Timeless

One of the best and easiest ways to make a personalized gift is with a shadow box. It really goes with any occasion.

For example, for our wedding, one of Brad’s aunt made us a shadow box. It has some pretty little decorations, a picture from our save the date cards, and our invitation. She told us she does that for every wedding they go to. It’s also special to us because she and her husband were the ones who drove us from the reception to our hotel (and then off to our after-party!). I didn’t really know this particular aunt and uncle very well before the wedding but they were one of the best parts of the wedding. They shared their words of wisdom and well wishes the whole way to the hotel. We have it hanging in the kitchen now and I think of them and that ride often.

 We got married in the fall, hence the leaves and fallish colors!

Brad’s cousin Tara turns 16 today. When I was in North Carolina last weekend I stopped at  HomeGood’s and found a beautiful shadow box for less than $15. I came home, printed some pictures from the family beach trip we took this summer and bam! Instant personalized gift! I’ve been tossing around putting some little pieces of memorabilia around inside but I’ve been holding off – I want this shadowbox to be something that she can change out the pictures in. Obviously I would never change the pictures in my wedding shadowbox. But for a 16 year old – I don’t want her to feel like I spent SOOO much time on it that she can never change the pictures. This shadowbox is incredibly easy – it came with a few pushpins and the front cover literally just lifts open. I want this shadowbox to be a base but something she can personalize however she wants down the road.

Whether it’s a timeless shadowbox or just a “right now” shadowbox, it’s a great way to personalize a gift if you’re on a limited budget. Mine cost less than $20 (and would have cost closer to $15 if I could have found my flash drive – then I could have printed the pictures at CVS!). 

Tasty Gift

In my family, there’s a tradition. For every bride in the family (doesn’t matter if you are born into the family or marrying into the family), you are given a family cookbook. All of the families are asked to contribute and a lot of recipes are ones that were handed down from grandparents, etc.


This past weekend was my future sister-in-law’s wedding shower. My mother and aunt both attended with me and we had a great time talking about the “good ‘ol days” – (okay, so maybe they talked about the good ‘ole days and I just provided some comic relief). They were talking about how much the cookbook has evolved over the years – the first one started with just some recipe cards put into a box. At some point it went to 3 ring binders.

I was the first bride in my family in….well over a decade. And it was worth the wait!

Thanks to my best friend Kristi, my mom was able to put together the absolute best wedding gift ever – a Tastebook Cookbook.

This book is fantastic. Not only can you totally personalize it the way you want, its extremely durable and looks absolutely professional.

Here are some pictures:

Another great feature is you can add recipes. When I got married, my mom solicited some recipes from my brother to put in the cookbook. She went ahead and bought two cookbooks when I got married, assuming that my brother would get married at some point. His cookbook didn’t have any recipes from me in it though. So once he got engaged, my mom had me go online and order some “replacement” cards with my recipes and pictures on them! So with every bride comes a few more recipes!

Obviously, this cookbook was a hit at the shower. The bride’s mother even commented on how she’d like to put one together for HER family – and it’s a great way to store family recipes. You can put pictures with the recipes and even write notes on the recipe. There are a lot of recipes from my grandmother in my cookbook, which means a lot to me since she was such a great cook but died before I had a chance to really appreciate it.

It says they start around $19.99 but the cheapest I saw started at $29.99. They’re worth it, though. Great quality and really make it into something special.

Cornwho?

I’ve talked before about my hubby – the man who has everything and if he sees something he wants, he gets it before anyone else can. So slowly, I’m learning – sometimes I have to think ahead for him. What’s something he doesn’t know he wants yet?

For his birthday this past July, I started researching a few months earlier. What is something he likes to do that he could do at home? What’s something he’s never mentioned wanting but might want?

So…I took a risk.

I went all out.

I got…

Cornhole boards.

Not just any cornhole boards.

Jack Daniels cornhole boards.

Not just any Jack Daniels cornhole boards.

Matching black and white bags.

And, the big surprise…

Lights that go inside the holes so the game doesn’t stop just because the sun goes down!

