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Important Life Lessons: Financial Smarts

April 30, 2015 By Shannah Coe Leave a Comment

I love sharing things that are important to me and family with readers. I have partnered with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company to discuss the topic of Financial Literacy and its importance for families. While this post is sponsored, this is a topic that is dear to my heart and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Let’s get real for a moment. I love sharing recipes and crafts with you all. One thing we don’t talk about much, because really in real life no one talks about it much, is money. Not in the sense of “how much do you make” talk but more, “are you making smart money moves” discussions.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t always been smart with money. I made some bad decisions early in life and had to work hard to recover from them. I have also seen first hand the consequences bad money decisions can have in life and on future generations. I have this fabulous family and I want to make sure that they are taken care of no matter what. Also just as important, I want to make sure my kids learn from so they make good financial decisions and pass along their knowledge to their kids too.

So, let’s talk about financial smarts and tools that are available to help you with your financial goals.

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All the Little Things

May 21, 2014 By Shannah Coe 1 Comment

**may contain affiliate links**

I’m going to go ahead and warn you that there is kinds of randomness ahead…consider this post mostly a brain dump of what is going on in my head right now 🙂

– You know when you meet someone online and they are totally awesome. Then, you get the chance to meet that person IN PERSON and you get all kinds of nervous? Yeah, that was totally me last week as I prepped for my trip to BlogHer Food where my roommate was none other than my good online friend, Allyson. Truth: she is even more awesome in person! So glad to know her and now be able to call her a friend versus just an online friend.

– Going right along with that, I had some major anxiety over BlogHer Food. It is way bigger than any conference I have ever attended and I just didn’t know how I would fit in. It was definitely a great trip and I enjoyed connecting with brands and few bloggers but was in no way the same as Snap! Snap feels like a big party where almost everyone is eager to meet new people and learn. BlogHer Food felt a little more like high school where everyone had their cliques formed and weren’t necessarily eager to break out of them. Yes, I met some fabulous people including a wonderful mom/daughter blogging team, but there just weren’t the same warm and fuzzies everywhere you went.

– I am so frustrated with myself and the way I continue to eat so terribly. This week, I have started really focusing on eating cleaner and not falling temptation to all the sweets and unhealthy food that comes my way. One thing that is definitely helping me is that the weather is finally making using our grill way easier! Wish me luck 🙂

– This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. Can you believe it? I am wondering where the first part of this year disappeared to. Soon school will be out and I will have two kids who need a whole lot of entertaining on my hands. On the plus side, long weekend…woot!

– I started playing Words with Friends again. And, of course, I started getting my butt beat. Maybe that was the reason I stopped and not the lack of notifications that it was my turn to play.

– This will be H’s first year where she goes to camp. It isn’t sleep away camp or anything but it still has me nervous. Plus, she has to take so much stuff with her each day and, of course, it all has to be labeled which I am so not used to. Thinking of trying out the camp combo of premade labels. Anyone have any experience with those labels?

– Last night we went to see my daughter’s first grade music concert. Talk about the cutest things you ever saw. The theme was back at the barnyard so there were lots of cowboy hats and braided pigtails all around. The kids did a great job and looked like they were having so much fun. If I can figure it out {i.e. get Mathlete to do it for me}, I’ll get a few of the short little videos online so you can see all the cuteness.

– I have to stay out of the mall. I don’t end up spending a ton of money on myself but the kid’s clothes at Gymboree {especially the red, white and blue stuff}, Nordstrom and Gap are killing me. In the online world, Tea Collection also has a bunch of stuff that is super cute. I’m going to have to try very hard to avoid their Memorial Day sale…especially with dresses starting at $15!

– Oh and I am so excited that I managed to get in on the pre-order for tickets to see Disney on Ice – Frozen. H is going to be beyond excited when I tell her. Of course, it isn’t until October so I’ll be keeping that secret a little longer so I don’t have to hear “when are we going” from now until then. The Frozen merchandise search starts now though because I am sure she will want to wear a dress to the show.

– If you love Starbucks, visit me on Facebook today to enter the flash giveaway. And I do mean flash…it ends tomorrow morning at 9am {EST}. A bunch of my blog friends are doing it too so you can get in on a fun round robin and maybe win a lot of other great prizes too.

Yep…think that is all for today. Happy randomness Wednesday.

A Glimpse: Mother’s Day

May 1, 2014 By Shannah Coe 5 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cardstore.

