3 Quick Nanny Tips

If I'm not blogging, you can find me at my day job as a nanny. I take care of a 5 (and three quarters, very important, you know) year old and her baby sister. I recently celebrated my 5th anniversary of working for them! And over the years of being a nanny, I have figured out a few tricks. Here are 3 of them:

1: 1-2-3-Recipes

Kids LOVE to help you. But they are super impatient and have short attention spans. Knock out all 3 of these by using 1-2-3 recipes--these are recipes that have 3 ingredients or fewer. Think banana+egg=pancakes, frozen banana+blender=ice cream, and cake/cupcake/etc in a mug. Kids will learn skills such as teamwork, leadership, patience, and following directions, just to name a few. And if they get messy, that's part of the fun.

2: Shout^® Wipe & Go For The New Generation of Stains

Kids are messy, messy, messy (and adorable) humans beings. One of my jobs is to help with the girls' laundry. Kid clothes can be pricey, given how fast they grow, so you want them to look nice and last--a must if the clothes will be passed down to siblings.

Growing up, we had clothing stains like grass, ketchup, or clay. But today, it is totally different. Kids of this generation have those too, but they also have new types of stains like organic baby food (purple carrots with ancient grains anyone?), pressed juices, and kale everything. Luckily, I am a big believer in Shout® to help me out. Shout® is a trusted stain remover and is the only brand I rely on to pre-treat stains and treat stains on the go. The stains disappear and I feel confident I can handle any new stain that comes my way. When I'm out and about with the kids, I keep a stash of Shout® Wipe & Go wipes in my nanny bag.

3: Scrubs

Kids, especially babies, have accidents. The Shout^® Wipes are excellent for that. And they somehow always seem to have accidents ON YOU. This is where a pair of scrubs (like you'd see at a doctor's office) come in. Get a cheap pair and keep them in your car for such occasions.  I swear by this tip. Put on your scrubs, pre-treat your clothes with Shout® and throw them in the wash. You do not want to wear wet or soiled clothes for the rest of your work day. Trust me on this one. Shout^® gives kids the freedom to have fun and get messy, and it gives parents peace of mind knowing that stains will be gone with a few sprays. 

Visit Shout.com and check out Shout® on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more information! #ShoutItOut

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

J.Jill at Avalon (Plus Giveaway!)

Last week I had the privilege to check out the J.Jill store and view their November collection at the new Avalon shopping center just outside of Atlanta. And y'all let me you--this place is gorgeous. But let me back up a bit--have you heard of J.Jill? They're a clothing store for all women that's not exclusive to Atlanta: J.Jill is for all women. They have clothing, accessories, and footwear, and view fashion with a relaxed approach to style.

The design concept of this new J.Jill store is simple: to uncomplicate the lives of women by delighting their sense of personal style, inspiring confidence, and thoughtfully guiding their shopping experience.

I absolutely love that. 

I'm crazy busy and leave shopping for clothes at the bottom of my to-do list, because it's something I don't enjoy doing, believe it or not. I know a lot of you feel that way too. But my experience at shopping at J.Jill has changed that.  It was so easy, with a welcoming, engaging staff. I wasn't stressed, I didn't feel pressured...and it felt so personalized.

I love how to store is easily laid out--the mannequins have the styles on and the table with those items is right in front of you--no searching around. Again, the staff is super helpful, and the dressing room features those basic items that you need to style on with the pieces you choose (think basics, like button up white shirt, black skirt, tights, etc).

I also love how each store works with a different charity. To celebrate the opening, J.Jill will be making donations to their Alpharetta-based Compassion Fund Partner: Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency. When I visited the store, I got to learn more about this and think it's a wonderful, helpful idea, just like the J.Jill philosophy. Programs like these focus on skills, education, and transitional means to help disadvantaged and homeless women to become self-sufficient.

But let's go back to the clothes--J.Jill features styles that are comfortable and that are made for real life. like this cozy and stylish sweater and tights. It's not often that I can find clothes that work for my day job as a nanny--where I run after two little girls (ages 5 and 8 months) for around 12 hours a day. And J.Jill has clothes that can carry me through blogging events I might have at night, or for meeting up with friends. There is truly something for all women, including petites, tall, and women's sizes (available online).

Check out J.Jill on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

What items would you like to try from J.Jill? Cozy sweaters? Stylish tights? Let me know in the comments section below for a chance to win a $100 J.Jill gift card!

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. 
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 11/21/2014 – 11/30/2014.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Look Good Feel Better

It's an unfortunate statistic that we probably know at least one person affected with breast cancer. For me, it was my beloved Great Granny Sugar, who passed away this year at 95 (not from breast cancer). She was diagnosed at 80 and was a survivor of breast cancer. Every year since then, I try to contribute in some way. So naturally, I was very excited to hear about Look Good Feel Better--check it out:
Look Good Feel Better workshops help people with cancer to deal with the devastating outward side effects of their treatment: helping them to regain their self-confidence and focus their energy not on being a cancer patient, but on becoming a cancer survivor. They've been around for 23 years and the workshops are free, available in all 50 states! What a wonderful resource! 
Here's how you can help:
If you're like me, you want to support the cause, so check out just a few of these beauty promotions for Breast Cancer Awareness Month affiliated with LGFB:

OUR MISSION: Look Good Feel Better is dedicated to improving the self-esteem and quality of life of people undergoing treatment for cancer. It is our aim to improve their self-image and appearance through complimentary group, individual, and self-help beauty sessions that create a sense of support, confidence, courage, and community.

