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Guest Posts, The Good Life

Deck the Halls with My Neighbor, Sharon!

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Decorating for the holidays has just recently become of interest to me due to the fact that my almost six-year-old is completely enamored by everything Christmas. After attending our holiday Bunco party at my neighbor, Sharon’s, house, I was blown away by the creativity and care she put into every decoration. I knew I had to have her whip up some tips to share with the MDF readers.

Sharon, take it away!

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DECK THE WALLS, TABLES, TREES, WINDOWS, DOORS, BEDROOMS, BATHROOMS, AND MORE! THAT IS MY MOTTO!!  I just love decorating for Christmas, and it shows in every special touch in and around my home. If you are like me when you have a party, you want people talking about it for years to come and adding special decor is an easy way to make your party memorable. It can be intimidating knowing where to start, so I have put together some tips:

#1. Don’t expect do it all in one year! Decorating is expensive and when you have all the gifts and food to buy, the decorating often takes the back burner. When I first started, I added something new every year and those new additions were things I purchased after Christmas when it is all 50-70 % discounted.  I travel to Ohio for Christmas and discovered the Front Gate outlet store along my route.  I have found amazingly gorgeous garlands, wreaths, ornaments, candles, etc. sold with unbelievable discounts.  You can also find beautiful and unusual things at specialty stores or large department stores. Think ahead, and put some money aside to use for decorating next year.

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#2. I love to create homemade decor, so I buy wreaths and garlands that have varied evergreen, pine cones, magnolia leaves, berries. I then make my own bows, twinkle lights, and ornaments to customize to my house and my taste.  This helps them to be less expensive than those which someone else has decorated.  Purchase some floral wire and twist your creations on.
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#3. Bows, bows, and more bows! A lot of people are intimidated by bows.  They seem difficult at first, but they are easy-peasy once you get the knack. Purchase your ribbon at Costco or Sams and keep pipe cleaners on hand to twist them together and then onto your creation.  Find a friend or neighbor to teach you, or watch sone youtube videos.  Always puff up and refurbish bows each year after you have had them squished in a box.
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#4.  I decorate for every holiday so I re-use many of my trays, wooden boxes, sugar candle holders, wooden bread bowls, tins and large decorative pieces for each Holiday.  I empty their contents into a box or bag for that container and I keep it all together for that holiday the next year.
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#5.  Go to your local Christmas tree farms or Home Depot or Lowes and purchase greenery to use in your arrangments around the house.  Bring it home and soak in the bathtub for 24 hours to preserve. You can really add natural beauty to a space by adding fresh green elements.
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#6.  Make it glow! Incorporate little twinkle lights in all of your creations.  Many of the tiny stringed lights are on timers so it makes your life a little easier and all twinkly too!
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#7. When it starts getting scraggly and tired looking, THROW IT OUT!!  Get something new like this gorgeous set of silver candle holders which I found on sale!
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#8.  Take pictures each and every year! Do this so you can remember what you did last year and where everything goes when you drag all those boxes out.
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#9.  Make something unforgettable.  My “Coffee Tree” is something everyone loves and will talk about after they leave my house.
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#10.  Start collections, and add as the years go by.  My Mom has been giving my sister, brother and me each a Santa every year for as long as I can remember.  It is quite a conversation creation since I display it across my entire dining room table.  I also have an angel collection, a special ornament collection, a white house Christmas tree and a snow man collection.
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Finally, have fun with it! Start decorating early so you can enjoy all your hard work and be proud of how beautiful everyone thinks it is when they visit your home. It is truly worth all your time and effort, and will put you and your friends in the holiday spirit!

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Thank you so much, Sharon, for providing these helpful tips. Good luck, everyone and Happy Holidays! We’d love to see your holiday decor in our comments!

xo
Jaime and Sharon
December 11, 2016by Jaime Fox
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The Good Life

How To Plan The Perfect Trip to NOLA! DAY TWO

On Day Two, we met in the hotel lobby and headed to our Demo Class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. It was a fantastic experience that I highly recommend. The Chef, Big Kevin, was 6’9 and 410 lbs! (He told us!) He taught us how to prepare Shrimp and Artichoke Soup, Crawfish Etoufee Rice, and Pralines. And, the best part was we got to eat everything he made. He was very engaging and entertaining, and stayed after to hug us and sign our cookbooks.



