Mountain Climber Dude Thing?

Another post-honeymoon gift story.

In St. Lucia, we stayed at a resort where there were multiple bars and restaurants we could go to each night. The resort was going through renovations, and we got into the habit of going to one of the post-renovated bars before we’d head to dinner. This bar had been decorated very modernly but not in a cold way. In the bar, there was a wall full of these cast iron mountain climber guys. Brad thought it was one of the coolest things he’d ever seen.

Now. We got married in October so obviously this was on my mind when I started doing my Christmas shopping. I consider myself virtually an expert in Google, but this one threw me for a loop. I mean, what do you call this thing?

I tried everything. Mountain climber. Cast Iron. Man. Dude. Rope. You think of it, I was googling it, trying to figure out how on earth to find it. The bartender at the resort had said that the owner’s wife had decorated it and brought everything in from Europe.

Finally….after literally over a month of searching online every single day…I found it. Surprisingly enough, only a few hours away. I went ahead and ordered it (and sent it to my brother’s house so Brad wouldn’t suspect anything).

On Christmas morning, I brought it out (a long, skinny box that was clearly weighted on one side). Everyone thought it was a golf club. Brad opened it…and was pleasantly surprised.

And no one has doubted my Google skills since!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

I meant to jump on board and update all through Thanksgiving to show my newfound commitment to this blog…but hubby wound up with pneumonia so that kind of altered a lot of my plans. Pneumonia is not cool, by the way, not cool at all.

Moving on…

It’s always fun to give a gift that you know your recipient will enjoy. Bonus points when the gift revolves around a hobby or favorite activity of the recipient. Major extra credit points? When it’s something you and your recipient BOTH enjoy!

My best friend and I trade ornaments each year for Christmas. Nothing extravagant, just something small and meaningful. A few years ago, we had been hot and heavy into Scrabble on Facebook. Since she lived in Richmond and I lived in Charlotte, it was a fun way to keep in touch while playing one of our favorite games. So I got a great idea…

A scrabble tile ornament!

Granted, you could probably make something similar pretty easily…but I didn’t want to buy a whole game just for the tiles. Can you buy just the tiles? Something to look into…

Anyways, it’s only $7.95 and you can find it here. It’s out of stock now but just google “Scrabble ornaments” and you can get a few more choices than you could when I was looking.

Stop and Listen

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! Now the gift-giving season is REALLY in swing so I'll try to keep the blog going more frequently. Final papers are due next week and the following week so I'll definitely have more time to post after that along with a guest blog or two!

One of the easiest ways to find a gift for someone that’s truly special…is by listening. Just in everyday conversation, all throughout the year. I keep a running list all year that when I hear someone say something like “I used to love ___” or “I wish I had ___” I write it down. Around the holidays most people aren’t so forthcoming with things they want. But the rest of the year, just take notes!

I went to lunch with my husband’s grandmother over a month ago to a local place called Cozy’s. The town we live in is the closest town to Camp David so there are a few local haunts where Presidents will go when they are in town. Cozy’s has a mini museum inside their building that goes through each of the Presidents and any ties they have to the area.

After we had lunch, she took me into the museum part. Considering she’s 80 years old and had a stroke nearly 2 years ago, she has a ton of memory. She started telling me about how Camp David came to be and how there was a movie that she used to watch with her father that was the inspiration behind Camp David. She just mentioned how she hadn’t seen that movie in forever and bet you couldn’t find it anymore.

Well, that set off an alarm in my head – a challenge! I went straight home, did some minor research and found it on Amazon for $10. 

I think we’re going to frame a picture of the family from our wedding to put with it, but it’s a gift that will mean something to her. 

Rum rum rum!

My husband and I went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon in 2009. It was beautiful, everything was wonderful. They specialize in rum down there so before we left, he bought 4 bottles of St. Lucian rum to bring back. I don’t think he ever intended to actually drink them, but he wanted keepsakes.

Well, all but one bottle made it back to the US. One shattered in my luggage (of course it would be the one in MY luggage), with no hope of salvaging. He was ticked and claimed it was his “favorite” rum that he tried while he was there. Alas, life went on.

This Christmas season, while thinking “outside the box” I remembered this little scenario. Possibly because I got some luggage out that still had the faint scent of rum…but who knows :)

Now, I couldn’t exactly remember the name of this magical rum that was lost. Obviously I couldn’t ask him since that would kind of spoil the whole thing! So I did some research on good ‘ol Google. And I found it. I did remember him saying that the label had the two Piton Mountains on it. Done. A place in New York could ship it to me. $30.

$30 for a honeymoon memory gift I know he wants but he’s forgotten? You betcha.

Cha-Ching!

I’m about to let you in on a great money saver gift giving solution.

The holidays can get crazy expensive without even realizing it. I mean, especially if you have a big family or get married, suddenly the 4 or 5 people you used to get gifts for turns into 25. I’m not willing to spend big bucks in December, only to spend January stressed out and in debt. Not for me, thanks. So….

I embraced my credit card in a good way. My credit card gives me a point for every dollar I spend. They round up, too, which definitely works in my favor. They also have an online shopping “mall.” Basically, if I go through my credit card’s website and use my credit card at their “mall,” I get “x” number of points per dollar. Usually anywhere from 2-10 but they have promotions every month and the number can skyrocket.

I use my credit card to pay for my grad school (at $3,025 per class plus books, that’s a biggie right there). I use my credit card for groceries. If I see something I’m going to get and it’s available through my credit card mall, I get it through the credit card mall, even if it’s a store close by – but only if I can find a free shipping coupon.