Another good gift is the drink holders, but I figured he could always build those on his own if he really wanted them...

Just Because

It’s fun to give gifts “just because.” I think a lot of times they mean more to people because they’re not expected. Sending a “just because” gift shows the person that “hey, I’m thinking about you and wanted to make your day a little brighter.”

I’m pretty notorious for sending flowers. Who says a significant other has to be the one to always send flowers? Are my single friends supposed to just never get flowers until they find a boyfriend? Preposterous. No, it’s not a practical gift. But it does put a smile on someone’s face and remind them they are loved – whether it be family, friend or lover. I don’t tend to use 1-800 Flowers though – I prefer to search local stores wherever my recipient lives and find an arrangement through them. Nothing against the big corporations (Undercover Boss actually gave me some relief that the world might be okay), but it’s always nice to support local businesses when you can.

Think flowers are too cliché? Okay then, how about cookies?

Cookies by Design lets you choose from cookie cakes, cookie baskets, cookie trays…the possibilities go on. Still hooked on the flower idea? You can even send a cookie bouquet.

Starting around $14. Just be prepared – if you send these to a friend’s office, they might not get many of them!!

Cookies too simple? A former employer turned me on to this little jewel:  Shari’s Berries. Chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped cookies, brownie pops, cupcakes and more. I especially love all the different chocolate designs they use when dipping. If you’re wanting to spend a little to make a wedding shower go a little elegant, they even have wedding berries! Just be prepared because 24 of these beauties go for close to $50. Worth it? Quite possibly!

Everyone you know on a diet? And allergies? No problemo – Edible Arrangements! Beautiful, healthy and even semi-practical! Although I’ve sent Kristi just about all of the above, I chose to send this particular arrangement to her office. She’s a dentist – I thought that was the most appropriate gift to send!

Starting at $24!

The Wheel Keeps a-Spinnin'

Sometimes it's more about the practicality than the novelty.


I had three guestbook attendants at my wedding. One was a cousin - the only cousin I have who is remotely near my age. One was my now brother-in-law's girlfriend and the other was my brother's now-fiance. I wanted to give them something nice, usable, and kind of fall related.


You'll find that I am a rather big Etsy junkie. You can find nearly anything on Etsy and my experiences have always been great. The sellers on Etsy are much easier to negotiate with if you're ordering multiple items and it's easier to change details that don't exactly work. Not really something you can do at major department stores.


Since I got married in October, I wanted something to represent that crisp, "getting colder" season that I love so much. So I found a friend from high school on Etsy who...

Makes beautiful pottery! She had made a mug or two and posted them on her Etsy page and I really loved them.

At first, I was only going to get one mug per attendant because the price was a little steeper than I wanted to pay.

But we started talking and she gave me a deal if I gave them each two (which is what I wanted to do anyway)

So they each got two mugs stuffed with yummy hot chocolate! 


Go to Lovin Designs on Etsy for pottery, jewelry and crotchet goodies.


Also - hot chocolate, tea, coffee, candy...it's so easy to cater to the recipient with something like these mugs. And I don't know about you, but I drink out of a mug at least once a day :)

Diapers and Towels, oh my!

This gift is more of a do-it-youself-er but the good news is, you can use it for baby showers or wedding showers!

Let's start with the baby shower. Someone, somewhere, came up with this idea to turn diapers into a cake. An experienced cake looks something like...

Shown here...

Mine, on the other hand, looked more like this:

You can google tutorials all day long on YouTube. Just find one with the amount of instruction that you feel you need and go to town. In a nutshell, you're just rolling up diapers and sticking rubber bands around them to keep them rolled up. Although the mother-to-be I made this for had registered for diapers, Target happened to be out of them. I wound up with some of the baby powder smelling ones which made the  experience kind of pleasant actually :) We found some fun ribbon that my mom had saved from somewhere and hot glued them around the diapers. There is also a big stick (think wooden skewers) that goes in the middle and you form the diapers in a circle around that (using a large rubber band to keep the diapers together too). Yeah, I'm not the best instruction giver. I would definitely google on YouTube because the tutorial I watched was fantastic. You can't really see it in my picture, but there's also the cutest pair of baby shoes tied at the top with the big ribbon. I thought it was a fun way to tie in something besides diapers!

