From time to time, I’ve posted photos of random hangers found around town. I’m not sure if this falls under the same category, because the photographs in question were taken quite deliberately. I’ll let you be the judge.

Brent Poore is both an RH reader and a real-life friend. He also happens to be a photographer. So when he came across what seemed like some innocuous (albeit AWESOME) hangers, he felt he had to act.

I know what you’re thinking: that plant is enormous! As it turns out, Brent’s hanger offerings are actually smaller than you’d think.

They’re hanger paperclips! They’re my new favorite thing ever. Maybe I should give them out attached to my blog business cards?? (The photo below is mine; all others are Brent’s, and used with his verbal permission.)

Brent was kind enough to send several photos. There are two that are so cool that I’m thinking I should update the RH logo. Which one do you prefer?

Possible logo #1?

Or possible logo #2?

As a reminder, here’s what it is currently (straight-up clipart):

I still have to get Brent’s ok, of course. And honestly, I haven’t had as much time to update the ol’ blog as of late, so likely the only place it would change would be at the top of each blog post. But it’s still an exciting possibility!

Thanks again, Brent, for the great photos and for including RH in your thoughts. Both are greatly appreciated. Remember, readers, if your spy with your little eye any random hangers, snap a shot and send it in. Your photo could end up in this space!

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: gallery, logo, photo, random hanger
Filed under: Random Rumination

Quick! What’s the difference among a quiche, a strata, and a frittata? Anyone? Apparently, they all contain egg and yummy mix-ins, but quiche has a pastry crust, strata uses chunks of bread as its base, and fritatta is similar to an omelet, but baked (not cooked on the stove top) and sliced into wedges (not pie slices). Who knew?

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 1 package Simply Potatoes hash browns (I used the Garlic and Herb variety)
• 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 2 cups half and half
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup diced onions (I used white)
• grated cheese for sprinkling (any kind will do)
• optional: fully cooked crumbled breakfast sausage, veggies of your choice, salt, pepper, garlic powder

Pre-heat oven to 425. Spray a rectangular glass pan (I used 11″x8″) with cooking spray to prevent sticking. You could also use a square pan or a pie plate, though the volume of liquid might make it difficult to get into the oven, so you might want to halve the liquid ingredients. Also keep in mind that the smaller the pan, the deeper the potato layer will be. Mix the potatoes and butter, then pack tightly form a crust. Bake for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, beat the half and half and egg in a medium-sized bowl. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder as desired.

Remove the crust from the oven. Reduce heat to 350. Sprinkle the onion and fully-cooked sausage in an even layer over the crust (NOTE: if your sausage didn’t come pre-cooked, brown it in a skillet as the crust is baking). Pour the egg mixture over the crust and return to oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove mixture from the oven (it will not yet be set). Increase heat to 400. Sprinkle cheese on top and return to oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the top is golden and firm. Enjoy!

Options/tips

• As-is, this is a gluten-free meal. If you remove the sausage and/or substitute it for vegetarian meat crumbles, this can easily be a vegetarian meal (not vegan, due to the dairy and eggs).
• If you want to bump up the health quotient, add spinach, mushrooms and chopped bell peppers. I used turkey sausage, which helped cut down on the fat.
• One of the reason I specified Simply Potatoesis that they often go on sale Buy One, Get One Free at Publix. Yay for value! (image courtesy of simplypotatoes.com)

  

The takeaway: We made this for dinner guests recently, and it was a big hit. Breakfast foods don’t have to be a morning-only affair. Not the healthiest, so maybe pair with a nice salad?

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: eggs, gluten free, hash browns, recipe, veggies
Filed under: Random Recipe

Posts have been few and far between recently, but I had to let you know about a great place we visited this weekend: Putting Edge, a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf place. Did I mention it’s indoors? Yay for beating the Florida heat!

