Recently our family picked up Being Elmo from the library and while you can love or hate this well known muppet, you can’t help but be inspired by Kevin Clash, whose only dream was to make puppets. This documentary follows him through a series of good breaks that led him into the universe of Jim Henson and “Sesame Street,” and we even hear an eyewitness account to the day he “discovered” the Elmo character.

Currently at home, we have No Impact Man which I’m hoping will continue to move me into a less wasteful lifestyle and Page One, which grants the viewers unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom. Last but not least is The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement. Trust me, even the trailer is genius!

Many others have generated their must see documentaries as you can review below but l’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations as well!

• Ten Documentaries Everyone Should See 
• 50 Docs to See Before You Die
• 10 Documentaries to Be Watched Again & Again

• We used the (no annual fee) Chase Disney credit card so most of our trip was FREE. Room, dining plan, park passes were all covered by points that we had accrued over the last 4 ½ years.  We went through AAA to get even better deals than I found online and saved out of our monthly budget to cover our flights.

• We chose to take kids out of school for a few days and go at an unpopular time of year. I’m not good with heat or crowds so mid-January worked perfectly well for us. There were a few rides closed for repairs or refurbishments but nothing major.

• I’d read that pin trading was big at the parks so I went online prior to the trip and bought / bid on $1 Disney lanyards plus one ‘lot’ of 26 Disney pins ($25)  so the kids had pins to trade with cast members (employees) from the minute they walked into the parks. In the parks, this would have sent me back well over $150 and they kids really got into it. Instead of asking for things when we went into shops, they were finding employees to trade with.

• Going online and getting a few ‘gently loved’ goodies before the trip (my son loves Stitch and my daughter Tinkerbell) can save you tons in the long run on t-shirts, backpacks, ears (got these new & personalized for 50% off-free shipping by watching Disney.com/ store), etc. A family member gave each child a $25 Disney gift card for Christmas so we were actually able to get out of the parks with out spending anything ourselves. I did a countdown of “The 12 Days of Disney” before we left and each child got a pin every morning and then I surprised them with a t-shirt and backpack on the day we left.

• I’d recommend two web sites (if you want to pay) to join for an incredible amount of information on all things Disney – tourguidemike.com or touringplans.com. They each have different positives depending on your needs but I’d suggest at least one as it helps to guide you to the least crowded parks on which days, sample touring plans, reviews on everything and more tips and hints than you would ever need.

• About.com has a list of 9 Useful Walt Disney World Apps that I reviewed before I left. Ones that I used that were and were not included in the list were WDW Trivia (great, while waiting for anything), WDW Maps & More, Secrets Gold (hidden Mickeys) and WDW Lines (wait times).

• When they say make your dining reservations 180 days in advance, they aren’t kidding even in ‘low crowd’ times and especially if you want to do something special like a character meal or signature dining. You can reserve online or over the phone. There are various dining plans but we chose the Deluxe Dining Plan because of some of the specialty meals we reserved and we also wanted to sit down and eat 2/day and not be elbowing our way through counter service restaurants for chicken nuggets. While this added cost would have been over what points we had accrued, Disney offered a special for a FREE basic dining plan during January which our travel agent caught & that saved us close to $500 which put us back into our allotted points.

• We chose to stay onsite at The Contemporary Hotel (my favorite from childhood) which allowed us to walk to The Magic Kingdom and has the monorail that comes right through the hotel, pretty cool.

• Last but not least, read books (Peter and the Starcatchers, Swiss Family Robinson, Alice in Wonderland or rent a few Disney movies to get in the magical mood.

While all this may seem a bit overboard, saving money & having a plan were my 2 biggest priorities and all this led to a wonderfully spectacular trip. To be continued…

For further ‘research’ Vom Fass will turn anyone into an oil aficionado. Who knew that you could infuse orange, peperoncino, basil or chili to make a culinary master out of me? At your local store, you are able to sample dozens of these delicious oils in addition to a huge selection of Aged Balsamic Vinegars and Liqueurs , my favorite is the Latte Macchiato.

To finish off my oil obsession, I went in search of a fun dispenser / cruet. My top picks were from Folk Art Guild, Generate, & Red Candy.

White Truffles in Winter by N.M. Kelby to my Chef step-brother or his lovely wife. “This richly layered novel is based on the life of legendary chef Auguste Escoffier, who popularized French cooking methods at his restaurants at The Savoy and The Ritz at the beginning of the 20th century. Escoffier’s love for two women: the beautiful, iconic actress Sarah Bernhardt and his lovely, poetess wife, Delphine Daffis, is at the heart of this complex tale. The characters are vivid and the food — oh, the food — is delicious!” Indiebound.org

Wildwood by Colin Meloy to my hip sister (age 35) or niece (age 7) as this is a great book of wonder, danger, and magic as told by the lead singer of The Decemberists. A touching tale for anyone of any age.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard to my history loving husband. “A deranged man shot President James A. Garfield, but it was his doctors who killed him”. This true story of a Civil War hero, elected to Congress in 1862 who fought for black rights & liberty, who surprisingly won the presidency amongst the most corrupt of administrations who was treated by an egomaniac doctor named Dr. Doctor with Alexander Graham Bell on the sidelines…this book competes against the best fiction out there.