#spon: I'm required to disclose a relationship between our site and LGFB . This could include the LGFB  providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.

 

You Gotta Check Out: CAUSETEE.ORG

One of my goals for this year is to introduce to you a charitable cause every month. For July, I just had to tell you about www.causetee.org. I hope you'll love them too!

W H O ?
There are SO MANY charities that don't get the funding they deserve. CauseTee.org seeks to change that in a unique way.

H O W ?

• CauseTee has an artist-designed limited-edition CauseTee designed to promote the charity's message.
• Every two weeks they partner with a new charity and artist to make the shirts.
• $8 from every shirt sold gets donated to the featured charity so that they can focus on their mission and not fundraising.

C H A R I T Y  I N F O
For the next two weeks, purchase a shirt and you'll support the S.O.U.L. Foundation. Their goal is to help Ugandans with the Get a Goat, Give a Goat Program. They give Ugandans the tools they need to thrive on their own. For every two shirts sold, a goat is given to a family in need.


S H I R T S
Check out the Mandala design, available for two weeks only! Cute, right? And there's one for guys as well!

$22

Check out additional styles/colors @ causetee.org

Hurry, time's running out...

Spring Cleaning: Makeup & Beauty Products

My resolution this month is to not buy beauty products, and I've spent the past couple of months trying to use up many of them. I thought I'd share my Spring Cleaning methods in the hopes it'll help you too! So before you toss your makeup, read on:

D A M A G E D or E X P I R E D

• This is the obvious first thing to do--are the products damaged? Is it time to upgrade that hair tool? 
• Or expired? I use this guide from Allure magazine to tossing makeup.

 R E T U R N or E X C H A N G E

• Many recently used products can be returned to the store--be sure to have the receipt and check the store's policy (Sephora, drugstores, Ulta, allow returns, for example).
• Can't return for a refund? Try seeing if the store will exchange.

S E L L or S W A P

• This is another obvious idea, but trying selling gently used products online, perhaps via Ebay or your blog. 
• I would advise against selling/swapping things that promote bacteria, like mascara or products you touch with your fingers, like facial cream in a jar. 
• Be honest with the condition of the products. Sanitize brushes and cut off the tip of lipsticks.
• Swap with friends, family, other bloggers your makeup or hair products.
• Have a Product Swap Party!

R E U S E

• Can you reuse the products in some way? Check out just a few ideas below:
• For lipstick shades that don't look as great as hoped, try using concealer to lighten them or try mixing lipsticks. Use the lipstick as a blush instead.
• Too many or broken chapsticks? Reuse them to make lip plumpers or solid perfume.
• Take powder that's too dark and use as a bronzer.
• Expired sunscreen or lotion can be used to tame flyaways or fight frizz in a pinch.
• Use that last bit of lotion or conditioner as shaving cream.

G I V E  A W A Y or D O N A T E

• While friends and family are natural choices to give products to, there are other options.
• Donate products to charity--I've done this with old/outdated curling/flat irons, etc.
• This next idea is my favorite: donate products to a women's shelter. I saw this on a news story a few years ago and it always stuck with me/
• Google your city + women's shelter to find out if they take makeup/beauty donations. Almost all take clothing.
• Many of these women are leaving abusive situations with just the clothes on their back. They need clothes, makeup, polish, hair products and tools, not just to make themselves feel beautiful, or to rebuild a life, but for job interviews too.
• Again, follow the common sense/cleaniness rules. Clean and sanitize when possible. Don't donate if nearly empty.

How do you do Spring Cleaning for makeup & beauty products?

How You Can Help Japan

Buy this poster.

With the disaster that occurred in Japan, my immediate response was to help. But with so many options, I felt overwhelmed. Which organization could I trust? What percentage of my donation would actually go to help Japan (unlike Bono's charity where only 1% is used)? What if I don't have money to donate? Hopefully I can answer some of these questions. Here are links for some organizations you might've not heard of and some familiar ones:

• Red Cross You can text your donations as well
• Living Social is matching your $5 donation
• Salvation Army Tshirt $20 and 100% goes to help
• For Japan With Love
• International Medical Corp
• Save the Children
• Ark (to help animals in Japan)
• Charter, Verizon, AT&T are offering free calls to Japan
• Google Person Finder (I used this!)
• How To Host a Mobile Fundraiser
• Can't afford to donate? Donate your time to your local Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other similar organizations to help with supplies.
• Hope Letters allows you to write letters of encouragement, among other things, to Japan.