Then you can do essentially the same thing with towels. I haven't actually done this myself, but I saw one at my friend Amber's wedding. Hers had those little fake wedding bands clipped to parts of it, which I thought was a nice addition. Here's an example of a Towel wedding cake...

Of course, depending on their color scheme, it could get interesting, but just simple, solid towels make this a unique and fun gift. If you're giving a shower, this makes a great centerpiece, too!

The Guy Who Has Everything

It was my first Christmas with my now-husband. Well, technically our second but our first Christmas we were too “new” to really celebrate Christmas. We were both still in college in North Carolina, about to go home to our respective states – me to Virginia, him to Maryland.  

I was freaking out.

Here was this guy that I really, really liked. I REALLY wanted to impress him with an awesome first Christmas gift. The problem was…this guy had everything.

If he saw something he really wanted or needed, he got it. He might wait a day or week or two, but if it was something he really wanted, he didn’t wait for anyone to get it for him. He just got it himself.

Great. This guy I might be spending the next 50 Christmases with is one of “those” – one of those guys who has EVERYTHING.

I figured out quickly that I was going to have to think outside the box with this kid. My thought process turned into, “What’s something he would love to have but hasn’t thought of yet?”

My first ideas are usually sports related. Who are his favorite teams? Does he have 50 t-shirts but no sweatshirts? Would he go crazy for a Maryland Terrapin trash can (for the record, he bought that one on his own)? I googled around for awhile until I found the gift that would kill three birds with one stone.

BASKETBALL TICKETS!!!!!!

Brad loved Maryland.

My brother and Dad loved Duke. Anyone following me yet?

 But…..Duke basketball tickets are hard to find, especially AT Duke. And Maryland is a little too far to go from North Carolina, just for a game. What’s a girl to do with a great idea that she can’t execute?

You forget, I was in ACC Basketball country.

I’m going to go ahead and put it out there that I am, by all accounts, a Virginia Tech fan. If you live in North Carolina you are a diehard fan of Duke, North Carolina or NC State. Anyone else and you just don’t count which usually keeps you out of plenty of heated arguments. That being said…NC State was the least…desired…tickets of the colleges in NC. They had this nifty little packaged deal where I could get 2 tickets for 4 games: NC State vs. Duke, vs. Maryland, vs. Wake Forest…and to be perfectly honest I don’t even remember who the 4^th game was for.

Anyways, basketball tickets, baseball tickets…whatever kind of sports team the man in your life loves…make great gifts. Even if they love top tiered teams – those teams always play lower tier teams. If you can find tickets at one of those games, not only will you save a few bucks, but you’ll be the handful of fans in your color and most likely watch your team pull out the win! (Ours unfortunately didn’t win that time, but at least both teams were red so we didn’t stand out too much haha).

Dirty Socks and Empty Beer Bottles

My big brother…is a trip.

Seriously. He has this sense of humor that is just hysterical in a quiet sort of way. Sometimes he gets a snark in that you don’t even realize until the next day.

When we get together for Christmas, I never know what to expect.

Take Christmas a few years ago. My family and I (just the four of us) sat around the living room, opening gifts, laughing together, etc.  We’re down to last round of gifts to open…except for my brother’s gifts. My brother, you see, never puts his gifts under the tree until he’s ready for us to open them. Whether he just wants to be super secretive or just not excited about his wrap job is a mystery.

Anyways. It was down to my gift. My brother goes back into his room…comes out…walks over to me…throws me my gift…and I squeal and throw it back.

Why?

It was his dirty sock!!!

Not unlike the real dirty sock

He gets this offended look on his face, like “why would you throw away my gift for you?” He tells me to pick it up and look inside (he claims it’s a clean sock but with guys, can you ever really tell?). I gingerly pick it up, tip it upside down and…an empty beer bottle!

Huhh????