The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer to my 3 year old nephew. If you’re going to be stuck reading a book over & over then you might as well enjoy it. Ninja takes a quirky twist on The Boy Who Cried Wolf when a boy’s excuses turn out to have an unexpected element of truth. This book makes me smile every time I read it and the illustrations are great.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh to my Mom who loves a heavy hearted story but this one retains hope among a young girl’s struggle to find her place in the world after aging out of the foster care system. Her gift for flowers and her understanding of the ‘language of flowers’ (honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love…) helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

Good gracious, I could go on and on but I’ll wrap up with Divergent or Daughter of Smoke and Bone for my bestest who loved the Hunger Games, Leviathan for Cullen’s male teacher who taught Middle Grade World War I (and it’s knee deep in Steampunk) & Go The Fu*! to Sleep for Cindy Lou who will be a first time parent in the Spring. Merry Happy Reading!

• Cool, safe raskullz helmets.
• Foodie fun with Himalayan Salt Blocks
• Rainboots that will kick bad weather to the curb
• College Pride – Cufflinks & Charms
• Eco Friendly Solar Charger for Gadgets/iPhone
• Deelish indoor herb gardening
• Name a star or a rose after a loved one
• Light up umbrella

• 10 Ways to Use the Extra Hour this Week
• A Digital Shoebox for your Family’s Old Photos
• Grow Your Own Garlic – If I can do it, anyone can
• Sports? Music? Disney on Ice? Don’t pay too much for that seat.
• Moving? Updater will file a change of address with post office, notify friend, magazines & organizations for $2.

Coming out on the other side of this, I hate to admit that I did have more energy, skin never looked better and I did drop a size. And while I’ve added everything back, the word MODERATION is no longer such a nasty word and these 2 products have really helped. Measure Up Bowls and Wine Trax both make portion control easy & discreet. Both look good and even better, both help me to feel good.

A few years ago we started using the Chase Disney credit card and have finally accumulated enough points to head to Disney next year. There was no annual fee and ‘cashing out’ the points couldn’t have been any easier.

Nerd Wallet is a great site if you would like to review and compare various credit reward cards in categories such as cash back, gas or travel. While Dave Ramsey would wholeheartedly disagree with my endorsements of credit cards, if you’re able to pay off your balance every month, we’ve found it a great way to offset travel costs.

Deals Go Round is a new site that allows those of us suffering from buyer’s remorse a chance to unload that coupon that you’re never going to use. USA Today reports that if a coupon is popular enough, sellers may even be able to fetch a small profit. Because daily deal sites offer such steep discounts, sellers can list their coupons for more than they paid and still offer a bargain. For buyers, resale sites offer access to deals that are no longer available.

In other cases, sellers may have to ask for less than they paid. This usually happens when a coupon’s expiration date is fast approaching or if the retailer or service is too obscure.

The worst case scenario is that sellers never find a buyer; DealsGoRound says that happens with about a third of its listings.

It’s worth noting that technically, Groupon’s terms of use prohibit the unauthorized resale of its coupons. The fine print on LivingSocial’s site also prohibits the sale of its vouchers. But DealsGoRound, which is based in the same building as Groupon’s Chicago headquarters, notes that it has operated for more than a year without hearing concerns from any daily deal sites. It says it would honor any requests to stop listing coupons from specific sites.

Lifesta & Second Vine both offer similar services. All sites seem to  guarantee buyers refunds if there are any problems with the coupons. The sites require sellers to electronically submit coupon vouchers before they’re listed. Like eBay, they work as intermediaries so transactions are kept seamless.

Finally, there’s another little-known clause worth nothing. To comply with federal and state laws, Groupon and LivingSocial say their coupons only lose their promotional value after the expiration date. The coupons are still good for however much the buyer paid for it. So if a shopper pays $20 for a $40 restaurant voucher, the voucher is still good for $20 even after the expiration date. If customers run into problems, the sites will work with merchants to ensure the coupons are honored.

Source: USA Today

Sunset from paddleboat

Admittedly AWOL – sorry about that! I got the chance to head to KY for a couple of weeks to hang with friends and family & obviously I didn’t do a lick of work. I grew up on a farm about an hour south of Louisville (Luhvill if you’re from there) so when you have a view like this, it’s hard not to just veg…and read! What did come out of my long absence was some of my favorite books for your summer reading!

Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz & David Hayward – A mystery on its own but the actual relationship that is played out between the authors (exes) throughout the chapters is hysterical.

Don’t Breathe A Word by Jennifer Mcmahon- Did twelve- year-old Lisa really get pulled into a fairy world or was she kidnapped? This haunting tale gave me the creeps & had me guessing well into the last pages.

Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson- With themes of teenage angst, suburban disaffection, and the punk scene in the late 1980s, while also tackling the larger subjects of love, identity, complex family relationships, religion, and sexuality, it’s hard not to love these heavily flawed characters.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – I hate to be swayed by hype AND technically this book along with the sequels are found in the young adult section BUT I’m a convert. I flew through this entire dystopian series in less than a week. I can’t wait to see the movie.

Speaking of movies, pick up these other 2 favorites of mine as movies are being cast/made at this very moment: Labor Day by Joyce Maynard & One Day by David Nicholls.