Ask Anna

Merry Christmas!!!

I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas! I hope in the craziness of the holiday season that you are able to get a few moments of peace to enjoy your family and remember what this season of giving is all about. I am so thankful the the Lord sent his Son, Jesus, to be born in a manger and die for our sins. I am not worthy of the sacrifice He made but I want to enjoy this Christmas and show Him how incredibly thankful I am for His sacrifice…. Read More

5 Ways to Prepare for Cold and Flu Season

I am proud to be a 3M-sponsored blogger, and as part of my responsibilities, I get the opportunity to evaluate 3M products. Opinions are my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me. Cold and flu season is upon us, once again. Don’t you wish that we could just skip it once in awhile? With our kids in school their classrooms are like big petri dishes and then they bring all those lovely germs home with them at the end of the day. While you can’t control what other families do in their homes you… Read More

How to Get the Most out of your Starbucks Gift Cards

I feel like I am in danger of becoming Anna’s resident coffee expert, considering the number of posts I have written related to coffee. But I am an addict and have lots of tips for getting coffee at the lowest price! And, like many people, my habit also includes Starbucks. During the holidays it is so easy to get a Starbucks gift card for those we love who love the buzz of caffeine and I am almost guaranteed to find a gift card stuffed in my stocking this year. I hope you do, too! So I thought I would share… Read More

How to Organize Your Holiday Gift Receipts

Hi, Susan from Organized 31 here. I’m excited because it’s the most wonderful time of the year (to quote a well-known Christmas carol). This time of year is filled with such wonderful traditions, one of which involves gift giving. I don’t know about you, but I often need to find the receipt for gifts I’ve purchased for the holidays. Having the receipt makes exchanges and returns so much easier and makes watching the budget much easier, too. Why should you keep your holiday gift receipts in one easy-to-find spot? Budgeting – Keeping your receipts helps you track your purchases… Read More

An Easy Toilet Cleaning Solution for a Crazy Busy Season

December is always a CRAZY month for us! It’s always filled with lots of extra blog posts to be written and Christmas parties on the weekends, this year we have 8. Yep, EIGHT Christmas parties, and that doesn’t even include the Saturday we’ll spend at my daughter’s ballet recital. With all the crazy busy-ness, the last thing I have time to do is clean our house, which normally wouldn’t be a problem since I hired a housekeeper earlier this year, but she’s taking December, and a couple extra months off for maternity leave. YIKES! Yay for her, but super bad… Read More

A Christmasy Front Porch Tour

As promised, I’m back with a tour of my Christmas front porch. It still hasn’t stopped raining, in fact tomorrow we are expecting to have the biggest storm we’ve had in 6 years! However the rain went to a slow drizzle this afternoon so I ran out to take some pictures! I love every single thing on the porch, from the tree, to the sled, to the pops of red, it’s my favorite Christmas porch I’ve ever done. I can’t take credit for all of it though because I had some help. The beautiful Noble Fir tree was given to… Read More

Cranberry Mint Lime Sparkling Water

Sparkling water infused with fresh cranberries, refreshing mint, and a hint of lime. Delicious and easy to make, this beverage is perfect the winter holidays. Hi, everyone! I’m Andrea from Cooking with a Wallflower, and this month I’m excited to be back at Ask Anna. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I’m still trying to recover from all that food and leftovers. But I’m ready to plan for Christmas! And today, I have just the recipe for any upcoming winter gatherings. This amazingly delicious drink will definitely impress family and friends, and it’s super easy to make too. Filled… Read More

Christmas Home Tour 2014

I am SO excited to be writing this post, yet totally terrified at the same time. Have you seen all the amazing homes on the tour, I am so honored to be able to join this tour with this group of amazing women!!! If you’re hopping over from The Nester’s house then welcome, I’m so glad you’re here! I had so much fun decorating our home for Christmas this year, but it was also a little overwhelming because it was my first year really decorating it. Last I decorated a little but we hadn’t been in the house very long… Read More