How to Have a Well Stocked Bar

Real Simple had a great piece around the winter holidays about whether to save or splurge on certain liquors — great for all of the practical types out there — Classics (SJ) and Funs (SP). I disagreed with some of their save suggestions — cheap gin?? Yuck, whoever wrote it must not love a good G&T or martini. Anyway, what's also useful about the article is the WHY behind splurging — great for the big picture types Organics (NF) and Smarts (NT). Take tequila, there's a reason cheap margaritas give some people an instant hangover but high-end ones don't.

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Easy, Make Ahead Appetizers

Real Simple has 6 Make Ahead Appetizers including Goat cheese with Pistachios & Cranberries, Caramelized Onion Dip, mmmm. I include all of the recipes in our post and then list them from super easy to hardest/longest to make. So hopefully you can use one of them to help make a Memorial Day or Summer party that much easier because even if I'm making appetizers ahead of time, I still want them to be easy!

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Sabo Size It!

There are people in this world who do everything big and especially with food at parties — too big and then have tons of leftover food that's wasted — in my family, they're the Sabos. Then there are people who cut it too close and don't have enough good food at a party leaving everyone starving. But now, there's a way to find a happy medium behind too much and too little and it's courtesy of a really brilliant idea on Real Simple: The party food & beverage calculator.

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"No Mother's Day"... WTF?

In a cab today I saw a strange, dark and ominous advertisement about how many women will die in childbirth and/or because of pregnancy on Mother's Day this year (3,000!). About 360,000 women and girls die worldwide every year from pregnancy, which is a lot and it's really terrible. Sure, it makes sense to advertise this around Mother's Day, but instead of a ribbon to wear or some kind of fundraiser — like give your money to this organization instead of Hallmark —  the ad asks that we show our solidarity by "disappearing" for the day. I was like, Whaa? I immediately looked up the website because I was very confused. Honor dead mothers by pretending to be one for the day? Turns out the ad is sponsored by an organization called Every Mother Counts, spear headed by supermodel mom, Christy Turlington. Here's what Ms. Turlington wrote on CNN.com.

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Fun in the Sun

This idea of a beach tote full of beach and pool stuff from Real Simple is pretty good — if your mom likes going to the beach. But what if she's mostly a resort lady where the towels are always included? And really, can you include a pair of sunglasses without knowing whether they'll look good on her or not? That said, the idea got us thinking. There are ways to personalize this clever gift basket even more, and knowing your mom's type can help make it an even better winner.

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