festivals. They might not know of an upcoming one, but they probably have a favorite or two, so you can...
by Pam | Aug 20, 2018 | Essential oils, Everyday Adventures, healthy tips, moms, natural cleaners, Organization
Woo hoo! It’s the final week in our clean sweep. I hope you are feeling great about how your house is looking. I know mine is better than when I started, and that’s the goal, right? The final week will help you REALLY enjoy your newly decluttered and optimized household. All you need for supplies are some green cleaning products. Yep, you guessed it, we are cleaning the house top to bottom. I mean a deep clean. Since you’ve decluttered, you’ve organized and you’ve gotten rid of what you don’t love and use, it should be much easier than normal. Feel free to clean one room a day or just dedicate half a day or so to do the whole thing – I’ll leave that choice up to you. If you’ve never used green products before, it can be as simple as making your own or purchasing a few bottles on a site like Grove. Here’s a post I did a few years ago about making your own cleaners – it’s affordable and easy (and they work!). Once you’ve finished cleaning, try diffusing some essential oils for a fresh scent (I’m really loving a mix of Lavender, Orange, and Peppermint right now), sit down and enjoy your home! How was this series? Did it help you get your house in order? I encourage you to go through this process a few times a year – it gets quicker and easier each time. Other posts in this series: Clean Sweep – Week One Clean Sweep – Week Two *This post contains affiliate links*...
by Pam | Aug 6, 2018 | Everyday Adventures, Goals, healthy tips, moms, Organization, parenting, Relaxation
August is the one month of the year we rarely have any exciting trips planned. As my kids are on a balanced calendar, school starts August 1st, so we are in the midst of getting back on a regular schedule. Homework is beginning, sports are heating up – it’s just not a good time to travel. I do find it IS a good time to do a clean sweep of the house. A clutter-free and clean house means that if a fun opportunity comes along, we can take off without any guilt. It also means less time is spent cleaning, which means more free time can be spent planning our next vacation! If I can’t take a trip, at least I can be planning one! For the next three weeks, I’ll take you through a fantastic clean sweep process. It’s based heavily off of Lisa Bryne’s whole house sweep. Week one is all about assessing where you are, clearing out the old and planning for the new. I like to do one or two rooms of the house each day – so it takes me about a week to get through this process. Monday I start with the bedrooms; Tuesday is the living area; Wednesday is the bathrooms; Thursday is the kitchen, and Friday is my office and the laundry room. One room at a time feels less stressful and it typically takes less than an hour to accomplish. Ready to begin? Grab a notebook, a pencil, a trash bag and a laundry basket. Walk into the room(s) you are working on and immediately put any trash in the...