Some of the highlights included:

• the music. We (ok, mostly me) rocked out to songs like Hey Mickey, You’re So Fine; ‘N Sync’s Bye Bye Bye; the Cha Cha Slide.
• the challenges. Every fourth hole or so, there would be special challenges. I won’t list them all, because part of the fun was learning what they were, but not touching the carpet and not using your putter were two of our favorites. So much fun and out of the ordinary.
• the decor. It’s not crazy golf, since nothing moves, but the glow-in-the-dark aspect was pretty cool. Each person gets their own glow-in-the-dark colored ball and matching glow stick, and the sets (is that what you would call them?) covered everything from under-the-sea to Holy grail knights.

The takeaway: Mini golf is a great activity for couples, families, out-of-town guests, you name it. Putting Edge takes it a step above by adding unique elements that make it so you can’t help but have fun. Plus, since it’s in the Festival Bay mall, you can walk through Outdoor World and marvel at the sheet number of items that feature camouflage.

• Location: 5250 International Drive (inside the Festival Bay mall, adjacent to the movie theatre)
• Hours: 11a-9p Mondays through Thursdays; 11a-11p Fridays and Saturdays; and 11a-7p Sundays
• Cost: $10.50/person (discounts available for seniors and kids under 13)

Bonus: I didn’t take any photos, but they have kindly provided some on their site here.

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: beat the heat, international drive, miniature golf, stuff to do in Orlando, things to do in orlando
Filed under: Hangin' Around...(things to do), Use Your Imagination

Last night, Hubby and I had the pleasure of going on a food tour with Tantalizing Tastes & Tours. Since I didn’t feel like shlepping my camera around, you’ll have to be satisfied with a word-only review.

Tantalizing currently has two types of tours: Taste of Orlando and Fine Dining Dinner. The former is a day tour of places like Four Rivers and Pom’s Tea House, while the latter visits establishments like Rusty Spoon and City Fire. We booked the night tour, since we’re already pretty familiar with Four Rivers, etc.

We met the tour guide (Tristan) and the tour van just off I-Drive at 6p on a Saturday night. There were a total of 4 couples, and the van was spacious, clean and, except for losing air conditioning for the second half of the tour, well-maintained. Tristan explained that we would be visiting 4 eateries (2 on I-Drive and 2 downtown) and would be sampling some of their specialties at each. She promised we would not leave hungry (she was right!).

I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll focus on where we went, not what we had:

• The Nile: I’d never had Ethiopian fare, so I was both apprehensive and excited about this stop. In the end, I was glad we went, because I’m not sure I would’ve thought to visit an Ethiopian restaurant on my own.
• Matteo’s: Originally from New York, Matteo’s specializes in family-style, Italian food from scratch.
• Rusty Spoon: The decor, ambiance, and fellow patrons were a bit too trendy for me, but the food we locally sourced and tasty. This is the one place I probably wouldn’t go back to, but only because it’s not my style.
• Dessert Lady: We received 2 huge sampler platters and demolished pretty much every spoonful. This is the one place I KNOW we’ll be going back to, as Hubby and I enjoyed every bite.

The takeaway: The night passed by quickly (the tour was about 3.5 hours, as promised), thanks to the gregarious nature of the tour guide and our companions, as well as a fun food trivia game that we played on the long-ish drive downtown.

The tours are a little on the expensive side. For the food/experience you’re getting, it’s definitely a good value; it’s just a little hard to write the check, so to speak (for me anyway). I’d recommend it for a special occasion, and for folks who want to try new cuisine but perhaps aren’t full-fledged foodies that have the time/energy to seek out the latest restaurants themselves.

