Month: June 2013

Little Website Construction

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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This photo has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but it’s humorous.

I’m trying a little coding, a bit html work and suffering from a week-long headache. But in the end it will be worth it because I have my own domain! And I’m pretty freakin’ pumped!

Welcome to merelynne.com, the new home for my personal lifestyle blog and the MereLynneConcepts Etsy connection.

After about three hours of trying to import my old merelynneconcepts.wordpress.com blog into the new merelynne.com domain, I finally was successful! Then the next night I spent about an hour to get a personalized email integrated and connected to my gmail.  This explains my week-long headache, right?

So, if you have any questions, comments on the new blog, or would like to tell me just how dumb I am for taking that long to get this all figured please hit me up at meredith@merelynne.com. I’d like to make sure it really works hear from you, unless you’re going to insult me then I will read it, but won’t love it.

Now, all I ask is that you hold on and deal with the fact that I will be working on the design. I’m in the process of finding someone that won’t cost me an entire month’s wages is affordably priced to lend me a hand.

Cheers!

Planting Lavender and Mint

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

repel flies

Nothing better than adding a little bit of greenery around the back patio.  J and I took a trip to the local nursery and found some plants to add to our yard.

First, lavender, which is probably some of my favorite.  Then we added some mint.  After some research we found that mint was great to repel insects because of the odor it puts off.

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Of course these plants didn’t seem to be too time consuming for me.  Both needs to be watered every other day and the plants crave sunshine, which we have ample amounts of.

Here’s what you need:

1) planters – I used one for each plant, a 12″ for lavender and 8″ for the mint.  You want the mint to have more of a shallow pot because of their roots.
2) gravel
3) potting soil
4) gloves

The project took about 30 minutes to finish.

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First, fill the bottom portion of each pot with gravel. This addition will help with drainage.

plants

That’s it. Pretty simple and makes a great addition to any backyard. I can’t wait to keep adding plants and flowers to make our yard a little more homier.

Cheers!

Perfect Summer Evening

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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Sometimes you have just a perfect evening. Earlier this week J and I had one of those evenings. We grilled, sat outside on our new patio set and played with the dogs. I think Maggie is used to me taking pictures of her…lick maggie maggieandtiny Tiny doesn’t sit still long enough for too many pictures, but little Maggie doesn’t mind a photo or two …or three.

Here’s to more of these perfect evenings.

Cheers!

How to Naturally Repel Flies

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Flies. I hate them.  Hate. Hate. Hate them.  With summer here and a nice patio that we are wanting to use, J and I have made it our mission to rid our backyard of flies.  We have a new grill and lovely patio set that are calling our names.

So, after some research we have come up with a few ways to repel flies and will document these how-tos.

The first, which is probably the simplest one to do is the Water Bag with Pennies.

You only need three things:

1) Baggie with zipped closure
2) Water
3) Pennies

pennybag pennybag2Fill the bag half-way with water, add the pennies and then seal.  We hung ours in an area where the sunlight would reach.  It is said that the light reflection from the water and pennies bother flies and they avoid the area.

We’ll keep you updated on whether this tactic makes a difference.  We are going to add a few more tactics under our belts too, so be on the look out for those.

Cheers!

Summer To-Do List

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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It’s official. Summer is here. The humidity is up and my allergies are finally starting to subside, a little. I put together a little list of fun things that I’d love to do in these next few months. What do you have on your to-do list?

1) Attend a Cardinals Baseball game
2) Go to the lake as much as possible
3) Grill majority of our meals
4) Learn to make a new summer cocktail, preferably with raspberries.
5) Work more on our wedding plans (getting those invites addressed without pulling out my hair)
6) Commit to Crossfit at least 3x a week (fingers crossed)
7) Spend time with J’s family and my family
8) Teach Tiny a few new tricks
9) Start saving for my Bachelorette party(!!!) in NOLA.
10) Go to Founder’s Park to watch a movie

Cheers to a great Summer!

How to Remove Pet Odor from Area Rugs

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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Alright, I have two dogs and okay, my area rug in the family room started smelling a bit.

It happens when you have a puppy that is learning how to be house-broken.  Not to mention this said puppy is absolutely terrified of people and has a problem holding it in when she gets scared.  It’s hard to be upset about being scared, but I can be upset that my brand new, gorgeous rug was starting to smell.

Finally, after buying carpet cleaner after carpet cleaner I learned of this neat little trick that worked perfectly.  So, I thought that I would pass it on to you.

What you’ll need:

1) The rug you want to clean
2) An area outside to layout the rug in the sunlight
3) Spray bottle
4) White Vinegar
5) Water
6) Hose
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First, you want to soak your rug with the hose.  I like to use a good amount of water pressure to make sure to break up any dirt.
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Second, spray down the rug with your vinegar solution (1 part vinegar and 3 parts water)

Third, let dry in the sun.  I think the heat from the sun really helped get rid of the smell.

Voila!  Easy, simple and completely doable.  The rug is as good as knew and our house smells wonderful.

Cheers!

Knowing When You Have The One Worth Fighting With

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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Want to know a secret?  I’ll let you in to a little personal secret of mine pertaining to my past relationships.  You see, back in high school and undergrad of college most of my friends thought of me as this “2 week girl.”  No, not because my relationships would only last 2 weeks, but because I couldn’t stand having a disagreement with someone.  I just never saw the need to fight or not get along.  It wasn’t really important to me to fight.  I thought, why waste your time?

So, that’s where my “2 week girl” came into play.  You can bet that after an argument that I just didn’t see the importance of the guy and me would be over in about 2 weeks.