Mother’s Day is just over a week away. Every time Mathlete and I start to discuss plans for Mother’s Day, I am reminded of six years ago when I first became a mom. Talk about a complete shock?! Being a mom is crazy hard but also super rewarding. Growing up, I didn’t always have the greatest relationship with my mom because well…I’m female and was probably a super emotional brat back then. Thankfully, as I grew up, I really started to recognize how awesome my mom is and how hard she worked to make my life as amazing as she possibly could. I definitely credit her with so much of who I am today {well, all the good parts…she totally could have spared a little patience and passed it along though because I definitely lack that}.

I mean, don’t you wish you had these two for parents?! They take funny selfies in fast food restaurants.

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2014 Word for the Year

January 2, 2014 By Shannah Coe 24 Comments

Happy 2014! I hope your new year started of fabulously.

Last year, I went about the usual new year way and made a whole bunch of resolutions. I won’t even begin to pretend I accomplished most of them. I guess that is the thing about resolutions…they stick around from year to year because we rarely accomplish the goals tied to them.

So, this year, I decided I would change my strategy a little bit and go for a word of the year instead. My word for the year:
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A Glimpse: Ninth Anniversary Celebration

October 23, 2013 By Shannah Coe 6 Comments

I am thrilled to partner with The Ritz Carlton to share with you some of the great events and features they have to offer. I received an overnight stay, including meals in exchange for this post. However, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

So, the Mathlete and I have made it to the big 9! Yeah, I am sure there were some doubters out there but we showed them 😉 Today, is our official 9th wedding anniversary but we celebrated over the weekend with an overnight stay at The Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner. We were both excited to get away for a night even if it was only a few towns over. The location of the Ritz Carlton can’t be beat though because it put me right in the heart of Tysons Corner where I love to shop!
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SNAP! Creative Blog Conference – Meet the Bloggers

May 6, 2013 By Shannah 6 Comments

I posted right after my trip about attending Snap! Creative blog conference. It was a quick overview of the highlights that I took away from the conference. It, of course, was by no means comprehensive because there is just.so.much.stuff you learn, see, etc. while there.

So, to give you a peek at a little slice of the awesomeness that is there, I decided to share with you a run down of all of the business cards I collected. Now, I met some other bloggers that {foolishly} forgot to exchange cards with so they aren’t here but it is a pretty good list of the bloggers I did chat with while at the blog conference.

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Top 10 Projects of 2012 & a Look Forward to 2013

January 3, 2013 By Shannah 4 Comments

I absolutely love looking back over the past year and seeing what I’ve posted about. Even more fun though is looking through and seeing what you guys liked the most. It helps me see what you like and guides me in what to write about in the coming year.

Source

Speaking of this year, I wanted to give you an idea of what to expect around here at Just Us Four.

In general, I will post once per day on the following “schedule”
Monday and Tuesday = original content
Wednesday = What to Cook Wednesday {some of these will be guest posted!}
Thursday = Pinworthy Projects Features & Feed Me Friday Blog Hop
Friday = Pinworthy Projects Party
Sponsored Posts: Unless a sponsored post features original content, it will NOT take the place of a regular post. So, for those days, you might see more than one from me.
Guest Posting: I’d like to feature more of you guys so look for requests for guest posters more often. Ideally, I’d like to have at least one guest poster per month. You can contact me at justusfourpartners {at} gmail {dot} com to sign up for a regular guest posting slot or a WTCW guest posting slot.
On a similar note, I will be looking for guest posters for my birthday week (4-8 February) again this year.

Without further ado, I bring you…The Top 10 Just Us Four Posts of 2012!

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A Game of Tag

January 19, 2012 By Shannah 1 Comment

I’ve been tagged! This is a fun little get to know you game.
The amazing and wonderful Jennifer at Vintage Gwen tagged me! And so here goes!

The Rules
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
4.Tag eleven people and link them on your post
5. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Eleven Fun Facts
1. I am an only child.
2. Virginia has been my only state of residency!
3. Most people think I went to a different school than I did thanks to my love of a certain college football team (GO HOKIES!)
4. I will take an SUV over a sports car any day.
5. I like my orange juice with ice (Mathlete thinks it is weird).
6. Laundry is one of my worst enemies.
7. I wear a scarf almost every single day…even in the summer.
8. The barista at my local Starbucks knows my name and my order!
9. Up until very recently, I had an irrational fear that running the dishwasher and washer at the same time would flood my house.
10. I eat salsa in my eggs (and on my carrots!)
11. I’m a total control freak.

