Announcing: Family Fun in the City.com!

So Heather and I have been busy this summer, dreaming up ways we can work together. Today I’m excited to announce the debut of  FamilyFunintheCity.com - a website dedicated to what to do around the circle city with your family (hence, the title).

Between the two of us, we have five kids, ranging in age from preschool through to junior high. We know the ins and the outs of places around town, and can’t wait to post our favorite things to do.

To start things off, I posted our  trip to Conner Prairie’s annual Headless Horseman event. Check out what we did, and then make plans to go yourself! The Headless Horseman will be scaring at Conner Prairie this weekend, and next weekend (closing night is Oct 29th).

Also this week- Heather gives us a tour of Vampire Vacation, this year’s haunted house at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and a review of Beauty and the Beast.

Know of something cool happening in Indy that we should cover? Please let us know!

Share

Wendy’s is SO Nice, Mom!

My daughter knows about Gotchababy.com. Actually, she likes to say my domain name like assorted commercial jingles, which is pretty funny. She loves helping me open  assorted blog-related  packages as they arrive, and checking out the contents with me.

What’s sweet is that she doesn’t understand the business side of these packages, so sometimes our conversations go like this:

“Oh look, there’s a FedEx bag!”

“Do you want to help me open it?”

“Oh yes.”

“Let’s see what we have.”

“Oh look Mommy! It’s cards, and a keychain, and oh, this says FREE BURGER. Mommy, who sent us this?”

“Wendy’s did, because they’d us to try their new cheeseburgers.”

“Wendy’s is SO NICE, Mom!”

For the record, Wendy’s really is nice. I love what they do, both with cheeseburgers and the Dave Thomas Foundation.

And OMG, the cheeseburgers. They’ve been reconstructed, and they’re YUMMY. My mom and I tried them out last weekend (the kids opted for chicken, even though they both had cheeseburger tattoos on their arms), and they were delicious. Substantial bun, juicy burger, fresh toppings. With this remake, the Wendy’s basic cheeseburger is more like a speciality burger. And unlike some other chains, this burger is sized so you eat one and you’re DONE. My mom and I both got a small fry with our meal and neither one of us could finish them. SO YUMMY.

But back to the FedEx bag- I’m wondering though, if next time, they’ll just contact Mam directly. I was walking near her in the hallway at school the other day (I was volunteering, she was going to class, and she was not acknowledging my existence) when she started her pitch:

“Hi Will!”

“Hi MaM!”

“I have a new keychain.”

“Cool.”

“It’s a cheeseburger. It’s from Wendy’s.”

And the future generation of bloggers has been born.

 

Disclosure- I was sent a bag of Wendy’s goodies, coupons and a gift card in exchange for my honest review. I chose to eat and sing the burger’s virtues on my own free will. And MaM raved about Wendy’s all on her own, with no prodding from me whatsoever. 

 

Share

Contain Indy

If you live in Indy, you may have heard- the Container Store is finally here! If you’ve never been to one, you might not know why this is a big deal. If you’re familiar, well, then, you aren’t reading right now, you’re shopping.

Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with some of my favorite people and tour the Container Store, all 25,000 sq ft. That evening, I attended the Preview Party, complete with live band, dance floor and 2000 of the Container Stores biggest fans.  It was a lot of fun, really overwhelming, and really left me wanting to reorganize my entire house. October 6, 2011 will forever be known as “Container Store Day” in my book.

The Container Store generously sent me home with a bag swag and I thought it would be fun to take some before and after pictures to demonstrate how useful their products really can be.

Exhibit A: The kids’ bathroom caddy. Ack.

Before: The basket actually held everything from toothpaste to a measuring tape, to hair ties.

Before
After: This Turbo Organizer has a spot for exactly everything that actually needs to live in that space nothing more, nothing less. I want one for our other two bathrooms now!
After
Exhibit B: Organizing the family calendar
Before: The back of my kitchen door is magnetic, so I use a couple of magnetic clips to hold papers I’ll need for the week. I only have two clips.

Every time I need a paper, everything else held by the clip falls to the floor!

After: The Container Store sent me home with four mega-magnets with hooks. Now there’s a magnet for coupons, tickets, school and etc. I’m still using the clips as well, and I’m not sure that it looks better, but things are a LOT easier to find!

Sorting the papers I need each each week by topic make things easier.

There are more goodies to put to work- I think the FlipFold  might have to be it’s own post. I find it oddly relaxing to fold my shirts like they do at the Gap.

What do you need help Containing? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure the Container Store Indy will have an answer for you!

(Top photo courtesy of Angie Six, local blogger and Container Store enthusiast!)

Share