I promise that I am not this cold-hearted, stone-faced woman.  I really do have a heart and I would bend over backwards to help my partner out.  I would be there for them, whether if it was helping study, a family crisis, etc.  I was there.  I just did not see the need to fight.  Why?

Then it all changed.  One night, I met J and he changed my world.  We fell fast for one another.  We decided early on that it would be the two of us.  The two of us against the world and we would be together.

us J

It hit me one day – J was worth fighting with.  We may not always agree on every topic.  We frustrate each other.  Our personalities are not identical.  I am much more reserved and J is very outgoing.  I am a homebody and J is happy out with people.

We also make each other happy, laugh, and work harder at being a better person.  J pushes me to go after my dreams.  I do not think I would have been as passionate about MereLynneConcepts on Etsy without him.  We are there to listen to one another and help each other.

As women (well most women) we watch these romantic comedies, you know – the cliché ones.   The movies where at the very end, right before the credits roll the two characters embrace and say something like, “I’d rather fight with you then make love to anyone else.”  Then there is an extremely long and passionate kiss.

Super unrealistic.

J and I may get into it time from time, but he is worth every hard discussion, every time I have to admit I’m wrong – J is worth it all. We’ve had to learn how each other react to a fight or disagreement.  Not just learning but compromising our typical actions for the one we love.

I may not have the romantic comedy ending, but I do have the person that makes my soul instantly melt. I found the person that I will face the world with, as a team.  For that I am grateful.

Will you be my bridesmaid?

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

bridesmaidgift

I saw a pin on Pinterest awhile back and it linked to lauren.david.style’s blog here.  I fell in love with the idea of packaging all the details and knick-knacks about the wedding into a nice box to give to my bridesmaids.

I had already asked the fabulous ladies to be my bridesmaids and now it was time to get them some info about J and I’s big day.

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I decided early on that it was not worth the stress to find a dress that fit in with the style of the wedding that made each girl feel beautiful.  Each of my bridesmaids are their own woman and knows what fits them the best.  I have given them some guidelines and details of what our style is so that they can find a dress that fits them and their budget.

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I included information about:

the big day – when, where, what time, and paint chips to see the colors.

my bridesmaids – a little introduction about each of my girls and how they came to be such a large, important part of my life.

their dress and accessories – navy blue, knee-length dress with eggplant (plum) heels or wedges.

their role – to feel beautiful, to have fun, and know that I am truly grateful for them standing with me on my day.

Cheers!

M.I.A.

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

I feel as if I’ve been M.I.A. for the past few days. I haven’t felt like doing anything. My poor house is a mess, the dogs need baths, and my little ole blog has been neglected.

Where have I spending my time?

Well for starters I’ve been attempting to do Crossfit 3x a week… it’s slowly getting there. At least I can wake up the day after and not fall out of bed because my legs aren’t there to catch me.

#perfectevening #springfieldcardinals #springfieldmo

Next, we went to a Springfield Cardinals game last week.  J had won a contest at work and got free tickets to the Budweiser suite.  Of course we could not pass up a night of Cardinals baseball, beer, and stadium hot dogs.

Then I’ve been adding prints to the MereLynne Etsy shop. If you haven’t seen the new listings, please check it out.  Plus, learning the ins and outs of Etsy has been a bit challenging for me.  Promoting my pieces, my site, and my Facebook page are a bit time consuming.

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Not your average pillow #dog #doglove #sleepypup #goodmorning

King of the mountain. #dog #doglove #cardinals

Finally, I’ve been spending some quality time with J and the pups.  I’m sure they appreciate that the quality time does not involve water and soap, but they can’t escape that for long.  Honestly, I should have cleaned around the house this past weekend.   I really, really should have.  But the couch looked some comfortable and there was a really good movie on all day… so alas I did not clean.

I’m pretty excited because my parents are coming for a visit this weekend.  My Dad hasn’t seen our new place yet.  Which means two things: 1) our house has to spotless before 8pm on Thursday night 2) we need to go grocery shopping so that it appears we have food and are doing just fine.

You know, the basics before any parent comes to visit.  Don’t look like a slob and pretend that you have enough food to feed yourselves.

It’s going to be a pretty busy week and I’m glad that I took the weekend to prepare for it.  See, I’m still trying to convince myself that it was a good thing I was lazy this weekend.

Cheers!

4 Tips for Healthy Eating

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

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In the past 3 years I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about eating healthy. I have my good days. I have my bad days. Just like the majority of us out there.

A few items I’ve learned about eating healthy.

1) You must be realistic with yourself. If you love chocolate (like I do) or salty foods (like J does) then telling yourself you will never eat a kit-kat again is just plain pointless.

2) Listen to your cravings. When I crave chocolate it could mean a variety of things. First, it’s that lovely time of the month and I’m feeling vulnerable. Second, you are having a bad day and your serotonin levels might be low; and you want a jolt of feeling good. Third, your magnesium levels might be low.

3) Moderation. I can put down a pack of cookies like no one’s business. I know this lovely fact about myself. I avoid putting myself in those situations.

4) Forgive yourself. When I was first on my journey to healthy eating I would get so upset with myself if I allowed my old habits to come forward. What happens when you’re sad? You want something to make you feel happy. For some of us that’s food. So we eat. Then we realize that we shouldn’t have done that. So we get sad again. What happens when you’re sad? You eat. It’s a vicious circle. The best thing you can do for yourself is to forgive yourself. Your mind, body, and emotions will thank yourself.

Just a little advice from a girl who has done the opposite of every single one of those points listed above and has learned the hard way. Take my advice.

Cheers!