• Location: Depends on the tour; you’ll be told where to meet once you book your tour.
• Hours: The Taste of Orlando tour starts at 11:30a and runs about 4 hours. The Fine Dining tour starts at 6p and runs about 3.5 hours. Because several of the dinner stops serve alcoholic beverages, all participants must be over 21.
• Price: The Taste of Orlando day tour is $69. The Fine Dining evening tour is $85. The prices include whatever the restaurant chooses to feature (beverage, food, etc) but if you want more, you pay for that separately (you won’t need anything extra, believe me!). The gratuities for each stop are included, but it’s recommended to tip your tour guide 15% to 18%.
• Bonus #1: In the spring, they’ll also be offering a Pub and Grub tour.
• Bonus #2: none of the tours are identical, whether it be the locations themselves or what’s featured at each location, to encourage people to enjoy the tours multiple times.
• Bonus #3: If you visit their site, you can sign up for monthly deals and specials. Yes, please!

Enjoy!

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: downtown, international drive, restaurant, stuff to do in Orlando, things to do in orlando, try new things
Filed under: Hangin' Around...(things to do), Hangin' Out At...(places to eat)

“How do I lose this extra weight?” The universal question on (most) everyone’s mind. For a long time, it was on mine as well. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the scale to budge. I complained about it, half-heartedly scaled back my portions and tried not to think too much about it.

Until September 6, 2011. That was the date of a work event to which I wore a cute little dress I’ve had for years. It didn’t fit. I literally had trouble breathing the entire day. It was uncomfortable, embarrassing and evidently the wake-up call I needed. I certainly wasn’t about to buy a new wardrobe just to accommodate the weight gain. I’m way too frugal for that!

Not quite six months later, I’m proud to say that even my previous “skinny jeans” are loose on me. How did I do it? Read on. [Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist nor in the medical profession. This is what worked for *me*; I'm not suggesting that it will necessarily work for *you.*]

Diet

I’m not a calorie counter. I’ve tried it and hated it, so decided to simply be more aware of what I ate. To that end, I:

Brought canned soup for lunch every day. It was easy, it was cheap (there are usually coupons in the paper that I stacked with Publix’s Buy One, Get One Free Deals that occur regularly in the winter), and it kept my calories down.

• Hint: Broth-based soups are almost always lower in calories/fat than their creamy counterparts.
• Caveat: I recognize that canned anything typically contains a boat-load of sodium.

Identified my weakness and reduced my intake. It’s desserts, by the way. Hubby is a big fan of eating cookies and milk (or the like) in the evenings and I typically joined him. That was a LOT of extra calories, especially for so late in the day.

• Hint: I originally tried buying the low-fat equivalent of whatever Hubby was buying. It didn’t work, as (a) it typically wasn’t as fulfilling and (b) I ended up eating more to compensate.
• Caveat: Notice I reduced my dessert intake; I didn’t eliminate it altogether (which could easily lead to a binge down the road). Instead, I learned that a cookie satisfied my sweet tooth as much as the three or four I’d eaten prior. That a piece of really rich, decadent chocolate was as delicious as half the bag.

Looked at what I was eating for the whole day and made adjustments. If we went out to lunch at work , I made sure to eat a smallish dinner. If I knew we were going out for dinner, I balanced it with less snacking throughout the day (yes, I snacked during the day, but in a good way, with nuts or whole-grain crackers).

• Hint: I still eat tasty things; I’m not all soups and whole grains. I use the filter of, “Is this the only time I’ll get to enjoy this?” If it’s a homemade chocolate-peanut butter birthday cake, then heck yeah I’m going to have a (smallish) piece! If it’s a store-bought platter of brownies, I’d probably skip it, since I can just pick some up later if I’m really craving it.
• Caveat: Folks around me did test my will. I’m sure most of it wasn’t purposeful, but people, just because *I’m* not having a piece of cake doesn’t mean *you* can’t. I’m not judging you, so please don’t pressure me!