My points accumulate throughout the year and I don’t touch them…until around November. Then I start evaluating where I’m going to buy gifts from this year…and redeem my credit card points for gift cards. I’ve bought over $200 worth of Christmas presents this year…on gift cards. And I still have a lot more points to go! Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, restaurants, movies…anything I want. Even if they don’t have a gift card for a store I want (I love my local stores), I can get Visa gift cards (they cost a few more points but it’s not that significant).

It’s important to point out that I don’t just use my credit card for any and everything that I don’t have the money for. I pay my credit card off each and every month, without fail. I have savings for my grad school..so as soon as it goes on my credit card, the money comes out of savings and pays my credit card. As long as you’re diligent about it, it’s fine.

It’s in your favor to check your credit card’s options…if they don’t offer rewards, get one that does! My Christmas never financially straps me. And if there’s points left over, sometimes I buy myself a gift card to somewhere I want (Carrabba’s…mmmmm!).

Just something to consider since you’re spending money anyway!

Toys for Boys!

I’ve mentioned before, but my husband is one of the most difficult people to buy gifts for on earth. If he sees something he wants or needs, he tends to just buy it himself. I’m a person who likes to buy gifts in advance, so I have to start talking him out of purchases in September if I want to make sure he’s not buying something I already bought.

Or, as I told him this weekend, I just buy him things he doesn’t know he needs yet.

My husband is outdoorsy. I think he’d live in a tent all year round if I let him. My only stipulation for our honeymoon was that I did not spend it in a tent. I’d say one of his top five favorite stores on earth is R.E.I. I think pretty much anything I get from there, he’s okay with (especially since we are R.E.I. members so we get a percentage of anything we spend back to us at the end of the year AND they will take ANYTHING they sell us back at any point...even if we've worn running shoes for 50 miles!).

This year’s Christmas R.E.I. purchases?

Night vision goggles. He’s joked about wanting them before but they’re incredibly expensive. Luckily, a quick search of R.E.I. found a decent pair for $50. When we were in the R.E.I. store Saturday, I saw actually saw the same ones I had ordered and they were in the kids’ toy section (haha). But anyway, they’re supposed to see in the dark for up to about 50 feet I think. Plenty of room to have a little fun in the dark!

Next up? A pocket blow torch. $19.95.

Just insert a regular lighter and bam! Instant extreme fire!

What will he use these things, you ask?

What boy doesn’t like toys to make him feel like a kid again? And when Brad feels like a kid, I’m usually laughing nonstop for a solid few hours. Which makes me feel like a kid again.

Laughter = Love

Oh Christmas!

I loveeeeeee that Christmas is coming up because it's my chance to really go crazy with gifts. I'm going to have to be careful which gifts I put up here before Christmas, but I'll update with all of them after Christmas. I'll be able to remember, too, because as my co-workers learned on Friday, I have color-coded Excel spreadsheet with each and every person I'm buying for (along with two birthdays during the holidays), what I'm giving them, where I'm getting it from, if I've bought it yet, if I've received it yet and if I've wrapped it yet. I'm telling you, this gifting thing is an obsession.


I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the men in my life won't read this so I'll start on them first. Plus, guys are the hardest to buy for, right?


So I don't know about you, but when my brother and I were growing up, we had an Atari. We weren't a family who did nothing but play in front of the t.v., but the Atari was quite the novelty to us. I remember watching my big brother play a lot, admiring how he could actually make Donkey Kong get up the ladders while I could barely pick up Big Bird's eggs out of a basket. 


We still have that old Atari, somewhere. It doesn't work anymore, but it's around. The funny thing is, I had already bought my brother's Christmas presents this year. I was only online, looking for more gifts because a co-worker had asked for opinions on a gift for her family. Then...I came across a Christmas show-stopper...

The Atari Flashback 2!

It has about 40 classic games, pre-loaded onto it. Hooks up to any modern TV (how freaky will it be to be playing Atari on a 60 inch flat screen??). It's only $34.99 and, thanks to my fantastic credit card points, yet another free-to-me Christmas gift (bringing my "free gift Christmas" total to about $176-that'll be another blog post). 

It's supposed to arrive this week so I'll update if it doesn't meet my expectations. But I'm anticipating this to be a "holy crap" kind of Christmas gift. The other Christmas presents I bought him are just going to have to wait until his birthday. It's in February, they'll last :)

Yours Truly,

First off, sincere apologies for the lack of blogging. I’m currently a full time grad student, full time wife, full time mommy (of the two most precious pups ever!) and now holding down a full time job. Needless to say, it’s taken a little time to try to juggle all this! I still probably won’t update every single day but I’ll do what I can, when I can!

I hope this isn’t too similar to one I’ve already done, but I ordered a gift last night and remembered how this is one of the simplest, budget-friendly and usable gifts I’ve found.

Address labels!

I’ve mentioned that my brother gets married next month. His fiance’s birthday is the Monday the week of the wedding. Now, I’m not trying to go cheapskate here, but her birthday is Monday, the 29^th, their wedding is Friday, the 3^rd (hubby and I both are taking 2 days off from work and driving 7 hours both ways) and then the Christmas season is here. I can’t spend a million dollars so I needed to figure out something that would be appreciated, usable…and cheap!

Address labels come in virtually any design, color, shape, etc. that you could possibly imagine. I ordered these:

They have their future shared last name initial, both of their names and their address together. I contemplated just putting her name on them but thought since they were getting married that week (meaning lots of thank-you notes to write!) it might come in handy to have both. And who doesn’t love seeing you and your new husband’s name on things?

So there you have it. $8.96 at Current (a catalogue I remember my mom buying quite a few nifty things from!). It’s not a last-minute gift idea since it takes up to 10 days to get them (personalized stuff takes longer, remember that!). But if you’re like me and try to plan ahead (key word: try), it’s a great possibility. If you want to add some stuff to it, add some notecards or something. I would have done that in this case but I gave her some personalized notecards with another gift recently – that might be a bit overkill!