He then goes on to explain that he’s giving me a beer of the month club membership. Okay, NOW I’m okay with what’s going on. The Beer of the Month club is great for anyone who loves more than, say, Bud Light or Miller Lite (and don’t even get me started on Coors Light, ew, gross).  These are random or rare beers…microbrews.

Now for the quick sales pitch (see, I do your homework for you). They start from $20.95 per month up to $68.95 per month for the rare beer club (this does NOT include shipping & handling). If you choose the Original or Variety Beer Club, they’ll receive 4 beers per month and the Rare Beer Club will send 2-6 depending on which tier you choose. You decide how many months you want this gift to last.

I realize not everyone loves random beers the way I do. There’s also a...

Wine of the month club

Cheese of the month club

Chocolate of the month club

I mean, seriously, just google something you like and then put “of the month club” at the end of it and you’ll probably find something interesting. Can’t beat a gift that keeps giving all year round!

That’s one of the secrets of me finding random gifts. Google is my best friend. Embrace it.

PS, in case you're wondering, I did go ahead and give his dirty sock back. It's the thought that counts, big brother...

In a Dream World...

In a dream world…

I’d buy this company. And every gift they have. So if you ever win the lottery, this blog entry is for you.

In a dream world…

  

My husband would experience what it feels like to be a fighter pilot – dogfighting, formations and fully decked out.  

Starting at $1,385

In a dream world…

  

My father would have a sailing yacht at his disposal for a year. He could take it out whenever he’d like and have member privileges at some of the finest boating clubs yet not have to worry about repair bills or maintenance stuff. 

Starting at $1,645

In a dream world…

My brother would choose between a Lamborghini Gallardo, Aston Martin Vanquish or Ferrari 360 Spider as his own personal car for a weekend.  The car would be dropped off to him with a full tank of gas, driving instructions and maps. 

Starting at $1,460

In a dream world…

My mother would have a private sunset cruise around Cape Code on a 62 foot boat. She’d get to see Martha’s Vineyard, Nobska Light and the Elizabeth Islands. 

Starting at $1,225.

In a dream world…

That lady who yelled at me last week would be an elephant zookeeper.  

Starting at $595.

Ah, in a dream world…

Christmas in...September?

I love Christmas. I love Christmas themes, I love the Christmas season, I love all things Christmas. I demand to put the Christmas tree up on December 1 and would leave it up until July if Brad would go along with it.

I’m the only granddaughter on one side of my family.  I had another great aunt who had no children. Long story short, I have 4 sets of fine china that I inherited when I got married. It goes without saying that the last thing I wanted to register for…was fine china.

But I was getting MARRIED! I wanted to register for something fun!!

Do you remember me saying how much I loved Christmas?

The solution – Christmas dishes!

Growing up, my mom always had Christmas dishes that she would bring out after Thanksgiving and we’d eat on those dishes until the end of December. It was just that little extra thing that put us all in the Christmas mood.

These are some of the mix-and-match Christmas dishes we registered for last year.  Brad thought I was out of my mind when I told him I wanted to register but I think now he “gets” it and he might even look forward to it. Maybe. Possibly. We’ll see.

I have a few different ones, since it's mix-and-match, but you get the idea. These are at Belk's

There is a point to all this by the way. Last year for Christmas I bought one of my closest friends a set of Christmas wine glasses. She moved back to her hometown in Florida a few years ago and then I moved to Maryland so we’re approximately 1,049 miles away now. Wine always brings us back together though. I bought the wine glasses from JCPenney’s but I found these suitable replacements.

For a little lighter and fun wine glass:

Amazon, $19.99

And for the more formal wine glass:

 Macy's, $37.10 for 4

Why are Christmas themed glasses or dishes a great gift? Because once a year, they’ll bring those out of the Christmas boxes and think of you and how thoughtful and usable your gift is! It’ll be a novelty, but a novelty that might just help them in the Christmas spirit each year. It could be an icebreaking topic…”My friend so and so had the funniest story to tell about these glasses…” Or they could just simply be something they never thought they wanted or needed…but realized how fun they really could be! Just make sure to get something dishwasher safe. You don't want them to spend the whole month of December scrubbing in the kitchen, right?

