Kellie's blog

My family has some of the best cooks. Ever. So, given this, you’d think that I’d want to preserve our top recipes so that I could prepare them in my own kitchen one day. And yet, right now they are all a jumbled mess of scraps of paper, notes written on napkins. They’re not only unusable like this, but they’re in no way preserving our family history of amazing cooks!

Several years ago, grandmother took the time to organize some of her favorites into a book and shared it with me and my three cousins. It’s in a tiny little binder and was a wonderful gift, but sadly doesn’t allow for updating with new favorites or additions from other family members.

Happy Mardi Gras from the Out of Office team! Got Mardi Gras bead overload? Check out this fun craft we posted last year that helps you reuse your Mardi Gras beads in a creative way. Our friends in New Orleans are sure to be enjoying some King Cake today – how do you celebrate Fat Tuesday?

I’ve either got good news or bad news, depending on your ability to make enviable projects using only your imagination and some pinking shears: March is “National Craft Month,” a time to celebrate those among us who know what pinking shears are (and are not afraid to use them).

Since I prefer to think of March as the time when we start getting hints of spring weather and honor Irish culture with St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d search the Web for projects from those who don’t need to search “what are pinking shears?”

It’s that time of the day. The time when you wander over to the office refrigerator to extract a bland-looking plastic container with an even more bland turkey sandwich trapped inside. To make matters worse, it’s Friday and you have had the same turkey sandwich every day this week. The temptation of chain-food restaurants lingers outside your office door, making it even harder to stick to a budget or diet plan. With our New Year’s resolutions in mind, I’ve got some helpful tips below to get you away from that burrito place down the street and back into saving money and eating right!

Love is in the air and Valentine’s Day parties are on the calendar. At least I hear they are. None for me this year, but I have fond memories of homeroom mothers hosting get-togethers in elementary school classrooms. There’s nothing quite like getting second graders hopped up on sugary treats at 3:00 in the afternoon before the buses come…

If you’re one of those homeroom mothers (or teachers) and need to give kids an outlet for their sugar-fueled energy, consider playing a Valentine-themed game with them. I have a few ideas below.

As a kid, I loved vegetables (I think I told you guys about my love of tomatoes and fresh fruits and veggies in this garden signs post already). But I know I’m not the norm - it can be tough to force those leafy greens on kids! And since we adults are still trying to keep those New Year’s resolutions for healthy eating, what better time to teach our kids and families about healthy eating? ...read more

 We finally made it to the end of 2010, and the holidays have me beat! But the new year has just begun and it’s time for the annual new year’s resolution tradition.

Last year I talked about my resolution idea to keep daily schedules more organized – keeping an agenda that tracked all my on-the-job and after-hours activities. For 2011, I’m sticking with that theme but turning my focus to an organized home.

We recently shared a new card design contest that FedEx Office is hosting, and the contest finalists have been announced! Remember that the winning design will be featured in our 2011 holiday card collection for purchase. Voting for the winner is now open, so let your voice be heard! Which design do you want to see in our 2011 selection of cards? You can vote on the finalists up to three times daily from through January 7, 2011.

Here at Out of Office, we aren’t eligible to compete, but we like to be creative and still wanted to have some fun. So we held our own card design contest in the office! We pulled out all the crafts from our supply chest and got to work. Without further ado, here they are, our very own holiday card designs – the good, the bad, and the ugly!

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I can remember making all kinds of Christmas tree ornaments when I was in elementary school. Some were better than others. Probably the worst was a star-shaped glue mold that had multi-colored glitter in it and blazing red yarn that keep unraveling. Eew. I think we finally parted with it a few short years after it made its way home.

I even had a friend whose mom dedicated a whole tree just to the ornaments that her kids brought home from school. While I’m sure she adored their handiwork, I suspect that she didn’t want their rudimentary creations competing with her more sophisticated tree in the formal living room that had all the decadent store-bought ornaments. She was clever that way. ...read more