Exercise

I’m a runner. I don’t looooove it like some people do, but I enjoy it, and it’s the easiest way I know to burn calories. My workout regime changed over the course of several months, as I figured out what worked for me:

1. I started off running about 15 miles a week.
2. When I hit a weight plateau, I bumped it up to 20 miles a week. I was worried about the possibility of an injury, so tried not to go too far above that.
3. Eventually I changed one or two of my weekly runs to interval training (spurts of sprints balanced with lower speeds, so your body doesn’t become complacent), as I’ve read that it’s good for weight loss.
4. I also started lifting weights on the two days that I wasn’t running. Nothing major; just a few sets with my handweights at home. I never even broke into a sweat, but I saw a difference in my arm definition, which was nice.

By the numbers

 What’s the verdict?

• Total pounds lost: 13. At one point it was actually 14, or 10% of my original body weight, which I was pretty thrilled about, but it just wasn’t feasible to maintain. Who am I to argue with my body?
• BMI difference: From 23.3 to 21.1.
• Clothing size changes: Originally a pant size of 10/11, I’m now a 6/7. From a shirt size of medium, I’m now a small. I can also fit into size-4 skirts, when I used to hover around 8.

Ironically, I’ve lost so much weight that I still need to buy a new wardrobe. Thus, my fascination with thrift stores, where I can buy new jeans (or whatever) on the cheap and not feel bad if this smaller size doesn’t last forever (I’m actually smaller than I expected to be, which I’m ok with, but I’ll be equally ok if I end up gaining some of it back over time).

Any tips you’d like to share for weight maintenance?

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: healthy, live better, lose weight, soup
Filed under: Chat a Bit About...

Welcome to another edition of Thrifting Thursday. This month we visit Dechoes, with not one but two locations!

This is not your momma’s thrift store. The first example is their selection: they don’t carry kids’ clothes. The second is the decor…namely, that there *is* decor (most don’t bother). Its vibe is decidedly Gen-X and younger, with its somewhat industrial layout (the one on East Colonial used to be a music store and maintains vintage record covers on its walls as an homage) and its chic clothes (below). 

What? You don’t think sweatshirts that are bright orange, homemade and/or have kittens playing with string are trendy? You are clearly living in denial, my friend. Let me give you another example to help you come ’round to my point of view.

What we have here is your classic long-sleeved shirt lined with denim and inexplicably finished with faux fur. Very stylish…not to me personally, but *someone* must think so because it’s hanging a place of honor on the wall!

OK, ok. That was just a tiny bit tongue in cheek. Though Dechoes offers 35% cash or 50% credit to people looking to sell their “approved items,” the buyer can feasibly slip up now and then, and some not-as-worthy things will thus slip into their stock. On the whole, Dechoes offers a pretty great selection, but that stuff isn’t as much fun to take pictures of.

I was apparently impressed enough by their huge supply of boots (at least on the day that I visited the College Park location) to snap the above picture, so that’s something.

Oh, fun story: upon visiting the location on Colonial for the first time, I remarked to the proprietor how much I loved their music. Not only was it straight out of the 90s (yay!) but it was also at an appropriate volume, loud enough to groove to, but low enough to shop pleasantly. I mentioned that the music in College Park was WAY too loud, though that was probably just me. Another customer piped up that it wasn’t just me, and that the music was SO loud, she felt like she had to shop quickly and get the hell out. The proprietor was shocked and said she would let the other store know. Speak up, people! Your voice can make a difference!

The takeaway: Because the clothes are largely purchased and not donated, prices are a little higher than your average thrift store. And I’ll be honest, most of the items were not my cup of tea. But I’m not terribly fashion forward, so please take that into account (I did snag a super cute jean skirt on my second visit for only $3). Give it a try. At the very least, you won’t have to worry about the music being too loud!

• Compelling feature: Aside from the tacky clothes above? Celebrate the first Wednesday of every month (from 6p to 10p) with Wine Not Wednesday on Edgewater, complete with free wine, beer, food and live music. It’s a party, baby!
• Location: 2110 Edgewater Drive (College Park) and 2525 East Colonial Drive (just east of Bumby)
• Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 11a to 8p and Sundays noon to 5p
• Thrifting Tip: If a thrift store buys clothes from its customers and doesn’t just blindly accept donations, they’ll likely have a more up-to-date selection and you’ll have less digging to do to find a nice piece. Notice I said “usually”! 
• Bonus: You know those Our Town booklets you get in the mail? They differ depending on what neighborhood you’re in, but I’ve seen several with a Dechoes coupon for 15% off your total purchase (!), so be on the lookout.