Merry Christmas!

I'm Not the Only One Who Does This Stuff...

I’ve been given some pretty fabulous gifts along the way. Last summer one of my bridesmaids (Brad’s cousin) threw me a personal shower “up north”.  I got a lot of quality, thoughtful gifts at that shower that I will probably post about again at some point. But today’s post goes to one of my mother in law’s friends who lives in Atlanta. She wasn’t able to attend the shower but she sent a practical yet fun gift all the same.

When you get married, one of the things most girls are excited about (or at least I was anyway) is getting a new monogram. I was getting a new name, new initials and getting to share that last name with the man of my dreams. So what’s more exciting than to start getting that new name/letter in your shower gift?

It started out with this…

 A beautiful little monogrammed purse with PLENTY of pockets. Trust me, this thing has gotten some major use out of it. You know as well as I do that purses are always welcome in a gal’s closet. Finding monogrammed purses online is pretty simple.

Inside this purse were goodies galore! I apologize for the lack of “newness” of this picture, but you can tell it’s been used! A monogrammed towel wrap!

This next item literally saved the reception for me. I had no idea that my low heeled dress shoes (clearance from Off Broadway, LOVE that store) were going to cause such misery when I tried to dance. These aren’t the exact flip flops but…

Only $8.95 from Amazon.

I got a pair for my BFF at Michael’s for just a couple of dollars so they’re around. It was a lot of fun to dance in those at the reception! Oh wait, I do have a picture of the ones I got:

 John Patrick Photography www.tinkley.com

My photographer thought they were awesome. Brad always knew how to find me on our honeymoon…just follow the Just Married marks in the sand :) 

There were also some monogrammed soaps. They are boxed up somewhere in the black hole that is our storage area downstairs (my entire life got boxed up and I’m clueless where most things are right now). These are from an Etsy dealer and just as beautiful:

 $3.00, SafiyaBeauty on Etsy

There you have it. Usable. Fun. Practical but “different.” Remember that monogrammed for a newlywed is pretty much a surefire. Or so I hope so. I got some monogrammed “C” goodies to put in my future sis-in-law’s bachelorette gift. 

Eat, Sleep and...

One of my favorite things in life is to find fun gifts for my best friend. With her, I know that the sky’s pretty much the limit with regards to ridiculousness. I don’t have to worry about taming it down or even with the gift making sense. I can just go with whatever my mood is and she gets it.

While I was visiting her last month for some of her wedding festivities, someone saw a gift I gave her a few years ago before she graduated from dental school. It kind of took them by surprise and it gave us all a laugh when we realized what she had seen. Apparently it’s made for some pretty hysterical conversations, particularly with her Bible Study crowd!

I knew that my bff spent a ton of time studying while in dental school (thank goodness, right? That means your dentist DOES know what they’re doing!). It seemed like she needed more hours in the days and more days in the week. At one point I decided she needed something lighthearted and fun to lift the ‘ol dental spirits.

I found a mug (she needed caffeine boosts, right?).

I found a mug from CafePress – (If you’ve been there you’re starting to see where this might go).

This said mug had three figures on it.

Eat.

Sleep. Dentistry.

All together now:

C’mon, you have to admit, that last little drawing is a bit…fun. But totally honest and innocent at the same time!

My bestest was thrilled!

Time For...

My big brother is getting married in December and my soon to be sister-in-law is being thrown a shower this month. The theme is “time” and while I don’t know most of the “times” that were assigned, I do know that I have “baking time” and my mom has “cooking time”. I’m assuming there’s also times like “sleeping time”, “bath time” and possibly even “party time”. A fun theme, for sure!


Baking time, huh?  Alright, I’m down.

Now as much as I wish that I won the lottery a few years ago and have all the money in the world…I don’t. So even if I wanted to buy every last baking-related item on the registry…I can’t. Taking into consideration how much I’m already spending on the wedding (travel costs to come to the shower, bachelorette & wedding, bridesmaid dress cost, etc) I know I need to budget this one.

