Blogs

My mother was down for a nice long week over Thanksgiving. It's always so nice to connect with her and get to spend some "alone" time, even though her adorable dog Cody is always there, who I secretly sometimes thinks she loves more than me…ha ha! Mom loves to cook (that's where I get it) so, when she's here, she makes all my favorites and won't let me lift a finger — gotta love moms! We agreed not to exchange gifts within our family for Christmas this year — honestly, what do we really need? Instead we are "adopting" some of the needy families through our church and from my hometown — there are so many kids who go without this holiday season (and every day for that matter), and it feels good to do something to help others — that is, after all, what the season is about. We all get caught up in our busy lives, and if we would just slow down and stop for a minute, we'd find so much happiness in what is around us.

 

I'm very excited to be winding down the year and looking forward to a fresh start in 2012. It's always nice to think you have a clean slate and can start to put all those resolutions to good use. I also go away with my BFF Amy in January. It's so nice to spend some time together laughing and not have to worry about her running this child to soccer or this one to dance class — selfishly, I like our alone time the best, even though, of course, I adore her children, my godchildren, Joey and Gracie. Auntie Tara spoils them a bit! For Gracie's birthday, I bought her a few outfits from this great store she loves. She's 6 and called me just over the moon to thank me for her faux fuzzy feather vest…honestly, if it would have fit me, I would have worn it. Kids are the best! 

 

Okay, okay, I know...onto the good stuff. Woo hoo! Big Today's Special Value coming up on December 8, and it's on Easy Pay! I actually designed this set of 4 16-oz. travel mugs in gift boxes for a lot of reasons. All of you shared with me that you loved the original, but wanted them bigger — check. All of you shared with me that you loved that they could coordinate with your dinnerware and could be used as tumblers — check, check. And finally, a lot of you said you loved to gift them because, let's face it, everyone on our list drinks water, coffee, tea, etc. so I designed these fabulous printed gift boxes to go along! I am so excited for this — I use these tumblers everyday and absolutely love them. Additionally, there will be two 2-hour shows that day at 10 a.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET with lots of special offers to get you ready for the holidays.

 

So I hope you will join me for a big day of Temp-tations, and I want to wish you peace this holiday season from my family table to yours...

 

Warmest regards,

—Tara