And the 11 Questions from Jennifer at Vintage Gwen!
1. What frustrates you the most about blogging?
Not having enough daylight to get all my pictures and enough time to actually blog all the things I want to.
2. What’s one feature about yourself you’d like to change?
I would love to have more patience.
3. Which do you prefer, cooking or baking?
Cooking! I don’t do so well with the exact science of baking. I prefer to just throw stuff in and tweak it along the way.
4. What’s your dream vehicle?
One that drives for me. Haha…really I would love to have a Range Rover.
5. What’s your favorite color to wear?
Gray. I find gray so easy to wear because it pairs with so many things and isn’t as dark as black.
6. What would you say is your decorating style?
My decorating style is constantly changing! Right now, I don’t think I can fit into just one because I am drawn to so many different styles.
7. Were you voted a personality in High School like Most Talented? If yes, which one?
Hmmm, high school was so long ago that I really don’t remember! It was probably something like “most likely to take in a million stray animals” or something like that.
8. In one sentence, what’s your best advice on life in general?
Be true to yourself and follow your heart/gut/etc.
9. What’s your favorite sweet to indulge on?
Chocolate anything. I just love chocolate!
10. Who’s your celebrity crush?
Adam Levine…even with all the tattoos, that man is sexy.
11. How would you describe your husband in 2 words?
Smart and Loving

And now, 11 questions for the blog friends I tagged!
What is your absolute favorite meal to eat?
You have an hour completely to yourself…what do you do with it?
Are you a night owl or a morning person?
What is your biggest goal for your blog?
Paint: Light/Bright or Bold/Colorful?
If you could choose any famous person to have coffee with, who would you choose?
Who would you choose to be on the $1 bill?
Country or City living?
How did you choose your blog name?
What is the best gift you have ever received?
When do you blog?

Tag! You’re It!
Karah @ The Space Between
Brandy @ Gluesticks
Tonia @ The Gunny Sack
Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
SJ @ Homemaker on a Dime
Jamie @ The Bullock 5
B @ The Cape on the Corner
Andie @ Crayon Freckles
Jaime @ Crafty Scrappy Happy
Amy @ Life’s Jewelry Box
Lisa @ Criss Cross Applesauce

Christmas!

December 30, 2011 By Shannah 2 Comments

In true {recent} blog fashion, I am here several days late to share a little glimpse of our Christmas holiday.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, the inflatables were humming and lights were glowing all over the house.

No, this is not our house but one around the corner from us we visit every year. Rumor has it some guy names Clark lives there.

Santa stopped for a visit and a little snack too.

To leave presents for the kids…mom and dad too

Ok, I am out of rhyming ideas so picture dump coming your way.

After lots of present opening with the kids and my parents, it was time to get ready for Christmas dinner which would also include Mathlete’s family (4 adults + 5 kids!).

Mathlete’s family has a tradition where each person gets a little mitten with a Godiva mint inside. As long as the mint stays in the mitten, no one can take it. But, if you take it out of the mitten and leave it on the table, it is fair game for anyone to take!

After dinner, it was more present unwrapping with the cousins!

I hope you all had a spectacular Christmas just as our family did!

And the award goes to

November 15, 2011 By Shannah Leave a Comment

[Nielsen]

No, you haven’t been magically whisked away to the Emmy’s (wouldn’t that be cool!) but yours truly did win an award. Yep, my name turned up in one of those (virtual) envelopes. What award?

Thanks to With a Shot of Brandy for my nomination and award! This award comes with a few instructions (other than smile this way for the camera) so let’s take a closer look inside the envelope and see what the rules are:

1) Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award! (Thanks again, Brandy!)
2) Share 7 things about yourself (we’ll get to that below)
3) Award 7 other bloggers (I took the liberty of changing this from 10 to 7 because I just love the number seven)!

Seven Things About Me:
1) I’m an only child. I’m not spoiled at all though…just ask my mom and dad. Oh, and my pet unicorn.
2) Even with 2 kids, a full-time job and a very long to-do list, I do sleep {almost} 8 hours a day.
3) Despite my maroon and orange tinged blood/skin, I did not go to Virginia Tech.
4) I mess with him a lot but, secretly, I love it when Mathlete talks nerdy.
5) I have the best family and friends anyone could hope for!
6) I have small OCD tendencies…just ask the Starbucks barista about my coffee cup.
7) One of my favorite things in this world is planning/hosting parties for our family and friends.

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