Love Day

Valentine's Day is coming up! I like Valentine's Day in the sense of its a fun day to celebrate the love you have for all the people in your life. However, I don't think its the greatest for relationships. If you're both Valentine's Day people, GREAT but if you're not it usually ends up with a lot of this:

To avoid the pressure of Valentine's, I think it's better to take most of it away and promise eachother to just be a little more loving and appreciative when it's needed. It means a little more with less of a "Here's some flowers. It's Valentine's Day." and more "Here are some flowers. Thank's for doing that favor for/thinking of/being there for me /just being you."

I think it should be recognized, but cute and cheesy, yet relevant. Stick with the basics. Flowers, chocolate, candy, jewels if you're feeling generous. Something that represents your relationship is even better. Dinner at your first date restaurant, picture of you together in a nice frame. More of a "Yay we love eachother, it's Valentine's Day" and less of a "Here is a tree of roses on top of a champagne mountain crusted in diamonds!" situation.

Here are some of my favorite gift ideas:

1) Printstagram
I did this for Sweetest Day, which unbeknown to me no one celebrates on the West Coast. I wanted something that was representative of things we've done together and he loved it.

2) Kate Spade Valentine's Day Bracelet

Guys, Kate Spade really did all the work for you here. Encompasses sparkles and meaning in one little gift for your lady. You can't really go wrong with any jewelry.

3) Good Chocolates

No, not Russell Stover or Godiva, something nice. I love Chocolatier Blue, their boxes are so elegant and chocolates so unique (and beautiful)!

4) Fancy Under Things

I love lingerie. Silk and lace and bows and extra padding! Even though it usually doesn't stay on very long, there is something about being out to dinner, all glammed up and having a little secret underneath your clothes that the world (and, even better, your Lovely) doesn't know about. 

Shopping for this is a sensitive subject for some people in terms of size, coverage and body image so maybe offer to take her shopping for some and pick out something you like for her to try on. Let her pick without telling you and it's still a surprise for you ;)  Just a heads up Victoria Secret doesn't let gentlemen in the dressing rooms so you'll have to hit a department store or boutique shop.

I've been swooning over this color blocked set from Fleur Du Mal!

Operation Crafty Christmas

In between holiday parties, baking, work, shopping, Junior League and not blogging I some how found time to throw together my parent's Christmas present.

My mom is not really into pictures, or at least archiving them in something other than a shoe box or random drawer. They've lived in their current house for a little over a year and their walls are empty so I thought it'd be nice to spruce them up and document our family's growth and locations. We moved a TON growing up. 9 times for me and going on 11 for them.

When I saw this on Pinterest I thought it was the perfect gift idea.

I had my Grandma's scouring their collections for the pictures, but the scanners turned out to be too much of a challenge for them so I had to turn to my brother. He was able to snoop around my parent's house and find some gems. We found enough frame-ables, others didn't make the cut but were just plain hilarious.

My mom and I circa 1989

My brother and I circa 1997

My brother and I and our cousins circa 2001

Parents circa 2004

When I was planning to do this myself I bought an old school Rand McNally book and scanned in the states. My brother was actually able to take those and photoshop, tint and make perfectly proportioned "cut here dummy" lines for me to match up the maps with the Matting. With the help of an X-Acto knife (and the company printer) I cut them out and glued them to the mattes.

When it was all said and done I had 9 frames! In order from top left:

Huron, Ohio (1984-1985): Wedding Picture
Minneapolis, MN(1985-1988):  my parents and I in front of our house before my baptism
Hudson, WI (1988-1990): My parents, my sister and I & My brother, our dog (Reggie) and I
Grants Pass, OR (1990-1993): My parents, my brother and I on the Rogue River
Wausau, WI (1993-1997): My brother and I with the Wausau Woodchuck mascot
Walnut Creek, CA (1997-2001): The fam at Skipolini's Pizza
River Forest, IL (2001-2005): The fam & the dogs (Sparkles and Miss Mama) in front of our house
Oak Park, IL (2006-2009): The fam at the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando
Madison, WI (2010-2013): All of us at my cousin's wedding