Kellie's blog

One of my most-dreaded household tasks (besides cleaning bathrooms, of course) is the weekly trip to the grocery store. It feels like it takes forever to plan the meals and prepare the list. Then I inevitably forget at least one item that we needed and find myself headed back to the store in just a few short days. Sigh. 

As many of our regular readers know,  my husband and I are expecting a baby later this year.   It’s a special time, and I don’t want to forget any of it later – the excitement, anticipation, and even the not-so-pleasant things like cravings for cheeseburgers. I decided to make a pregnancy journal to record all the details.   ...read more

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New Confetti Containers Video.mp4

Who wants to serve party-goers popcorn out of ordinary bowls? Or give out confetti at parties or weddings in those messy tissue-paper rolls tied at both ends with ribbon? While browsing at StyleMePretty, I recently ran across a novel idea for holding all sorts of goodies in a much more stylish way – funnels. Easy, do-it-yourself, decorative paper funnels or cones. The idea is so simple that it’s genius, and so charming that it’s hard to ignore.  

I love lists! Top ten lists, best-dressed lists, and more. To-do lists? Well, they’re not so much fun. (Blogger Leah likes them – she’s sharing her reasons why later this month.) However, our Out of Office blog team recently saw some adorable summer to-do lists for kids. They include things like building forts, having a water balloon fight, going to the beach…things every kid should do in the hot summer months to have fun and stave off boredom.

The bloggers behind We Are the Champions and eighteen 25 both made delightful versions of this. Since I’m past the days of fort-building and water ballooning fighting, I got to thinking about other ways I could use the lists. Solution: A decorative piece for my kitchen with a list of all the local restaurants my husband and I want to try! ...read more

Our Out of Office blog has been around for about a year and a half now – time really flies! But in all that time (and all those posts!) we realize that we’ve never really gotten the chance to sit down and tell our readers a little more about ourselves. You know, like you would chat with new friends over coffee. So in our attempt to translate that “get to know you” experience to the digital world, this is the first in a mini-series of posts that will let you get to know us a bit better. And if you have a “Coffee with the Bloggers” question you’d like answered, just leave it in the comments section below!   ...read more

It’s May, which means we’re officially in “National Moving Month” – a nod to the start of the “moving season” in the U.S. when approximately 35 million Americans pack it all up and move cross-town or even cross-country. Bet you didn’t even know there was a National Moving Month!

The last time I moved, we hired movers to help us pack up and get everything to the new house. It was nice, for sure, but every move before that was a total DIY project. The packing process usually began with driving all over town to beg grocery stores for their empty produce boxes. I thought I was getting a great deal, until the already-worn boxes collapsed on me mid-move. Since then, I’ve learned that it’s much better to invest in some quality, sturdy boxes to tote around your valuables. ...read more

Quick – without looking at a calendar do you know when Mother’s Day is? If you’re like more than half of Americans polled in a recent survey from FedEx and FedEx Office, the answer is NO! That’s likely because Mother’s Day is incredibly early this year – falling on the earliest possible date for the holiday, May 8. So will you be ready?

The majority of Americans polled in our April survey said they planned to give a personalized Mother’s Day gift this year, customizing their present in some way to mirror her tastes and styles. We here at Out of Office are glad to hear it, because we’re all about getting creative in thoughtful or unexpected ways. 

For those readers out there who haven’t gotten started on their Mother’s Day shopping list, it’s not too late to take the personalized route. A few ideas from the Out of Office crew:

…bridal showers that is! With wedding season right around the corner, the invitations are starting to pile in for spring and summer weddings, as well as the accompanying bridal showers and other pre-wedding celebrations.

Here at Out of Office, we’re kicking off the month of April with a month-long series of celebrations – anniversaries, retirement parties, baby showers, weddings and more. Spring has sprung and we feel like partying! I’m first up in the queue and today I’m sharing anniversary gift ideas.

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s almost been a full year, but I will be celebrating my first anniversary this April (you can read one of my wedding-related posts from last year here). I know the traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper – and because I’m a pretty traditional person it seemed natural that I’d find a special paper gift for my husband.