I thought only Scarlett O’Hara got the vapors

I wouldn’t say that I’m very superstitious, but the last few weeks have me believing in the old adage, “things tend to happen in threes.” When it’s something positive, you’re on top of the moon; when it’s something negative, you just throw up your arms and wait for it to be over. I’m happy to say that the last of my 3-part Year-End Electronics Meltdown has arrived and I feel relieved that’s it finally over and done with. Here’s the quick and dirty on how it went down:

• Just before Christmas, the motherboard on my computer completely fries and is useless. Lucky for me I have a back-up of the hard drive (yay!) Not so lucky, I now need a new computer (boo).
• Dishwasher stops running the very same day that house guests arrive. Dishwasher guy says the motor is dead, dead, dead.
• I begin to get the vapors when I think about the cost of replacing the computer and the dishwasher, on top of all the money spent at the holidays (yikes).
• Lastly, the toaster kicks it, in a flurry of smoke during breakfast on the first day back at school. My husband, who has always hated that toaster, said he finally was beginning to like it and had perfectly toasted a bagel just the night before. I’d like to think the toaster had been waiting to prove itself to him and when it did, it departed in a peaceful (yet smoky) state.

Now that that’s behind me, I’m feeling happy to move ahead. To end this post on a positive note, here are 3 Great Things I found to share this week:

1. Miss Vinyl Ahoy shows us how to masterfully mix patterns in her post, 8 Simple Rules for Mixing Patterns. She shows clear examples and takes the mystery out of this tricky business.
2. Penelope Loves Lists is a organizer’s dream site. She fully embraces her Type-A personality and shares her spot-on tips & techniques with the rest of us. Humorous, useful and creative, this blog is a gem. This week I bookmarked, How Penelope Keeps Herself Sane While the Kids Are Out of School and One More Chapter Please; Great Books to Read Aloud to Your Kids. This only scratches the surface of her blog. Check it out for yourself.
3. Refinery29 continues to put out impressive online fashion content. This week, I especially liked 5 Fashion Switch Ups for 2011. It’s a quick slide show on five things you can do to make a fashionable impact this year.

You guys probably have your own fabulous bookmarks and sites to share. Feel free to leave them in the comments section on this post. I’d love to hear about them!