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Filed under: Frugal Fun, Hangin' Around...(things to do)

Prior to receiving a press release about this event, I’d never heard of Harmony. Apparently, it’s a little town in Osceola County that hosts 4 festivals a year and is the largest Green Certified Community in Central Florida. How fun is that?

What: Harmony’s Healthy Lifestyle Festival, celebrating the art of living healthfully.

Where: Um, Harmony. Have I not mentioned that? Click here for specific directions.

When: Saturday, February 25, 2012, from 10a to 3p

Cost: FREE (my kind of event!)

What’s in it for me: Looks like it’s focused on healthy eating, healthy bodies and a healthy planet.

• Healthy eating: cooking demonstrations, speakers (diabetes, breast cancer, probiotics, etc), and food trucks
• Healthy bodies: an 8a 5k run (which is FREE, an unheard-of offering in the world of 5ks; click here to register), exercise demonstrations and a special kids’ interest area
• Healthy planet: demonstrations and vendors (hydroponics, Florida Hospital, etc)

Click here for a detailed timeline.

I’m very tempted by the free 5k and food demonstrations, but not sure if Hubby would be willing to get up that early to make the drive with me! Anyone care to join me?

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: 2012, harmony, healthy lifestyle festival, live better, stuff to do in Orlando, things to do in orlando, try new things
Filed under: Frugal Fun, Upcoming Event

The first time you visit Dave & Buster’s, you’re likely going to be confused. Is it a restaurant? A gameroom? What’s happening? Not to worry; RH has come to your rescue with this straightforward description: D&B is just Chuck E. Cheese…with liquor.

Food
I expected it to resemble Chuck E. Cheese: greasy, expensive pizzas with little else to offer (in all fairness, I haven’t visited this particular animatronic rat in close to 20 years, so they may have classed it up by now…though I doubt it). I was wrong. D&B has an extensive menu with options from hearty to (borderline) healthy and everything in between.

There’s your standard Cheddar Cheesy Fries and Mountain o’ Nachos, of course, but there’s also Edamame.  There’s the Double Stacked Chicken Parm Sandwich and several variations of macaroni and cheese, but there’s also several fish options and sections labeled “Under 600 Calories” and “Big Salads.” Looking for something less bar and grill? Look no further than the Island Grilled Trifecta (skewers of steak, chicken and shrimp with pineapple pico de gallo, teriyaki BBQ and mango citrus sauces for dipping).

Hubby opted for the Fried Shrimp Platter ($13.79). Not much to expound on here: it was a plate of shrimp. With french fries.

I went for the Build Your Own Soft Tacos ($12.99) and chose shrimp (the other options were steak or chicken breast). I was really impressed with this dish: not only was everything tasty but it was really well, fun. It was essentially playing with my food and really, who doesn’t like that?

Food score: 8 out of 10. Lots of variety, reasonable prices, and tasty to boot.

Drinks
I don’t have a lot of experience drinking alcoholic beverages (not a fan of the taste), but I’d say that their drink list is pretty extensive. It would have to be, right? Because later you’re going to play games like 9-year-olds. Who doesn’t need a bit of liquid courage for that?

Pardon the terrible photo. That’s Hubby’s TNTea, the D&B version of a Long Island Iced Tea. Despite the presence of 4 liquors (vodka, gin, rum and Grand Marnier), Hubby reported it was disappointingly weak. But Hubby drinks more than I do. I’m a lightweight. Surely he exaggerated.