The soon to be newly weds are registered at Crate & Barrel and Target. Since there isn’t a Crate & Barrel close by to me anymore, I narrowed it down to Target. Using my extensive married knowledge (ha! of 10 months that is!), I quickly narrowed it down to these mixing bowls:

$24.99 at Target

And these measuring cups

$3.39 at Target

I’m not saying hubby and I bake a lot (although I did just make some pretty fabulous brownies this week!) but we do use our mixing bowls and measuring cups a ton.  I really wanted to put some sort of spatula or whisk with it but they were registered for a whisk at Crate & Barrel…and I * do * try to stick to the registry when given one and I wasn’t willing to spend shipping & handling on a $4.95 item. Ya know?

Luckily when we were in Richmond last weekend for my BF’s wedding, there was a Crate & Barrel not far from the hotel. My fabulous mother volunteered to run down and pick it up for me (I’m sure it had nothing to do with her curiosity of Short Pump).

$4.95 at Crate & Barrel

Hooray! A nice array of baking goodies. I’m not quite done though!

Once we got back home, I headed out to our local Dollar General store (I used to work for Family Dollar’s home office, oops, don’t tell I went to DG!). I found this pretty little basket…

 $6.00 at Dollar General!

If my future sis-in-law doesn’t want it, I’ll take it!

One last obvious addition to make this the perfect gift…

A box of brownie mix to get started with! (Also purchased at DG - their bakery section is becoming impressive).

I did question my brownie mix decision though…I’m considering switching it out with…

Red Velvet Cake Mix - since that’s my mother’s favorite dessert and all. What better way to start off a marriage than baking a cake for your new mother in law, right?

But anyways, I'm pretty happy with the final product. I'm probably going to add some tissue paper or something to fill it in a little but everything fit beautifully!

The Gift Card Dilemma

My friend Amber (you can see her blog here) got married a few years ago. Even though we had gone to the same small college, we didn’t become friends until after graduation. Actually, the night she became engaged was one of the first nights I hung out with her.

That being said, I was around for her engagement period. I’m not saying we were super close BFF’s, but we had fun together and became good friends. As her wedding day approached, I asked her what her and her fiancé, Steven, needed or wanted at that point from their registry. She went through the usual, “we’re happy with whatever you choose to give us” but after digging a little deeper she said that gift cards would be welcome so they could put them together to buy some of their more expensive items on their registry.

The gift card dilemma. I. Hate. Giving. Gift. Cards. Mind you, I love RECEIVING them, but for me, it’s just a little too impersonal.  But that’s what the bride said she needed! Can I put aside my personal feelings on gift cards to give the bride what she asked for?

Of course I can. In my own way.

One of my favorite accessories to any gift is a quality gift basket. I tribute this to my mom and her friend Carole – my mom used to make gift baskets and sell them in my dad’s store and Carole has the coolest shop of unique items and makes gift baskets.

To start with my gift card solution, I sought the perfect basket. I think the one I bought was from Old Time Pottery (if you don’t have one near you, I’m so sorry…you are deprived. I miss them so much!). Something like this is fine:

$9.95 at Crate & Barrel

Usable and fashionable.  And not $50!

Amber had been on a hunt to find a red wine that she can enjoy drinking. (I hear she is still on this hunt!) I put a bottle of my favorite red wine in the basket:

Don’t judge, it’s less than $10 a bottle and I love it. My mouth is watering…

She and Steven had also recently brought home two Boxer puppies, Dixie & Bauer. I grew up with pets and knew that animals have a way of becoming your family instantly. So I made sure to include a little special treat for the newest members of the new family:

These are from Sensational Sweets, 12 for $9.00 but I’m pretty sure I just went to a local shop.

Nestled inside the perfect card was the desired gift card. I spent less than $20 on the other personal gifts and was still able to give a good amount on the gift card. Maybe they would have rather gotten more money on the gift card – but when I give a gift, I want to be happy with it. This way, everyone got what they came for and I could give more than just the gift card!