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After the class, four of us headed to the Atlantis Spa for some pampering. I booked a massage and facial. It was wonderful and relaxing. I only wished I would have booked this on the last full day and not the first! All of the walking we did kind of cancelled out the massage.

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We had plans to have a picnic by the river in the early evening, but the rain made other plans. Instead we stopped by Central Grocery so I could get a famous Muffaletta. Yum. The rest of the girls wanted to eat at Jax Brewhouse. I split some brisket cheese fries with Jenny, and they were so good that they made up for the horrible odor in the place. The French Quarter is full of scents, and many of them are not very pleasant!

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After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get gussied up. I made everyone let me take a portrait of them out in the street, and they were super excited about that. From there, we went to the famous Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar. Somehow, we scored a front row table! We had a blast singing along and talking with the folks sitting around us. The Hurricanes were nice and strong too! Lori Brown flew in to NOLA that night and joined us around 10pm at the bar. After all of that excitement, we were nicely buzzed and sleepy so we headed back to the hotel. It was a great day from beginning to end.

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Stay tuned for Day Three…

December 6, 2016by Jaime Fox
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The Good Life

How To Plan The Perfect Trip to NOLA-DAY ONE


I have been waiting for the right time to share my photos of my trip to New Orleans in August. Honestly, I just wanted to take some time to fully digest it before even posting about it. It was one of the best trips of my life, mainly because I got to share it with seven of the most important women in my life. I am the consummate planner and I read every review possible before I created a complete itinerary for my friends. When you are traveling with eight people, it is essential to be organized and intentional with the plans. If not, you will spend a lot of time waiting on someone to make a decision. My friends were quite impressed by planning and it paid off in the end. Everyone agreed that it was a complete success.

I took a ton of photos which I’ll share them over five posts so I can give a good overview of the trip without overwhelming everyone. Here is a recap of Day One:

My friends and I arrived together in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon and were greeted at the Country Inn and Suites French Quarter. We immediately cozied up to the bar with our new favorite bartender, Ricardo.

The rest of the evening was spent in a progressive dining experience. We started at Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone for drinks and appetizers. Although we didn’t get a seat at the spinning bar (see second photo below of the bar in motion), we found seats at the back bar and listened to the jazz band while enjoying gorgeous cocktails. The highlight appetizer was the Crawfish Beignets. Wow, was it good!


Next, it was on to Sylvain which was recommended as one of the best restaurants in the Quarter. It was very dark in there, but had a cool vibe! We were all pretty happy with our meals, but Crystal picked the winner when she ordered the Beef Cheeks. A couple of the ladies ordered the scallops (picture below) and thought it was an excellent dish as well.




After that, we headed to Sucré New Orleans (French Quarter location) for sweet treats. The place was very charming and full of delectable treats. The staff was very entertaining. The guy that was helping me dropped my dessert on the floor, so he gave me another choice for free. It was heavenly! After that, we were thoroughly stuffed and headed back to the hotel.




On the way back, we stopped by one of the touristy junk shops and modeled some freaky masks for each other! Much laughter ensured.


Once we hit the hotel, we visited Ricardo again at the bar and then we hit the hay to prepare for a very full Day Two.

Check out tomorrow’s post to see our Day Two adventures!

November 9, 2016by Jaime Fox
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About Me

Hi I'm Jaime. Modern Day Fox is a place where we celebrate the multi-passionate people in this world who are making it happen. This is also a place for me to create content around the topics I am personally most passionate about – personal development, photography, fitness, food, image, and music. This is a space to inspire and to be inspired. It's a classroom to teach and to learn. It's a table to share and explore. Together, let's learn how to "outfox them all!"

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