How did my Banana Split (Créme de Banana with white crème de cacao, ice cream and Strawberry BACARDI) compare? All I can say is that the ice cream was good, because I couldn’t taste the liquor at all. At. All. And since I’m not a fan of alcohol, I can tell you with great sincerity that I can *always* taste it.

To add insult to injury, we were cajoled into buying the drinks by the server pointing out that it was Happy Hour: 1/2 price cocktails from 4:30p to 7p and again from 10p to close. It was bad enough that the drinks were watered down, but then she charged us full price for Hubby’s drink, saying it wasn’t on special. Fair enough, but that definitely should have come up earlier when we placed the order, making it clear that we were interested in the specials only.

Drink score: 3 out of 10. Lots of options, but we were both disappointed. Go for a beer and hope for the best.

Games
Bummed after our drink experience (Hubby’s drink was eventually removed from the bill, I think, but only after we felt like criminals for calling it to the manager’s attention) and clearly not at all buzzed, we made our way with heavy hearts to the gaming section. Could we possibly have fun after this?

Should we take a chance with the Wheel of Fortune?

 Would the price be right for us to enjoy ourselves?

Would it be a deal? Or no deal?

Well, there was skee ball. So yeah, we were fine!

I suppose you’d like more explanation for the game portion than just pictures of the cool games. Fair enough. Instead of running around with gobs of quarters making a racket in your pocket, you’re given a game card that’s pre-loaded with the amount you elect (a great way to keep kids and grown-ups alike accountable!).

They’re called Power Cards, and are used like debit cards: each game costs a certain number of points to play, and will deduct that amount from your card when swiped. The cost per point depends on how you purchase it. Definitely go online and sign up for their  newsletter first, that will get you $10 of free gameplay. You can also choose to dine off the Eat & Play Combo menu to package your food and games into one, or you can just buy points outright (the more points you purchase, the cheaper each point becomes).

And what do you get for playing the games?

Tickets! Which can be turned in (they’re weighed, so no arduous counting necessary) for prizes. Prizes like…

…blurry neon frogs (not blurry in real life)…

…and creepy superheroes like Superman and Wolverine…

…and if you’re really, really good (or really obsessed, I suppose) even an XBox or Kinnect.

Generally speaking, the higher the per-game price, the more tickets you can likely win (not all games–particularly the arcade-style games–pay out with tickets, so be aware of that). Skee ball is cheap to play, and the ticket payout is analogous. The games I showed above cost more to play, but if you win, you win big.

We did not win that big. Our tickets purchased two Disney game sets (275 points each), a Spiderman keychain (175), some nerds (160) and a pack of SweeTarts (205).

You don’t have to use all your tickets at once, by the way. You can ask them to leave them on your Powercard and save them up for bigger ticket items.

Game score: 9 ut of 10. Once again, great variety. All the games were working when we were there, which is a big plus. And you can get junk to take home. Everybody wins!

The takeaway: D&B satisfies many demographics. It’s good for date night, for play dates with other kids, for a large group of competitive friends, etc. Not the cheapest way to go, but fun nonetheless.

• Hours: 11a to 1a Sundays through Thursdays and 11a to 2a Fridays and Saturdays (I heartily recommend avoiding weekends, which are more kid- and tourist-friendly)
• Location: 8986 International Drive Orlando, FL 32819 
• Menu: Explore the menu by downloading the pdf here.
• Bonus: Games are 1/2 price on Wednesdays.

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: dave and busters, games, international drive, stuff to do in Orlando, things to do in orlando
Filed under: Hangin' Around...(things to do), Hangin' Out At...(places to eat)

It’s Thrifting Thursday! We’ve seen the sometimes-creepy merchandise at Salvation Army. We’ve scoured Habitat for Humanity for deals on homegoods. Now on to the grandaddy of them all: Goodwill. But not just any Goodwill. The Goodwill…Boutique!

When I first drove by this Winter Park nugget, I scoffed. Out loud, if I remember correctly. I figured it would the same old thrift store, just with a spiffy name to match the spiffy neighborhood.  

At first glance, it appears to be your average store, right? Clothes organized by gender (male/female/child), then by occasion (jeans/dresses/jackets/pants/blouses) then by color. Ah, but there’s a difference. This one’s in Winter Park. Have you guessed the difference yet?

If you’ve ever read an article on “how to go thrifting,” it likely advised you to find stores in tony neighborhoods because higher-income residents mean higher quality items dropped off.

Solid advice.

Ordinary thrift stores do not have Gucci purses. For that matter, they don’t have anything priced nearly as high as a Gucci purse! If you’re looking for high quality and/or namebrand items, this store will be your mecca!

No, I didn’t buy the purse (not a brand name kind of gal). But I did walk away with the above dress for only $5 (originally $10, its red tag meant that on the “red tag clearance” day I was visiting, I snagged it for half off!). Nice!

The takeaway: I love this store. And when I initially put feelers out asking for suggestions on places to visit for Thrifting Thursdays, this store was mentioned several times. It’s not the biggest outfit, but it’s a good one.

• Compelling feature: An oddly high percentage of the clothes in this store still have their retail tags attached. I’m not sure why that is (i.e., Do Winter Park residents buy more things and donate them, unworn, than the average consumer? Or does the Goodwill have some sort of partnership with retail outlets in the area? Who knows?). But I do know that it helps discern what kind of value I’m receiving, from designer jeans to occasion dresses.
• Location: 750 Orange Avenue, Winter Park, Florida 32789
• Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 9a to 6p and, according to the sign that sits outside (and contrary to the not-helpful web site), Sundays 10a to 6p.
• Thrifting tip: There’s a sign in the store that says something akin to, “Find something you like? Better pick it up now before someone else does. Didn’t find anything today? We get new merchandise daily, so check back frequently.” Couldn’t say it better myself!

Pay them a visit soon; it’ll likely be worth your while. I’ve become medium obssessed with it lately (I’ve lost just enough weight that I’m needing to replace ill-fitting pants/skirts, which is another post entirely), so maybe I’ll see you there!

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: goodwill boutique, thrift store, thrifting thursday
Filed under: Frugal Fun, Hangin' Around...(things to do)

If you’ve never had someone close to you pass away, it can be very difficult to know what to say or do around someone who recently has. I thought I’d offer some suggestions based on my own experience, on the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death.

What to do.

Don’t offer to help; help. Asking, “what can I do?” is great, but likely the person will be too overwhelmed to coordinate such things. Instead, say: “I would love to *insert task here.* Is *insert date here* good?” Bringing food, offering to watch the kids or running errands are probably would all be appreciated, so just pick one and do it. One of my friends, for example, dropped a gift card for a local restaurant into a condolence card.

What to say.

It’s so hard to know what to say in these situations. But try to avoid “He’s in a better place,” “At least she isn’t suffering anymore” or “I know what you’re going through.” Grief is personal (you don’t know what I’m going through), and it’s selfish (I didn’t give a flying fig where my dad was; I wanted him with me). Something like, “I’m sorry for your loss” or simply, “I’m so sorry” are better choices.

Whatever you say, do it in private. I had someone at work give verbal condolences on my first day back…while sitting with a table filled with people that didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know what to say. It was awful.

How to act.

Each situation is different. Depending on the person, she may cry. She may not. He may want to talk about their loved one. He may want to avoid the subject. Watch carefully and respond appropriately. Regardless of how awkward it may be for you, hang in there. They need your support.

Hugs are usually good.

Additional resources

• Wise Bread recently ran How to Express Condolences Without Saying Something Stupid, which is timely.
• Slate explored What is Grief Really Like based on a reader survey (and offered How to Help Friends in Mourning as a result), which is fascinating. 
• Reader’s Digest published What to Say After Someone Dies, which is helpful.

posted by Christine@RandomHangers.com
Tags: death, grief, what to say when someone passes away
Filed under: Chat a Bit About...